PROJECTS
What does your team need? Here are examples of projects I have led, and the kinds of skills I can bring to your project, program, or team.
TRAINING AND CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT
Outcome focused training and curriculum: I follow a process of researching best practices and partnering with stakeholders to develop training materials to achieve specific outcomes. Recent examples include: an interactive web-based college readiness program for non traditional Alaskan students; Traditional Alaskan Transition Skill curriculum to teach subsistence and culturally relevant transition skills for Alaska Native students for the State of Alaska; a Student Transition Workbook and Teacher Resource Guide for the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation; and staff and parent trainings for Stone Soup Group Group to support their mission of serving families with children with special needs. I love training using technology and published this article with John VanDenBerg with tips for leading effective virtual trainings: Better Training Through Technology (2022).
PROGRAM START UP
ENGAGE DIVERSE STAKEHOLDERS TO ACHIEVE SHARED GOALS
IMPROVE OUTCOMES USING PDCA (PLAN-DO-CHECK-ACT)
Supported Staff to Improve Outcomes: At Kaiser Permanente Colorado, the high turnover of front desk staff was negatively impacting customer service ratings. Using a modified Lean Six process over a 6-month period, I improved engagement and staff satisfaction by streamlining duties to allow more time for working on interesting projects. Training materials allowed new staff to be self sufficient on the most important duties
by the end of day one. Customer and staff satisfaction went up, and turn-over reduced.
Coordinated Interagency Strategic Plan: As chair of the Alaska Health and Disability Steering Committee, I facilitated a two-year process of developing a strategic plan for the State of Alaska. Stakeholder input was gathered, and it informed every aspect of the plan. The consensus process resulted in a strategic plan with cross agency and cross sector buy-in of over 45 agencies and partners.
Facilitated Consensus with Strong Personalities: As a health educator for Kaiser Permanente Colorado, I led an effort to develop plain language patient instructions for complex procedures for the new Electronic Health Record (EHR). For each set of instructions, I had to get doctors, surgeons, and nurses to agree on the information to be included. Using consensus building, I guided strongly opinionated people to agree on each set of patient instructions. Patient feedback informed additional changes before content was finalized. In the 18-month project, 377 patient instructions were completed using this process.
Turned Proposal into a Program: As the Training Coordinator for the Alaska LEND program at the UAA Center for Human Development, I translated the grant proposal into action. With direction from the Training Director and Director, I used the proposal to design all the details of the complex program. LEND is still going strong since 2011.
Developed Sustainable Processes: My faith community in Denver decided to do something to reduce homelessness. I led a committee through the year-long process of preparing to join the Interfaith Hospitality Network (IHN), where a network of churches take turns housing a small group of families that would otherwise be homeless. I organized supply drives, developed training sessions for the congregation, learned best practices from other churches, and designed all the processes for our site. The program is still going strong since 2004.
Past and Current Clients
