Emerging Leaders’ Program Development Handbook

Creating a Program for Developing and Supporting

Emerging Public Health Leaders

Minnesota's ELN

  Minnesota's Emerging Leaders’ Network

How is Minnesota’s program funded?

What is the cost to participate?

What does it cost to run the program?

How are faculty recruited?

How does the program recruit its participants?

What is included in the application process?

What criteria are used for selection?

What is the process for reviewing applications?

What’s expected of participants?

How is success measured?

Who evaluates the ELN?

How are the evaluations conducted?

Young leaders live on the border between passionate idealism and practical action, and I love being drawn into this rocky domain that, too often, is lost among senior leaders. My life is profoundly richer because of my connection to young leaders. Through them, I'm reminded of why the struggle matters; with them, I can better play time honored ideas off less encumbered minds; because of them, I have an utterly vital relationship with hope.
—Paul Terry, Ph.D., ELN Advisor & President and CEO, Park Nicollet Institute

I have a lot of training and knowledge about public health, and although I was somewhat interested, I never thought of myself as a leader. When I heard what was in my letters of recommendation, and I learned that others recognize leadership qualities in me, I felt more confidence to step out and take on some new responsibilities.
—Comment from cohort member

How did the program begin in Minnesota?

The Turning Point National Excellence Collaborative on Leadership Development recognized an unmet need to identify and nurture new leaders. Minnesota decided to develop a pilot project to meet that need.

The Minnesota program was designed from the ground up, by an energized, active, visionary, and well-connected steering committee of 12 public health leaders representing the Local Public Health Association, the Minnesota Department of Health, and the Minnesota Public Health Association. The Minnesota Environmental Health Association became a partner/sponsor of the program in its second year.

An informal advisors’ group was used in the network’s development and continues to provide guidance, input, and other support to the program and its staff. Some advisors have taken part in the review process, others have volunteered as mentors.

How is Minnesota’s program funded?

The Robert Wood Johnson Turning Point National Excellence Collaborative on Leadership Development provided initial funding for Minnesota’s Emerging Leaders’ Network. In addition, each program sponsor contributed resources and individuals and partner organizations provided significant in-kind support.

What is the cost to participate?

Participants are responsible for travel expenses to and from the retreats. All other program costs are borne by the program sponsors.

What does it cost to run the program?

The total general costs for the first year were:

• Retreats, food, materials - $20,000
• Faculty and staff - $50,000
• Evaluation - $10,000
• In-kind contributions - $24,000

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How are faculty recruited?

Minnesota’s Emerging Leaders’ Network includes experienced trainers as faculty. The trainers are well-versed in specific content areas and have a strong track record in public health. The steering committee, which included many well-connected individuals, helped identify and recruit faculty. Finances also dictated the final selection of faculty.

How does the program recruit its participants?

Most people in the public health field recognize the need for a workforce as diverse as the population served, particularly with regard to age, ethnicity, and gender. Similarly, Minnesota’s Emerging Leaders’ Network strives to select a diverse pool of candidates each year. This includes diversity in ethnicity, discipline, practice setting, age, geographic setting, and gender.

To help ensure diversity, it is important to broadly disseminate recruitment and application materials. Ask program partners about using their existing communication tools, including newsletters, websites, bulletin boards, and public health-related listservs.

In Minnesota’s pilot program, the application announcement was distributed to more than 7,000 people. Special care was taken to reach public health professionals from diverse ethnic communities and those working in community-based settings. Of the first year participants, most received their application information directly by e-mail, or were encouraged by someone in their organization, generally a supervisor. The first year cohort played a key role in encouraging others to apply for the second year of the program.

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What is included in the application process?

The Emerging Leaders’ Network application contains the following information:

• Background on the need for the Emerging Leaders’ Network
• Description of Minnesota’s Emerging Leaders’ Network program
• Program goals and objectives
• Participant objectives
• Criteria for admittance to the Emerging Leaders’ Network
• Sample contract
• Instructions for supervisor and letters of recommendation
• Application questions

Applicants to Minnesota’s Emerging Leaders’ Network must submit a packet that includes the following materials:

• A general information application form
• Brief answers to a series of essay questions
• A supervisor’s support letter
• At least two letters of recommendation
• Resume

What criteria are used for selection?

