HAZELDEN CASE STUDY

Client Background

Hazelden is a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping people recover from alcoholism and other drug addiction. Providing residential and outpatient treatment for adults and young people, programs for families affected by chemical dependency, and training for a variety of professionals, Hazelden provides high quality, affordable rehabilitation, education, prevention, and professional services and publications. Since it's founding in 1949 in St. Paul, Minnesota, Hazelden Foundation has been a pioneer in the treatment of alcoholism and other drug dependency. It has successfully helped guide thousands of men, women, and young people back into productive, healthy, and sober lives. In addition, Hazelden Foundation programs have served as models for many other successful treatment centers all over the world and the organization is known as the world's premier publisher of information on chemical dependency and other related areas.

The Challenge

As the nation's leading provider of recovery services and the world's largest publisher of recovery based materials, the Hazelden Foundation is affected by the ever-changing world of economics and the internal reorganization that often accompanies that change. In fact, Hazelden had decided to combine three divisions into one. The new division would be responsible for alumni relations, continuing care, and the fundraising associated with operating these areas. For years, these divisions had worked separately with different missions and cultures and needed to quickly get up to speed on each other's work habits and styles. Not surprisingly, the first line of business was to create an innovative strategic plan for the future of the combined division. In undertaking this process, division leaders needed to jumpstart the team - first, by helping them get comfortable working together and, secondly, by developing an environment that embraced a fresh outlook and supported innovative idea generation. Many in the group had been through similar changes at Hazelden already and so it was even more important to motivate the new team toward new, redefined goals.

The Brave New Workshop's Role

The Brave New Workshop was hired to help the new Hazelden division begin the process of uniting under a single purpose, including setting some basic ground rules and expectations for the new team. Beginning with the group leaders, the Brave New Workshop taught a unique teambuilding workshop that included exposing key players to the principles and philosophies of ensemble-based improvisation. In sharing specific exercises, the Brave New Workshop offered a new perspective on teamwork and innovation that could be quickly implemented for immediate, positive impact. In particular, the training helped the group to understand the importance of accepting the variety of individual styles as a gift. In deferring any type of judgment in the beginning stages of a creative process, participants also learned how to create a safe and non-threatening environment for their team members. As the beginning step to the planning process, the Brave New Workshop's training helped Hazelden's combined division come together with a renewed sense of teamwork in developing a strategic plan, as well as the means and vision to nurture innovation all along the way.