Interim Report: How LeaderShift is Making a Difference

As part of our commitment to developing leaders in community and primary health care and igniting cross-sector collaboration, the LeaderShift project team has been monitoring and evaluating the impact of our leadership development activities.
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With roughly a third of the planned LEADS Learning Series  cohorts already delivered, here’s what we can report so far, based on the findings of an independent interim evaluation of the LeaderShift initiative by Cathexis Consulting Inc.

Who We’re Reaching
LeaderShift is designed to support leaders at different career stages, with some emphasis on early and mid-career leaders. So far, the majority (80%) of participants in the LEADS Learning Series identify as early and mid-career leaders. 

​A key goal of LeaderShift is to build capacity and collaboration amongst the three sub-sectors in community health. We’re delighted to see equal representation from each in the cohorts that have graduated so far.

​To date, participants in the LEADS Learning Series have mainly come from small to mid-sized organizations, with 1 to 100 Full-time Equivalent (FTE) staff. 

Relevance of the LEADS Learning Series
For leadership development to have an impact, leaders have to be able to take new skills, awareness, and tools and apply them inside their own organizations. For that to happen, they have to see development activities as being relevant both personally and professionally. According to our surveys, LeaderShift is hitting the mark. 

​Participants in the LEADS Learning Series also report that they value learning and networking with leaders from across community and primary health care, as well as leaders with different levels of experience, confirming the choices we’ve made in designing the LEADS cohorts.
 
“Bringing together leaders from across the 3 community health sectors was helpful in thinking about collaboration and coalition opportunities…”
-Participant
 
​Impact of the LEADS Learning Series on Leaders in Community and Primary Health
Reports on the impact of the LEADS Learning Series are overwhelmingly positive, both in terms of building competencies and providing leaders with the tools and supports they need to be effective. The net result? Participants are becoming stronger leaders.

We asked participants to rate their confidence in key leadership competencies before and after the 5-day LEADS Learning Series. The graph below shows the increase in “high confidence” ratings in five key competency areas. 

​“As a relatively new senior leader and a woman, I have sometimes not felt very confident. This workshop gave me more confidence and has given me more of a voice to speak up and express my opinion and expectations in a calm, firm and supportive way. I am less concerned about being liked and more confident to express myself and my rationale in a transparent way.” 
​-Participant
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​We also asked leaders to rate their agreement with four statements about their experience before and after the 5-day LEADS Learning Series. 
The graph below shows the increase in “strongly agree” ratings for participants before and after the training and shows that, through the LEADS Learning Series, leaders are getting the supports that they need to fulfill their roles. ​

​“I feel I have been given a better foundation for how to direct my ideas and work… I think about different things I learned as I go to meetings and I try to apply them. I feel like I have tools that I can use.”
-Participant

Join the LeaderShift
Our independent interim evaluation shows that LeaderShift is achieving its goals and helping leaders across our sectors develop the capacity, confidence, and connections to lead our sectors into the future.
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Thirteen LEADS Learning Series cohorts have already been completed in 2018. If you haven’t attended yet or if you have a colleague who wants to attend, don’t worry, there will be 10 more deliveries in 2019. Applications for spring 2019 are now open! Sign up now to secure your spot and join the LeaderShift movement.