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CHF Health Leadership Fellows Program 2006-2008

CHFFellows Program 2006-2008
Important Information:

Some of Community Health Foundation’s projects support developments that would benefit both frail elders and children living in communities of poverty, and intend to:

 

·         increase the focus on “person-centered” care; and,

·         develop a healthcare culture that values continuous quality improvement, learning, and applying best practices and collaboration among organizations.

 

CHF Health Leadership Fellows Program aims to improve critical skills of leaders in healthcare organizations by providing them with a collaborative learning experience.  The program offers individual leadership development and the chance to apply the core competencies needed to improve health outcomes for frail elders and children in communities of poverty.  It specifically includes skill development in the Institute of Medicine’s 5 key competencies for healthcare in the 21st century. 

Objectives

·         Support a cadre of people who collaboratively influence and encourage integrated systems of care in their communities and initiate individual and collective change on behalf of frail elders and/or children in communities of poverty

·         Foster care systems that are person-centered and emphasize evidence-based practice, quality-improvement approaches and state-of-the-art informatics

·         Strengthen relationships with future partners and collaborators for other foundation work

Class Size

25 to 30 people drawn from across our 16-county service area

Duration

18 months

Participants

 

·         Employed in a variety of professional settings relating to frail elders and children of poverty, including community-based organizations, clinics, home-health and nursing-home providers, government agencies, schools, hospitals, healthcare insurers and consumer groups

·         Proven organizational leadership by virtue of their areas of responsibility and professional history.

Activities

 

·         Residential programs

·         Periodic telephone/teleconferencing sessions

·         Individual coaching

·         Team projects

      Electronic knowledge site,web-based learning

Status

First class began October 2005 and will conclude April of 2007. Application for the 2nd cohort of CHF Health Leadership Fellows will conclude April 30th of 2006. Second class to begin September 25th, 2006 and be completed March 2008. Click here for program guidelines and application forms.
  

Details about the Program

The Community Health Foundation (CHF) is committed to improving the health and health care of the communities it serves, particularly frail elders and children of poverty. One strategy to achieve that end is leadership development with a focus on the collaborative implementation of competencies that reflect person-centered care, continuous quality improvement, and national best practices.

 

It is the intent of the CHF Health Leadership Fellows Program to provide such an experience.  CHF, through its Health Leadership Fellows Program seeks to develop and support a cadre of diverse, highly skilled, collaborative leaders from the health care and “safety-net” organizations of Western and Central New York.

 

For each class, a cohort of thirty fellows will be selected from Western and Central New York who are presently in positions of influence within organizations that impact the health of frail elders and children of poverty. The program will be implemented over an eighteen month period. It will require a commitment by the fellows to attend four residential sessions of two-three days each. The academic and experiential work of the residential sessions will be applied and reinforced in the months between sessions through distance learning in smaller work groups and individually.

 

Some anticipated outcomes of the CHF Health Leadership Fellows Program are:

  • Collective advocacy for improved health care delivery
  • A  network of leaders with practiced collaborative and communication skills from common experiences
  • Concrete integration of core competencies among organizations represented by the fellows
  • Leaders with enhanced self-awareness, personal and reflective skills
  • A core group of change agents for their respective communities
  • New partnerships for managing change and creating systemic quality improvement
  • Increased integration of informatics, evidence-based outcomes, and inter-disciplinary teams in the practice of health care.

 

General Overview:

Core to the CHF Health Leadership Fellows Program experience are the concepts of teams, collaboration, the Institute of Medicine’s core competencies, and the ability to give and receive feedback. Additionally, having the sponsoring organization for each fellow as a “partner” in this endeavor will help to ensure the collaborative element of the fellow’s work and organizational buy-in for change.

 

The “shape” of the program would include four residential sessions of two- three days each. In addition, a fifth session will be held for the presentation of the fellows’ group project to the full cohort and their organizations’ leaders. The sessions would build upon each other beginning with individual leadership assessment. The concept and exercise of “managing change” as a leader would comprise the second residential session. The third session would address the challenge of developing new strategies for improved health care delivery. This residential session would include the Institute of Medicine’s five core competencies within the context of quality of care. Communication skill development will comprise the fourth session. This session will address the art of “telling a story” as a leader and the impact of one’s personal communication style on change and cultural competence.

 

Much of the work of the CHF Health Leadership Fellows program will occur in between the residential sessions in teams comprised of 6 fellows, within geographical proximity. Each fellow will design an individual leadership development plan and share with his/her team in the initial stage of the program. Each team will be responsible for the development of an asset inventory of their respective organizations and will select a common challenge faced by their organizations during the first intersession period. The team task for the second intersession period will be to use real case examples, apply the core competencies to the case and submit that case for incorporation onto the CHF Health Leadership Fellows electronic knowledge site. During inter-sessions three and four, each team will be responsible for the development of an inter organizational team project that incorporates the Institute of Medicine’s five core competencies. The work on all projects will be done via monthly group meetings, electronic communications, web-based research and other distance learning techniques. Mentors in both process and content areas, along with research assistants from the Maxwell School, will work with the teams and provide advice to them on their inter-organizational projects.

