Springboards Improves Patient Satisfaction Scores at Reliant Medical Group

CONTEXT & CHALLENGES

Reliant Medical Group-Atrius Health, a “Top Places to Work” with a diverse multicultural staff of physicians, identified lower patient satisfaction scores for several multicultural medical providers, with “communication” in the lowest bracket. As an organization that prized itself on exemplary patient-provider communication, Reliant was looking for a professional, well-designed culture and communications program that could be delivered in one on one sessions.

Because of the intense schedules of their physicians, Reliant needed a training provider with executive level coaches and the ability to handle very challenging doctor schedules. Additionally, a multi-faceted coaching model was preferred to address culture, language, and communications within specific medical scenarios.

OUTCOMES

Reliant chose Springboards because of their ability to address language, cross cultural skills, and communications within a short term, individual coaching program. Springboards also had the professional staff needed to meet the demands of busy, accomplished medical professionals.

According to their Chief Human Resources Officer, Randi Nichols:

Springboards’ ability to accommodate an intense physician work schedule, the superior quality of their coaches and their personalized, on-site training model made them the clear choice for our organization. We employ a brilliant and diverse physician staff who must build strong relationships with their patients by establishing friendly rapport and trust in the exam room. Effective communication is vital to their patients’ health and satisfaction. Springboards’ coaching and training program has helped turn around very low patient satisfaction for 2 of our physicians, resulting in a marked increase number of patients now indicating they would recommend these care providers to a friend or family member. Our employees are our most important asset and with such powerful results, the decision to invest in their success by partnering with Springboards was the right one.

Aligning Coaching & Performance Objectives to Patient Feedback

CONTEXT & CHALLENGES

This medical center was seeking the right development tool for a multicultural hospitalist with falling patient satisfaction scores. Success for this employee would require several key areas to be addressed within a short time frame:

• Improve low quality data management scores (QDM) upwards of the 25th percentile by removing patient complaints related to communications and interpersonal skills

• Understand and address staff complaints related to communications and interpersonal skills, e.g. “negative reactions”, “unpleasant”, or “unclear”

• Move out of a performance improvement plan (PIP)

ACTIONS & OUTCOMES

Springboards conducted a needs assessment with the hospitalist, the hospitalist’s sponsor and manager, and the HR business partner. In further assessment work, patient feedback (discussed with the hospitalist and made available to Springboards) was aligned to target performance objectives through the coaching program. After a four-month presence & presentations and cross cultural skills program, the hospitalist was removed from the PIP and QDM scores improved. He also strengthened relationships with nurses and staff.

Granite Telecommunications Case Study

Accent Coaching for a Multicultural Manager

BACKGROUND

This highly valued IT manager successfully completed a leadership and professional communications group course, but “language and cultural development opportunities” were still a barrier to career advancement and not addressed by the current training program. To provide continuity to her development and strategic support in language coaching, Granite Telecommunications hired Springboards.

ACTIONS

• Create 3-Way Coaching Partnership: At the beginning and end of her program, Springboards conducted peer reviews to form the support and input of the line manager, key team members, and the employee. This collaboration brought specific business objectives to the program, guaranteed a laser focused curriculum, and kept the program short term and outcomes driven.

• Use Actual Work Product: Representative work-related presentations, client meeting scripts, and team meeting protocols were closely tied in to Springboards’ instruction to guarantee immediate results at work. This relevance to work product was highly motivating to the client and enhanced her commitment, resulting in long term results.

• Customize and Personalize Material: Springboards provided additional resources to motivate learning and retention in between sessions. The Springboards coach customized and personalized mp3 and video samples, updating the employee’s personal development tools throughout the engagement. This allowed her to maximize independent practice and greatly enhanced her outcomes in accent modification.

OUTCOMES

As a result of the coaching program, this employee achieved critical communications milestones required to effectively execute her managerial responsibilities, and prepared her for her future role at the company.

Springboards Moves Science and Team Forward at Pharmaceutical Company

CONTEXT & CHALLENGES

This Discovery Pharmaceutics department, a significantly multicultural group, continued to face a wall in cross functional meetings, hindered by the cross cultural and language skills of several project leaders. Delayed meetings meant delayed process and lost opportunities. To move the science forward:

• Individual contributors needed the communications skills to sell key initiatives before senior leadership

• Senior leaders needed to practically and effectively support the development of their multicultural scientists

• All members needed to thrive cross culturally

ACTIONS & OUTCOMES

Springboards partnered with the department, HR, and several multicultural leaders of key initiatives to:

• Deliver a short term accent coaching and presentation skills program

• Align corporate objectives to learning outcomes

Springboards partnered with the department, HR, and several multinational leaders of key initiatives to deliver a short term cross cultural development, accent coaching and presence & presentation skills program. Following the program, coaching clients delivered compelling presentations at corporate meetings and won buy in for key initiatives, removing communication bottlenecks.

Wellington Management Hires Springboards to Advance Japanese Portfolio Manager

PROGRAM BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES

Naoko*, a highly valued, Japanese female Portfolio Manager at Wellington Management, faced the danger of being eclipsed by same-level native English speaking peers. While Naoko demonstrated top analytical and project management capabilities, her communications skills internally and in client-facing situations were not sufficiently polished and confident —success factors necessary for advancement. The available training options –e.g. presentations training, accent reduction coaching, leadership workshops—only addressed part of the need, but not comprehensively enough. The HR team brought on Springboards to address professional communications and cultural-linguistic needs fit for a senior level leader. The variety of coaches at Springboards, and their hybrid coaching model, made this option possible. The following table summarizes key learning objectives and cultural factors considered in the overall design and success of Naoko’s coaching program. *Name changed to persevere anonymity

Naoko’s Learning & Performance Objectives

• Speak up, show receptivity to feedback, demonstrate confidence internally

• Lead with executive presence and confidence

• Present effectively under pressure

• Participate actively, voice opinions, take initiative, show confident body language

• Go off script, manage dynamics of the conversation, build relationships

OUTCOMES

100% of the program goals were achieved, and language and communications opportunities were satisfactorily addressed, removing barriers to career advancement for this Wellington employee. Specifically...

• Business Opportunities Increased Internally: Opportunities to lead client meetings increased from one to several opportunities per month thanks to critical public speaking enhancements.

• Improved Executive Presence: Naoko showed more of a take-charge approach, asserted her expertise, and participated proactively and visibly. She adjusted to senior level conversations.

• Communication Effectiveness: Naoko’s presentations improved. She became a more natural presenter--audience focused, in control of the conversation, using big picture formats.

Premier Global Economic Consulting Firm Uses Springboards to Support Multicultural Recruitment and Retention

CONTEXT & CHALLENGES

This consulting firm has a top tier, academic workforce. Growth brought hiring and succession challenges. Specifically, second and third- year multicultural associates felt the promotional track was not clearly defined and this resulted in fewer prepared leaders, disengagement and turnover. In response, the firm focused on improving the quality of incoming multicultural hires and developing a broader strategy for multicultural employees earlier in their careers.

ACTIONS & OUTCOMES

Springboards partnered with training and development, HR, and several business leaders of the company to:

• Provide targeted, cross cultural coaching to employees across the U.S. and in Asia

• Draw in more highly qualified candidates before onboarding. Springboards’ services were showcased on the Career Pages of the company website to better reach prospective multicultural candidates

• Accelerate succession through coaching for key multicultural leaders thereby improving retention