Children’s Mercy Berry Institute
What is the Berry Institute?
At the heart of Children’s Mercy is the care we provide for our patients and families – but we believe in taking care of our team members too. The Berry Institute is an investment in the continued growth and learning of our staff at all levels and is named to honor the pioneering spirit and servant hearts of our founders, the Berry sisters.
The Berry Institute provides team members with personal and professional support to advance skills, meet professional requirements or help in exploring new opportunities, with emphasis in the following pathways.
Leadership training
Children’s Mercy offers a wealth of in-person classes and online training for leaders at all levels based on the At Our Best Leadership Model. This model was built to reflect the evolution of leadership and promotes identifying, learning and practicing leadership competencies needed to effectively lead our professionally and demographically diverse workforce within an ever-changing health care landscape.
Onboarding training
We want our newest team members to get started in their roles at Children’s Mercy with a foundation of applicable knowledge about our organization. Our Children’s Mercy Orientation is an immersive experience that allows new team members to gain an understanding of our strong culture and values, as well as connect with other new hires.
Learning new skills: Online or in-person training
The Berry Institute has learning experiences and opportunities for everyone. It offers a wide range of clinical and non-clinical offerings for frontline staff, individual contributors, emergent leaders and advanced leaders. The course pathways include foundational topics like: crucial conversations, common problem-solving tools and exploring conflict. More advanced course offerings for individual contributors and leaders include topics like leading through change, cause analysis, Lean leader practices and so much more.
Educational support
Children’s Mercy offers a robust tuition assistance program to provide the tools our team members need to meet educational goals. Additionally, CM offers several employer-supported programs that allow individuals to receive a degree or certification while maintaining their current position at Children’s Mercy.
Career development and leadership coaching
Children’s Mercy provides both leadership and career development coaching from certified and experienced coaches. Our career development coaches guide staff at all levels through identifying their strengths, advising on developmental and educational opportunities and helping the employee discover their career aspirations. Our leadership coaches work with our Children’s Mercy leaders to maximize their individual potential and enhance their leadership effectiveness.
Culture
To create a world of wellbeing for all children, Children’s Mercy must also create a culture of wellbeing for its employees. This requires the ability for leaders to make space for deliberate conversations that positively shape how people interact so they can voice desired improvements. Through a dedicated culture program called “At Our Best”, Children’s Mercy works to build leadership capabilities to create an environment where people can be more effective in their day-to-day roles and perform at their best.