Maximizing Team Potential in Healthcare Projects Using Everything DiSC®

Our Subject Matter Experts
June 27, 2025

What does it take to bring 150 strangers together to build a $400 million hospital on time, under budget, and with zero room for error? It takes trust, teamwork, and a shared purpose to build something big. That was the challenge faced by the private non-profit hospital. People from different roles and background working under one roof, and the project’s success depended on one thing, and building a high-performing team out of complete strangers.

To make that happen, the VP of Facilities and Development turned to Everything DiSC®, a proven tool for improving communication and collaboration. What followed was not just a successful project, but a transformation in how people worked together. In this case study, we are going to discuss how “building trust in healthcare teams” plays a vital role, and how leadership tools transform the leadership and team building journey.

The Challenge:

An architect by training and a collaborator were given a challenge to bring together 150 independent contractors, which included many people from bricklayers to mechanical engineers. The reason was to build a $400 million state-of-the-art hospital for a private nonprofit hospital providing clinical care and teaching facilities for the University of Florida Health.

The VP of the facilities and development knew if he wanted to bring this project on time and on budget, his major priority will be on building “high-performing teams in healthcare”. A team that can be trusted and share risks, communicate effectively and have a solid commitment to collaborate.

He was aware that he was not assembling any team. Professionals from various companies made up the diverse group, many of whom had never met before. They were supposed to function as one cohesive team even though they were strangers. The vice president was adamant about avoiding errors and making sure that important problems were found and fixed right away. He required a tool that could assist in bringing everyone into line with the team’s main objective in order to support this. Their goal was to create efficient methods for healthcare teams to work together.

The New Approach:

The organisation was initially a small company, and like any small company, it had to build a team of professionals who had technical skills and interpersonal skills. Building the team of people who can work with others to achieve a common goal. The VP realised once he had the people, he had to build a team, keeping it together and reinforcing the bonds of friendship and collaboration.

Needless to say, the VP was keen on getting the best assistance he could find, and it came in the form of Debbie Mason, the president of Strategists Inc, an authorised partner and certified trainer of Everything DiSC®. He assisted the VP of facilities and development in constructing a team framework for the hospital. Mason confronted the challenge from the position of a trainer since her prior experience changed how she viewed team building within the healthcare sector.

She introduced the team members to Everything DiSC® Workplace, a tool which helps to assess who we are individually and who we are collectively. In addition, it helps in assuming the characteristics and behaviours of the high-performing team in a very short time. The tool has been useful in bringing the group together in this stressful situation. Such “leadership tools in healthcare settings” help the company bring the right changes.

The Playbook:

Everyone in the team completed the Everything DiSC® Workplace assessment, and they get their personalised report. Each session helped the team member throughout the life of the project. There were different activities included, such as coaching, improving communication, and collaboration.

It offers an opportunity to get an in-depth analysis of everyone’s assessment results. The tools have a special recognition feature for major milestones and project updates. These sessions offer a safe environment to discuss problems and brainstorm creative solutions. The “team development in medical projects” contributes to overall progress in team solutions.

The VP of the facilities and development department thinks that with the help of the Everything DiSC® group review, the people are now able to bring important topics to the table and resolve the conflicts on the spot. The project is large-scale, and the people who are working here come from different backgrounds and roles. Thus, managing everyone takes a lot of effort and energy. With the help of the tool now the team members process positively and bring creative solutions easily. Now the management attributes their team’s success in part to the many people who completed the initial Everything DiSC® training. The team members were enthusiastic about the results they were achieving, and other members noticed the impact.

Building Psychological Safety Through Self-Awareness

A key development from the application of Everything DiSC® was the default self-awareness as a component of psychological safety within the team. It is almost impossible not to consider the case of 150 strangers having to come together under intense pressure to deliver a complicated hospital project.

At some point, there is bound to be misunderstanding, miscommunication, and conflict. However, everything changes through the Everything DiSC® Workplace assessment, where each member of the team starts understanding their work styles, their responses to stress, decision making, and interacting with others.

This level of introspection helped employees to go beyond judging others to appreciating the differences among people. There was a safer space for dialogue because people understood the reasoning behind different communication styles. Ease among people talking cannot simply stem from having neutral positions. Responding instead of reacting and doing so with empathy and patience is where ease is likely found.

What was achieved from this? Outstanding team cultures where each member felt free to raise concerns, accept their shortcomings, share relevant questions, and suggest new ideas without fear of being blamed or judged.

This trust and openness proved to help team dynamics, where potential employee tensions previously apparent in the workplace dramatically diminished, speeding up problem solving. In a healthcare construction setting where having even one small mistake or delay can set you back millions, this environment of psychological safety is essential.

Impact of the Everything DiSC tool:

The VP of the facilities and development shares his positive experience and expressed that he is going to hire and invest in the tools to maximise his potential. In addition, he also needs to focus on managing risk, which requires the trust of the team and each other.

He believes that he now has a high-performing team that is going to make it possible to accomplish in four years what it takes others six years to build. Usually, it costs around $7 million a year to run this job, and two years of savings made a major impact. He mentioned that the organisation is beating industry standards by 20% in time to completion and currently 5% under budget. “Using DiSC assessments for team building”, the VP of facilities and development was able to bring out the true value and overall growth.

Scaling the Learning Beyond the Project

The success of this new approach of using Everything DiSC® helped the healthcare organisation in building high-performing teams. These tools became a strategic asset for the entire organisation as the management saw a positive impact.

HR and senior leadership understood the importance of communication, trust-building, and collaboration across different team silos. A new culture of adaptability, learning, and respect started to spread throughout the organization and increased the benchmarks for managing large scale healthcare projects and teams.

The organisation used the tools for onboarding new employees, leadership training, and team-building workshops. It became a necessary and important tool which contributed to the significant progress in building a high-performing team. It also contributed to collaboration and growth. The departments who were working in silos they began to work as a unit towards common goals and improve their workflows.

The leaders adopted Everything DiSC® for use in the onboarding of new executives, leadership training, and team-building workshops. The tool helped the team more than just a resource, it became a necessary tool for collaboration and growth. Each department in the organisation adapted to become a unit with common goals and to improve its workflows.

Conclusion:

Completing a 400 million dollar hospital alongside 150 unfamiliar people may seem impossible, yet with the right strategies, it became a success story. The Facilities and Development Vice President understood that the goal could only be achieved with strong communication, trust and collaboration, so he decided to use Everything DiSC® as a unifying tool. Participants learnt how to improve their communication skills, resolve conflicts and operate as a cohesive unit with the help of coaching, workshops, and team assessments.

With the help of the tool, the organisation was able to build a high-performing team that completed the project quicker than planned, saving millions. Better yet, new cross-functional collaboration fostered transparency and improved the work processes throughout the organisation. It illustrates the idea which can be transformed into achievements, provided that the organisation has robust leaders and useful resources. Thus, Everything DiSC® proved to be an efficient tool in aligning the vision.