HEALTH PROFESSIONS’ EDUCATION ‘LEADERS’ TOOLKIT’

Rationale

Health professions’ educators, whether they work in academic or clinical environments, have some level of management or leadership responsibility. These range from overseeing a project, leading a team or running a module to managing a programme, department or school. A variety of courses and programmes exist that teach management and leadership but these do not always focus on the specific needs of health professions’ educators and the contexts in which they work.

The Leaders’ Toolkit has been designed by a highly experienced, international faculty to meet the needs of those who are in leadership or management positions, however junior or senior, and who feel they would like to learn some theory, skills and approaches to improve their practice. The Toolkit comprises of courses run in a highly interactive, supportive, workshop-style sessions on different topics, models and approaches to leadership, management and followership relevant to contemporary health professions’ education. Course design means that, if they choose, delegates can take one or two courses at any one conference with very little overlap between the individual courses or prior knowledge needed. All our courses are:

• - Theory informed
• - Practice driven
• - Context specific
• - Interactive, supportive and fun!

HEALTH PROFESSIONS’ EDUCATION LEADERS’ TOOLKIT: ‘LEADERSHIP IN THREES’

This course aims to provide an introduction to contemporary theories and practices in leadership, management and followership in health professions’ education and healthcare. ‘Leadership in threes’ is a new developmental model we have presented which brings together key elements from leadership literature and research and applies them to practical, real life situations. We all live and work in a VUCA world: a Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous environment – where part of the complexity arises from our cultural and social diversity. We need therefore to have leade3rshop approaches that are flexible, inclusive and person-centred. In healthcare and health professions’ education, we have to work directly with and in two complex systems (that of education and health) each of which are made up of many, often competing, elements. This can be challenging for leaders grappling with uncertainty and rapid change but an understanding of the theories and related approaches can help us be more effective. Topics include:

• Leadership, management and followership: exploring the differences and interrelationships between each of these approaches;
• Theory in practice: how an understanding of key theories, models and concepts help us to be more effective;
• Leaders as change agents: an introduction to change models and their approaches;
• Adaptive leadership for complex systems: VUCA and RUPT; how to use these approaches in leadership and management;
• Change and complexity: models and frameworks that help stimulate and generate change in a complex world;
• Inclusive and person-centered leadership; putting people at the heart of what we do; working with diversity and how to recognize and address unconscious bias;
• Resilience, grip and emotional intelligence: key personal qualities for effective leadership;
• Developing and communicating the vision: creative ways of setting a vision for change and communicating this to others;
• Post-course report: Participants may choose to submit, within six months of completion of the course, a short report describing the application of the concepts and principles to their own practice

Thurs 12 Jan 2017 – 0900 – 1600
Fri 13 Jan & Sat 14 Jan 2017 – facilitated session during lunch
Sunday 15 Jan 2017 – 0900 – 1230

Course Faculty:
Associate Professor Paul Jones, UK
Professor Kirsty Forrest, Australia
Associate Professor Greg Radu, Canada

Course fee: US$575
Includes:

• One full-day pre-conference session (12 January 2017)
• Printed course programme;
• Workbook
• Set of additional resource materials accessed electronically
• Certificate of participation
• Two facilitated lunchtime meetings during the main conference (13 and 14 January 2017)
• A half day post conference workshop (15 January 2017)

Please note: In addition to the Leaders’ Toolkit ‘Leadership in threes’ course fee, participants are required to register and pay the registration fees for 14th APMEC main conference.