How Baylor Health Care System Institutes Leadership

Since 2006, twice a year, Baylor Health Care System designs and implements a day-long Leadership Development Institute ("LDI") for its CEO. The top 1,100 leaders (managers and above) from across the system are invited. Phyllis Wright, vice president of Talent and Organization Development,  and her colleagues facilitate a steering team of stakeholder executives, including the CEO and chief operating officer, to create the curriculum for the LDIs.

The health system's CEO presents current data on the organization's goal performance, and teams that are exceeding their goals share best practices. Baylor's hospital in Grapevine, TX, for instance, had a 30-point increase in its patient satisfaction scores, so representatives from that hospital explained the process improvement steps that were taken. Baylor Health System's other emergency departments adopted the relevant tactics, and the organization exceeded its corporate fiscal year 2009 patient satisfaction goal by 20 points.

The health system believes effective and frequent communication from senior management is a significant key to fueling employee engagement. So at each LDI, participants hear from several executives about where the organization is heading, its current state, and what it is doing to improve. Leaders learn to create communication boards at the LDI, which they use in their departments "to share results and enhance line of sight."

Since implementing its LDIs, Baylor Health System's revenue has increased from $2.5 billion in fiscal year 2006 to $3.4 billion in fiscal year 2009. Margin increased from 4.3 in fiscal year 2006 to 4.52 in fiscal year 2009 (un-audited). Wondering how to create your own leadership development institute? Wright offers her top five tips on getting it done:

1.  Ensure CEO and other senior leader sponsorship and support.
2.  Make the CEO the host and facilitator for the day.
3.  See that content is aligned with the goal of addressing current, as well as future business challenges.
4.  Create short and long plans inclusive of logistical details, failure mode effect analysis, metrics, and after-action review methodology, and
ensure budget dollars are appropriated to support full execution of the institutes.
5.  Put together a steering committee led by the CEO and populated with other senior executives across each functional discipline in your
oranization. Insert your training leader as the facilitator of the steering committee; vet the agenda with the steering committee prior to every
team meeting; and make sure the committee is chartered and charged with the responsibility of ensuring alignment of content and review of
the institute's evaluation data.

Thanks to Training Top 125 Best Practices