Sheila Jacobs, center, a health promotion manager at Lifespan, works with colleague Cindy Scott, left, and secretary Beverly Freitas.
Sheila Jacobs played herself, a manager with Lifespan, while another supervisor from the health care company acted as a disgruntled employee, “moaning and groaning” about having to take on too much work and being under-appreciated.
“I acknowledged his value [and] his contribution,” Jacobs said, recalling the role-playing exercise. But in the chosen scenario, the employee had failed to finish his work on time, so she had to balance her positive feedback with some constructive criticism.
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The role-play was performed in January at Lifespan’s Leadership Development Center, which began last October but officially launched at the beginning of the year to help managers such as Jacobs improve their supervisory skills.
“The job of the Leadership Development Center is to identify skill sets that could be enhanced, making [managers] more productive and increasing their performance,” said Ann Davis, coordinator for the in-house training program.
Housed in Lifespan’s Claverick Building in Providence’s Jewelry District, the leadership center takes groups of up to six managers – from both the patient care and non-clinical sides of the organization – through a full day of training simulations. The role-play involves interviewing job applicants, resolving issues with workers, training employees and more.
Senior managers nominate their top supervisors to participate in the program, which takes place twice per month, Davis said, and has already trained about 40 people from Lifespan and its operating units – Bradley Hospital, The Miriam Hospital, Newport Hospital, Rhode Island Hospital and Hasbro Children’s Hospital.
Davis said participants do the role-plays in a room where an observer – usually a senior manager from another department – grades them on leadership areas that include communication, decision-making, planning and organization, interpersonal skills, stewardship of resources, teamwork, responsibility and reliability, quality control, customer service, critical thinking and initiative.
After they complete the training, Davis said, she meets with each manager to review his or her performance and provide guidance on how to improve. Managers then have the option to work with their supervisors to develop those skills through additional training and course work. However, the program is unrelated to formal performance evaluations, meaning that managers can undergo the training without worrying about how it could affect their livelihoods.
Brion P. Carroll, director of the Lifespan Learning Institute, which administers the program, said the training helps the company promote from within while offering employees professional development. It also, he said, helps retain management talent.
“We know that when you look at the factors that contribute to employee engagement in the workplace, one of the largest factors is the employee’s belief that the organization is looking out for their professional development and career advancement,” said Carroll, a psychologist by training. He noted that this is especially true with young professionals in their 20s.
Other uses for the training, Davis said, are to help employees recently promoted to supervisory positions to adjust to their new responsibilities. And in some cases, she added, the training leads some participants to conclude that management isn’t for them.
For Jacobs, however, the leadership training helped her brush up on management skills that she uses to run Lifespan’s Health Promotion Department. With a staff of three other people, she said, her department does all it can to ensure that the company’s some 11,000 employees have balanced diets, exercise regularly and manage stress.
How did the Leadership Development Center help Jacobs manage her department?
One thing that she learned during the role-play with the disgruntled employee, she said, was that she needed to do a better job of “following through” at the end of a tense meeting with workers. That meant summarizing what she and the employee had agreed upon and articulating what the next steps would be.
“I just want to be effective with my staff,” Jacobs said, “and [the training] was an opportunity for me to assess how I am managing potentially difficult situations.”
