Developing Future Leaders

The Nicholson Foundation worked to advance meaningful change in New Jersey’s safety net service systems. Its journey is described in Changing Systems, Changing Lives: Reflecting on 20 Years.

Effective and sustainable systems change cannot occur without flexible and strong leaders who are committed to the process. Leaders are the people in positions to influence funding, manage programs, set policy, develop regulations, and lead initiatives.

Investing in developing future leaders was a good strategy because it increased the likelihood that projects and initiatives would continue and flourish over time. This process also provided opportunities to bring people together and build lasting relationships. Given the siloed nature of many government, health, and human services agencies, emerging leaders might never have interacted without these opportunities. Bringing future leaders together also helped to highlight common goals and enhance the potential for leveraging investments across multiple systems, creating opportunities for powerful, collaborative action.

Our experience in developing future leaders generated a few key takeaways that might be useful to others who are engaged in similar work:

• Invest in programs designed to develop future leaders. Nurturing people and providing opportunities for them to become leaders is a powerful way to foster systems change.
• Promote collective learning. These experiences foster long-lasting connections and a sense of community, and can generate more impact than one-on-one training.
• Seek out people who have diverse professional and personal experiences and who play various roles in their organizations. This approach creates a strong mix of participants who bring multiple perspectives that enhance the sharing and learning of specific content and strategies.
• Invite participants who have not previously worked together. This can lead to unexpectedly strong collaborative relationships and new initiatives that endure long after the leadership development project has ended. These relationships are especially important for staff who come from state agencies or departments that may not otherwise have the opportunity to collaborate. Building strong interagency relationships is important for the present and the future.
• Cast a wide net. It’s hard to predict which individuals starting their careers will end up reaching the top rungs of power—and will remain working in a particular field of interest. Building large and inclusive training cohorts provides the best chance of influencing future leaders.

Learn More

• Read the other blogs in this Key Takeaways series:
  — Engaging with Government for Systems Change
  — Elevating Best Practices and Building Evidence
  — Finding and Nurturing Effective Partnerships
  — Investing in Organizational Nuts and Bolts
  — Tackling Complex Problems with Multiple and Complementary Solutions
• Read “A Framework for Creating Systems Change,” a paper by Drs. William Brown and Wynn Rosser. The paper presents a model for systems change that adapts and expands the Foundation’s approach, making it easily accessible to a broad audience and grounding it in the growing literature in this area. [Brown W, Rosser W. A Framework for Creating Systems Change. The Foundation Review, 2023;15(4):50-6.
• Receive or download a free copy of Changing Systems, Changing Lives: Reflecting on 20 Years. This book describes the 20-year journey of The Nicholson Foundation. Chapter 7 illustrates what’s possible by developing future leaders. It describes how the Foundation:
  — Supported a leadership training program for Medicaid staff and those of related agencies.— Invested in a program to improve the practice of pediatric care in New Jersey by helping medical residents engage with their local communities.