CASE STUDY: Leadership Development Transforms Healthcare Firm’s Culture

The Situation

After reviewing the results of an employee engagement survey, Polara Health’s new CEO set a vision for rebuilding a high-performing, engaged workforce that provides high-quality services. The firm selected Fahrenheit Advisors to provide leadership development and coaching services to enhance skillsets and strengthen Polara’s culture of engagement.

Our Approach

Joan Hibdon, Fahrenheit Advisors

Fahrenheit’s Joan Hibdon, a leadership facilitator and certified coach, worked closely with Polara’s CSO and CEO to customize a leadership development program that aligned with the organization’s values of quality, integrity, and compassion, and focused on enhancing teamwork between leaders, strengthening culture, and addressing other needs.

The program delivered forty-six hours of training for seventeen leaders over ten months. Sessions were convened every four weeks and were followed by a two-week break and reinforcement webinar. The program included DiSC and TKI Conflict Mode assessments, which revealed the diversity in leadership styles. This insight created understanding and acceptance, improving communication as leaders learned about themselves and their colleagues. Additionally, two leaders were identified for additional, focused 1:1 leadership coaching. After the program, each leader shared a capstone presentation to demonstrate the application of new skills and competencies in their roles.

A vital strength of the program was the collaboration between Hibdon, the CEO, and CSO, which allowed the team to co-create with intention, flexibly address unforeseen needs, and reinforce specific topics and skills.

The Results

The leadership development program transformed the organization. It aligned leaders with Polara’s values, engaged them in the CEO’s vision, and empowered them to develop high-performing teams.

Fahrenheit surveyed participants two weeks after the program concluded. Respondents shared that the program:

• Helped reinforce and create a stronger leadership team.
• Created a common ground to develop overall leadership confidence and capabilities.
• Provided a consistent structure (language and framework) so they were all communicating from the same foundation.
• Humanized the senior leadership team.
• Gave people the ability to grow into leaders with a comprehensive skillset rather than, “I learn as I go.”
• Provided materials – workbooks, videos, examples, exercises, role plays – that helped people practice and integrate new skills.

After one year, feedback from the CEO and CSO about culture shifts included:

• “We are better able to hold people accountable for their actions and behaviors. This has fostered an environment where employees are being treated with more respect. As a result, the community we serve is being treated with more kindness and compassion.”

• “The program created an opportunity for leaders to step forward and into their roles with these new leadership expectations or allowed them the opportunity to opt out of being a leader in the organization.”

• “We experienced improved leadership presence including delegation, communication from the perspective of deeper understanding, difficult conversations, setting boundaries, and empowerment.”

“After attending Fahrenheit’s Leadership Development Training, I feel I am a better leader due to my increased self-awareness of how I am showing up and the tools that help me lead my team to success.”

— Rachel Keating, Director of HIM and Compliance, Polara Health

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