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Session Title: Evaluating a 16-month Emerging Community Health Leaders Program, Ladder to Leadership: Strategies and Challenges for Measuring Long-term Impact
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Panel Session 763 to be held in Balboa C on Friday, Nov 4, 4:30 PM to 6:00 PM
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Sponsored by the Non-profit and Foundations Evaluation TIG
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| Chair(s): |
| Heather Champion, Center for Creative Leadership, championh@ccl.org
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| Abstract:
Ladder to Leadership is a 16-month leadership development program aimed at increasing leadership skills and professional networks for emerging, non-profit, community health leaders from eight communities across the US. Each cohort of up to 30 Fellows participate in three multi-day, face-to-face leadership development sessions; action learning projects; professional coaching; and developmental goal setting. A comprehensive longitudinal evaluation was designed to measure the impact of the program on the Fellows, their organizations, and their community. This session addresses the unique challenges and lessons learned from the methods used to evaluate this program, including: 1) the use of social network analysis to measure changes over time in networking and collaboration among Fellows and their organizations, 2) a comparison of methods used to measure impact of the program (i.e., a 360né¦ rater assessment versus self- and boss-reported impact surveys), and 3) measuring the impact of the action learning component of this program.
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Measuring Long-term Impact of an Emerging Community Health Leaders Program: A Comparison of Evaluation Methods
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| Heather Champion, Center for Creative Leadership, championh@ccl.org
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| Tracy Patterson, Center for Creative Leadership, pattersont@ccl.org
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| Kimberly Fredericks, The Sage Colleges, fredek1@sage.edu
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| Julia Jackson-Newsom, University of North Carolina, Greensboro, j_jackso@uncg.edu
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Determining the best method or methods for measuring the long-term impact on individuals, their organizations, and their communities for an emerging community health leaders program presents a number of challenges. The Ladder to Leadership program evaluation employed the use of multiple measures of impact including a 360né¦ multi-rater, now-then assessment (Reflections-¬), customized impact surveys for both participants and their bosses, and success case method interviews of participants. These methods were employed to gain input from multiple perspectives, to maximize our ability to measure program outcomes both quantitatively and qualitatively, and to measure the sustainability of impact over time. A comparison of the benefits and limitations of each of these methods and how they are used together to comprehensively evaluate the LTL program is discussed.
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Examining Changes in Social Networks Among Emerging Leaders in the Ladder to Leadership Program
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| Kimberly Fredericks, The Sage Colleges, fredek1@sage.edu
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| Tracy Patterson, Center for Creative Leadership, pattersont@ccl.org
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| Heather Champion, Center for Creative Leadership, championh@ccl.org
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| Julia Jackson-Newsom, University of North Carolina, Greensboro, j_jackso@uncg.edu
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Ladder to Leadership is a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, in collaboration with the Center for Creative Leadership. For this project, we are investigating the changes in networking and collaboration among cohorts of Fellows from eight different communities across the US and were followed for three years. Social network analysis was used to assess relationships among program participants before and after the program. These data have been used to study changes overtime in the networks in each of these communities utilizing actor-oriented stochastic models. Findings suggest that there are proximity, gender, balance, transitivity, and popularity effects within the networks. Longitudinal social network analysis can allow for the understanding of the determinants of tie formation and social support which can allow for programmatic changes to enhance and maintain relationships. Although the challenge of maintaining a high response rate over time is problematic, the potential application for evaluation can be widespread.
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Evaluating the Value and Impact of Action Learning as Part of a Leadership Development Initiative for Emerging Community Health Leaders
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| Tracy Patterson, Center for Creative Leadership, pattersont@ccl.org
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| Heather Champion, Center for Creative Leadership, championh@ccl.org
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| Kimberly Fredericks, The Sage Colleges, fredek1@sage.edu
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| Julia Jackson-Newsom, University of North Carolina, Greensboro, j_jackso@uncg.edu
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Over the course of the 16-month, RWJF-funded Ladder to Leadership program, fellows work in Action Learning teams to design and implement projects that address community-based leadership challenges. This critical program component is designed to help fellows apply new and enhanced leadership skills presented in the various components of the program's curriculum to a health or health system issue of community significance. Each of the teams of 5-6 fellows receives ongoing support from a community sponsor and a learning coach. The Ladder to Leadership evaluation captures data on the value and impact of the action learning component through surveys and interviews of fellows during and after the initiative, surveys of action learning coaches and sponsors, and analyses of the team deliverables. This paper draws on this experience to identify and discuss strategies, challenges, and lessons learned for evaluating process-based learning activities, learning transfer, and individual components of multi-method development initiatives.
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