Purpose: When people understand a broad range of possibilities for leadership they can better identify their own strengths as leaders while developing complementary roles for others. In this module, participants will develop an understanding of the traditional and evolving paradigms of leadership. Considering leadership as a field of knowledge offers the opportunity to re-imagine the role of leader for themselves, and this community. Using this framework, they will reflect on their own development as a leader throughout the course of the Institute. Each individual will create his/her own theory of leadership that responds to health care challenges of leaders serving the low income and uninsured, to their own deeply held goals.

Learning Objectives: Upon completion of this module participants will be able to:

• Reflect on and analyze past experience as a guide to future development of self as leader, incorporating new conceptions of leadership with awareness of personal strengths, desires, and level of commitment.
• Develop a vision of leadership for self and an action plan for achieving it.

Faculty for this Module: Cynthia Parker, Michael McCormack

Action Learning Practicum: As part of the Institute, participants will apply the principles and practices learned during this program to real issue in health care through a practicum. The practicum experience provides a chance for participants to exercise their skills in facilitating dialogue and reaching consensus within their group and with other organizations and/or the community they serve. These experiences provide a laboratory for participants to incorporate the collaborative leadership tools they have learned with an opportunity to creatively respond to a real and challenging health care issue affecting the low income and uninsured in Massachusetts. The practicum will include:

• Working in small teams with peers in the Institute and choosing a focus for the practicum;
• Conducting an analysis of the organizational and community context and the challenges it presents;
• Developing a working hypothesis of the scope and purpose of the intervention, along with an analysis of who to engage (stakeholders);
• Defining a process for engaging and involving stakeholders;
• Convening the stakeholders to confirm or disconfirm the hypothesis and capture the learnings from the experience;
• Determining whether the ground work laid in the practicum is sustainable by their group and/or others after the completion of the practicum;
• Throughout the practicum experience participants will receive and provide feedback and support for one another as part of the laboratory experience.

Participants can expect to work on their practica approximately 4 – 6 hours per month between sessions. In additition, during the program there are opportunities to apply specific learnings to their practica. Depending on the project chosen, participants may wish to extend work on their practicum beyond the time parameters of this program. If this step is considered, it must be with the approval of their sponsoring organization.

• Understand and apply a range of planning approaches and tools to health care challenges.
• Identify and describe the health care challenges facing non-profits and communities, and analyze the larger context in which they are embedded.
• Through the practicum, practice the tools learned about leadership, feedback, diversity, dialogue, problem analysis, and identifying and involving a variety of stakeholders.

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