Leadership Development

NACHC offers a number of leadership development programs to empower health center executives with strategies and best practices to address challenges facing today’s health centers. Additional regional trainings are offered nationally throughout the year.

Available Offerings:

Leadership Development Training for Health Center Staff

Leadership LIVE! Two-day Leadership Networking Intensive

Core leadership skills are required for every role and position in a health center – come join us and enhance your skills in a high energy environment where you will learn how to improve communication, influence organizational culture, and build a team…all while boosting your professional health center network.

NACHC’s new Leadership LIVE! is a two-day learning event intended for emerging and experienced leaders alike. The core design is for health center leaders to learn from and engage with health center peers.

April 28–29 | Arlington, VA
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Leadership Coaching Services for Health Center Staff

The demands on C-Suite health center executives to provide savvy and effective leadership are intense. Not only is leadership needed within the organization and its teams, but it is also essential for building new community and regional partnerships—partnerships that help to navigate new methods to meet patient population needs. Considering the potential roles health centers may play in statewide and national political and policy spheres, it follows that health center CEOs would benefit from seasoned, contextualized coaching to support them in accelerating the learning curve.

The expectations of health center operations staff are just as demanding. Behind the scenes, there is a whole team of health care providers that are responsible for the patient’s care – from front desk staff, patient registration, nurses, clinicians, community health workers, mental health specialists, pharmacists, and so on. The team works together to anticipate the patient’s needs, communicate their findings with each other, and make sure no aspect of the patient’s health slips through the cracks. From the patient’s perspective, it is seamless, but it takes a lot of coordination and communication to make it happen. It follows that health center operations staff would benefit from seasoned, contextualized coaching to support them in accelerating the effectiveness of these care teams (as individuals and teams).

To ensure health centers build and maintain strategic leadership, NACHC has partnered with Integrated Work (IWS) to offer Leadership Coaching Services for all Health Center staff. This service offers health centers one-on-one or group coaching programs with customized conversations to address the unique leadership needs of health centers. These leadership coaching services are designed to provide health center leaders the support to strategically position themselves for emerging opportunities and to achieve the operational effectiveness to help improve public health outcomes.

Individual Coaching:

Six (6) one-hour coaching sessions
Scheduled every 3-4 weeks, depending on participant availability
Resources and materials provided as needed to support the participant in achieving the coaching objectives

Registration Information:
Individual Coaching(Register Now)
NACHC Member Fee: $2,000/Individual | Non-Member Fee: $2,620/Individual

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Individual Coaching

Coaching sessions provide a focused time to think strategically with a skilled, objective partner. During sessions, a variety of topics can be explored; however, the focus is primarily on improving individual effectiveness in ways that link to the larger strategic goals of an organization. Coaches can work with individuals on their strategies to become more powerful leaders for positive change and help to increase the effectiveness of their interactions with others. Through coaching, employees learn to improve resilience in the face of adversity, build greater capacity for innovative problem solving, and increase the ability to collaborate effectively with others inside and outside the organization to achieve breakthrough results.

Individual Coaching Service Outcomes

The value of one-on-one coaching for health centers leaders in today’s ever-evolving environment includes building the know-how to be able to:

Improve performance and effectiveness for employees, managers and senior leaders.
Increase employee engagement resulting in improved morale.
Retain and develop key staff.
Offer culturally sensitive and respectful support for professional development.
Develop an agile workforce, capable of managing change.
Key Coaching Topics have included (but are not limited to): managing a team, delegating, change management, communication skills, supervision of staff, board engagement, and more…

Group Coaching

Group coaching equips teams to move forward on their most important goals. Our Leadership Coaching Services offer a customized approach to group coaching that is designed to assist in the development of core leadership skills for newer teams or to support existing teams that may need support in collaboration and action management. Group coaching sessions offer teams the support of an experienced facilitator during team meetings to:

1. Assist in clarifying the decisions to be made and how to frame them most successfully.

2. Provide targeted professional development relevant to the current needs of the team.

3. Ensure meetings conclude with all parties aligned with action steps, assignments, and target dates.

Prior to the initial group coaching session, informal input conversations are held with up to six (6) team members so the coach can gain insight on the current team structure and challenges; understand the teams’ greatest needs; and, build rapport and relationships with team members.

