European Leaders for Health Improvement

Course Content

The ELHI Programme exists in order to improve the capacity of leaders to manage change in the health and social care systems. The programme is unique and experiential in that it uses insights from another culture(s), in order to stimulate the imagination of leaders as well as enthuse them and equip them in order to make change in their own organisations.

No one leader approaches this in the same way and no change management situation is similar but we believe that real insights can be achieved by:

• Assessing the culture within which the change management takes place and making some fresh judgements about its implications
• Listening to leaders from organisations in different cultures to assess how they approach change and develop implementation strategies
• Take part in a practical programme to come up with recommendations for sustainable implementation
• Provide cross-learning opportunities and feedback from colleagues about styles and strategies that work and don't work

Together we believe the ELHI Programme provides all the above
experiences, based on real problems and real issues which are directly relevant to problems "back home". This is particularly rooted into the programme by the provision of individual implementation coaching to ensure that lessons learned or styles adopted are not forgotten once the transition back to England has taken place.

"We all feel inspired and we also are very impressed by your sharp analysis or our situations. Very well presented and realistic for us, to use in our near and far future" Marie Beckman Suurküla, CEO Uppsala University Hospital.

The ELHI LAB Programme
The ELHI LAB programme challenges senior managers, executives and clinicians to sharpen their leadership for change skills by undertaking a week-long healthcare assignment in Scandinavia, (selected locations in Denmark and Sweden).

The first ELHI LAB programme took place recently, and this is what participants said:

"The programme expertly facilitated groups to achieve the expected outcome, (and coaching), was particularly useful".

The experience and personal value of the programme will continue to resonate throughout the rest of my life!"

Networking with other UK PCT players has left doors open for the future and I have already started to use these connections".

"The ELHI lab was an all round good experience. The combination of learning about a different health care system, problem solving within the relevant context and doing it quickly made for a very different leadership development experience".

The ELHI LAB programme is tailored to meet the needs of leaders in the English National Health Service who are involved in change management. The programme will include briefing on the Danish and Swedish healthcare systems, tools for comparative analysis, assignment teams, individual implementation coaching and support for report writing and presentation.

The Programme is highly experiential and begins with a full briefing on Danish and Swedish healthcare systems and is followed by assignments being allocated to small teams of managers and clinicians who undertake a "real-time" assignment with hosts who have pre-organised interviews and visit programmes over the first two days of the programme. There is additional input from leaders, both formally and informally, and time is taken to compare and contrast results and assess the likely impact in different cultures.

The final morning is given over to presentation of findings back to the sponsoring host/Chief Executive and the programme finishes at midday with the presentation of certificates.

Programme

The programme has been designed and will be led by Birger Olofsson and Dick Stockford, who have been running programmes of this kind successfully over the past 20 years.

Pre-programme Briefing for Participants
If possible, all participants for ELHI Programmes should be briefed before the programme takes place in order to:

• Identify personal objectives: this means making an assessment of why they want to come onto the programme, what they hope to get out of it and how they will identify success.
• A briefing on the content of the programme, including the learning methods, the likely issues that they will come across, the ways in which they are expected to engage in the programme and how they will need to work with other people and such preliminary reading that they will need to do.
• A briefing on the Swedish/Danish healthcare system, either in written form or delivered by either Dick or Birger.
• A personal/social briefing on the sort of things they can expect, money they need to take, climates they will experience, hotels, travel and quaint Swedish and Danish customs.

These four issues together will have the impact of preparing people for the course both as individuals and participants in the programme and will enable Dick and Birger to take into account learning needs more effectively.

Danish and Swedish Healthcare Systems Explained
We will provide you with information about Scandinavian healthcare and also comparisons between Swedish, Danish and English healthcare. This information will be attached to each individual ELHI LAB programme and will be updated. You will also get pre-programme information about the Health Authority you will be working with and be directed to relevant websites of national and local relevance.

An outline Programme for the day
For each programme there will be a detailed itinerary. The programmes will take place in different parts of Sweden and Denmark. This programme will be sent out in good time before the programme starts. You will also have the opportunity to see and reflect on the assignments that your clients/the Scandinavian Health Authorities have organised for you:

Sunday - gather at hotel for briefing and dinner
Monday - assignments, introduction/briefing and development: working
In assignment locations in teams
Tuesday - working in assignment locations and teams: corporate dinner
Wednesday - analysis of assignments: cross learning, leadership speaker from host nation
Thursday - write up assignment and presentations: individual
implementation coaching for participants
Friday - presentations to CEO host teams: discussion of feedback, evaluation and presentation of diplomas
Lunchtime - close

The Assignments: examples and expectations
We will arrange your assignments, together with the Scandinavian Health organisations. The assignments are a high priority; complex problems where what is required is a skilled and experienced view from the outside and recommendations for change and processes to pursue. All our "stretch" missions, require leadership insight, understanding of the wider context, cultural sensitivity and bottom-line implementation skills.

Examples of assignments from previous programmes:

• Merger between Lund University Hospital and Malmö Academic Hospital in Skåne, Sweden

• Smart pathways for acute and elective care involving hospitals, Primary Care, Social Services and Uppsala Academic Hospital

• New ways for cooperation between Uppsala Academic Hospital and Enköping Hospital, Uppsala County Council

• Effects of the new treatment quarantee in Denmark for public and private care

• Mergers between out-patient clinics, Frederiksberg Hospital, Copenhagen

Speakers
During the programme you will meet key managers from the Health Service. They will give you an introduction to your assignment, on on-going changes in their environment and will also meet you when you present your recommendations. Although the programme is filled with activities related to your assignment, your own learning, reflections on different leadership styles, you will meet invited guests who will give more nutrition to your learning experience. You will meet distinguished speakers who will talk about "Leadership from Another Perspective". For instance, the Mayor of Malmö talked, at one programme, about visionary leadership and the transition issues of a large city.

EHLI LAB Evaluation
Every ELHI LAB programme has been evaluated, though recently this has been in the form of verbal evaluation at the end of the programme and a request for formal evaluation following it.

As from ELHI LAB 3 a formal evaluation package will be used in order to gain data about the value, process and impact of the programme.