Coaching Through Burnout: Supporting a Leader at the Edge at Novara Health
A Chief Nursing Officer is burning out and refuses to see it. The CEO wants her supported. She doesn't think she needs it. You're the coach.
Duration
80 min
Difficulty
Advanced
Stakeholders
3
Company Size
Large (500-5000)
Organizational Background
Novara Regional Health is a 1,400-employee hospital system that has been in crisis mode since 2020. Dr. Patricia Osei, Chief Nursing Officer, has held the organization together through an extraordinary period - managing staffing shortages, three waves of COVID, two rounds of layoffs, and the departure of two CMOs. By every external metric, she is the organization's most indispensable leader. Internally, she is sleeping four hours a night, has cancelled every vacation for three years, has developed a short fuse with her leadership team, and recently told her deputy 'I'll rest when things stabilize' - something they haven't done in three years. Her physician peers have expressed concern to the CEO off the record. Patricia has agreed to meet with an executive coach because the CEO told her it was a leadership development opportunity. She does not believe she is burned out.
Key Stakeholders
Learning Objectives
- Apply burnout assessment frameworks to identify stage and presentation type in an executive context
- Navigate a coaching engagement where the client has been referred and lacks initial buy-in
- Distinguish between supportive coaching and clinical mental health support, and know when to refer
- Design coaching interventions that address identity-level beliefs about rest, duty, and leadership
- Manage the organizational system dynamics (dependency, succession, role clarity) that perpetuate executive burnout
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