Chippewa County Health Department Staff Communication Training

WIPPS was contracted by Chippewa County Health Department to conduct staff communication and conflict management training. Facing a challenging re-accreditation process, the Health Department created a plan to gather data and prepare itself for the accreditation. The preparation process allowed new opportunities for staff to step up and take greater responsibility; but new dynamics emerging from staff working across traditional divisional lines and the stress of adding new work to their daily load also created some unintended workplace tension. WIPPS was asked to assess the situation and design a training series to help key staff leaders recognize and address new communication challenges and learn strategies to manage intra-staff conflict. Following the training activities, Chippewa Valley Public Health Director Angela Weideman stated that the WIPPS team “completely transformed our thinking about the accreditation process and helped key staff move on from a personal approach to become an integrated team working together to address issues. We couldn’t be happier about the outcome.”