Cindy Reistroffer, Director, Women's and Infant Services - Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital
The Problem
Cindy was leading a department with 400 employees and 17 direct reports. On paper, things looked okay. But scratch the surface, and the gaps were obvious. Those 17 leaders were functioning, but the teams underneath were disconnected. People were siloed, focused only on their own work. No support. No cohesion. No culture of having each other’s backs.
"We were only focused on our own work. There wasn't a culture of helping and supporting one another."
The Shift
Cindy wanted a transformation. A leadership team that operated like one. A culture that people would notice and want to be part of. And personally, she wanted to be a stronger, more influential leader. Not just to hit goals, but to model something better.
So we got to work.
Like all my team programs, this wasn’t theory and handouts. We made change visible. We created tension on purpose—just enough to crack the surface. I had all 17 of them sit in a circle, take real conflict scenarios they were dreading, and role-play them, live. One person played the leader. One played the employee. Everyone else watched. Then we debriefed, gave feedback, challenged their delivery, and asked for more. Uncomfortable? Sure. Transformative? Absolutely.
"One of the biggest changes was how much trust the 17 leaders built with each other—and their teams noticed. They followed suit."
The Strategy
Underneath it all, I was pushing one core idea: drop the mask. Stop performing leadership and start living it. We worked on what was getting in their way, what was driving their reactions, and what authenticity could look like when you’re still responsible for results.
This wasn’t a slide deck and a lecture. I brought a mix of coaching, practical tools, and experiential design that made the learning stick. Each exercise was built to expose the blind spots and shift behavior in real time. I pulled from their everyday challenges, added pressure when needed, and made sure every breakthrough was tied to something tangible they could use going forward.
“With Heidi’s guidance, we weren’t pretending anymore, we were actually leading.”
The Impact
The department shifted. The silos broke down. Real collaboration started happening—and not just at the top. Their entire employee satisfaction score jumped from the bottom quartile to the top. It was such a visible shift that the organization published it in a leadership journal. But the metrics weren’t the whole story.
People started asking for advice instead of avoiding hard conversations. Team members felt seen, heard, and supported. And Cindy? She stepped into her own voice. No longer mimicking what she thought leadership should look like, she started showing up as herself, and others followed.
"Heidi challenged me to be my authentic self, not just the leader I thought I was supposed to be. That changed everything."
The Takeaway
What started as a department-wide people problem became a case study in real leadership transformation. Cindy didn’t just get coaching. She got clarity. Her team didn’t just attend a workshop. They built a new way of working.
"Heidi is passionate, effective, and transformative. Anyone who wants to grow as a leader should work with her."