UWGC and BHP Team Up to Deliver Workforce Development for Guiding Coalition

On April 2, the United Way of Greater Cleveland (UWGC) and Better Health Partnership (BHP) delivered a workforce development session for a newly formed Guiding Coalition to support staff engagement in organizational strategic planning. The Guiding Coalition is comprised of a cross-section of UWGC team members and tasked with strengthening the internal strategy muscle of the organization by exploring key assets.

This kickoff session was designed to help leaders become aware of and appreciate their different working styles and preferences. Jennifer Kons, Strategic Initiatives Director and organizer of the UWGC Guiding Coalition, decided the best way to jumpstart this new group’s ability to work together and leverage each other’s strengths and differences was to call upon BHP to collaborate on a team building session they had completed based on Patrick Lencioni’s book, The Six Types of Working Genius.

“I’ve had the pleasure of participating in BHP team building trainings over the years. Last year, BHP staff were excited about the introduction of Working Genius to their own internal processes. The BHP team had modeled for me how engaging and useful this type of team awareness could be and I wanted to bring it in-house at UWGC. Trainer Matt Rosenblum was highly engaging and UWGC staff have continued to use the learnings and explore broader applications to unleash our staff’s ‘geniuses,’” said Jenn Kons.

“Participating in BHP’s work development session after completing the Working Genius assessment helped our Guiding Coalition teams to start our work from a place of mutual understanding. We were able to structure our group work in a way that played to everyone’s strengths but also thoughtfully challenged us to expand our thinking to fill any gaps that were present,” said Katie Martinovic, United Way’s Director of Development Communications and Guiding Coalition team member.

“BHP's presentation delving into the methodologies of the Working Genius model was exciting and energizing. It illuminated the impact that various genius types can have when balanced teams collaborate, drawing energy from each other's unique strengths. This model has potential to improve our organization's day-to-day project process and broader organizational structure, transforming how we interact and collaborate, ensuring an energizing, enlightening, and successful process for our team,” said Sean Shapiro, Director of Digital Marketing and Guiding Coalition team member.

To learn more about this session or discuss other workforce development opportunities, email BHP at info@betterhealthpartnership.org.