Wellpoint Care Network’s Commitment to Continuous Learning and Its Value for Employees

At Wellpoint Care Network, our mission is to help children and families thrive by restoring connections that promote equity, learning, healing and wellness. Bringing this mission to life are nearly 350 Wellpoint Care employees working daily to create impactful change for thousands of people across southeastern Wisconsin.

Our leadership recognizes that in order to continue to create this impactful change and fulfill our mission, the organization must support this amazing team of employees and offer opportunities that help them develop and grow not only professionally, but personally as well. This includes creating wellness opportunities that help everyone connect, relax and celebrate their work, their impact and each other.

“The Learning and Talent Development Department works hard to hone in on what exactly that means for each individual,” said Shameka Phillips, Professional Learning & Development Consultant. “What kind of learning opportunities do our employees seek? What do they need to become successful or more efficient in the roles that they’re in? We want to cultivate a culture of learning and wellness, and make sure that it’s ingrained in everything that we do.”

“For decades, Wellpoint Care has prioritized staff training and staff development,” said Ann Leinfelder Grove, Wellpoint Care Network President and CEO. “All our current programming requires technical training on best practices, but also professional development to support employees to grow new skills.”

One of the unique learning, wellness and connection opportunities that takes place at Wellpoint Care is the yearly Day of Learning. It is a required training for all Wellpoint Care employees that began during the pandemic as a way to ensure connection and agency progress. The hybrid model offers employees the chance to engage in several sessions of their choosing to help advance their understanding of core concepts.

“From the organization’s lens, Day of Learning allows us to feature things that we believe are very important to the success of our organization,” said Leinfelder Grove. “It’s a time to pause from your regular daily routines, put on your thinking hat and explore concepts and ideas that strengthen the individual employee. And by doing so, strengthen our organization.”

As many know, Wellpoint Care Network is at the forefront of a healing practice called Trauma Informed Care, which is based on brain science and delivered here by caring and highly-trained staff. Additional training around Trauma Informed Care is one of the core concepts incorporated into Day of Learning each year, as well as additional learning opportunities throughout the year.

“There are always new people to teach the principles of Trauma Informed Care,” said Leinfelder Grove. “There are tenured people who need to be refreshed or reminded. The diligent attention to that helps create the work that we do in the community to be more valuable, more authentic and likely more transformative. We also know that many applicants and many new employees tell us they came to Wellpoint Care because of our focus on Trauma Informed Care.”

Other learning opportunities offered by Wellpoint Care Network include: Implicit Bias Training, Understanding Trauma, Motivational Interviewing, Talking to Children About Racism and many more.

“The newest offering is our Cultural Humility learning session,” said Phillips. “Our hope is to have all of our staff experience this training over the next couple of years. What this training really gets at is how to be culturally competent and what that looks like in the work that we do and how to apply it. Not only with the people that we serve, but with our colleagues as well.”

“We also recently added a wellness training that aims to enhance participants’ understanding and practice of self-care and mindfulness, with a focus on promoting personal well-being and professional effectiveness,” added Phillips. “Every September, the Learning and Talent Development Department conducts a survey, and we learned that staff were asking for more wellness or well-being types of training at the organization where they could learn tangible techniques and self-care practices to help alleviate some of the stress of their everyday work. I’m proud of both of these new additions that were direct results of feedback from and collaboration with employees. It shows our commitment to not only learning and professional development, but to the overall well-being of our staff.”

At Wellpoint Care Network, learning opportunities don’t always look the same. Though there are the more traditional training modules offered throughout the year where employees get to explore and expand their interests and abilities in a more formal setting, there are also Lunch n’ Learns, monthly educational events and celebrations, and more.

“Most of the time when people think about learning, they think about the formal setting of a classroom where an instructor is standing up in front of you talking,” said Phillips. “We really want to get away from the idea that learning has to happen in a formal setting. It can happen in an elevator conversation even. You don’t have to sit down and write something just to learn.”

In addition, Wellpoint Care’s Learning and Talent Development Department works to capitalize on the strengths and abilities of our employees by partnering with various departments within the organization.

“We really make an effort to connect with different staff across all levels of the organization, so they can share their knowledge and expertise with others,” added Phillips. “Instead of always reaching out to outside organizations to facilitate a training, we are mindful of trying to tap into our own folks. I think that’s important when we talk about retention and employee engagement because it shows people that not only are you a valuable asset to the organization, but you can also develop professionally here. A recent example of this is that we now offer regular arts-based open studios hosted by our art therapy clinical interns. It’s a welcoming space for employees to create and explore artmaking in the company of colleagues. Our staff also gets that hands-on experience, which is great.”

According to the Institute of Data, an organization’s commitment to ongoing and lifelong learning enhances employee engagement and satisfaction. Employees with access to learning opportunities report feeling valued and supported by their organization.

“Ongoing learning is important for employees to add skills and knowledge to their toolkit in the work that they do,” said Leinfelder Grove. “Possibly for their existing role, but also to prepare them for a promotional opportunity. Employees always tell us that one of the things they like is to be learning.”

“We live in such an innovative world,” added Phillips. “Things are fast evolving, and people want to keep up with the latest trends and happenings — not only personally, but professionally as well. Because of that, people are always looking to learn something new, and our organization can be the perfect fit for anyone seeking a new job opportunity.”

For a list of job openings at Wellpoint Care Network or to meet some of the dedicated people helping advance our mission of helping children and families thrive, click here.

“The capacity to learn is a gift; the ability to learn is a skill; the willingness to learn is a choice.” -Brian Herbert