In its ongoing effort to retain employees, Providence leans on a strategy that guides caregivers to form deeper connections with their purpose and work experienced through their mission.
The engine of this strategy is the Mission Leadership Institute. Established in November 2021, the institute offers the Mission Leadership Academy for early-career caregivers and Executive Mission Leadership Formation programs for those in later career stages. The academy is a training program aimed at early career individuals seeking to grow within Providence, with a focus on those drawn to the organization’s mission-driven work.
Martin J. Schreiber, EdD, vice president of the institute, told Becker’s he sees the academy as unique for its emphasis on early-career leadership development and sensory awareness.
“Those two things are about the whole person,” he said. “And within healthcare, we’re conscious that how we take care of the whole person — if we’re doing that in a clinical environment — needs to be just as much within how we’re taking care of our caregivers.”
The academy has completed two cohorts with a third beginning in June. Dr. Schreiber, who joined Renton, Wash.-based Providence in 2020 to build formation programming for caregivers, said the health system aims to help caregivers discover their personal values and sense of purpose — their “why”.
“We always are trying to help people with exercises, experiments and exploration around what it means for me to have my own ‘why’ be accepted in the company — the organization that I work with,” he said. “And that is a really important beginning — first piece — to take the time to listen to what people are saying.”
Sensory experiences and guest speakers, known as luminaries, are also significant components of the program. Dr. Schreiber said cohort members participate in in-person and broadcast sessions, and they later embark on sensory experiences that complement the sessions. A luminary also speaks at each session.
“The luminary then is a wisdom figure who helps us understand from elements of how to deal with leadership, with stress,” he said. “And I think that that’s really key.”
Dr. Schreiber added that the academy has senior leaders speak to cohorts and is focused on creating awareness of being present.
“Healthcare is about the patient, and it’s about who’s sitting in front of you. And too much time we’re seeing efficiency as the core principle; that doesn’t allow for time spent with patients,” he said. “And so our caregivers who go through this program are creating a greater sense of being present and aware in front of the patient.”
Overall, the idea of the academy is to offer a learning experience platform rather than a standard learning management system.
“How could we do something with the senses? How could we get back involved in our [health system’s] founding stories in ways that were new — say, through video, through YouTube, through podcasts, through Spotify?” Dr. Schreiber said.
“How could we come to know our story by listening to music, by finding ways that we enjoyed coming to work every day — rather than these were just the tactical skills? This is a much broader way of human development that we’ve tried to put forth.”
In response to today’s industry financial pressures, Providence has simplified this program. He said it is less frequent, and it is all local, “because you have to be mindful the time is valuable. And so we’ve had to re-sequence the whole program in response to the financial pressures right now.”
And Providence has been able to measure the impact. Each participant in the second cohort rated their agreement with statements related to the program’s learning objectives. Surveys were conducted before and after the program, and the same process will occur with the third cohort, which will include about 750 caregivers.
In the second cohort, 95% of participants reported sharing what they learned from the program with their team, Dr. Schreiber said. Eighty-five percent reported that they were more likely to continue to work at Providence due to the program’s lessons.
In addition to this success, he noted the program’s global reach. The program is available for caregivers throughout the Providence family of organizations across seven states and in Providence Global Center in Hyderabad, India. Providence has already launched its second cohort in Hyderabad.
“That, to me, is a powerful element — that we’re in a global context. And healthcare could be really improved and thought about if it was more inclusive, diverse and given the opportunity that people could say, ‘This is where I belong,'” Dr. Schreiber said.
