A Qualitative Analysis of Maternal and Child Health Public Health Leadership Institute (MCH PHLI) Leaders: Assessing the Application of Leadership Skills at the “Others” and “Wider Community” Levels of the MCH Leadership Competencies 4.0

OBJECTIVES: To gain insight into how participants in the Maternal and Child Health Public Health Leadership Institute (MCH PHLI) report applying the leadership skills gained through the program at the “Others” and “Wider Community” levels of the MCH Leadership Competencies 4.0. METHODS: 111 mid- to senior-level MCH leaders participating in the MCH PHLI gave < 5 min oral presentations detailing the impacts resulting from implementation of the skills gained through the leadership development training. Presentations were recorded and transcribed then qualitatively analyzed in reference to the MCH Leadership Competencies 4.0. Impacts were stratified by the “Others” and “Wider Community” levels. RESULTS: Analysis resulted in 1510 separate coded examples, 948 of which were coded as aligning with the MCH Leadership Competency 4.0 areas of “Others”, “Wider Community” and with an additional emerging competency. In many examples Participants estimated the numbers of people affected by these leadership activities, which totaled more than 80,773 people across the US. CONCLUSIONS FOR PRACTICE: This analysis suggests that mid-to-senior level intensive leadership development strategies benefit organizations, communities, and systems quite broadly through a virtual “ripple effect” of training. Capturing qualitative data can help elucidate the return on investment for leader development programs in terms of impacts on communities and systems.