The Emerging Leaders in Public Health Initiative: Individual Leadership Transformation.

The Emerging Leaders in Public Health (ELPH) Initiative, sponsored by The Kresge Foundation, provided leadership development to local governmental public health leaders. An adaptive leadership framework was used to shape the curriculum. The coleads attended multiday convenings and webinars over a 16- to 18-month period. Key components of the initiative included using applied learning to solidify their leadership skills as they worked to develop a new role for their agencies provision of a resource grant from The Kresge Foundation to support agency transformation and technical assistance and consultation provided by a National Program Office. An external evaluator conducted a multicomponent evaluation of individual leadership skill change. Graduates assessed change in their own leadership and change in their colead. Colleagues of ELPH participants were surveyed about their observed changes in the leadership actions of the program graduates. One hundred four leaders from 30 states participated in the initiative in 3 successive cohorts. Leaders demonstrated improvement as shown by self-report and external observation. Improved ability to communicate in a way that inspires others was one of the most significant changes in leadership behaviors. Additional leadership actions were strengthened including the ability to create and maintain high-performing teams, the ability to ask transformational questions, and the ability to actively listen to understand. The pandemic has shown the importance of developing the field, starting with leadership. Leadership development and agency transformation are synergistic; they depend on each other and support each other.

The Emerging Leaders in Public Health Initiative: Leadership Development to Advance Public Health Practice.

CONTEXT: Effective leadership is essential for governmental public health agencies to promote and protect the health of their communities. OBJECTIVE: The Emerging Leaders in Public Health Initiative, a program of The Kresge Foundation, was implemented to strengthen leadership in governmental public health. We seek to examine lessons from the initiative to contribute to the field a better understanding of leadership development practices. DESIGN: An external evaluator conducted a retrospective analysis of participant responses postinitiative to assess the overall impact of the initiative and explore which components were most valuable. SETTING: United States. PARTICIPANTS: Directors and other staff from governmental public health agencies were recruited in 2-person teams to participate in 3 successive cohorts. INTERVENTION: Drawn from adaptive leadership principles, a framework was developed to guide the selection and implementation of educational and experiential activities. Participants were challenged to develop a new role for their public health agency, which provided a learning laboratory to practice individual and team leadership skills. The Kresge Foundation provided participants with a resource grant and a National Program Office offered convenings, webinars, coaching, and technical assistance over the 18 months of the developmental experience. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Satisfaction, perceived value of components, and future intentions were assessed from participants in cohorts II and III (n = 70). The overall response rate was 93%. RESULTS: One hundred four diverse leaders from 52 agencies, representing 30 states participated in the initiative. Participants were extremely satisfied with the program (94%) and indicated a strong likelihood of recommending it to a colleague (96%). Unrestricted grant funding, peer learning, and in-person learning sessions were the program components rated most highly valuable. CONCLUSIONS: This initiative offers insights into principles and processes to be considered for future public health leadership development.

Enhancing Title V Workforce Capacity to Address Complex Challenges: Impact of the National Maternal and Child Health Workforce Development Center.

INTRODUCTION: The National Maternal and Child Health Workforce Development Center provides training, coaching, and consultation to Title V programs. The flagship experience is the Cohort program, a 6-8-month leadership development program where Title V programs convene a multisector team to address a pre-selected state/jurisdictional challenge related to health systems transformation. The overall objective of this paper is to demonstrate the impact of skills developed via the Cohort program on state/jurisdictional capacities to address complex challenges. METHODS: Qualitative, post-Cohort evaluation data were analyzed using inductive and deductive coding and the "Sort and Sift, Think and Shift" method. Themes and supporting text were summarized using episode profiles for each team and subsequently organized using the EvaluLEAD methodology for identifying and documenting impact. RESULTS: Teams brought an array of challenges related to health systems transformation and 94% of teams reported achieving progress on their challenge six-months after the Cohort program. Teams described how the Cohort program improved workforce skills in strategic thinking, systems thinking, adaptive leadership, and communication. Teams also reported the Cohort program contributed to stronger partnerships, improved sustainability of their project, produced mindset shifts, and increased confidence. The Cohort program has also led to improved population health outcomes. DISCUSSION: Through working with the Center, Title V leaders and their teams achieved episodic, developmental, and transformative results through application of Center tools and skills to complex challenges. Investment in the MCH workforce through skill development is critical for achieving transformative results and solving "wicked" public health problems.

Developing State Leadership in Maternal and Child Health: Process Evaluation Findings from a Work-Based Learning Model for Leadership Development.