The Emerging Leaders’ Network employs a wide range of individual and group criteria to identify and choose each year’s participants. Initially, a person must meet the basic individual criteria:

• At least two years of public health work experience in: the private sector; an academic setting; a community-based, nonprofit organization; or a government agency
• Interest in developing leadership skills and a professional network
• Interest in enhancing knowledge and skills to become a strong collaborative leader
• Present employment in a position that includes working to improve the public’s health or the conditions that influence health

Reviewers also consider group-level criteria, such as diversity, to enrich the experience for the entire group. These diversity criteria are considered:

• Ethnicity
• Professional discipline
• Practice setting
• Geographic setting
• Gender
• Age

In addition, these personal leadership characteristics are considered in selecting the final cohort:

• Exhibits motivation and enthusiasm
• Desires to learn and be mentored
• Possesses inclination to assume responsibility
• Demonstrates the ability to manage ambiguity
• Sees challenge as opportunity
• Enjoys working with others in a collaborative environment
• Shares leadership, power, and recognition
• Shows integrity and is dependable
• Seeks ways to grow, develop, and work toward self-improvement
• Looks at life positively
• Values diversity and actively seeks diverse perspectives

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What is the process for reviewing applications?

The recruitment process is designed to be as fair and objective as possible, and is followed by an intense review process that is also designed to be as objective as possible.

Current leaders in public health are invited to serve as reviewers for the Emerging Leaders’ Network. In both the first and second year of the program in Minnesota, more than 20 people volunteered to review applications.

The review process includes these steps:

1. Recruit a diverse review team.
2. Use a pre-designed application review tool to score and rank applications.
3. Divide reviewers into teams of four or five members, distribute applications among the teams so that each team reviews between four and seven applications, and give adequate time (approximately four weeks) for independent review.
4. Hold a one-day meeting for reviewers to discuss and select applicants into the Emerging Leaders’ Network. Begin the meeting with a full group discussion to discuss individual reviewer’s scores. Break into team discussions that culminate in a recommendation for each team’s top candidate(s). Regroup and allow for the majority of the day to be spent discussing the slate of candidates and balancing the criteria needed to ensure a rich learning environment.
5. Select 12 candidates and two alternates.
6. Call the final candidates to obtain their commitment to completing the program. Ask them to sign and return a contract stating their commitment to participate in all aspects of the program.

What’s expected of participants?

Once selected into the program, participants are expected to commit to the following:

• Fully participate in four retreats. (These typically begin on Thursday evening, and end on Saturday afternoon.)
• Complete a leadership development plan that identifies specific leadership growth opportunities and outcomes.
• Commit to approximately two hours per week in additional learning and growth opportunities, which may include telephone conferences, computer discussion forums, leadership project work, mentoring, and formal self-assessment.
• Apply the principles and skills gained through the program to their professional work, and personal and community commitments.

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How is success measured?

Minnesota’s Emerging Leaders’ Network Steering Committee uses two levels of success measures in evaluating the program:

• Program success:
  - Is a replicable model developed that includes tools and strategies for the identification and preparation of future public health leaders?
  - Is a diverse network of new leaders in public health engaged in Minnesota?
  - Are excitement and energy generated around an alternative leadership development model?
  - Are collaborative leadership principles applied throughout the development of the Emerging Leaders’ Network?
  
• Individual success:
  - Have cohort members received information, and do they feel more knowledgeable and confident in their ability to use collaborative leadership practices, build ethical and resourceful professional networks, and implement a personal leadership development plan?
  - Do cohort members feel more prepared to step into both formal and informal leadership roles in public health?
  - Have participants accepted additional formal or informal leadership positions? Have they applied the concepts and practices they have learned?

Who evaluates the ELN?

The program is evaluated by participants and their supervisors. Its operations and activities are evaluated by steering committee members and application reviewers.

How are the evaluations conducted?

Participant evaluations are conducted at the conclusion of each of the four retreats. While a framework of activities is planned for the entire year, the program is flexible enough to accommodate suggestions made in the retreats. A participant evaluation is also conducted at the end of the program year. For this evaluation, participants provide feedback on a written survey instrument that is delivered to them by e-mail, and is then returned to an independent evaluation consultant for analysis. A post-six month evaluation of the program is planned.

Supervisor evaluations are conducted through a telephone survey by an independent consultant at the end of the program year. (The Minnesota Emerging Leaders’ Network engages the supervisors in a couple different ways during the year, including inviting them into the final cohort meeting.)

Application reviewer evaluations are conducted by paper evaluation at the conclusion of the application review meeting. The input is used to adjust and change the process. The reviewers are asked to evaluate the application review process logistics (e.g., how manageable was the process) and quality (e.g., did you have enough, and the right information to make a decision).

Steering committee evaluations are conducted by both the program staff and a hired consultant. Staff conducted an evaluation early on in the planning phase to measure satisfaction with the process. A hired consultant conducted an evaluation at the end of the first year to measure satisfaction with the steering committee functions and process.

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For additional information about the Emerging Leaders’ Network, please contact:

Tricia Todd
Minnesota Department of Health
612-789-6689
todd0002@umn.edu

or

Lee Kingsbury
Minnesota Department of Health
651-296-9162
lee.kingsbury@health.state.mn.us