Brio has gone from surviving to thriving leveraging bu’s manager upskilling platform.

Company Size 

1000+ employees

Industry 

Healthcare Industry
✓ Manager training
✓ Unmistakable LEADER™
✓ Individual profiles
✓ Performance management
✓ Manager effectiveness ratings

Products

Brio Living Services is a healthcare organization specializing in elder care, serving over 7000 families and older adults across Michigan. They employ more than 1,300 dedicated team members. Their mission is to provide state-of-the-art senior living options including independent living, hospice care, and home-based services, to meet the diverse needs of older adults. Leveraging bu’s manage upskilling platform Brio propelled itself into a new era of organizational cohesion and leadership excellence.

About

THE PROBLEM

In 2019, Brio faced the challenge when two legacy organizations formed one affiliation, requiring the creation of a new unified culture while paying respect to their individual histories. The impending pandemic combined with a staffing crisis made the need to address workforce challenges and create a cohesive identity a top focus.  
Being a non-profit organization, they struggled to allocate sufficient resources to leadership development, employee retention, and recruitment in the highly competitive healthcare industry.

“We had thrown everything at recruitment and retention that we could throw, and those were meaningful things, but this was a focus that we were not addressing that we finally decided we would address and commit some resources.” - Michelle Baldwin-Henderson, CHRO

Instead of treating retention as solely an “HR responsibility” they emphasized that retention is every manager’s responsibility within the organization, and they took action.

THE SOLUTION

The old model of leadership tends to miss an important demographic of leaders, the middle managers. The ones that can be pulled in either direction to cover shifts but also expected to lead teams with empathy and compassion. It’s hard to be empathetic when you’re constantly exhausted.

“This has been a great opportunity to include them. It was definitely an area of opportunity, and the middle managers wanted the development.” - Courtney Phiscator, Learning and Development Manager

Enter bu- an ally in the journey to upskill Brio’s managers to enable delivery of a consistent experience around performance that blended the combined culture across the organization, at scale. bu’s manager upskilling software, uMap, created a common language for leaders across the 23 communities, fostering transparency and consistency between managers and their direct reports. Brio also utilized bu’s extensive training materials alongside their own proprietary content to develop internal training programs delivered by Brio training staff. The result was a sustainable manager development program and a delivery system that spread the experience to all team members, consistently, in their voice.

THE RESULT

The outcomes were staggering. Brio’s leadership team has finally gotten some relief. During the pandemic the C-suite was covering shifts, turnover was at an all-time high, and top talent was tough to come by. Brio has gone from surviving to thriving. Their partnership with bu, in addition to a comprehensive workforce planning strategy allowed them to thrive again. 
bu’s manager upskilling programs had a positive impact on employee engagement and interaction. Leaders were more connected and compassionate toward their team members, which translated into better overall job satisfaction and a more enjoyable work environment.

“ I think the biggest impact is compassion with each other. I think our elders see that too.” - Courtney Phiscator, Learning and Development Manager

When asked how bu’s Customer Success team had helped Brio achieve its goals, Michelle added:

“I feel like we are all are working together. It could almost feel like we work as a part of the same team. Is that a common thing you hear? Because it does feel that way. I feel very connected.”