Group Coaching Service Outcomes

The value of group coaching for health centers leaders in today’s ever-evolving environment includes having the know-how to be able to:

Support and reinforce cultural transformation
Implementation of group goals, strategies or plans for change
Create a safe and effective forum for group professional development
Improve responsiveness to externally and internally-driven changes
Maintain alignment of small groups with larger organizational objectives.
Key Coaching Topics: enhancing teamwork, improved communication, building staff culture, and more…

Group Coaching for C-Suite Teams:

For intact leadership teams with up to eight (8) members
Thirty-minute, confidential input calls conducted with each team member to discuss their desired outcomes for coaching
Nine (9) one-hour coaching sessions
Scheduled every 3-4 weeks, depending on the availability of team members
Resources and materials provided as needed to support the team in achieving their coaching objectives.

Registration Information:
Group Coaching (Register Now)
NACHC Member Fee: $15,552/team | Non-Member Fee: $19,440/team

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Training for New Clinical Directors

New to your role as Clinical Director of your health center? Training for New Clinical Directors is a foundational and essential building block in your career development as a health center Clinical Director. This training provides the core knowledge and competencies that all health center Clinical Directors need to function as effective managers, leaders, and advocates for their health centers and communities. In addition to providing contextual knowledge regarding the history, terminology, political evolution, and regulatory expectations of the health center movement, course content also focuses on developing competencies in evolving health care issues.

The comprehensive course package includes online self-assessment for clinical leadership development core competencies, self-paced eLearning, didactic learning, small group case study discussions, networking opportunities, and follow-up resources. These components are inter-connected and come together to provide you with a high-quality training. As such, your active participation in the entire training is required.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this 1.5-day training, the participants will have a better understanding of:

Their role as the Clinical Director
How they can achieve high performance in their role as Clinical Director
How they can address and support common clinical and administrative issues in their organization
The structure of their organization
How they can address their organization’s future challenges
How they can successfully facilitate and affect change in their organization

Upcoming Course

March 14 – 15, 2020 | Washington, DC

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Save the Date!
May 1 – 2, 2020 | Anchorage, AK
May 8 – 9, 2020 | Omaha, NE
June 13 – 14, 2020 | Las Vegas, NV

Contact: Katja Laepke at klaepke@nachc.com

Managing Ambulatory Health Care Courses

NACHC partners with state and regional primary care associations (S/RPCAs) to offer the Managing Ambulatory Health Care (MAHC) training courses. Presented in four levels, the courses are developed and taught by Harvard faculty. Each level builds upon the other accordingly, but is appropriate for any clinical leader, especially those with some experience in the leadership role and/or prior management training.

Method of Instruction
MAHC presenters employ the Harvard case method of instruction. This method of instruction uses practical application of course concepts and provides a forum for the exchange of ideas, issues, and challenges between participants and faculty.

Intended Audience
All MAHC courses were designed specifically for busy health center clinicians (physicians, dentists, behavioral health specialists, etc.) who are unable to take time away from the organization to complete a degree program in public health or health administration.

Note: MAHC 3 & 4 require a 2-person team to attend.

Managing Ambulatory Health Care 1 (MAHC 1)

The MAHC 1 academic program goes beyond the basics. New clinical directors attending this course can focus on skills that are essential in the health center environment. You will learn specific management skills such as:

Financial management
The enhanced role of the Medical Director (medical, dental, behavioral health, etc.)
Clinical operations
Productivity management
Performance compensation

June 22 – 25, 2020 | Washington, DC
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Managing Ambulatory Health Care II (MAHC 2): Advanced Course for Clinical Leaders in Health Centers

Designed for Clinical Leaders who have previous leadership training or job experience. Topics will include:

Strengthening your own leadership role and skills in your organization and community
Enhancing your relationships within the administrative side of your organization, including the CEO
Using new technology to advance quality improvement methods and results

Managing Ambulatory Health Care III (MAHC 3): Enhancing Collaborative Management in Community Health Centers

Designed for two-member teams (a Clinician and an Operations staff who work together at the same health center), this on-site course offers tools for practical application and ongoing process improvement. Topics will include:

Collaborative Management
Recruitment and Retention
Performance Compensation
Negotiation and Conflict Resolution

Managing Ambulatory Health Care IV (MAHC 4): Enhancing Collaborative Management in Community Health Centers

Designed for health center leadership teams, most commonly the CMO and CEO, this course focuses on collaborative and strategic leadership including such topics as:

Models for collaborative leadership
Financial analysis and management
Organizational success in an integrated ACO environment and more!

