Richton Park Resident Graduates Leadership Development Program

Victor Lockett is one of seven members of this year’s Leadership Development Program at Cook County Health & Hospitals System (CCHHS). Locket, of Richton Park, began the LDP in September 2017. The LDP is a signature initiative that serves to continue building the culture at CCHHS, and this is the 9th cohort of CCHHS employees to receive this high-level, intensive training. Locket has worked for CCHHS for just over 2 years and makes a significant impact on his team every day. He is the Manager of the Patient Support Center within Integrated Care.

The LDP concludes in with a self-designed capstone project. Lockett chose a project to emphasize the importance of health risk screening by looking at how to increase the number of monthly screenings conducted by CCHHS’s Patient Support Center calls and screenings. Lockett worked to increase the hours of the Patient Support Center and anticipates that his project could double the number of completed screens done each month. “Basically, the sooner we assess the patients, the quicker a social worker can arrange the proper level of care for a patient,” Locket explains, showing the clear benefits of his LDP Capstone project.

CCHHS runs two Leadership Development Program sessions each year, with the purpose of developing leaders from within the organization. Participants have weekly workshops during which they have lessons in essential topics such as patient experience, positive relationship building, quality & safety, managing performance expectations, and leadership during difficult situations. The LDP works on the belief that an excellent patient experience is dependent on the strong teamwork of their healthcare providers. In addition to learning new skills, the program incorporates a lot of discussion around implementing those skills within CCHHS.

Karen Williams, long-time facilitator of the LDP and System Manager for Learning & Development in Human Resources, notes that Cohort IX truly knows how to shine within the program, and that they already displayed critical leadership skills in decision making and discussion within the context of their small group. In the past, the graduation ceremony speaker has been chosen by secret ballot, but Cohort IX decided that the anonymity was unnecessary, and was able to discuss who should speak at the ceremony. “It may seem like a small decision compared to the huge ones that members of Cohort IX will face in the future,” Williams says, “but it’s great to see the group practicing their new leadership skills already.“