Values in Action: Welcome to Prosper
Part 3: Prosper is one of the first tests of the Culture Platform
Over the next several months, regular articles will explain how the culture platform shows up in daily life at Cook Children’s Health Care System. The articles will highlight our values: kindness, collaboration, imagination, generosity, respect, and safety.
By Malinda Mason Miller
Opening a new medical center in Prosper was one of the first tests of the culture platform. As stewards of the system’s 105-year history, the brand experience needed to be consistent for our families, whether a child was cared for in Prosper or Fort Worth.
Kevin Greene, MHA, Vice President, Administrator of Cook Children’s Medical Center – Prosper, said there were many health care professionals eager to join the Cook Children’s family and to work at the Prosper campus before it opened in January 2023.
“It was amazing to see how excited people were about wanting to join our team and to be a part of the Cook Children’s family,” Kevin said. “I have no doubt our culture as an organization and our commitment to every child played a critical role in each individual’s decision to be a part of this next chapter for the health care system.”
The team began hiring in early 2022 and successfully hired more than 400 employees in one of the most competitive hiring markets for health care professionals in the country. But once they were hired, the new employees learned more than just where to report for work. Depending on their position, new employees spent between two weeks to three months onboarding at our Fort Worth campus so they could experience the workplace culture first-hand.
“Our goal with the culture platform is simple,” Kevin said. “We focus on our values in order to make sure we are providing the same high-quality care and one-of-a-kind experience our patients and families have come to expect when seeking care under the trusted Blue Peaks."
The rest is history.
The platform made its official debut on Halloween 2022, but not before several rounds of staff, physicians, and leadership chipped away to get to the core of the essence of Cook Children’s.
“It took four years of boiling down, meeting, messaging, refining, and re-framing – some of which happened alongside a pandemic until the platform was finalized,” said Kathy McLean, Vice President of Brand and Team Experience.
Values this important take effort, nurturing, and imagination to bring them to life. But the challenge is met daily as employees live out the culture in real-time.
“All employees are on the same page, and it’s a level set that means wherever you worked before – however they did things there – this is how Cook Children’s approaches it,” said Wini King, SVP, Chief of Communications, Inclusion, Diversity and Equity. “With these essential values, there comes a whole new level of ‘we’ve got this.’”