Success Labs Leadership Coaching Series: Teams Brainstorm Strategies to Boost Engagement at VOA’s Oak Park Plaza

Learning the difference between strategy and tactics is a key task for new leaders, and the latest Leadership Coaching Series provided a great opportunity for participants to do just that. Their challenge was to develop a unified, focused initiative that included strategies to increase residents’ wellness at Volunteers of America Greater Baton Rouge’s Oak Park Plaza, which provides senior housing.The Leadership Coaching Series is designed to challenge high-potential employees and new leaders to expand their leadership competencies as they offer innovative, strategic business solutions to a real-world problem. Participants are divided into two teams and must work together to identify strategies the organization can use to achieve its goal.Participants in this series came from a variety of industries, and they worked hard together to develop strategies to increase resident participation and include them in the planning of activities and goals.

Developing Strategic Solutions

People in Oak Park Plaza often feel isolated or depressed, and there’s a general lack of health and wellness among the population. The groups looked at the environment — including a site visit to improve their understanding of the building — and opportunities for the tenants to get involved.This led to a challenge, as both groups initially focused on the tactical aspects of the project — specific and individual improvements that could be made to the space. It was a great lesson in how strategic planning looks and feels different than tactical planning and implementation. They made adjustments in their approach along the way to make sure they focused their efforts only at a strategic level that resulted in sustainable guidelines and recommendations that would create lasting change in the organization.Some of the solutions the groups came up with included:

• Developing a strategic approach for walls and spaces that could feature information about programs, a pictorial social calendar and era-specific visuals, such as a “walk down memory lane.”
• Developing more opportunities for tenants to work together, such as through a social club that would choose and plan activities, involvement in the Mardi Gras parade, pet therapy and era-specific movie nights.
• Developing communication strategies that are designed to reach out to tenants and families, showing that tenants getting involved is essential to the success of the programs, as well as better outcomes through improved depression rates.
• Introducing a level of competition into activities to get more people interested and involved in what’s going on at the plaza.

Janice Bartley, regional director of HUD Housing Operations at VOAGBR, said the entire experience was wonderful. “The teams came up with excellent ideas to get our seniors involved in activities that will substantially benefit their health and overall well-being. We plan to take the recommendations and implement as soon as possible, and look forward to positive results in improving the quality of life for our residents.”

Building New Competencies

Participants in the Leadership Coaching Series also worked on their own skills as they developed a strategy for Oak Park Plaza. Stacey Junot, audit director at Albemarle Corp., says she was recently promoted and was hoping to get some leadership training to help her identify opportunities for improvement. The series helped her focus more critically on her approach to some of the day-to-day activities, she says, and she now pays more attention to being in the moment and not distracted when meeting with others, taking a direct and timely approach when addressing issues and stepping back to evaluate the message she sends to others.“We approached the project with a lot of enthusiasm,” Junot says. “Our brainstorming session was very effective during our first team meeting, and our plan became more focused with subsequent team meetings.”Genny Amick, an intern at Success Labs, also joined in the series. She said she was surprised when her team had the confidence to make her team lead for the afternoon on the first day. “During my position as leader, I did my best to redirect conversation and ask the right questions, which helped me meet the other challenge of starting a project with this team that I had only just met,” Amick says.To register your company’s leaders in an upcoming Leadership Coaching Series session, please e-mail Shannon D’Gerolamo at sdgerolamo@mysuccesslab.com.
Success Labs is a leadership development and management consulting firm in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. For more than 25 years, our expert team of consultants has worked with hundreds of companies to explore their business potential and improve their company and cultural performance. Contact us to get proactive about your people strategy.