A Qualitative Analysis of Maternal and Child Health Public Health Leadership Institute (MCH PHLI) Leaders: Assessing the Application of Leadership Skills at the "Others" and "Wider Community" Levels of the MCH Leadership Competencies 4.0.

OBJECTIVES: To gain insight into how participants in the Maternal and Child Health Public Health Leadership Institute (MCH PHLI) report applying the leadership skills gained through the program at the "Others" and "Wider Community" levels of the MCH Leadership Competencies 4.0. METHODS: 111 mid- to senior-level MCH leaders participating in the MCH PHLI gave < 5 min oral presentations detailing the impacts resulting from implementation of the skills gained through the leadership development training. Presentations were recorded and transcribed then qualitatively analyzed in reference to the MCH Leadership Competencies 4.0. Impacts were stratified by the "Others" and "Wider Community" levels. RESULTS: Analysis resulted in 1510 separate coded examples, 948 of which were coded as aligning with the MCH Leadership Competency 4.0 areas of "Others", "Wider Community" and with an additional emerging competency. In many examples Participants estimated the numbers of people affected by these leadership activities, which totaled more than 80,773 people across the US. CONCLUSIONS FOR PRACTICE: This analysis suggests that mid-to-senior level intensive leadership development strategies benefit organizations, communities, and systems quite broadly through a virtual "ripple effect" of training. Capturing qualitative data can help elucidate the return on investment for leader development programs in terms of impacts on communities and systems.

A Qualitative Analysis of Individual Leadership Behaviors Among Participants in the Maternal and Child Health Public Health Leadership Institute.

OBJECTIVES: To gain insights into how participants in the Maternal and Child Health Public Health Leadership Institute (MCH PHLI) report applying the personal leadership skills gained through the program at the "Self" level of the MCH Leadership Competencies 4.0. METHODS: 112 mid- to senior-level MCH leaders completed the MCH PHLI, which is a year-long intensive leadership training program. At graduation, 111 participants gave < 5-min oral presentations detailing the actions taken and impact created by implementation of the skills gained through the MCH PHLI training. Presentations were recorded, transcribed and then qualitatively analyzed in reference to the "Self" level of the MCH Leadership Competencies 4.0. RESULTS: Participants reported 562 coded examples of activities in which they implemented skills aligning with each competency in the Self-Level of the MCH Leadership Competencies 4.0 and with three other competency areas that emerged as themes from the data: networking, confidence, and career advancement. CONCLUSIONS FOR PRACTICE: This analysis suggests that intensive leadership development strategies focused on the mid-to-senior level leader benefit the individual and their organizations in broad and strategic ways that can be captured and described. Further, these applications of skills can create a virtual "ripple effect" of the workforce development program, by ultimately impacting a far greater number of people. Finally, this type of reflective assignment can be a valuable addition to intensive workforce development programs.