 

During the residential sessions each group will report on their “inter-session” work and project, giving and receiving feedback from the larger group of fellows.

 

The four main, residential sessions will be conducted by experts in their specific fields as they relate to the focus of the sessions. The inter-session time will be the time for collaborative application and additional research of the material put forth during the residential retreats.

 

Pre- work for individual fellows and organizations:

Readings, leadership styles assessment and a “360” will be assigned and administered to each fellow prior to the first residential session. There will be some connecting of classmates to one another ahead of time, through a Foundation sponsored event, such as a dinner. Additionally, the organization in which the fellow is employed, will have endorsed the fellow’s participation, given consent for the fellow to use company time to attend sessions, and will have acknowledged the fellow’s leadership role and leadership skill within the respective organization. The organizational leader will also be invited to the “Pre-program” event, such as a dinner.

 

A brief sketch of the residential sessions and the “inter-sessions” follows:

 

SESSION I: THE INDIVIDUAL LEADER: OCTOBER 10th, 11th, 12th, 2005;

Beaver Hollow Retreat Center, Java New York.

Faculty: Michael Hostetler and George Sweazey

Coaches: Michael Hostetler, George Sweazey, Katie Doucette, Susan Burgess, Elaine Respass

 

Fellows will receive feedback on pre-session leadership style assessments and personal “360”. The relevance of self-knowledge as it relates to leadership and authenticity will be explored. This may include exposure to experts in leadership, leadership models, and the role of leadership in change. Emphasis is on engagement of the fellows in the process of personal leadership development and connecting with others in that process.

 

Fellows will begin to develop a personal leadership development plan that they will further develop during the “inter-session” period and work on during the fellows program.

Teams that will work on projects during the “inter-session” periods throughout the fellows’ program will be assigned during this session. The teams will be diverse yet similar geographically. Team advisors will be assigned respective groups at this time. Team advisors will be present for part of each residential session.

 

Outcomes for this session are:

a) Increased knowledge of self and one’s own leadership style as a result of personal feedback from the assessment tools and 360

b) Increased knowledge of leadership skills and how they relate to the environment

 

INTER-SESSION I: November, December,2005, January 2006:

Team advisors: Dr. Lito Gutierrez, Ms. Geri Grossman, Ms Shelley Hirshberg, Mr. Kenneth Rogers, Ms. Gwen Webber-McLeod and individual teams

 

Fellows share individual leadership assessments and create their plan for personal development. Fellows serve as ‘mentors’ to each other, creating a peer-to-peer mentoring engagement. Each team develops an asset inventory of their respective organizations, as they discuss their organizational strengths. Each team decides what common challenge their organizations face together.

 

Tangible outputs resulting from the intersession will be:

a)   Each fellow will have a personal leadership development plan

b)   Each team will have completed an asset inventory and will have articulated a common organizational challenge among them.

 

SESSION II: LEADING CHANGE: FEBRUARY 2ND, 3RD, 4TH, 2006;

Buffalo Conference Center, Buffalo, New York

Faculty: Dr. Bram Briggance, Dr. Thomas Dennison, Elaine Respass

 

At the beginning of Session II each team will briefly summarize their intersession work with the full cohort.

 

At the foundation of session II is the role of leadership in creating and managing change. Change in the culture of health care organizations and systems as it reflects the core competencies will be integrated into the study of managing change and the leader’s role.

 

Anticipated outcomes from Session II would be:

a)   Increased knowledge and understanding of the dynamics of     change

b)   Understanding of the role of leadership in change

c)   Application of the theories of change and leadership to the fellows’ organizations, in  light of the core competencies

d)   Increased advocacy for improved health care delivery applying the core competencies

      e)   Increased cross organizational learning

 

INTER-SESSION II: March, April, and May, 2006:

Team advisors and individual teams

 

Each team will select ways in which the core competencies might be applied to real situations. Each member brings a case to the team meeting whereby the group discusses the cases in light of the I.O.M. core competencies. One case is selected to be submitted for inclusion on the CHF Health Leadership Fellows electronic knowledge site.

 

Tangible outputs from this inter-session work:

a)   A body of actual case material

b)   Five “model cases” for applying the core competencies

c)   CHF Health Leadership Fellows’ having authored cases for the CHF Health Leadership Knowledge Site.

