HD570 Unit 7 Supervision and Performance Case Example

Thirty-Eight Percent Uncoded: A Unit 7 Supervision and Performance Case for a Veteran Health Educator Moved to Phone Outreach

[Student Name]

Purdue University Global

HD570: Health Education Leadership and Management

Unit 7 Supervision and Performance Case

[Instructor Name]

[Date]

Ashcombe Health Plan, the employee and every figure are composite; the feedback, goal setting and transition sources cited are real.

The Situation

Pat Delgado has worked in Health Education for fourteen years, nearly all of it teaching community classes on diabetes, nutrition and prenatal care. When the open-enrollment class series ended under the Unit 4 budget reduction, Delgado's hours moved to postpartum outreach calls. Ten weeks into the new assignment, the outreach system shows three problems.

Coding. Each completed outreach contact must carry an encounter code so that it is reported to the state and counted toward quality measures. Thirty-eight percent of Delgado's completed calls have no code, against a team rate of 4 percent. Uncoded calls do not count, so the work is invisible to the plan and the state.

Volume. Delgado completes an average of 13 contacts a day, against a team average of 21.

Notes. Call notes are thorough, often longer than colleagues', and members' feedback on Delgado's calls is the best on the team.

Understanding the Causes

Before meeting Delgado, I reviewed the call records and the training log. Delgado completed the outreach system's online module but did not attend the two hands-on coding sessions, which were held during class weeks. Calls are long because Delgado teaches during them, covering topics beyond the reason for the call. And the move was not Delgado's choice. Bridges (2009) describes transitions as a psychological process of letting go of an old role before a new one can be accepted. Fourteen years of teaching ended in a budget memo, and the outreach assignment was the result of that memo.

A performance problem that began the week an employee lost the work they had done for fourteen years is not only a problem of skill, and a response that treats it only as a coding error will fix the codes and lose the employee.

What I Considered First

My first instinct was to send Delgado back to the online coding module and set a deadline. That would have treated the problem as a gap in knowledge alone, ignored the transition and very likely produced resentment without much improvement. My second instinct was to move Delgado back to classes entirely. That was not possible, since the class series had been cut, and it would have left the outreach work short. The approach I chose combines expectations, support and a partial return to teaching.

Preparing for the Meeting

I set aside forty-five minutes, chose a private room rather than my office and prepared one page of data with the team figures beside Delgado's. I wrote down three things I wanted Delgado to leave the meeting knowing: what the problem was, why it mattered and what help would be offered. I also prepared to listen, since the causes I suspected were only guesses until Delgado spoke.

The Meeting

I met Delgado privately, with the data printed on one page. I began with what was going well: member feedback and the quality of call notes. Then I showed the coding rate and contact volume beside the team figures and explained what uncoded calls mean for state reporting and for the department's case to leadership. I asked what Delgado saw as the cause.

Delgado said the coding screen was confusing and that the system's prompts felt like reading a script to a new mother. Delgado also said, after a pause, that losing the classes had been hard.

Research on feedback suggests it improves performance more reliably when it directs attention to the task and to specific steps, rather than to the person (Kluger & DeNisi, 1996). The conversation stayed on the work and the conditions around it.

Expectations

We agreed on three expectations, each with a measure, a target and a date. Specific, challenging goals tend to produce better performance than vague ones (Locke & Latham, 2002).

Coding. Uncoded completed calls below 10 percent by the end of week four, and below 5 percent by the end of week eight, measured from the outreach system's weekly report.

Volume. An average of at least 17 completed contacts a day by week eight, rising to 20 by week twelve.

Call length. A median call length under twelve minutes by week eight, with longer calls allowed when a member asks for more.

Support

Delgado will attend the next hands-on coding session and spend two half-days shadowing the team's most accurate coder. A one-page coding guide will sit beside the phone. I will review ten of Delgado's calls each week for the first four weeks and meet for twenty minutes every Friday to go over the weekly report.

A Changed Assignment

The department still runs a prenatal class series, about 600 hours a year, which needs a lead teacher. From next month, Delgado will teach that series half-time and do postpartum outreach the other half, calling members who attended prenatal classes. Those members already know Delgado, which suits a teaching style on the phone, and the arrangement keeps fourteen years of class experience in use.

If It Does Not Improve

If coding is not below 10 percent by week four, I will consult the human resources business partner about a formal performance improvement plan, which would set the same targets in writing with a defined review period. I told Delgado this plainly at the first meeting, so that no later step comes as a surprise.

Documentation

After the meeting I wrote a short summary of what was discussed and agreed, including the targets and dates, and sent it to Delgado the same day with an invitation to correct anything. A copy went into the supervision file. Each Friday meeting adds a few lines. If a formal plan becomes necessary, this record shows that expectations were clear and support was offered from the start.

Reflection on the Approach

The approach rests on separating three things that could easily blur: the data, which are not in dispute; the causes, which include training gaps and a difficult transition; and the response, which combines clear targets with support and a better-fitting role. Each piece has a date someone will check. If the targets are met, Delgado's success will be recognized in the next performance review, and the split assignment will continue as long as the class series runs, since it uses Delgado's strengths in a way the outreach role alone did not.

References

Bridges, W. (2009). Managing transitions: Making the most of change (3rd ed.). Da Capo Press.

Kluger, A. N., & DeNisi, A. (1996). The effects of feedback interventions on performance: A historical review, a meta-analysis, and a preliminary feedback intervention theory. Psychological Bulletin, 119(2), 254-284. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.119.2.254

Locke, E. A., & Latham, G. P. (2002). Building a practically useful theory of goal setting and task motivation: A 35-year odyssey. American Psychologist, 57(9), 705-717. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.57.9.705