Leadership Bootcamp Amps Up Training and Onboarding
When Lauren Moore joined BHG two years ago as a counselor at the Paducah Treatment Center, she had only one week of onboarding before she was “thrown into her role.” If it weren’t for her years of experience prior to this job, Lauren may have opted to leave and lend her talents and skills elsewhere. We’re so glad she chose to stay. Now, she’s a part of our first Leadership Bootcamp cohort where we’re focused on strengthening how we hire and train employees who manage people or teams so that they’re set up for long-term success and a fulfilling career.
According to research conducted by Glassdoor, a great onboarding experience can increase retention by 82% and productivity by 70%. A negative onboarding experience leads to high turnover within the first year. While this is costly for any company, it’s especially costly to the lives of our patients who need continuity and stability in their recovery journey.
Caring for you as we care for others
In order to provide quality care that leads patients to real recovery, especially as we implement our new Integrated Dynamic Care Model (IDCM), we recognize we must be intentional and unwavering in our commitment to providing “quality care” for you, too. As one of our favorites, Maya Angelou, so wisely and simply said, “When you know better, do better.”
Data tells us that employees are increasingly leaving within their first year. Recent exit survey outcomes confirmed that we need to provide teams with more support and leadership. As of today, our course provides six sessions but will iterate and evolve from cohort to cohort as we take invaluable input and feedback from you.
Core elements for building strong teams
As we’ve built strong teams over the years, we’ve identified core elements for successfully hiring the right people and providing the right type of ongoing support. How do we expect our supervisors to work with the teams and encourage, motivate and develop leaders? What happens when a person is ready for a new task or role? We’re recording all the sessions and making them available in our learning management system (LMS). All new supervisors are required to complete the Leadership Bootcamp.
Session 1: Recruiting
Session 2: Onboarding
Session 3: Training
Session 4: Communication
Session 5: Motivating
Session 6: Developing
Leadership Bootcamp began May 25 and ends June 29. Our first sessions are producing candid, honest discussions and key learnings. Participants complete an anonymous survey after each session and we read aloud all feedback – the good, the bad and the ugly – in the following course so that we can solve for issues together.
Another benefit of the survey is that we’ve been able to address myths in the field and are now paying even more attention to how we communicate. Because we don’t often interact directly with staff beyond the Regional Directors and Programs Directors, we’ve noticed that it can be a little like the telephone game where the message starts and ends differently.
Within the first two sessions, we were asked if we have a training guide and an interview guide. Lanear and her HR colleagues have already created a guide and shared it with Supervisors and Managers on our HF SharePoint.
In the interview process, we talk about the most important traits to look for in prospective employees: people who understand that addiction is a brain disease and have a compassionate, not punitive, mindset. Team fit is also important. Are these candidates the kind of people you want to spend time with?
We’ve also implemented a lot more understanding about diversity in hiring. For example, don’t always look for people who look like your existing team; the very best teams have wide ranges of expertise and outlooks and are representative of the patient population. Diversity means intentionally employing a workforce comprised of individuals of varying gender, religion, race, age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, education and other attributes.
The goal of the Leadership Bootcamp
The best things we can do to build strong teams are hire the right people, onboard them the right way, and then provide the right level of ongoing support. The goal of the Leadership Bootcamp is to equip our leaders to do each of these well.
We are committed to growing with you in our Leadership Bootcamp. Never hesitate to share your questions, concerns and ideas – that’s how we evolve, protect our culture and provide a new class of recovery. We want BHG to be a place where people want to work and stay for a long time, and we can’t do that without you.
A Program Director’s Perspective
by Lauren Moore, Regional Director
I had just ended my maternity leave when I started this job. With a newborn and a lineman as a husband who was away working in the aftermath of a hurricane for three weeks, I stuck with it. For those who know me, that speaks volumes about my commitment to our patients and BHG.
In the two years I’ve worked for BHG, the Leadership Bootcamp is one of the best trainings the company has presented. Being an employee who experienced a one-week onboarding, I know it was definitely needed. So much has changed since I was a counselor such as moving from paper-based to online forms, use of Excel and SharePoint and how we work with our labs.
The Bootcamp is phenomenal and I think we’re on the right path to retain people. We’ve been given clear direction and validation of what is expected of us. We also have a safe space to be heard, to be transparent and to get everyone on the same page.
When I started my PD role last August, I had seven employees. Now I have 18 employees and 323 patients. Every situation is different. Every clinic is different. That is why it’s essential to have more interactions and hands-on experience with training and onboarding. PDs are entrusted to train their teams, but if a PD didn’t have sufficient training, they end up planting the wrong seeds with staff who develop habits that are hard to break.
At the end of the day, we’re the people in the clinics and we’re the people you need to ask to inform onboarding, training and development.
I hope my colleagues know that they can always be honest in sharing concerns and opinions and develop healthy, trusted communication that truly serves us all. We made it through a pandemic and this company is moving forward. Our leaders are proving that they listen and take all feedback into consideration. Be honest because this is working.