Case Story:
WellMed
Improving Organizational Health & Capabilities
The Challenge:
Scaling Care Without Burning Out the System
Founded in 1990 as a single clinic, WellMed Medical Group grew into a national leader in proactive, preventive care for older adults. By the time it partnered with OptumCare™ in 2011, WellMed was serving hundreds of thousands of patients across New Mexico, Texas, and Florida, and expanding at an unprecedented pace.
That growth brought opportunity and strain.
The organization was scaling rapidly in size, complexity, systems, and payer relationships. Leaders were navigating constant change while trying to preserve quality, collaboration, and mission. The risk was not a lack of innovation. WellMed ran pilots constantly. The risk was decision drag, leadership fatigue, and the slow erosion of organizational health under pressure.
Founder and CEO George M. Rapier III, MD, recognized the inflection point early.
Speaking at TDE’s Deliberately Developmental Organization® Conference, he reflected on the pace of change:
“In the last two years, we’ve had growth basically tripling the size of the company. I’m absolutely convinced that without this methodology and the ability to communicate more openly, we would have stumbled all over ourselves. Instead, we survive. We thrive. We continue to grow.”
Internally, the pressure was palpable. As CIO Cindy Cornelius described, WellMed’s systems and teams were scaling faster than traditional leadership could support.
The organization needed to increase its collective capacity for:
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Adaptability amid constant growth
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Open, honest communication across roles and functions
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Faster, clearer decision-making
And it needed a way to do that without pulling leaders out of the work or further burning them out.
The Solution:
Building Organizational Health Through Shared Development
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A senior executive cohort facilitated by TDE created early evangelists grounded in the Deliberately Developmental Organization® framework.
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TDE trained selected leaders as internal facilitators, eager to develop others the way TDE developed themselves.
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Next-level executive cohorts combined TDE facilitation with internal leadership to accelerate readiness and performance.
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The organization formed more than 30 cross-functional cohorts, with employees working on real improvement goals alongside colleagues.
A waiting list emerged as demand for participation grew organically.
As Cornelius put it:
“I am a different human being now, a different leader at WellMed, and a different wife, because of what this process helped me untap and uncover. I couldn’t spread it to my team fast enough.”
Development stopped being an event. It became part of how work happened.
From Innovation to Decisive, Healthy Execution
Most organizations pride themselves on innovation. WellMed was no exception. What changed was not the willingness to experiment but the ability to decide, learn, and scale what worked.
Cohorts met biweekly for structured, peer-based developmental work. Participants brought real situations from daily operations, ranging from difficult conversations to stalled initiatives. Using TDE’s structured developmental templates, they examined both the business facts and the assumptions shaping their reactions.
As Senior Medical Director, Christopher Arnold explained:
“About 95 percent of what we work on is day-to-day business. A difficult meeting. A conflict with a colleague. A vendor issue. The work is real.”
The group’s role was not to fix the individual’s problem, but to help them see their own assumptions and thinking patterns. Talking Partners between sessions created accountability and momentum. Leaders no longer worked on growth in isolation. Peers who expected them to follow through, coached, challenged, and supported them.
This approach quietly rewired organizational habits.
- Cross-functional trust increased.
- Issues surfaced faster and earlier.
- Learning spread horizontally instead of waiting for top-down approval.
What began as individual insight evolved into collective organizational intelligence.
Candor, Decisiveness, and Health at Scale
Over time, the cultural shifts became unmistakable.
Christopher Arnold captured the change succinctly:
“As a result of this process, we have seen two significant changes. One, we are now an organization of candor. Clear feedback and support lead to clear change.
Two, we are a more decisive culture. We used to be a culture of innovation only. Now we innovate and decide.
If no one reads a report, stop writing it. If a pilot isn’t working, shut it down. If something works, make it standard so the benefit can spread.”
This was organizational health in action. Less wasted effort. More clarity. Faster learning cycles.
For leaders like Cornelius, the impact was deeply personal and operational.
“I still work on a freight train that isn’t stopping. But now I have perspective. I seek clarity. I elevate issues. I prioritize. I collaborate. I operate at a higher level today than I did before, and that’s good for me, my team, and the organization.”
The Results:
A Healthier Organization Built for Continuous Growth
Today, more than 400 WellMed employees have completed the developmental process, with new cohorts launching regularly as internal facilitators continue to expand capacity.
The impact has been both measurable and cultural.
Business results (the scoreboard):
- 5X topline revenue growth over 10 years
- Turnover rate ~19% less than the industry average
Leadership and culture shifts (the operating system):
- Leaders are better equipped to cope with massive growth
- Candor and trust are part of everyday leadership practice
- Decision-making is faster and cleaner
- Opportunities and risks surface earlier
- Leadership behavior is visibly different at the top and throughout the system
What began as a response to growth pressure became a foundation for organizational health. WellMed did not just scale services. It scaled leadership capability, trust, and adaptability.
By embedding development into the flow of work, WellMed strengthened its ability to care for patients, support its people, and thrive under constant change.