Public Health Leadership Fellows
HOW WE BEGAN
In the early 2000s, the concept of leadership gained credence and prominence as a promising pathway to producing better results and delivering desired outcomes for family planning and reproductive health programmes. In our respective capacities as experts and organisations in this field, we had roles in implementing, managing and promoting leadership development programmes. The US-based Packard Foundation was a key donor agency that supported this vision and invested in these initiatives in selected countries in Asia and Africa. India was among the countries that benefited from this investment. These initiatives were followed by a project on development of district public health leaders with support from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
While the project cycle of these programmes had ended many years ago, the passion for leadership lives on in the mindset and careers of those who participated in these initiatives throughout the 2000s. They are given the moniker of “PH Leaders”. Their skills and competences were and continue to be utilised wherever their own vision and work take them, as leaders in their original organisations in reproductive health or with new organisations in related fields.
Leadership is a dynamic concept and, by necessity, an adaptive one as the environment we operate in changes, and opportunities arise in response to new crises and challenges or emerging concerns. So, much still needs to be done in the field of public health leadership. To further this vision, we created this website as an online space for leaders and practitioners to have access to leadership literature and new resources; share their stories as a tool of catalyse their learning and be an inspiration; come together to discuss advocacy on shared concerns; nurture each other’s aspirations, and hopefully mentor and support future cadres of young leaders.
Prof. Satia is Professor Emeritus, Indian Institute of Public Health, Gandhinagar, Gujarat. He holds a Ph.D. from Stanford University, USA. He was Professor at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM‐A) for more than 20 years and served as its Dean during 1987‐1989. During the period 1993‐2008, Prof. Satia was the Executive Director of the International Council on Management of Population Programmes, a Malaysia‐ based international NGO dedicated to seeking excellence in management of population programmes through leadership and management development, promoting best practices and catalysing policy dialogues in the field of reproductive health, including HIV/AIDS. He has several publications to his credit. He has also received research grants from numerous organizations and has been a consultant to many Governments and international agencies including the World Bank and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
Leaders and managers
Leadership and managerial competences are different (see figure 1).
Each circle has several components, indicating an appropriate set of actions for either leadership or management. In short, the distinctions between the two can be thought of as:
Effective leadership requires appropriate emphasis on leadership and management (Doing the Right Things Right) to achieve success.
This difference has been translated by many in the literature into a distinction between leaders and managers in the organization. However, achieving results in a specific context would require a mix of leadership and managerial competencies. For instance, a well-functioning programme would largely require performing managerial and some leadership tasks. On the other hand, a new programme requiring considerable change will need significant leadership skills and some management tasks. Therefore, in recognition, terms like “managers who lead’, and ‘leaders who manage’ were coined.
Figure 1. Intersecting circles of leadership and management
Balancing Leadership and Management
Effective leadership requires a blend of leadership and management skills, tailored to the specific needs of a situation. Successful outcomes depend on doing the right things and doing them right.
Leaders Who Manage, Managers Who Lead
The roles of leaders and managers often overlap. A stable program may need more management, while a new initiative requires strong leadership. This has led to terms like "managers who lead" and "leaders who manage."
Leadership Development Approaches
Between 1990 and 2010, agencies focused on identifying and nurturing potential leaders through various methods, including mentoring, experiential learning, and leadership communities. However, enthusiasm for these efforts has declined due to mixed short-term results.
Supporting Current Leaders
Strengthening the skills of current leaders through mentoring, coaching, and recognition has been another approach, aimed at expanding their influence, though its impact on performance has not been thoroughly evaluated.
References
Day M, Shickle D, Smith K, Zakariasen K, Oliver T, Moskol J (2012). Time for heroes: public health leadership in 21st century. Lancet 2012; 380: 1205–06.
Manabe Yukari C, Yohana Mashalla, Carey Farquhar and Nelson K Sewankambo (2020). Leadership training to accelerate progress in public health in sub-Saharan Africa: time for action. www.thelancet.com/lancetgh Vol 8 October 2020
Reddy Srinath K, Manu Raj Mathur, Sagri Negi and Bhargav Krishna (2017). Redefining public health leadership in the sustainable development goal era. Health Policy and Planning, 32, 2017, 757–759
Srivastava VK, Kunwar R (2018). Leadership in public health. Indian J Public Health 2018; 62:165-6
UN (2021). Sustainable Development Goals Report 2021