PROPEL© - A Proven Method for Performance Improvement

The PROPELPerformance Model (PPM) is the first evidence-based performance improvement program with demonstrated outcomes to increase profitability, operational efficiencies, productivity and innovation from top performers, employee engagement and patient satisfaction. (See our results)

How you benefit…

Assess how well your managers are equipped to lead through these uncertain times

Address unresolved conflict between physicians, nurses and ancillary staff that results in lost productivity

Increase staff engagement to improve relationships between patients, their families and your staff

Inspire your physicians, nurses, and support services to deliver compassionate care while achieving professional fulfillment

Build a culture of continuous performance improvement at all levels, across all service lines, with the evidence-based practices and techniques of PROPEL©

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Lead Coaches

Dr. Tom Muha is a Managing Partner of Great HealthCare Systems, LLC, a consulting group dedicated to helping leaders in medical organizations enhance patient and staff satisfaction. His specialty is delivering research-based organizational consulting and individual coaching for executives and managers in hospital systems seeking to achieve higher levels of success.

Dr. Muha received his Masters and Doctoral degrees in Organizational Development from the California School of Professional Psychology in 1977, and moved to Maryland in 1980. He has studied Strategic Planning at the Harvard Business School and Physician Communication at Yale University.

He founded Chesapeake Associates Corporate Consultants to train corporate executives in Situational Leadership, Relationship Skills, One Minute Management, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Strategic Planning, Balanced Score Card, and Strategy Mapping for Executive Teams. His corporate clients have included Sealy Mattress, The Rouse Company, Whiting-Turner Construction, Mercantile Bank, and many others.

Over the past few years, Dr. Muha has become a leading practitioner of Positive Organizational Psychology, which is the scientific study of individuals and organizations that have achieved the highest levels of success and satisfaction. He designed and conducted research to determine the factors that create a culture of caring for both patients and staff within a highly rated hospital.

Armed with his own research as well as studies of other “great” organizations, emotionally intelligent leaders, and fully engaged employees, Dr. Muha has developed a model of how to deliver world class care by meeting the needs of all of the stakeholders.

With this model in mind, he co-founded Great HealthCare Systems, LLC to work in partnership with hospital executives, physicians, and nurses to propel their organization from good to great.

Linda R. Burton is a Managing Partner of Great HealthCare Systems, LLC. Linda specializes in leadership development, executive coaching, and organization design consulting. She has over 25 years of management and client services support helping clients create a strategic link between human performance and business results.

Her ability to help diverse teams work toward building consensus and defining measurements of success helps foster an environment of collaboration and accountability. Her experience also includes organization assessments, change management implementation and executive retreat facilitation.

In 1999 Linda founded DRW, Inc., an executive coaching firm based in the Baltimore-Washington region. Some of DRW’s clients include: The R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center, Marriott Corporation, Johns Hopkins Hospital, EMA, Coventry CareLink, LLC, and VISA U.S.A.

Linda is currently pursuing a M.S. in Negotiation and Conflict Management at the University of Baltimore, holds a B.S. in Health Education from Virginia Tech, and is trained in Mediation and Conflict Transformation. She is a board member of the Belanger-Federico Foundation, member of the Girl Scouts of Central Maryland board of directors, past president of Network 2000, former board member of the Maryland Chamber of Commerce, and former Chair of the Board for the Howard County Chamber of Commerce.

Nancy R. Smit, MBA, RPT, RRT is a Managing Partner of Great HealthCare Systems, LLC.  Ms. Smit specializes in the design and implementation of strategic business plans, networking arrangements, and practice enhancement programs for hospitals, medical practices and health care organizations.  She has over 25 years of experience in health care consulting, marketing and management, with particular emphasis on combining positive management strategies with sound fiscal policies thereby creating effective and efficient health care organizations.

Ms. Smit received her undergraduate degree in physical therapy from the University of Connecticut, her respiratory therapy degree from University of Chicago Hospitals and Clinics, and her master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA) from Loyola College, Baltimore, Maryland.  Following completion of her physical therapy and respiratory therapy training, she directed several Washington, D.C. area hospital-based Physical Therapy and Respiratory Therapy programs, and served as the Administrative Director for the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at the Washington Hospital Center.  

Upon successful completion of her MBA, Ms Smit became the co-founder of SHR Associates, Inc. (SHR), a regional practice management, marketing and consulting firm based in Annapolis, Maryland. Since 1981, SHR has been providing a broad range of professional services for hospitals, physician groups, and related health care entities in the areas of organizational design and relationships, personnel administration, professional fee billing and third party reimbursement, managed care and revenue maximization, strategic planning and marketing, finance and business management. SHR’s clients range from large, tertiary hospitals and hospital-based academic physician groups to smaller, independent single and multi-specialty physician practices. Ms. Smit is the President and CEO of SHR Associates, Inc. and a member of the Maryland Chapter of Medical Group Management Association (MDMGMA).

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Testimonials

Working with PROPEL© Performance has been an amazing experience. It has taught me a new and rewarding way (professionally and personally) to look at problem solving and to develop collaboration with others. Their coaching method is intuitive, goal oriented, and focused on positive outcomes.

Understanding the PROPEL© Performance model and putting it into practice has dramatically improved communication, morale, and collaboration in my department. Everyone has noticed the positive change. The PROPEL© principles offer concrete steps to promote a positive change in one’s environment.

Working with the PROPEL© Performance coach has been one of the most enjoyable and educational professional growth experiences I have had in a very long time!

Irene Rose RN, MS
Nurse Manager
Formerly at the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center
University of Maryland Medical Systems

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