Our relationship with St. Mary Medical Center began when they searched for a training program, and we popped up first in their search results. We are proud to have partnered with St. Mary's on three different projects beginning in 2010.
"Jillian and Shannon are fabulous. When I first met Jillian I connected with her…I could tell she had so much talent and could offer so much expertise from her curriculum development expertise and background. I advocated bringing her back…she customizes things and really works with us. It was a pleasure working with them both. That's why we keep going back."
- Jillian was invited to speak during the general session on the topic of intrinsic motivation during their quarterly, senior-level staff in-house leadership development program. St. Mary is a value-based organization that thrives on customized content when training staff on a variety of topics. This first project included 120 participants from the St. Mary staff, and the goal was to explore techniques for decision-making and to identify opportunities for staff development by exposing them to different topics they might not otherwise have access to. The content for this session was solid—evaluations show that people loved the opportunity to "try things on for size," such as how they would react during an earthquake. They reported taking activities from the session back to their departments and using them again.
- For our second project, we developed a series of four concurrent breakout sessions on the topic of reverse brainstorming. This three-hour reverse brainstorming session offered plenty of opportunities for participants to work together in a safe training environment before implementing what they learned on the job. According to the St. Mary program manager, "We always find if we don't give participants the chance to work out the 'bugs,' they won't be as successful in transfer." Participants consistently reported high ratings for the session and stated that they were able to use the techniques they learned during interactions with customers in their jobs after the training.
- Our most recent project was inspired by Peter Block's "Connection Before Content" model and focused on small-group connections. The third session followed a similar breakout format as the second project and focused on the importance of building small-group connections before collectively taking action in a community. Because of the custom nature of the content, St. Mary produced the toolkit while Jillian worked on structuring the session content around the toolkit.
The success of these projects is based on the partnership we were able to create with St. Mary and our expertise in creating custom solutions that engages learners in the moment and transfers to their job once the event is concluded.
"The best part was that we were able to actualize it. It was a nice partnership. Jillian can take an idea and make it come alive. We loved the booklet--we've all been using it since the session."
St. Mary Medical Center is part of the St. Joseph Health System and serves a diverse population in the High Desert region of California. It's a caring, warm culture with expert staff members dedicated to the mission of providing nurturing, compassionate care using state-of-the-art equipment.