Nurturing excellence: Evaluating a health professions university leadership training programme in Zambia

Background. Effective leadership is essential for the performance of healthcare systems, and university faculty play a key role in educating healthcare professionals. However, in many countries, including Zambia, health professions training does not include substantial leadership training. To address this need, faculty at Zambian universities designed and launched a leadership training programme to equip health professions faculty with the knowledge and skills necessary to impart leadership competencies to their students. Objective. To evaluate programme efficacy by assessing changes in trainees’ leadership knowledge and behaviours. The results of this evaluation will help inform these and other universities about the utility of an in-house leadership programme. Methods. Using a mixed-methods study design framed by the Kirkpatrick model for programme evaluation, we administered a survey to trainees (n=35) before and immediately after the programme. The survey included 5-point scales on which participants self-rated their knowledge and skills in leadership competencies. One month after the programme, semi-structured focus groups were conducted to gather trainees’ perceptions of the programme. Descriptive statistics were calculated for quantitative data and categorised qualitative data according to salient, recurring themes. Results. Analyses of qualitative and quantitative data from the 35 faculty trainees revealed that they enjoyed the programme and experienced growth in all leadership competencies taught, although they felt that more time could have been allocated to workshops. Trainees’ leadership knowledge increased by an average of 48% across all nine domains taught, with the greatest growth in ‘social and emotional intelligence’ (73%) and ‘diversity, inclusion and equity’ (58%). Trainees also reported substantial growth (42%) in their confidence of their leadership behaviours. Other areas of significant growth included ‘using tools and strategies to address microaggressions’ (88%) and ‘exploring types of microaggressions faced by diverse groups’ (84%). Conclusion. These results indicate that a short, intentional and locally relevant training programme can address gaps in leadership training and effectively equip faculty with leadership knowledge and skills. Unique elements of this programme include its development by an interdisciplinary team of university faculty who also taught the workshops, the use of a ‘train-the-trainer’ model to promote programme sustainability, and collaboration among three academic institutions in the development and assessment of the course. This programme could serve as a model for academic institutions interested in developing leadership courses for faculty.