Using an employee resource group to develop GRIT in female healthcare leaders: a case study

Purpose This case study aims to demonstrate how the Greater Leadership Opportunities for Women (GLOW) Mayo Clinic Employee Resource Groups (MERG) has positively impacted leadership development focusing on growth, resilience, inspiration and tenacity (GRIT) and increased advancement for female leaders at Mayo Clinic. It will also establish how the innovative utilization of employee resource groups can positively impact the development of leaders within an institution in general and specially can enhance behaviors related to GRIT. Design/methodology/approach This case study design was used to measure the impact of the GLOW MERG’s interventions through qualitative and quantitative approaches that highlight both process and outcome to increase study validity through complementarity, which “seeks elaboration, enhancement, illustration, clarification of the results from one method with the results from another” (Greene, et al., 1989, p. 259) as well as completeness and context (Onghena et al., 2019; Schoonenboom and Johnson, 2017; Bryman, 2006). Learning outcomes (knowledge), skill accomplishments and attitude development were evaluated within two weeks after each session and annually through standardized surveys sent to participants via email. The surveys were designed to capture key information about the sessions, including the impact of the session content, the willingness and ability of attendees to apply the learning and identification of opportunities for improvement in session design and delivery, as well as measure satisfaction with the activities offered, the frequency and method(s) of communication, barriers to session attendance and particular topics or speakers of interest to members (Appendix 1). Response options included dichotomous scales, Likert-type scales, multi-select and free text. This provided a voluntary response sampling, as post-session surveys were sent to all session attendees and annual surveys were sent to all GLOW MERG members, which allowed individuals to choose if they would respond to the surveys (Creswell and Creswell, 2018). To foster an environment of continuous improvement, plan-do-study-act (PDSA) cycles (Langley et al., 2009) were conducted after every survey by the event planning team and the GLOW MERG Board. Interventions were tested, reviewed and discussed during monthly board meetings and event planning. Improvements were made and results were shared with key stakeholders through regular communication channels. Addition