BY: ED GIGANTI
Mr. Giganti is senior director, ministry leadership development, Catholic
Health Association, St. Louis.
Every two years, Fr. George Hazler, vice president for leadership formation
at the Daughters of Charity Health System (DCHS) in California, leads a group
of executives on a heritage pilgrimage to France. They tour important sites
in the lives of St. Vincent de Paul, St. Louise de Marillac, and St. Catherine
Laboure in towns around the country as well as in Paris. Of course, in Paris
their pilgrimage includes a visit to the motherhouse of the Daughters of Charity
on the Rue du Bac.
The pilgrimage can be a profound formation event in the lives of these leaders,
but logistics limit the number who can participate. But now, thanks to the
Internet, DCHS is able to "send" leaders at all levels in the system's
six health ministries on a heritage journey.
"Journey" is the metaphor that is central to Spiritus, the system's
leadership formation program, which Fr. Hazler calls "a macro way of forming
leaders." Spiritus (Latin for breath of life, inspiration, spirit) includes
a variety of experiences—retreats, conferences, the heritage pilgrimage—and
formation "journeys." Through the journeys, some online, some in-person,
the leaders, or "travelers," will capture the spirit of the Daughters
of Charity that has characterized their health ministry. "The question
is, how do we keep the mission and values of the Daughters alive?" Fr.
Hazler told me when I visited him at the DCHS headquarters in Los Altos Hills,
CA. "We conducted a needs assessment three years ago and asked our associates
about their knowledge of the Daughters' heritage. Many of our people had
joined our organizations during the years when they were part of Catholic Healthcare
West. Those people had little or no idea who the Daughters were."
"The Daughters have always had lay leaders working with them since their
foundation in 1633," Chris Condon said. Condon is director of organizational
development for DCHS and its O'Connor Hospital in San Jose. He has been
a principal developer of Spiritus along with Fr. Hazler. "Fr. George
had a vision of Spiritus as a program for grooming lay leaders to carry forward
the mission and values of the Daughters."
Online Journey
Not surprisingly then, as Fr. Hazler, Condon, and others began developing
the Spiritus program, the heritage of the Daughters of Charity was the topic
of the first formation "journey." Created by Condon as an online learning
module, the Leadership Heritage Journey begins with a creative, game-like tool
that invites interactivity. Once signed on to the Leadership Journey's
site, a user encounters an animated figure of St. Vincent de Paul that can,
by using the mouse or keyboard, be moved up, down, right, or left. As the figure
is moved, a map of Paris is revealed. When the user moves the Vincent figure
onto certain spots on the map, lessons are launched. First is a brief animation
that asks the question, "Were you always a leader?" A video of Fr.
Hazler describing the history of the Daughters comes next, and with it an invitation
to carry on their spirit by leading with "a servant heart." Another
lesson includes an interactive life chart to stimulate the user's reflection
on his or her own call and participation in ministry. "There is a lot of
introspection sought throughout," Fr. Hazler said. Other lesson elements
deliver additional history about St. Vincent and the Daughters by way of video
and text. Condon said it should take a user about one hour to complete the Leadership
Heritage Journey module.
Condon is developing four initial journeys. In addition to the heritage module,
there will be Servant and Leader, Leading beyond Yourself, and A Holistic
View of Leadership. The design is "blended learning," he told me.
"The first and second modules you do in front of your computer. What
comes after are face-to-face meetings and action learning experiences."
An important component of the journeys is online dialogue, Fr. Hazler added.
"'Journeys' is a platform for thinking and discussion to allow
the learning to happen among participants." Facilitators within each
of the system's local health ministries monitor the online dialogues
and serve as resource people for the participants.
DCHS rolled out the Spiritus program in January, and a pilot group of 60
leaders from the system's headquarters and local ministries completed
the first journey in February. As the program continues to grow, groups of
"travelers" will move through the modules, in-person meetings, and
action learning experiences to a "teacher-learner" phase in which
they will serve as facilitators for future groups. "This teacher-learner
model is self-sustaining," Condon said, "and the only way for the
spirit of the Daughters to truly continue in the hospitals."
Infrastructure to Implement
The Spiritus program has been created by Fr. Hazler and Condon working with
a Leadership Formation Council made up of representatives from each of the system's
six local health ministries in California: O'Connor Hospital, San Jose;
St. Louise Regional Hospital, Gilroy; Seton Medical Center, Daly City; Seton
Medical Center Coastside, Moss Beach; St. Francis Medical Center, Lynwood, and
St. Vincent Medical Center, Los Angeles. Representing human resources, clinical
areas, and executive leadership, most of the members of the Leadership Formation
Council have served since its inception three years ago.
Additionally, these people serve on leadership formation teams within their
local ministries, along with other associates appointed by the facilities'
CEOs. These local formation teams provide facilitators for the online dialogues
that occur as part of the journeys.
Condon engaged the learning management provider, Learn.com, to program and
host the online modules. He estimates the system's investment in the
"journeys" at $250,000.
For more information on Spiritus and the Leadership Formation Journeys, contact
Fr. Hazler at [email protected]
or Chris Condon at [email protected].
New Report on Employee Learning
The Center for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL) recently published
the results of its study of employee learning and development practices in health
care organizations. The study was funded by a grant from the U.S. Department
of Labor. Several Catholic hospitals participated in the study: Saint Alphonsus
Regional Medical Center, Boise, ID; St. Mary's Health Center, St. Louis;
St. Clare Hospital and Health Services, Baraboo, WI; and St. James Mercy Hospital,
Hornell, NY.
Recognizing that many health care organizations offer employee learning and
development programs, the CAEL study was designed to identify factors that
make such programs particularly effective. The research identified eight exemplary
practices that are helping health care organizations reach their organizational
learning goals and meet current and future workforce needs. CAEL found that
each organization has its own approach and that an institution can accomplish
a great deal even with only a few of the practices. Here are the eight practices
identified by the study:
- Leadership promotes education and training through vision and commitment.
- Employee learning and development are aligned with business goals.
- Leadership development is emphasized at all levels of the organization.
- Structured, individual career development and growth is emphasized.
- Internal structures are developed for informal learning and knowledge management.
- There is strategic use of technology for meeting learning objectives.
- Alliances with external partners are central to learning strategy.
- Assessment of impact is emphasized.
An executive summary of the study findings, titled "Employee Development:
A Prescription for Better Healthcare," is available from CAEL. For more information,
contact Phyllis Snyder, regional vice president at CAEL, at [email protected].
Copyright © 2005 by the Catholic Health Association of the United States
For reprint permission, contact Betty Crosby or call (314) 253-3477.