Texas Health Alliance Employee’s Sunflowers Reach for the Sky
“Grow Where Planted, Rooted in Strength” was a spring theme that kept on growing in the garden of at least one employee at Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Alliance, who wound up with 12.5-foot sunflowers that only recently were cut down.
“We used this message to help our team grow through the doldrums created by the pandemic to a new, vibrant version of themselves,” said Clint Abernathy, hospital president. “As hard as the pandemic was, it helped create some critical culture elements to be better individuals and teammates.”
Employees were handed seedlings as they came to work or left, with an explanation of the metaphor as a way “to help the team mindfully work through their personal journey of growth,” Abernathy said.
Wendy Tilley, M.S., PHR, HRM, AEA, ACE, who works as a hostess in Food and Nutrition at the hospital, called the idea “a little personal for me.”
She has worked at several jobs for Texas Health, including one in Human Resources at Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Hurst-Euless-Bedford, before she made the move to Texas Health Alliance.
“You don’t know when you transfer if things will actually be able to grow,” she said. “But if people foster your growth, it helps.”
Tilley, who is using Texas Health’s tuition reimbursement program as she works on a doctorate in organizational development and management, said she’s absolutely gotten help with her move to Food and Nutrition at Texas Health Alliance.
Abernathy encouraged employees to send him photos of their flowers. Tilley’s blooms ended up almost touching the eaves of her home. “My husband finally cut them down when it almost froze a few weeks ago,” she said.
Trayce Gallman, administrative assistant at the hospital, said employees embraced the idea of “growing into the best of who you are. And being rooted means you are invested right where you are, so there is always room to grow, bloom and be a blessing to the people around you — right now, right here.”
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Published November 1, 2022
