"In late 2006, we were in a high growth phase—70% in one year—and hemorrhaging with high employee turnover," explains Dawn Teachey, CEO of Hospice Care of South Carolina, a hospice that serves patients and families in 23 counties in South Carolina.

At the time, Teachey was vice president of development during the organization's national CEO search. She was also a vocal proponent of working with the Studer Covenant Alliance to hardwire excellence while better managing growth. So when the Board promoted her to CEO, her team moved forward quickly with the implementation of Studer Group's Leader Evaluation ManagerSM (LEM), an objective evaluation tool that holds all leaders accountable for meeting measurable goals.

But in her first two weeks as CEO, there was another mass exodus of employees, bringing the hospice to an annualized turnover of 74.2% in the first quarter of 2007. "It was scary," says Teachey, "but we knew the turnover was due to lack of leadership and accountability. Employees deserved better. And once we put in the LEM, we could quickly spotlight the weak areas—like our clinical department—and drill down to set and measure key goals for every leader. Poor performers couldn't hide."

The Turn Around
After implementation of the LEM, a fresh burst of low performers self-selected out of the organization. But after that, an interesting thing happened.

"Employees took ownership for our shared future. More than half of direct reports came to their supervisor and asked what they could do better," notes Teachey. Supervisors met with the rest—using Studer Group's highmiddlelowTM process—to coach them. "It was a huge culture change for us. And it just demonstrates the incredible amount of employee engagement that you can harvest from the process of organizational alignment."

When employees saw how their work was aligned with that of other individuals, those who felt pressure left the organization. But middle and high-performing employees were excited about the tool as an opportunity for learning and improvement. They were relieved that low performers were gone and asked for more opportunity and responsibility during the restructuring process.

"In some cases, we realized good cost savings and process improvements while also giving new opportunities to high performing employees who wanted them," Teachey explains. For example, a centralized Human Resources function that oversaw staff education in all regions was moved to local supervisors who could be more responsive to their unique staff needs.

The Pay Off
When reducing employee turnover became a key organizational goal, the goal cascaded down to all employees. As everyone worked on turnover, it improved dramatically. "It wasn't about one of us, but rather the amazing things we can accomplish as a team," Teachey notes. As the organization moved to a more transparent culture, real-time turnover measures were communicated via the Internet, newsletters, and communication boards in each office so every individual could celebrate the difference they were making real-time. The result? A 28% decrease in just five months.

Today, you can feel the positive culture when you walk into any of Hospice Care’s offices. "There's a pervasive positive attitude," Teachey adds. "Employees seek each other out to get input and reach out to become more involved. Meanwhile, Administration is now putting the tools in place that employees say they need and that builds our mutual confidence and work satisfaction."