Explore how organizations across healthcare, financial services, and facilities management partnered with Project Brilliant to build stronger leaders, reshape culture, and deliver outcomes that last.
How a 3,000-person healthcare facilities organization reduced turnover and strengthened culture by investing in 350 leaders across six cities.
Leaders Engaged
350+
Workshop Rating
98%
rated 7+/10
Cohort Avg Rating
9.1/10
A large healthcare facilities organization based in Indianapolis with nearly 3,000 employees across multiple states. These weren't clinical teams — they were the people who kept hospitals running: electricians, plumbers, painters, project managers, business analysts, directors, and senior executives. From the CEO and his 17 direct reports to 200+ managers and directors and more than 100 frontline supervisors, over 350 leaders shaped the day-to-day employee experience.
Turnover had become a serious issue. In some areas, it had climbed beyond 50%. While exit interviews offered a range of reasons, one truth stood out: people don't leave companies — they leave leaders. The executive team recognized that the financial cost of turnover was high, but the cultural cost was even higher. Institutional knowledge was walking out the door. Morale was inconsistent. Accountability varied by department. Coaching skills were underdeveloped. Difficult conversations were often avoided. If nothing changed, they risked continued instability — and the downstream impact on the healthcare systems they supported.
Project Brilliant designed a comprehensive, multi-level Leadership Development program built around three distinct tracks:
Two-day in-person immersive experience, followed by dedicated full-day workshops on culture and change management.
Seven in-person cohorts across Indianapolis, Austin, Nashville, Pensacola, Milwaukee, and Detroit. Two-day workshop plus six biweekly virtual sessions over three months with accountability groups of 4–6 peers.
Four condensed one-day virtual workshops, followed by biweekly 60-minute cohort sessions with the same accountability structure.
Across 15 months, Project Brilliant facilitated 11 cohorts across multiple facilities and states. The approach was intentionally different — no PowerPoint slides, no passive listening. Instead: interactive exercises, vibrant graphic flip charts, drawing in workbooks, rotating table groups, peer dialogue, and hands-on leadership simulations.
"The accountability groups were the most valuable part of the program. Leaders practiced difficult conversations, tested new coaching approaches, and shared real challenges. They weren't just learning concepts — they were applying them in real time."
— Program Participant
Even amid executive turnover and organizational restructuring, engagement scores were exceptional: 98% of participants rated the in-person workshops 7 or higher out of 10. Cohort sessions averaged 9.1 out of 10.
"I have seen great improvement in the autonomy of my team."
"Using coaching conversations has increased my team's internal critical thinking skills and empowers their inner ability to inference and solve problems."
"This agile leadership class has taught me so much. Great info for leaders at any stage."
Leaders reported stronger delegation, more ownership, better conversations, and increased autonomy. The organization is now exploring a Part 2 of the program — because leadership isn't a one-time event. It's a capability that compounds.
Breaking down silos, making work visible, and reconnecting IT with clinicians to transform healthcare delivery.
At first glance, the challenges were structural. Teams were highly siloed, especially given their reliance on a SaaS-based system. Individual developers often specialized in narrow areas — sometimes to the point where only one person knew how to configure or modify a critical component. These single points of failure weren't just a risk — they were a constraint on progress.
But beneath the structural issues was something deeper: a culture shaped by control. Managers acted as intermediaries between clinicians and developers, gathering requirements and translating them into work. While well-intentioned, this approach introduced delays, diluted context, and created dependency. Developers were removed from the "why" behind the work, and clinicians rarely had direct visibility into how their requests were being implemented.
As part of the transformation, teams were introduced to Scrum or Kanban based on the nature of their work. Cross-functional teams were formed deliberately, breaking apart long-standing silos. This was not always a smooth transition. Individuals who had become heroes in their specialized area worried their stakeholders wouldn't get the same level of attention. Team members who had worked side by side for years were now on cross-functional teams with people who had different but complementary skills.
Managers now had direct reports spread across multiple teams, challenging traditional lines of authority. Developers who had once worked independently were now expected to collaborate, share knowledge, and make collective decisions. Behaviors that had previously been obscured — missed commitments, communication gaps, uneven workloads — became visible almost immediately.
Tension surfaced. But that visibility was also the turning point. Rather than avoiding the discomfort, the organization leaned into it. Coaching and training were provided at every level — leadership, management, teams, and even stakeholders. The goal was not just to introduce agile frameworks, but to create a shared understanding of how work would flow and how decisions would be made.
"I used to think my job was to know everything that was happening. I had to learn that my job was to make sure the team could handle it."
— Manager, longtime veteran of command-and-control culture
One of the most impactful changes was the introduction of clinician partners working closely with IT teams. These individuals acted as a bridge — not as gatekeepers, but as collaborators who could bring clinical context directly into team discussions. For the first time, developers were hearing firsthand why a change mattered. And clinicians were gaining insight into how work was prioritized and delivered.
This reduced the back-and-forth that had previously slowed progress and built trust in both directions. Instead of long queues of disconnected requests, teams began focusing on what mattered most — and that alone changed the rhythm of delivery.
