New “Coach” colleagues to help emphasize culture across UMHS

Behind every successful team is a great coaching staff, leaders who cheerlead, inspire, motivate, and occasionally make us run up and down the stadium bleachers for being late to practice.

Except for the bleachers, our UMHS team is no different. Leaders across the organization recently nominated “Culture Coaches” from each department; team members who will represent their respective area and work on various organization-wide initiatives that help strengthen and unify our employee culture.

“Our new Culture Coaches will work to champion the overall employee experience within their department or team,” said Chief Human Resources Officer Joe Fournier. “They will emphasize our organizational mission and values from the front lines to our leadership teams, reinforcing our employee culture and our sense of shared purpose.”

Below – lest you find yourself doing extra push-ups for taking too long a water break – read everything you need to know about your new coaches and their role.

Who are Culture Coaches?

Culture Coaches are line-level employees who represent departments in all areas of the organization. They demonstrate a positive work ethic and supportive attitude toward organizational vision and strategy.

Why do we need Culture Coaches?

Culture Coaches understand the importance of engagement and are keen to help their team and work environment improve. Our organization has more than 26,000 employees. In order to effectively reach all of our colleagues, representatives are needed from every department to help communicate organizational goals, identify ongoing wins or challenges, provide honest feedback on behalf of employees to leaders, and more.

What will the Culture Coaches be doing?

Culture Coaches will be asked to champion a number of important UMHS engagement objectives within their department. Among the first responsibilities will be to support the upcoming annual Employee Engagement Survey, coming up this June. They will:

• Assist with the planning and rollout of the annual survey

• Act as a resource for employees who have questions regarding the survey process

• Actively lead components of the action planning process once survey results are available

• Assist in coordinating action planning progress updates

• Share information/key messages about organizational and departmental goals with colleaguesSeek examples of process improvements and best practices from coworkers

• Identify ongoing wins or challenges from employees and provide honest feedback to their leadership team

When will the Coaches start their work?

Departments across the organization were asked to identify coach representatives, and initial meetings for the new Culture Coaches begin next week in anticipation of the June Employee Engagement Survey. If you don’t yet know who your department’s Culture Coach is, find out. If you do know, take a minute to thank that person in advance for their hard work in support of your UMHS team. After all, a kind word today might prevent a few sprints up and down the hill behind the practice football field tomorrow!