 

SESSION III: INSTITUTE OF MEDICINE’S CORE COMPETENCIES: June 12th, 13th, 14th, 2006

R.I.T., Rochester, New York

Faculty: Dr. Dennis Ehrich MD, Dr. Michael D’Eridita Ph.D., Dr. Patricia Franklin, MD, MBA, MPH, Dr. Peter Winkelstein MD, MS, FAAP

 

The first portion of the residential session will provide an opportunity for the fellows to “re-connect” to the whole group and present each small group’s “inter-session” work. This will give the fellows the opportunity to give and receive feedback on both the products and the process.

 

The main focus of this session will be the Institute of Medicine’s five core competencies and the role of leadership in their integration in health care practice.

 

Anticipated outcomes for this session would be:

a)   Increased knowledge of the I.O.M.core competencies

b)   Increased ability to identify and apply specific leadership skills and cultural competence to the incorporation of those competencies in health care practice.

 

INTER-SESSION III: July, August, and September, 2006:

Team Advisors and Individual Teams

 

Incorporating leadership skills and experiences, each team will develop a concept of an inter-organizational project that they will plan to further develop. This will build upon the collaborative work the team has already done, integrating “managing change” concepts, leadership skills and application of the core competencies to the target populations of frail elders and children from communities of poverty. Each team will have received a budget, a resource directory of experts and research assistants from which the teams might purchase assistance with their project.

 

Anticipated tangible outputs from inter-session III:

a)   Each team will have developed a concept of an inter-organizational project that is collaborative among their respective organizations.

b)   Each team will have produced a “project concept”    

c)   Each team will have received and begun to utilize the resource directory and make team decisions regarding selection of research needs and experts.

 

SESSION IV: COMMUNICATION: October 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 2006:

R.I.T., Rochester, New York

Faculty: Dr. Thomas Feeley Ph.D., Dr. Dana Brooks Hart Ph.D., Debra Stamp

 

At the opening of Session IV fellows present their group’s choice of an inter-organizational project and its relevance to the core competencies, leadership and change. This time is for fellows’ feedback and information sharing.

 

The central focus of the session is the role of personal and organizational communication style in leadership, cultural competence and change. The session will include the impact of communication style on organizational effectiveness.

 

Focused communication training will seek to improve the fellows’ delivery of a clear and compelling “story” as it relates to health care.

 

This session is intended to incorporate the role of personal and organizational communication style in the development of inter-disciplinary teams, cultural competence and leadership skills in practice.

 

Anticipated outcomes for session IV include:

a)   Increased self-knowledge and awareness as it relates to cultural competence and communication skills.

b)   Increased awareness of the role of personal and organizational communication style in the implementation of change, leadership and integration of the core competencies into the culture of an organization

c)   Improved ability to communicate a message clearly and effectively.

 

INTER-SESSION IV: November, December, January, February, March

Team Advisors and Individual Teams

 

Each team, with guidance from the program’s team advisors, research and mentors’ support, continues work on the team’s inter-organizational project and its implementation, where possible.

 

Each team will prepare their inter-organizational project for presentation at the final session when

organizational leaders and others will hear about each team’s project. The project will be written and prepared for distribution to the full fellows group.

 

Anticipated outputs from the inter-session work:

a)   Written projects, with presentation materials

b)   Projects that reflect an integration of leadership skills and the core competencies as applied across organizations and pertinent to the health of frail elders or children from communities of poverty

 

FINAL SESSION V:

Presentation of individual teams’ Inter-Organizational Project:

A Day in April, 2007, to be announced

 

This session will be the shortest in duration and will include a “graduation” of the fellows. There will be the formal presentation of each team’s inter-organizational project. Leaders of the fellows’ respective organizations and others will be invited to be present.

The inter-organizational projects will illustrate:

a)   Application of the core competencies to the target populations

b)   Applied leadership skills developed over the program

c)   Applied collaborative leadership

 

Anticipated outcomes of session V:

a)   Final presentations of five team projects impacting the health care of frail elders and children from communities of poverty

b)   Presentation of increased knowledge and skill in the areas of leadership as applied to the delivery of health care in the designated regions of New York

c)   Increased integration of the Institute of Medicine’s five core competencies within and among the participating organizations

d)   Distribution of the five inter-organizational projects developed by the fellows

 

EVALUATION:

The evaluation process will look at the change and outcomes set forth at the beginning for the individual, the organization and the community.

 

 

POST-CHF HEALTH LEADERSHIP FELLOWS PROGRAM:

It is anticipated that there will be the establishment of an alumni network that will participate as future mentors to new cohorts of fellows. It is further anticipated that this group will form the core group of community leaders to create a truly person-centered system of health care in their respective organizations and communities.