Building Public Health Competencies for Cross-Sector Leadership: Results From the National Leadership Academy for the Public’s Health

Abstract

Context. The public health workforce is increasingly being asked to provide leadership in addressing complex community health needs. Effective leadership requires adaptiveness and cross-sector collaboration in developing solutions to address community needs. Program. An annual yearlong public health leadership development program, which engages cross-sector teams and uses an iterative design to build competencies for adaptive and collaborative leadership across sectors (e.g., public health, business, education, nonprofits). Implementation. The program engages cross-sector teams through a national retreat, coaching, site visits, interactive webinars, readings, and a community-based action learning project. As of 2020, the program was offered to nine cohorts, serving more than 100 communities across the United States. Results. Results from a mixed-methods evaluation found that high proportions of participants reported increased leadership skills, cross-sector collaboration, continued use of tools and concepts, and positive impact on their communities after participating in the program. Across all cohorts, participants rated themselves on five leadership domains and 17 leadership competencies focused on by the program. All domains and all competencies had statistically significant improvements from the beginning to the end of their program year. Discussion. The improvements in leadership skills were seen across all cohorts, geographies, roles, and sectors. The success of the program suggests the need for leadership programs that emphasize adaptive and collaborative leadership to advance community health and equity.