Harvard Business School Publishing Corporate Learning
Customer Innovation Story
Sioux Valley Hospitals & Health System
May 2006
Strong Leaders Drive Innovation
Based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Sioux Valley Hospitals &
Health System is a four-state integrated network of more than
300 physicians, a health plan, and more than 150 healthcare
facilities, including Sioux Valley Hospital, named one of
America’s Best Hospitals by U.S. News & World Report.
Sioux Valley is at the forefront of healthcare, creating a
comprehensive integrated system dedicated to providing the
highest quality of care. Sioux Valley recognized that its
leadership abilities were an important factor in its ability to deliver the highest quality of
care across its network.
“Our quality of care depends heavily on the strength of our leadership team,” said Kelby
K. Krabbenhoft, President and CEO, Sioux Valley Hospitals & Health System.
Sioux Valley deployed Harvard ManageMentor® from Harvard Business School
Publishing in 2003. Offered through Sioux Valley’s Center for Learning & Innovation,
the program is a key component of an interdisciplinary, holistic leadership development
initiative. Sioux Valley selected Harvard Business School Publishing based on the high
level of quality content and resources, as well as the relevancy of the offerings to Sioux
Valley’s strategic direction.
The leadership initiative gathers together interdisciplinary teams including nurses,
physicians, directors, executives, finance officers, and other healthcare professionals. The
teams explore leadership theory, inter- and intrapersonal dynamics, and other culturally
relevant core leadership concepts and competencies, all in relation to specific real-time
organizational challenges. This approach generates immediate organizational ‘traction’
through the application of principles to real life issues.
To enrich the experience, Sioux Valley’s learning leaders charter each team to build a
business case for a proposed innovation that would help improve operations and patient
care. The winning business proposal is funded for implementation by the System. As the
teams work to develop their business plans, the combination of creative thinking and
strategic business tools lead to strong organizational change projects. Focused on areas
such as better integration of system services, medical staff satisfaction, development of a
centralized grant program, market development and strategies to leverage new
technologies for more cohesive communications, the proposals reach across the
organization. In the end, the System executive team has been so impressed that they have
funded all of the proposed innovations.
“The results we’ve seen from this approach have been outstanding,” said Diana Vander
Woude, RN, MS, Director, Center for Learning & Innovation. “The innovations
emerging from these groups of leaders continue to change the way we work together –
for the better. We’ve experienced improved team and organizational dynamics,
efficiency, and ultimately, higher quality patient care.”
Sioux Valley is creating a progressive leadership development pathway available to
employees at all levels, with particular attention to the needs of frontline managers and
supervisors. In addition to rolling out the new Harvard ManageMentor® PLUS Health
Care Services Edition to provide more industry-specific scenarios and tools for its
managers, Sioux Valley is creating a manager transition program. The manager
transition program is intended to address the critical first 100 days of assuming a new
leadership role, where often now it is a sink-or-swim phenomenon. This new program
will incorporate Harvard Business School Publishing’s Stepping Up to Management with
development of individualized learning plans and mentorship.
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