Radical Candor: Both Caring and Challenging

How to create a Culture of Accountability

Roadmap to a high performance mindset 

When you have 7,000 healthcare workers who prioritise patients above everything else - including their own professional development - traditional learning programs simply don't work.

Lisa Rashleigh, Manager of Corporate Education and Systems at Bendigo Health, (pictured with her team at bottom right of photo) knows this well.

After 15 years in learning and development at the regional Victorian health service, she's found a solution that fits the reality of healthcare: Growth Faculty's flexible, high-quality masterclass model.

“Growth Faculty has taken a huge burden off us,” she says gratefully.

#### Busy schedules 

Healthcare workers are drawn to their profession because they put others first. But this same quality makes it difficult to prioritise their own development.

"Our staff struggle for time," Lisa explains. "It's such a demanding job, no matter what the role.”

Lisa has seen it happen countless times: A staff member books a day of training, plans their schedule, and then calls that morning because patient numbers have spiked or sick leave has created gaps.

"We're always trying to ensure that nothing's a one-off, that we can offer it again so they can manage their workloads as well as their education," she says.

#### Missed offsite training days

Traditional face-to-face training requires significant administrative resources - sourcing facilitators, booking venues, coordinating schedules. And even when you pull all that together, your attendees might not show up through no fault of their own.

The challenge

Bendigo Health discovered Growth Faculty during COVID when they received funding for staff development. Initially, they struggled with engagement - people were busy, and the program was only offered to certain cohorts.

But after 12 months, something clicked.

"We realised that the topics were fantastic and we could use Growth Faculty in so many different ways to really help meet the needs of our organisation," Lisa says. "Not just for leaders, but for culture improvement, wellbeing, for our aspiring leaders."

When the COVID funding ended, Bendigo Health made a strategic decision: they didn't want to lose Growth Faculty. The engagement and traction they were getting from world-class speakers was something they couldn't replicate anywhere else.

An engaging solution 

The breakthrough came with watch parties - small teams gathering to watch masterclasses together, either live or on-demand.

"We'll target groups and say, 'If everyone's available at 10 o'clock in the morning, get your teams together,'" Lisa explains. "Or if they're on-demand, we'll provide a login and they can watch at 3 o'clock in the afternoon."

The model works because it addresses multiple constraints at once:

·        **Flexibility:** Teams can choose times that work with their shifts and patient loads, including outside standard nine-to-five hours

·        **Senior leader support:** When managers prioritise the session for their teams, it removes the burden from individual staff members who often feel they can't prioritise their own time

·        **Guided discussion:** Growth Faculty provides facilitator notes and resources that help managers lead meaningful conversations after each session

·        **Bite-sized learning:** Sessions can be chunked into smaller sections that fit into healthcare's unpredictable rhythms

How it works in practice

For Lisa, return on investment comes down to reach and impact.

"I don't have a fantastic corporate education budget, and I am very much bang for buck," she says. "I absolutely love any program where I can get as many staff to sessions as I can."

As a public health service, Bendigo Health could never afford the calibre of speakers available through Growth Faculty, says Lisa. The combination of world-class expertise, low administrative burden, and flexible delivery creates value that goes far beyond cost savings.

"Growth Faculty really has their finger on the pulse of what organisations and people are looking for," Lisa says. "Nine times out of ten, the topics coming up in the next three months are going to fit exactly where we need to be and what our staff are looking for."

The ROI - value far beyond cost savings

Some speakers have made an outsized impact at Bendigo Health. Kylie Lewis from Of Kin particularly resonated with her work on [psychological safety](https://thegrowthfaculty.com/articles/psychological-safety-isn-t-soft-it-s-smart-leadership), a critical topic in healthcare with new legislation to support it.

"Kylie brings a really personal element to it," Lisa says. "I'm really cautious not to say, 'This is because it's your job and this is because you have to do it.' It's about finding that connection to say, 'How is it relevant to you? How will it make your life better?'"

Growth Faculty's annual Health & Wellbeing Week speakers consistently draw strong engagement, she says. And sessions like Sue Langley's [leadership essentials program](https://thegrowthfaculty.com/events/emerging-leaders-program-2026/overview) give Lisa immediate ideas about which groups will benefit.

"Each person that comes through, ten light bulbs go off in my head about which groups are really going to love that content," she says.

Highly relevant speakers

Lisa credits much of their success to their Growth Faculty account manager, Jamie Boneham, who takes time to understand Bendigo Health's specific needs.

"He doesn't just sell a product and say 'watch it,'" Lisa explains. "He actually spends the time to understand what we do and what we need, and tailor some things to us. So, we've really loved that."

This has included mapping Growth Faculty content to Bendigo Health's capability statement, identifying sessions that would support specific organisational goals like manager accountability.

A true partnership 

When asked what she'd say to organisations considering Growth Faculty who worry they don't have time for learning initiatives, Lisa doesn't hesitate.

"This is a no-brainer for me. \[Growth Faculty\] has brought a whole new element to our education program."

“This is a way of showing our staff that we value them and we value their development. And that's not just their professional development, but also their personal needs.”

"Of all the programs I have ever used in this space, \[Growth Faculty\] has probably been the most beneficial and had the most engagement," Lisa says. 

"There's that element of access to speakers and content we could never afford or have the resources to deliver."

For Bendigo Health, building a [learning culture](https://thegrowthfaculty.com/articles/create-a-learning-culture-at-work) also means making education enjoyable.

"We can't tell our staff what to do," Lisa says. "We have to make it enjoyable for them. And Growth Faculty has certainly made it enjoyable to do this learning."

Affordable access to "unaffordable" top speakers

**ROI:** "I don't have a fantastic corporate education budget, and I am very much bang for buck. I absolutely love any program where I can get as many staff to sessions as I can."

**Access to expertise:** "As a public health service, we would never be able to afford some of these incredible speakers that we get access to."

**Engagement:** "Of all the programs I have ever used in this space, this has probably been the most beneficial and had the most engagement."

**Relevant content:** "Growth Faculty really has their finger on the pulse of what organisations and people are looking for. Nine times out of ten, those topics are going to fit exactly where we need to be."

**Versatility:** "We realized we could use Growth Faculty in so many different ways - not just for leaders, but for culture improvement, wellbeing, for our aspiring leaders."

**Low administrative burden:** "We don't have to be out looking for facilitators or speakers or topics. Growth Faculty has taken a huge burden off us."

**Dedicated support:** "Jamie doesn't just sell a product and say 'watch it.' He spends the time to understand what we do and what we need, and tailors things to us."

**Bottom line:** "This is a no-brainer for me."

How Bendigo Health Solves its Time-Poor Learning Challenge

Growth Faculty chosen to ease "huge burden" of delivering quality L&D

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How Bendigo Health Solves its Time-Poor Learning Challenge

Growth Faculty chosen to ease "huge burden" of delivering quality L&D

Keep informedStay Inspired

Keep informed
Stay Inspired