The Career Lattice: Combat Brain Drain, Improve Company Culture, and Attract Top Talent

CHAPTER 3THE CAREER LATTICE TOOLKIT

For years, Danielle Schaeffer was content to be the activities director at the small nursing home in Scotland, South Dakota, run by the Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society, a multistate healthcare provider. The idea of gaining a nursing degree was appealing to her—but it was seemingly a logistical impossibility for a mother of young children, since the nearest facility offering classes and clinical rotations was nearly an hour away.

In 2002, Good Samaritan’s Growing Our Own program broke Schaeffer’s career stalemate. Part of a major effort by the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL) and the U.S. Department of Labor to address the chronic shortage of registered nurses and to pave the way ...