CHSU in Its Third Year

CHS is now accepting applications for the third cohort of CHS University (CHSU) students. CHSU, is a two-year program offered to help employees develop and strengthen their leadership skills. 

Students attend 12 full-day sessions spaced every few months and participate in hour-long small group discussion between sessions. Sagency’s Founder and CEO, Mike Meagher, developed the CHSU curriculum. It covers a variety of topics, including the Art and Science of Conversations, Coaching Accountability, High Impact Teams, and Know Yourself, Know Others.

“My favorite course is Know Yourself, Know Others,” said Learning and Development Advisor Tammy Huntimer. “That course challenges you to dig deep and understand your behaviors and tendencies. To become a better leader for others, you need to learn more about yourself and why you think and act the way you do.”

Tammy has led the program for almost a year. She explained that CHSU started after an employee engagement survey showed that staff felt like their leaders weren’t effectively leading, and leaders felt unprepared.

As of today, about 90 staff members have graduated from CHSU. Although we haven’t collected formal data, we have observed positive trends in the organization over the past three years.

“Our employee retention has increased,” Tammy said. “We’ve had our lowest turnover in three years, and I believe CHSU plays a part in that. When organizations offer growth opportunities to staff, employees want to stay.”

She also shared that she receives lots of positive feedback from students and enjoys hearing their success stories. “Many people tell me how they’ve applied tools or found inspiration from class and brought those lessons back to their teams. It’s inspiring!”

This year, the program features a new element—each member of the executive leadership team will participate in a session.

“I’m piloting an idea where the executive team comes in and supports a message of the program,” said Tammy. “I like bringing in other leaders to offer different perspectives on the course. It’s also a great way for the leadership team to refresh their knowledge.”

President and CEO Michelle Lavallee was the first executive to teach a class. She spoke to students about high impact teams, emphasizing the significance of making a team feel psychologically safe, and how leaders can incorporate strategies into their teams’ daily routines.

Having leadership team members present is just one of the ways Tammy is working to build connections between departments. She believes that one of the strengths of CHSU is bringing people together from across the organization. CHSU not only builds individual leadership skills but also strengthens relationships, collaboration and trust between teams.

“One of my favorite things about CHSU is that students meet people from other departments and programs—executives, residential care, school, facilities, finance, foundation and HR,” she said. “It’s great that they can reach out beyond their own departments and hear how others apply the curriculum in their teams. We are building leaders and breaking silos.”