Walking the Talk

Walking the Talk Begins Work with Evangelical Children's Home

Mike Brennan, CEO of Evangelical Children's Home in St. Louis and CHHSM board chair, is an energetic leader, known both for his quick sense of humor and for leading his organization into a period of rapid growth grounded in strong business practices. Today Evangelical Children's Home has 200 employees who provide residential treatment services; early education; therapeutic and educational intervention; counseling; an array of community-based services including foster care case management; and services for youth who are transitioning to adulthood.

Earlier this year, Brennan decided to cement his organization's success by engaging Walking the Talk, CHHSM's consultative program that helps member ministries identify and leverage their spiritual and organizational strengths. At Evangelical Children's Home, Walking the Talk's work will take the form of strengthening communication, teamwork, trust and supervisory relationships.

"Based on staff surveys, I decided it was time to bring us all together to foster a positive culture," said Brennan. "We have grown quickly, and we want to ground people in some basic ways of working with each other."

Walking the Talk's work is based in asset-based methods, meaning that consulting work begins with the premise that the organization already has all of the gifts, skills and resources it needs to be stronger. Through a Walking the Talk engagement, a CHHSM member ministry can uncover and leverage its existing strengths to produce better outcomes.

At Evangelical Children's Home, Brennan is hoping that Walking the Talk can help him improve one particular outcome: staff retention. "People who feel more grounded, connected and appreciated will be more apt to stay employed with the organization."

"I see this process as integrated with good business practices," continued Brennan. "We're only as good as our people--we use people to help other people. Anything we can do to make our employees more effective is good for our business practices. In our system, we're being measured on program outcomes, and if you have an environment where there is teamwork and trust, you're going to have a better product and be more effective at making change for children and families."

Walking the Talk's 12-month project with Evangelical Children's Home will have three phases: a discovery and design phase during which an employee task force will learn asset-based methods; a practice phase in which task force members will introduce asset-based practices to their peers; and an evaluation phase, in which the consultant team and task force together will assess the project's outcomes.

"I like this approach," said Brennan, reflecting on the work that is beginning now. "You don't have to wait to do this until your organization is falling apart at the seams. We're not in a crisis. We see this as a boost."

To learn more about how Walking the Talk can help your ministry uncover and leverage its strengths, please call or email Daniel Pryfogle at 919-460-7069 or pryfogled@chhsm.org.