CHCA Celebrates Five Years of “A Coaching Culture”

On August 29th, the staff of Cooperative Home Care Associates (CHCA) gathered to celebrate the fifth anniversary of their organization-wide Coaching initiative. Since the initiative began, all members of CHCA’s administrative staff have been trained in coaching, and have also attended extensive boosters designed and led by members of the management team.

At the celebration, CHCA’s President Michael Elsas reflected on the management retreat back in 2007 at which planning first began. “Back then, we really weren’t sure” what this initiative could be, Elsas said. “But now, five years later, it’s really become part of the culture. I see coaching almost every day. I see people speaking differently, dealing with things differently.”

The initiative has been guided by five Coaching Trainers and by a sustainability committee that is charged with ensuring that Coaching becomes a “way of life” at CHCA. Highlights include:

• Two days of intensive Coaching training for both supervisors and frontline staff.
• Three years of booster sessions to reinforce the Coaching skills. CHCA’s managers played a critical role in both the design and delivery of these boosters.
• A series of “coaching prizes” distributed at the end of each booster to remind staff to use their coaching skills.
• A “Coaching Certificate” program to acknowledge use of coaching skills on the job.
• On-going work with the senior leadership team, guided by PHI.

Such an investment of time and resources demonstrates the extent of CHCA’s commitment to coaching. “It’s been a labor of love,” CHCA’s Executive Vice President Adria Powell said at the celebration. “We really try to improve our communication and our relationships in this organization.” Powell’s own role in ensuring the success of the initiative was acknowledged at the celebration with a special plaque that named her “Coaching Champion-in-Chief.”

“I want to thank PHI for their support,” Powell said, “and also our Coaching Sustainability Committee and our managers. We wouldn’t have gotten this far without them. But our work with coaching isn’t done. It’s a work in progress.”

By Renya Larson, Organizational Change Consultant