Evaluating Leadership Development in Healthcare: Adding Measurement Rigor to Ensure Continued Investment

The complex and evolving nature of healthcare has prompted a substantial increase in investment in leadership development initiatives across organizations. These programs are intended to cultivate leadership competencies that, in turn, are expected to enhance workforce satisfaction, organizational performance and, ultimately, patient outcomes. Despite these investments, organizations often lack a robust, outcomes-focused evaluation that systematically assesses and demonstrates the effectiveness of leadership development interventions.

This three-part session will articulate a blueprint for robust and rigorous evaluation of leadership development efforts implemented in healthcare through lecture and panel discussion, and it will conclude with allocated time for Q&A.

The lecture will include a 30-minute presentation delivered by three subject matter experts in research and evaluation from the Leadership Institute within MD Anderson Cancer Center, one of whom serves as vice president of the institute. The panelists will lay groundwork for why rigorous evaluation is needed and discuss how to align leadership evaluation with organizational goals and strategy. A framework for evaluating key performance indicators of leadership development programs organized by level (individual, team, organizational and patient) will be presented with corresponding recommendations for methodological rigor in measuring impact. Next, presenters will share a case study illustrating effective program evaluation design and key insights including data-related challenges and solutions as well as organizational engagement with the findings. The lecture portion will conclude with lessons learned and considerations for future evaluation.

The panel discussion will include 30 minutes of expert perspectives guided by the following questions:

• What are the resources needed to implement evaluation strategies for learning and development efforts?


• What are the greatest challenges to evaluating leadership development programs in healthcare, and what are strategies to overcome them?


• What key performance indicators should evaluation efforts consider?


• What outcomes are most impactful to share with key stakeholders to ensure ongoing investment?

The final 30-minute portion of the session will be allocated for audience member questions for our expert panelists, providing an opportunity to gain further insight into aspects of evaluation most relevant to their needs.