Children’s services merger.

A public agency that manages juvenile detention services joined a larger children’s service agency in a merger. The new leader asked us to bring his managers – 35 of them – together to set direction for the group. We interviewed and surveyed each manager; completed an all-staff survey to measure organizational values, and reviewed strategy documents. We facilitated a planning session for the group that resolved serious concerns about involvement and communication; produced common agreement to balance security with restorative care for the children, families and communities served, and converted the strategy into tangible implementation projects. The work established a language and structure that the leadership group uses in its daily interaction and generated commitment to further strengthen teamwork, develop the work force and improve morale.

Business acquisition.

A 120-physician multi-specialty pediatric practice serving a regional children’s hospital wanted to expand its reach by acquiring community practices. We served as the acquiring agent, identifying practices for acquisition, completing due diligence and negotiation work and organizing closing and integration activities. The acquisitions increased revenue for the acquiring practice by 15 percent and added significantly to the margins for both the acquirer and acquired.

Hospital closing.

An urban healthcare system decided to close one of its hospitals because of cost and service concerns. Playing an oversight role, we created an action plan that included targets for cost savings and patient retention, operations restructuring, personnel changes, and commitment among administrators and physicians to the project’s success. The plan engaged physicians, staff, patient groups, unions, state regulators and community leaders. As a result, the hospital closed within a week of the original schedule. It was on target for the number of physicians and patients retained as well as the cost savings.

Program merger.

Several urban settlement houses wanted to merge their Head Start and Child Care programs, which served families with similar backgrounds but were managed separately. Hired as project manager, we gained approval from the mayor’s office and Federal HHS and built support from the settlement staff, City contracting agencies, parents, unions and trade associations. We included these stakeholders in planning sessions that created a business plan that merged the child care programs completely and served as a model for integration elsewhere in the US. Benefits included a common year-round calendar, longer hours of service, unified classrooms, better trained staff, common intake and placement processes, support services for all families, universal parent involvement, merged licensing and common contracts and budgets.