This month, Leadership Colorado participants visited Craig Hospital to learn about a business that transforms lives. At Craig, hope wasn’t just a feeling, it’s something you could see in the way teams cared for patients recovering from spinal cord and brain injuries and the long-term commitment to helping people get back to living full, independent lives.
The cohort met with Dan Frank (CFO), Amie Staudenmeier (CHRO), Tom Carr (Director of Recreational Therapy and Military Programs), Jake Manley (Director of Integrated Marketing and Communications), Shannon Lowe (Senior Director of Philanthropy), and Becky Plunkett (Senior Director of Donor Engagement and Operations) to discuss business operations and the Craig Foundation. One of the biggest leadership lessons from our visit was that culture, mission, and operational excellence are deeply interconnected. Their commitment to treating the “whole person, not just the injury” highlighted how compassionate leadership and strategic operations can work together to transform lives.
The cohort got to ‘step into recovery’ by using a mouth stick to create a painting, and playing Uno while assigned a disability that a patient at Craig could have, which left participants with a shift in their perspective of how much effort and resilience it takes to go through therapy to regain their independence. The patients became a source of hope for the cohort, proving that what can feel impossible is achievable.
After this experience, participants said:
Craig hospital was one of the most inspiring things I was able to witness.
I was inspired at Craig’s ability to find a way for their people to live out their passions even though it may look different than before their condition. I also loved that they enabled people to find new passions as well.
The Uno game was eye opening because it demonstrated how the smallest of tasks can be completely uprooted by a disability.
The most valuable leadership takeaway from this program was understanding the importance of taking into account an individual’s needs. While the program centered around spinal and brain injury patients, this same philosophy can be used while leading a team as certain team members have very specific needs that need to be understood.
A big leadership takeaway for me was how much impact comes from building the right environment. At Craig, leaders clearly focus on supporting their teams, aligning around the mission, and staying committed for the long haul!