A compelling story was positively impacting brand and spaces, but needed to be infused in the culture. 

Storyland Studios first partnered with Bethany Children’s Health Center to create a whimsical, heartfelt strategic story that influenced the hospital’s brand and spatial design. This experiential story was so compelling, the hospital wanted to infuse it into every interaction with patients and families. So they commissioned us to implement our Cast Culture consulting engagement. The word “Cast” has two meanings — “Cast” is a term that organizations like Disney use for employees, because they’re all about telling a compelling story like one would experience in a show. And ultimately, the final deliverable from the engagement casts vision for how employee and volunteer attitudes and behaviors should reflect the overall story. 

Our team began to explore how to infuse Bethany’s Big Idea, “a Landmark of Hope on the journey to healing,” into every interaction their staff and volunteers have with patients.  

We wanted to bring a spark of inspiration to Bethany’s cast culture, creating a truly seamless experience for both patients and parents. To do this, we spent a day of benchmarking at Walt Disney World with Bethany’s leadership team, walking them through Disney’s 5 Keys (or, landmarks of service): Safety, Courtesy, Inclusion, Show, and Efficiency. Our walk through the Magic Kingdom served as a living example of those five principles in action.  

With the Disney example as inspiration, we were ready to build out Bethany’s unique cultural principles based on their own story.  

Staff and volunteers are now empowered with principles to live out the Bethany story daily.  

The day after our Magic Kingdom tour, it was time to roll up our sleeves and facilitate Bethany’s cast culture workshop, to begin to shape cultural principles. We continued by immersing ourselves in the organisation, conducting interviews, gathering stories, and listening to cross-departmental voices to better understand its history, heart, and purpose.  

Along the way, we collaborated with multiple departments, including HR, medical leadership, communications, and chaplaincy. This process served to build a holistic sense of internal brand and culture alignment. We translated our insights into a strategic framework that could scale across departments, teams, and touchpoints within the organisation.  

The children Bethany serves—and their families—are experiencing the most difficult periods of their lives. We wanted to empower each staff member to be fully human, hopeful, and authentic in all circumstances. It was important to dive deep into the patient journey during the workshop, from the first day a family brings their child to the hospital all the way through their stay.  

At the same time, the need to nurture Bethany’s staff of caregivers and medical professionals rose to the surface. What would it look like to be honest about how difficult this work could be, while also bringing light and life into every interaction? One internal team value that emerged from the workshop was, “We allow ourselves to be cared for, too.” This value led to Bethany offering free counseling support for its staff and their families.  

Implementing A Multi-Layered, Integrated Story  

Our workshop integrated Bethany’s strategic story into the hospital’s service behaviors and culture—far beyond typical brand touchpoints. Rather than simply handing over a brand toolkit for the Bethany team to implement themselves, we worked alongside them, equipping employees at every level to live out their values in real time. They embodied these landmarks of service in an exercise where they could put them to use and see an impact on patient interactions.  

Bethany’s new landmarks of service are:   

• We tenaciously choose hope.  

• We see potential, not conditions.  

• We pitch in to make it possible.  

• We smile and make a personal connection. 

• We don’t forget the fun.  

• We allow ourselves to be cared for, too.  

The new cast culture for Bethany Children’s Health Center was created intentionally to be included in leadership training and development, onboarding, employee orientation, patient experience, and more. We’re confident this work will make a tangible, life-changing impact for everyone who encounters Bethany.