The approach

In 2016, Otterbein partnered with Reward Gateway to launch its employee engagement platform, “The Otterbein Experience.” Before rolling out the platform to partners, Lois wanted to ensure that it would be a true reflection of their culture.

The team held focus groups of 50 partners across different levels, shifts, locations and departments, or what the organization calls “ministries,” which led to the creation of five values and 21 behaviors to support them. After identifying these values and behaviors, Lois worked with Reward Gateway to bring them to life digitally on The Otterbein Experience with an identifiable brand identity as well as to train their people. 

For example, one of these values is “Partnering in Our Success,” and there are four behaviors that support this, including:

• Appreciate and acknowledge the contributions of others.
• Help and support others within and across departments, locations, and services.
• Follow up to ensure requests are addressed in a timely manner.
• Be flexible and adapt to changes.

Linking people initiatives to business metrics

In addition to its ROAR initiative, Otterbein also has “SOAR goals” – 100 metrics related to four key areas – partner engagement, elder & family satisfaction, quality and financials – that the team tracks quarterly. The Executive Team, which includes CEO Jill Wilson, the CFO and Operations VP, meets with the leader of each location to talk about metrics and an improvement plan. They choose a behavior to track each year, measure it, then train stakeholders on instilling their values within the health and services ministry. 

“Buy-in has to start at the top,” Lois says. “When we launched our new values and behaviors, we trained everyone in the organization starting with the Leadership Team. Everyone from housekeeping to managers to the CEO can and should do these behaviors on a daily basis. We start introducing people to The Otterbein Experience from day one – each new hire gets a copy of our values and behaviors at orientation so we can set them up for success in knowing how we work together to reach our goals.”

Now when partners log onto the platform, they’re greeted with a colorful, branded experience that showcases Otterbein’s values and behaviors, a note from Jill Wilson and a place to see top recognitions or, “Spotlight Recognition,” which all help to bring them closer to one another and to the organization. Alongside this, employees can send one another recognition and rewards, including greetings-based eCards like “A Virtual High Five,” and values-based nominations such as “Delivering a Personalized Experience.”

The team at Otterbein brings the digital recognition to life. For example, Jill Wilson kicks off each meeting with an “Otterbein Minute,” which is an opportunity to share top recognitions with the entire team to get people talking. 

Jill is a firm believer in the power of public recognition. “As the CEO of Otterbein, it’s my job to ensure our mission and values are lived out in the work we do and received by those we serve,” Jill says. “The best way we can do this is by recognizing those who live our values and behaviors with The Otterbein Experience platform. It’s unleashed our passion to care for one another through recognition and is an effective tool in helping guide our culture to produce an experience that is consistent with our mission and values. The platform makes people feel appreciated, knowing that their work has purpose and meaning and it increases the visibility of who sees it, which is especially important as we continue navigating the pandemic,” she adds.