Cover Story
Sharing the keys
How Nancy Schlichting mass produces excitement at Henry Ford Health System
By Erik Cassano
Smart Business Detroit | August 2008
Page 1 of 4
Nanncy Schlichting wants to get everyone at Henry Ford Health
System excited about where the organization is headed. In a
health system composed of about 22,000 employees spread
across 200 locations, it’s quite a task.
So she thinks big. Really big.
Once a year, Schlichting, the president and CEO of the $3.5 billion health care system, brings her entire management team
together. That is about 1,500 people, so they don’t use conference
rooms or even banquet halls for networking. They use landmarks.
Most recently, Schlichting’s all-leadership meeting took place at
the Fox Theatre in downtown Detroit. Before that, it was held at
Ford Field, the 65,000-seat home of the Detroit Lions.
At a time when one-on-one, personalized communication has
become increasingly valued in the world of business,
Schlichting calls the annual leadership mass gatherings one of
the most important prongs in her communication strategy. The
reason? Strength in numbers.
“I think it really allows for all of us to get excited because
there is power in the collective energy of 1,500 people coming
together once a year, to really get excited about what we’re
doing and the accomplishments we’ve had [and] the things we
have to focus on for the year ahead,” she says. “The energy and
momentum are really enhanced through meetings like that.”
The energy that is generated at the annual leadership meetings is then driven throughout the organization as managers
return to their employees with the latest messages from
Schlichting and her senior leadership.
When the local leaders at Henry Ford Health System go back
to their individual locations and offices to communicate with
their employees, they aren’t going it alone.
In a very real way, the messages they hear during the all-leadership meetings stay with them.
After each meeting, Schlichting’s team provides local managers with a “tool kit,” designed to help managers maintain the
energy generated during the meeting and keep the lines of
communication open and running.
The kits contain, among other things, DVDs of presentations
from the all-leadership meetings. The DVDs are testimonials
from patients and their families about how the work done by
the health system has impacted their lives.
“There are some very inspiring stories of patients’ experiences at Henry Ford,” Schlichting says. “We had one patient
this year who came from England for his brain tumor surgery
and follow-up care, and he told what it meant being a part of
Henry Ford, what it meant to work with our staff. Those are
the kinds of messages we use to really inspire everyone to realize that what we do every day is amazing. While it can be routine for us, it’s certainly not routine for our patients and their
families.”
The all-leadership meeting is just one example of how Schlichting communicates with her work force, but it’s certainly not the only way. Only through a constant campaign of
communication and engagement can you both focus and energize your work force every day to drive growth.
