When Bill Ryan took over as president and CEO of the Cleveland-based Center for Health Affairs about three years ago, one of his goals was to make the organization one of the best places in Northeast Ohio to work.
Implementing a training program was identified as one way to achieve this goal, but the organization didn’t start out with a big budget or even big plans.
“It was honestly more of a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants type of thing,” says Tammy Reckman, vice president of internal affairs at the center. “We wanted to be able to offer some type of training, but it wasn’t as formal as it is now. We just picked a series of topics that came about through conversations with our management team.”
The result was what they called the Manager Brown Bag Series. One hour a month, the entire management team got together to learn about a specific topic. Either Reckman or the HR director did the presentations.
“We just researched the topic or bought a book and did it ourselves,” says Reckman. “Their feedback gave us direction as to what they wanted to do the following year.”
Suggestions were incorporated into new programs, and invitations were extended to nonmanagement employees who were interested in attending. The center continued to expand its training offerings, and a more formalized approach began to emerge.
“Last year was the first year we published a curriculum,” says Reckman. “This year we’ve taken the training program and expanded it.”
Programs address general issues such as conflict resolution and time management, but also touch on more specific topics including how to work with upper management. To better target the offerings, Reckman spent time talking to each department head. Outside trainers from the Employers Resource Council were brought in to teach new skills such as project management or finance.
The results of the training have been so positive that managers must now include a training component as part of their annual goal-setting. All nonmanagement employees must attend at least three hours of training per year.
Achieving its goal of becoming a great place to work, Center for Health Affairs was named a winner of the NorthCoast 99 award two years running and continues to add to its training program.
“Prior to my starting with the organization (three years ago), training was not a common term used here,” says Reckman. “There was nothing in the budget — it wasn’t even a budget line. That number has grown each year, and this year it increased by more than 35 percent.”
In addition to formal training, employees have created a mentoring culture. Veteran managers help new ones handle difficult situations that they can’t wait for training on.
“We needed to create an environment of change in the organization to make this one of the best places to work,” says Reckman. “Culturally, we wanted to move the company into a much more open team environment. Prior to our training, we had several departments that didn’t know what the other departments did. That has been one of the most obvious changes, and a lot of that has been due to the coaching, counseling, training and tools we are providing the management team.”
The key to success is support from the organization’s leadership.
“Nothing else will matter if there is no buy-in from senior management,” says Reckman. “To be able to effectively implement a good training program, you have to have a president or COO or whatever that really has to anoint this program and empower individuals to run it effectively. If senior managers aren’t attending, then there is no message being sent that it is important to go.”
How to reach: Center for Health Affairs, www.chanet.org; Employers Resource Council, www.ercnet.org
