Health Leadership Program review and redesign process under way

With the class component of the Health Leadership Program on hold, the review and redesign process for the program continues to move forward. We hired consultant Harder+Company Community Research to work with an ad hoc alumni advisory committee to review the first 10 years of the program and analyze information collected from the Health Leadership alumni group. We are reviewing the draft report by Harder+Company and will use those findings to inform our next steps for the Health Leadership Program. We will make program announcements at www.sierrahealth.org and in our Partnerships e-newsletter.

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Health Leadership fellows contribute to and benefit from alumni network

Last fall, HLP alumni members had opportunities to develop skills, share knowledge, network and re-energize through an educational conference call, in-person meetings and a webinar. Here are highlights of those sessions.

In September, Adele James (Class VII), principal consultant of Adele James Consulting, facilitated a conference call titled Organizational Sustainability in Challenging Economic Times. She was joined by Edward Figueroa (Class VI), CEO of St. Mary’s Interfaith Community Services, and Shamus Roller (Class VIII), executive director of Housing California. The panelists discussed how they have addressed the issue of sustainability and strategies they have used, as well as how their approach to sustainability has shifted in response to current economic conditions.

Alumni sessions were held at Sierra Health Foundation in October. The sessions were informative and interactive, and, paired with fabulous food and great company, the environment was set for an amazing opportunity to strengthen the Health Leadership network to better serve the community.

The first day, alumni members shared their knowledge and experience as presenters of two sessions. In the first session, Elaine Abelaye (Class X), executive director of Asian Resources, and Kim Williams (Class VII), hub manager of Building Healthy Communities, presented an overview of The California Endowment's Building Healthy Communities initiative and the vision behind this groundbreaking, place-based community movement. They shared how the vision is being implemented at the local level and shared the community priorities. They also described some early successes in the first year of implementation.

During the second session, alumni members explored a question of collaboration: “As initiatives and collaborations increase, are you equipped to be successful?” Dana Campbell (Class IV), fiscal officer at Community Action Agency of Butte County, presented Collaborating with Curves. Dana shared techniques to create powerful, effective and enjoyable collaboratives to truly make a difference in a community.

On day two, alumni members heard from Dr. Joe Mattox and Dr. Ira Levin, Workplace Innovation consultants who presented Leading Change: Learning to Manage Opportunities and Challenges Related to Organizational Change While Taking Care of Yourself. The session provided an opportunity for alumni members to identify key strategies to help them guide their teams through periods of change so that the team can remain focused, healthy and productive, even if the atmosphere around them is not. Change at work creates a number of different stressors, which can lead to unhealthy and unproductive outcomes, such as decreased motivation, attention deficits, fatigue and interpersonal conflict. As part of this session, alumni members reviewed a variety of techniques and tools for managing stressors caused by work-related change.

In November, Dave Logan, Ph.D., joined the alumni via webinar to discuss The Three Laws of Performance: Rewriting the Future of Your Organization and Your Life. According to Dave, “There’s a certain ‘something’ that puts a limit on performance — for our families, ourselves and our businesses. Unlike the rules we see in social sciences that are almost always true (for example, reciprocity), this law is as strong as the laws of physics. It always holds true.” He focused on why performance is what it is (our default future), and how we use new language to set aside our default future and create an invented future.

Top photo: (left to right) Adele James, Joe Mattox and Ira Levin
Bottom photo: Kim Williams and Elaine Abelaye

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Alumni updates

Health Leadership Program alumni members continue their important work throughout the region. Several members sent us updates to share with the alumni network. Read about them on the Sierra Health web site and be inspired!

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Stories of impact

Thank you to five Health Leadership Program alumni members who shared their stories of impact. Following are short summaries, but visit Sierra Health's web site for their full stories.

Last month Sacramento County’s 4-H Youth Development Program received national honors as a Program of Distinction for 4-H On the Wild Side, an environmental education project that connects youth from low-income neighborhoods to the outdoors. Learn about Marianne Bird's (Class VI) contributions.

Lisa Bertaccini, LCSW (Class II) shares an e-mail from a parent of a 5-year-old at a center who was struggling with self-regulation and engaging in repetitive behaviors, but now is going in a positive direction thanks to Quality Child Care Collaborative services and the dedication of his center and family.

Rosalind Garner (Class V) reports on the 31st Annual Mental Health and Aging Conference held in October, which she organized for the Sacramento County Mental Health Older Adult Committee.

David Husid, CADCII (Class IX) shares a letter from a Cottage Housing alumni member who now is heading up a new business venture. David said, “People need to hear what’s possible.”

Pedro Toledo (Class VIII) shares the impact of patient navigators, from his experience at Healthy Kids Sonoma County and Redwood Community Health Coalition.

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Leaders on the move

Jennifer (Kwan) Ablog (Class VI) is now Community & Government Relations Manager with Kaiser South Sacramento.

Sher Barber (Class IX) has been named Executive Director of Wind Youth Services in Sacramento.

Michele E. Blake (Class VII) was recently appointed as Executive Director for Sutter County Children and Families Commission.

Glynis Butler-Stone (Class VII) has joined Sierra Forever Families in Sacramento as Program Director.

Darla Clark (Class II) has transitioned to Chief Operations Officer at Chapa-De Indian Health Program, Inc.

Eric Fimbres (Class IV) is now Director of Clinic Operations at The Effort, Inc. in Sacramento.

Andrew Frishman (Class IX) is an Education Leadership Doctoral Candidate at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Marshall Graves (Class IX) has been designated as Special Projects Officer at Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services, with primary responsibility for implementing its Strategic Plan.

Melissa Guajardo (Class X) left Soil Born Farms to return to work with the California Center for Civic Participation.

Ann Guerra (Class VI) is now Executive Director of FREED Center for Independent Living in Nevada City.

Michelle Johnston (Class VII) has joined Alzheimer’s Association, Northern California and Northern Nevada Chapter as the Regional Director of the Sacramento Region office.

Michael Minnick (Class VIII) has returned to WEAVE, Inc. in a newly created position, Youth Violence Prevention Coordinator. The position includes creating youth engagement opportunities and overseeing the Coaching Boys into Men program, which supports middle and high school coaches as they provide mentoring to male athletes regarding respectful and healthy relationships.

Susan Morris Wilson (Class III) is now Executive Director of Youth Violence Prevention Council of Shasta County, which recently merged with the Health Improvement Partnership of Shasta.

Michael Petersen (Class X) is now School Success Director with Stars Community Services in San Leandro.

Peter Reed (Class X) is now Executive Director of Pioneer Network headquartered in Chicago.

Shamus Roller (Class VIII) has been named Executive Director of Housing California headquartered in Sacramento.

Shelley Rouillard (Class IV) has been appointed by Gov. Jerry Brown to the position of Chief Deputy Director of the California Department of Managed Health Care.

Petra Stanton (Class III) is now Associate Director of Health Center Policy & Services of California Primary Care Association.

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Trainers Tip by the Kiely Group

At times, conversations can be challenging. In order to keep the conversation open and establish common ground, try using The Listening L.A.W.S.

L = What I sincerely LIKE about what you said is ...

A = What I would ADD is ...

W = What I’m WORRIED about is ...

S = So, what do you think we could do? Or — So, what we could do is this ...

Remember: We all share in the responsibility to get things done. Help your associates solve their problems and have some accountability for the results by asking, “How can we solve this together?” You can disagree with someone without being disagreeable. Use the Listening L.A.W.S. to respect the other person’s perspective and create shared responsibility.

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