During a team launch, one participant shared: "I would like to go on vacation and not have to take my laptop for fear of getting a call and having to do some work. I want to vacation while on vacation."
Addressing single points of failure became a priority. Team members were cross-trained. Certifications were expanded. Knowledge was shared more openly. It wasn't always efficient in the short term — training someone new rarely is — but it paid off in resilience. Over time, the organization moved from fragility to flexibility. Work could continue even when key individuals were unavailable.
One team was responsible for replacing an entire system with an external vendor — meaning timelines weren't entirely within their control, yet they were still being held accountable. Before the transformation, this likely would have resulted in frantic activity and constant task switching.
Instead, they organized around what was truly required for go-live — the must-haves versus the nice-to-haves. They surfaced all incoming requests related to the legacy system being retired. When leadership saw the volume — and the impact those requests would have on the timeline — they made a decisive call: not yet. Those requests would be evaluated after go-live.
For the team, this decision was transformative. They had clarity. They had protection. And they had permission to focus. The result was less chaos, more confidence, and better outcomes.
Over three years, the transformation took hold. Collaboration between IT and clinician staff improved significantly. Delays were reduced. Work flowed more predictably. Teams became more focused, more resilient, and more connected to the outcomes they were delivering. It wasn't perfect — no transformation is. But the evidence was real, not in a single dramatic moment, but in the accumulation of smaller ones: a developer who could explain why a feature mattered to a patient, a manager who knew when to get out of the way, a team that could absorb a vendor delay without falling apart. That is what sustained change actually looks like.
How a mid-sized financial institution doubled productivity, reduced cycle times by over 50%, and rebuilt business confidence — all while operating in a highly regulated environment.
Cycle Time
<12 days
from 30+
Productivity
2x
doubled
Say/Do Ratio
90%+
sustained
Releases
2–3/mo
The bank's 90-person technology organization supported both internal operations and customer-facing services critical to the business. More than 25 business stakeholders depended on the team to deliver modernization initiatives tied directly to bank priorities. They were disciplined and capable, but structured around traditional, project-based delivery. As complexity increased, that structure created friction instead of flow.
Large initiatives extended across multiple years. Delivery commitments shifted. Forecasts lacked reliability. Compliance requirements added coordination overhead, and work frequently arrived late or required rework as needs evolved. The impact was visible:
Trust between business and IT weakened
Stakeholders disengaged
Teams felt overloaded and reactive
Customer-facing improvements slowed
"We eventually stopped bringing forward new requests because we had lost confidence that they would move forward."
— Business Leader
The issue was not talent. It was the system governing how work flowed.
Project Brilliant began with executive alignment. In a focused workshop, senior leaders clarified the transformation vision and committed to two system-level optimizing goals: Predictability and Customer Satisfaction. From that point forward, every structural and behavioral decision was filtered through two questions: Does this improve Predictability? Does this increase Customer Satisfaction?
Rather than organizing around temporary initiatives, the technology organization restructured around four long-lived product value streams. Using the AgileOS® framework, Project Brilliant introduced:
7 cross-functional Scrum teams aligned to 4 product value streams
9 shared services Kanban teams managing operational and flow-based work
Lightweight scaling patterns inspired by LeSS and Scrum@Scale
A cross-functional Change Leadership Team to sustain progress
Each Scrum and Kanban team began with a structured 1 to 2 week Team Liftoff — immersive workshops including agile framework training, intentional team formation, working agreements, defined team processes, backlog refinement, product goal alignment, and workflow visualization. Teams were not simply reorganized. They were equipped to operate effectively from day one.
The first major breakthrough came after the initial product value stream liftoff. Within four months, teams executed more than 20 releases — a pace unheard of under the previous project model.
Cycle times reduced from more than 30 days to 12 days. Say/Do ratios sustained above 90%. Delivery commitments stabilized. Forecast accuracy improved. Confidence returned.
"We had stopped submitting requests because nothing ever seemed to move. Now, we're amazed at how much is being delivered. It has given our business unit renewed excitement about what's possible."
— Business Leader
Productivity doubled across teams
2–3 releases per month accelerated time to market
Accurate forecasting restored through improved predictability
Customer satisfaction measurably increased
Modernization accelerated with stronger audit and compliance readiness
"This Agile transformation has truly exceeded my expectations."
— CIO
First, leadership aligned around clear optimizing goals. Predictability and Customer Satisfaction were not abstract aspirations. They became consistent decision filters shaping funding, prioritization, structure, and behavior. That alignment created coherence across a 90-person technology organization and reduced the noise that often derails transformation.
Second, the organization redesigned its operating model rather than layering agile practices onto an outdated project structure. By organizing around four long-lived product value streams and equipping teams through immersive liftoffs and sustained coaching, agility became structural rather than ceremonial. This institution chose the harder path — and it resulted in a sustainable shift in how value is delivered.
Every transformation starts with a conversation. Let's talk about where your organization is today — and where it could go.
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