NACHC CEO and CFO Institutes

Schedule TBD

The NACHC New CEO Leadership Institute (CEOI) is designed for new health center CEOs to ensure that you have the training, resources, and support you need to successfully lead your health center in today’s ever changing healthcare environment. This curriculum is designed with the “new” CEO in mind (6 months – 3 years or less experience), but may also serve as a good refresher for more experienced CEOs and is open for all to apply.

CEOI is an eight-month program designed to provide interactive and action-oriented learning experiences through a community of practice that meet the training needs of new CEOs.
Learn more about the 8-month program agenda.

Post – CHI Kick-Off Session Details

This two day face-to-face training at the start of the CEO Institute is designed for participants to form the learning community, be oriented to the ways the cohort will learn together, and build connections with peers. It is one of the required elements as highlighted in the program brochure.

CEOI is an eight month program designed to provide interactive and action-oriented learning experiences through a community of practice that meet the training needs of new CEOs.

Learning Objectives:

The participant will identify and apply effective leadership skills and competencies such as: demonstrating effective communication skills, building beneficial interpersonal relationships, distinguishing ways to adjust one’s leadership style based on the situation, and displaying the critical thinking skills and abilities to lead others toward common goals.
The participant will examine the fiduciary role of the CEO and demonstrate knowledge of key health center financial measures.
The participant will identify and utilize key strategies to ensure a productive CEO/board working relationship.
The participant will demonstrate the ability to make strategic decisions using appropriate data.
The participant will identify and implement key strategies to achieve high performance at the health center.

Past Presenters

Michael Randel, Certified Professional Facilitator, Randel Consulting Associates
Paul Cooper, Certified Professional Facilitator, Randel Consulting Associates
Cindy Thomas, Director, Leadership Training and Cooperative Agreement Management, NACHC
Gerrard Jolly, Director, Career Advancement Strategies, NACHC

For more information, contact Gerrard Jolly, trainings@nachc.org.

NACHC Leadership Trainings Graduate Network

Leadership Trainings Graduate Network

NACHC provides leadership training for health centers’ administrative, financial and clinical leaders through small cohort, in-person trainings and executive-focused institutes. Through these learning opportunities, health center leaders gain a heightened strategic focus and a network of peers. NACHC supports these training cohorts on an ongoing basis by strengthening the peer networks and nurturing long-lasting professional relationships to assist individuals to navigate the uncertainties of the ever-changing healthcare environment. Those networks have been structured around training subject areas. However, leadership development need not be confined to technical expertise, as it is relevant across functional areas and applicable throughout the C-Suite and upper management levels across all health centers.

To expand upon the connections of the NACHC training cohorts, NACHC established the Leadership Trainings Graduate Network. Through this Network, NACHC provides formal opportunities for health center leaders who have participated in either 1) NACHC’s CEO or CFO Leadership Institutes, or Managing Ambulatory Health Care (MAHC) training series; 2) The University of Kansas – KU Medical Center’s Community Health Center Executive Fellowship (CHCEF); or 3) Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers and Suffolk University’s Community Health and Community Health Center Management Certificate Program (CHCMC) – to be a part of a far-reaching, expanded national community.

The Leadership Trainings Graduate Network consists of five primary components:

Inclusion in the Graduate Network Directory and the related online learning community.
Access to periodic leadership refresher trainings.
Advisory input on leadership-focused peer-to-peer session content development at NACHC Conferences.
Opportunities to mentor young professionals / emerging leaders from the health center community and to be mentored by other health center leaders.
Occasions to ‘informally meetup’ with fellow Graduate Network members to build connections.

How to Join the Network

If you have successfully completed one of NACHC’s Leadership Institutes (CEO Institute; CFO Institute) or at least two courses of the three-part Managing Ambulatory Health Care Training Series, then you are automatically a member of the Network! You have the opportunity to opt out if you choose.
If you completed the CHCEF or the CHCMC, please contact the NACHC Training & Technical Assistance Department or Gerrard Jolly at trainings@nachc.org or 301-347-0400 to determine your eligibility.

NACHC looks forward to continuing to engage with you and support your expanded learning network

This project is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of an award totaling $6,375,000 with 0 percentage financed with non-governmental sources. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by HRSA, HHS, or the U.S. Government. For more information, please visit HRSA.gov.

NACHC Partner Programs in Leadership Development Training