Developing Leadership Competencies To Improve the

Health Status in IllinoisLouis Rowitz, PhD

Director

Mid-America Regional Public Health Leadership Institute

LEADERSHIP IS…….

CREATIVITY IN ACTION ABILITY TO SEE THE PRESENT IN TERMS OF THE FUTURE VISION WITH COURAGE AND FORTITUDE TO PUT THE VISION INTO

REALITY FLEXIBILITY WITH A COMMITMENT TO CHANGE THINGS FOR THE

BETTER REQUIRES ABILITY TO WORK WITH OTHERS ABILITY TO BACK OFF WHEN SOMEONE ELSE IS THE BETTER LEAD TO LEAD IS ALSO THE WILLINGNESS TO FOLLOW ABILITY TO WORK WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF AN ORGANIZATION

WITHOUT LETTING THE ORGANIZATION DEFEAT THE LEADER COMMITMENT TO THE COMMUNITY AND THE VALUES FOR WHICH IT

STANDS LEADERS ARE EVERYWHERE IN PUBLIC HEALTH

LEADERSHIP

TEA

M B

UIL

DIN

G

VALU

ES C

LARI

FICA

TION

MISSION

VISONG

OA

LS &

O

BJE

CTIV

ES

ACTI

ON

IMPLEMENTATION

EVALUATION

POLI

CY

DEV

ELPM

ENT

POLICY DEVELPMENT

POLI

CY

DEV

ELPM

ENT

ASSESSMENT

POLICY

DEVELOPMENT

ASSESSMENTPOLICY DEVELOPMENT

ASS

URAN

CE

ASSU

RAN

CE

ASSURANCE

POLICY

DEVELOPMENT

A SYSTEM APPROACH TO PUBLIC HEALTH LEADERSHIP A SYSTEM APPROACH TO PUBLIC HEALTH LEADERSHIP

AND APPLICATIONS OF THE CORE FUNCTIONSAND APPLICATIONS OF THE CORE FUNCTIONS

Public Health Leadership Principles

• Strengthen infrastructure by utilizing the core functions and essential services of public health

• Improve the health of each person in the community

• Build coalitions for public health• Work with leaders from diverse

backgrounds

Leadership Principles Continued

• Collaborate with boards for rational planning

• Learn leadership through mentoring• Leaders are born and made• Committed to lifelong learning• Health protection for all

The Public Health Workforce (PHS)

• All those providing essential public health services, regardless of the nature of the employing agency.

• Promotion of individual and organizational excellence is the only standard acceptable to the public and decision makers who play a vital role in realizing the vision of Healthy People in Healthy Communities.

The Professional Obligations (Curry et al.)

• All professionals are obligated to both acquire and maintain the expertise needed to undertake their professional tasks and all are obligated to undertake those tasks that are within their competence.

Competence is a professional and moral obligation oriented to the highest standards of performance and not to a low minimal one.

The determination of high performance standards as well as the minimal ones must be determined by the public health professions, the policy makers, community needs, and societal values.

The Public Health Worker’s The Public Health Worker’s Social ResponsibilitySocial Responsibility

• Throughout the public health system, the social and moral responsibility of all individuals involved in the promotion of the health of the public is to put learning and experience into future practice.

• This is what competency concerns are all about.

Educators and TrainersEducators and Trainers

Give the Public Health Worker the tools but the worker must take the responsibility of using these tools

Competency = Knowledge + Understanding + Practice

Public Health leaders need do be held to the highest standards of

competency

National Public Health Leadership Network

• Created in 1994• Funded by CDC and housed at St. Louis

University School of Public Health• Supports the growth of state and regional public

health leadership development opportunities in all 50 states

• Provide formal mechanisms for academic and practice to work together to promote leadership at all levels of the public health system

The Leadership CompetencyProject

• Began in 1994• Ongoing• Identification of competency requirements for

public health leadership due to multidisciplinary nature of public health

• Competencies are tied to performance standards• Built upon the core public health

functions/essential public health services

Four Major Leadership Four Major Leadership Competency areas were Competency areas were

defined by NLNdefined by NLN• Transformational competencies

• Political competencies

• Transorganizational competencies

• Team Building Competencies

Core Transformational Competencies

• Visionary

• Sense of Mission

• Effective change agent

Core Political Competencies

• Understanding of political process

• Negotiation

• Ethics and Power

• Marketing and education

Core Transorganizational Competencies

• Understand organizational dynamics

• Interorganizational collaborating mechanisms

• Social forecasting and marketing

Core Team Building Competencies

• Develop team oriented structures and systems

• Facilitate development with teams and work groups

• Serve in facilitator and mediator role

The Agenda for Illinois• Public Health Certification• Health Alert Network• Public Health Leadership• Essential Public Health Services• Workforce Development• Public Health Infrastructure• Public Health Preparedness• National Performance Standards• Public Health Informatics• MAPP• Evidence-Based Public Health