States’ health care environment
is dynamic. Organizations like
CareSource need the ability
to adapt rapidly. “We
see changes within the
industry and within our
business every day,”
Smith says.
Smooth
Transitions
12
Coaching World
Based in Dayton, Ohio, USA,
CareSource is a nonprofit
organization that fills a
unique niche in the health
care sector. As one of
the largest public-sector
managed care companies
in the United States,
CareSource serves more
than 1.3 million consumers
in Ohio and Kentucky.
“Our vision is to transform lives
through innovative health and life
services,” explains Jackie Smith,
vice president of the organization’s
training arm, CareSource University.
“Our mission is to make a lasting
difference in our members’ lives by
improving their health and wellbeing, and we do that by providing
health care benefits and services.”
Due to legislation, such as the
Affordable Care Act, the United
At CareSource,
these changes have
prompted rapid
growth. In the last
half-decade, the
organization has
grown by more than
57 percent of its total
employee population,
while also encountering the
new challenges posed by a
growing cadre of mobile employees
(another outcome of new
legislation). As the organization
supports this growth by adding
new leaders—both by hiring
externally and promoting from
within—coaching has become a
cornerstone of CareSource’s talentdevelopment strategy, ensuring
that new leaders have the tools
they need to rapidly adapt to their
new roles and assimilate into a
unique organizational culture.
CareSource has long boasted
a robust training program via a
university structure emphasizing
performance management,
leadership development and
succession planning. However, as
the organization grew, so did the
demand for training.
“We had formal training in place
for our first-time leaders, but they
could go three months before
they actually attended their formal
training,” says Matt Becker, M.Ed.,
PCC, coaching and mentoring
manager for CareSource. With
informal coaching conversations
already taking place between
Becker and new leaders in the
organization, there was ample
opportunity to institutionalize
a coaching initiative that would
supplement existing training for
new leaders.
In January 2009, Smith and Becker
took a proposal for Leadership
Transition Coaching (LTC) to
CareSource’s executive team
members, who embraced it
enthusiastically. CareSource’s CEO,
Pamela Morris, was an especially
vocal supporter of LTC from day
one, Smith says.
Although support for LTC emanated
from the top, down, the initiative
itself has a bottom-up structure
designed to reach new managers
and leaders. The structure of LTC
engagements (which typically span
six months) enables new leaders
to address their challenges in a
tailored way. The first three sessions
are designed to help clients clarify
their goals and desires for the
engagement, with Becker asking
questions about the vision they
have for their legacy, their objectives
for their team and/or department,
and th eir own expectations for the
coaching relationship.
Coaching addresses the challenge
of assimilating new leaders into
CareSource’s culture head-on by
empowering leaders with the tools
they need for success and providing
a safe space to explore issues and
concerns. Becker cites one success
story of a high-level director hired
from outside the organization who,
after completing LTC, confided that
she “would not have stayed with the
organization were it not for coaching.”
LTC has been credited with retaining
several high-potential employees for
a savings of $396,602 USD.
CareSource reports additional
savings in leader and employee
efficiency, overtime reduction
and avoidance of contracting/
consulting fees. Overall, the
organization conservatively