Meeting Public Health Where It Is
When a Washington State health department found itself navigating significant organizational transitions, they turned to Flourish & Thrive Labs for our unique combination of comprehensive coaching and specialized training solutions. With our deep expertise in public health leadership development, we understood that effective organizational change requires supporting leaders at all levels while maintaining critical services. Our ability to pair executive coaching with department-wide training offered exactly what they needed: a holistic approach to building resilience across the organization.
The department needed an approach that acknowledged both their operational constraints and aspirations for improvement. They wanted to invest simultaneously in senior leadership, middle managers, and frontline staff – creating a cascade of support throughout the organization. Our solution combined one-on-one executive coaching for senior staff with department-wide trauma-informed training, ensuring that everyone from top to bottom gained practical tools for managing stress, building resilience, and finding joy in their work.
A Comprehensive Approach to Organizational Resilience
Our engagement began with department-wide trauma-informed training, delivered in partnership with subject matter experts who shared our commitment to public health transformation. Together, we crafted customized training that addressed the department’s specific challenges while building a common language around trauma, resilience, and organizational health. This foundation enabled leaders to immediately apply insights from their coaching sessions to support their teams more effectively.
The coaching component went beyond theoretical leadership concepts to provide highly tactical, practical solutions. We addressed real-world challenges like managing overwhelming inboxes, structuring effective one-on-one meetings, and prioritizing competing demands. Each coaching session concluded with clear, actionable goals, and we provided regular check-in opportunities to ensure accountability and progress. This combination of strategic insight and practical application helped leaders create sustainable changes in their daily work.
Creating Practical, Sustainable Change
Our coaching approach balances high-level leadership development with practical, day-to-day solutions. Leaders received concrete strategies for common challenges – from managing email overload to running effective team meetings. In these coaching sessions we worked together to develop strategies and ideas that would work for the context. We worked through ideas around visibility around workloads, celebrating team wins, and advocating amid organizational change.
Between sessions, leaders worked on specific goals with structured check-in opportunities via email. This accountability framework helped ensure that new practices became habits while our follow-up support addressed challenges as they arose. Focusing on immediate wins and long-term development helped create sustainable change that outlasted the coaching engagement.
Integrating Joy and Resilience
While addressing trauma and organizational challenges was crucial, we emphasized finding joy in public health work. Our coaching helped leaders identify and amplify positive aspects of their work, creating moments of celebration and recognition within their teams. This wasn’t about ignoring difficulties but rather about building resilience through a balanced perspective.
Leaders learned to create environments where challenges and successes could be openly discussed. We worked on strategies for recognizing team achievements, fostering peer support, and maintaining motivation during difficult times. This joy-based approach helped counter burnout while building stronger, more cohesive teams.
Building Leadership at All Levels
The combination of executive coaching and department-wide training created a ripple effect throughout the organization. Senior leaders, equipped with new tools and perspectives, became more effective mentors to their middle managers. Meanwhile, frontline staff benefited from more structured support and clearer communication from their supervisors.
This multi-level approach helped break down silos between departments and hierarchical levels. Leaders reported feeling more connected to their teams, while staff expressed greater trust in leadership. The shared language and frameworks from our training provided a foundation for more effective collaboration across the organization.
Looking Forward: Lessons for Public Health Leadership
The success of this engagement demonstrates the power of combining targeted executive coaching with broader organizational development. By addressing both individual leadership capabilities and organizational culture, we helped create sustainable change that continues to benefit the department today.
For other health departments facing similar challenges, this case study offers valuable insights about the importance of comprehensive support for leaders at all levels. It shows how investing in leadership development, when done thoughtfully and systematically, can transform organizational culture and improve public health service delivery.
A Common Challenge, A Proven Solution
The story of this Washington State health department isn’t unique. Across the country, public health leaders face similar pressures: navigating organizational change, supporting burned-out staff, and maintaining critical services with limited resources. PH WINS data tells us that nearly half of the public health workforce is considering leaving their organizations, creating an urgent need for solutions that can help retain and support valuable team members.
Executive coaching, particularly when paired with trauma-informed organizational training, offers a practical path forward. Whether your department is going through major transitions or simply looking to strengthen your leadership team, coaching provides the structured support leaders need to create more resilient, effective organizations. At F&T Labs, we’re ready to help you develop a coaching approach that meets your department’s unique needs and constraints while building sustainable capacity for the future.
Ready to explore how trauma-informed executive coaching could transform your health department? Schedule a conversation with us to learn more about our approach and how we can support your organization’s growth.