OBJECTIVES: Since 2013 the MCH Bureau has supported the National MCH Workforce Development Center to strengthen the Title V MCH workforce. This article describes the Center's Cohort Program and lessons learned about work-based learning, instruction, and coaching. DESCRIPTION: The Cohort Program is a leadership development program that enrolls state-level teams for skill development and work-based learning to address a self-identified challenge in their state. Teams attend a Learning Institute that teaches concepts, skills, and practical tools in systems integration; change management and adaptive leadership; and evidence-based decision-making and implementation. Teams then work back home on their challenges, aided by coaching. The Program's goals are for teams to expand and use their skills to address their challenge, and that teams would strengthen programs, organizations, and policies, use their skills to address other challenges, and ultimately improve MCH outcomes. METHODS: This process evaluation is based on evaluation forms completed by attendees at the three-day Learning Institute; six-month follow-up interviews with team leaders; and a modified focus group with staff. RESULTS: Participants and staff believe the Cohort Program effectively merges a practical skill-based curriculum, work-based learning in teams, and coaching. The Learning Institute provides a foundation of skills and tools, strengthens the team's relationship with their coach, and builds the team. The work-based learning period provides structure, accountability, and a "practice space" for teams to apply the Cohort Program's skills and tools to address their challenge. In this period, teams deepen collaborations and often add partners. The coach provides accessible and tailored guidance in teamwork and skill application. These dimensions helped teams in develop skills and address state-level MCH challenges. CONCLUSIONS FOR PRACTICE: Continuing professional development programs can help leaders learn to address complex state-level MCH challenges through integrated classroom-based skills development, work-based learning on state challenges, and tailored coaching.

Management academy for public health: creating entrepreneurial managers.

The Management Academy for Public Health develops public health managers' management skills. Ultimately, the program aims to develop civic entrepreneurs who can improve the efficiency and the effectiveness of their organizations. With help from a coach, teams write public health business plans to meet needs in their communities. An external evaluation found that 119 teams trained during the first 3 years of the program generated more than $6 million in enhanced revenue-including grants, contracts, and fees through their business plans--from $2 million in program funding. Approximately 38% of the teams expected to generate revenue from an academy business plan or a spin-off plan. Action-learning methods can help midcareer managers transfer their training to the workplace and build entrepreneurial skills.

PREVENT: a program of the National Training Initiative on Injury and Violence Prevention.

Training practitioners to use evidence-based approaches to the primary prevention of violence is challenging as a result of the dearth of well-evaluated intervention programs and the lack of familiarity of some practitioners in drawing critically on existing literature. An element of the National Training Initiative in Injury and Violence Prevention, the PREVENT (Preventing Violence Through Education, Networking, and Technical Assistance) program began in late 2003 to train practitioners to address multiple types of violence by encouraging more widespread use of evidence-based approaches to primary prevention. It is intended to reach practitioners involved in addressing violence against women, sexual violence, child maltreatment, youth violence, and suicide in varied community settings. The program uses a combination of varied types of face-to-face training and distance learning coupled with opportunities for networking and technical assistance. Ultimately the program intends to stimulate and facilitate changes in individual, organizational, and cultural awareness and practices fostering primary prevention of violence. The project employs formative, process, and impact evaluation techniques aimed at improving delivery of the training as well as tracking changes in individual and organizations.

Evaluating the impact of the Management Academy for Public Health: developing entrepreneurial managers and organizations.

The Management Academy for Public Health is a management development program with the goals of helping public health managers learn to manage people, data, and finance, to think and plan like entrepreneurs, and to strengthen public health organizations. Managers enroll as teams and develop business plans in the Academy's extensive project-based learning component. Extensive internal and external evaluation shows that the program improves managers' knowledge, skills, and confidence in key curriculum areas; that participants apply many of the skills in their jobs; that many of the business plans receive funding, resulting in new public health programs; that the training experience helped agencies respond and plan after September 11, 2001; and that many participants report beginning to think more like entrepreneurs through activities like teaming, partnering, innovating, negotiating, finding funds, and generating revenue. The program demonstrates that robust training including extensive work-based project work with coaching can help public health managers gain many skills needed for the drive to "reinvent" government.

The Management Academy for Public Health: program design and critical success factors.

The Management Academy for Public Health is a team-based training program jointly offered by the School of Public Health and the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. This 9-month program teaches public health managers how to better manage people, information, and finances. Participants learn how to work in teams with community partners, and how to think and behave as social entrepreneurs. To practice and blend their new skills, teams develop a business plan that addresses a local public health issue. This article describes the program and explains the findings of the process evaluation, which has examined how best to structure and deploy a team-based method to create more effective, more entrepreneurial public health managers. Findings indicate that recruitment and retention are strong, program elements are relevant to learners' needs, and learners are satisfied with and value the program. Several specific benefits of the program model are identified, as well as several elements that support business plan success and skills' application on the job. On the basis of these findings, four success factors critical for developing similar programs are identified.

The UNC Management Academy for Public Health: how the UNC School of Public Health and the Kenan-Flagler Business School created a winning partnership.

The University of North Carolina Management Academy for Public Health is a unique training program that combines a business education with a public health focus, to enhance the performance of individual public health managers and improve organizational strength throughout governmental public health. This article considers the implications of decisions made in creating this program, which, after initial funding through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Foundation, is now self-sustaining through participant fees. It details the principles behind the program's design, curriculum, evaluation, and sustainability strategies; presents results of the ongoing partnership; and draws conclusions about the program's future ability to meet a national need for public health management training.

The Management Academy for Public Health: a new paradigm for public health management development.

Research has established a need to develop management skills among public health professionals. The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill created the Management Academy for Public Health as a pilot program for this specialized training need. This article describes why a management academy for public health managers was formed, its curriculum and instructional methods, and the evaluation findings from its first year. The program sponsors hope to effect individual and organization level change, eventually leading to improved community health. Results suggest that this innovative program gives public health professionals needed skills and improves their job performance.