Retooling the Workforce for Collaboration: Centering Collective Efficacy in Public Health and Primary Care Leadership...

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Healthcare Management
• Leadership Studies

Background:

• Effective integration of public health and primary care is crucial for advancing population health equity.
• Existing leadership development often neglects essential communication and relational skills needed for collaborative environments.
• Barriers to intersectoral collaboration persist, hindering progress in population health initiatives.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a framework for developing collective leadership among public health and primary care professionals.
• To emphasize collaborative leader behaviors, collective efficacy, and team performance in intersectoral settings.
• To guide the intentional development of shared leadership processes within healthcare organizations.

Main Methods:

• Building on prior research in collaborative public health leadership.
• Conceptualizing leadership as a dynamic, shared process rather than an individual attribute.
• Focusing on the interactions among diverse team members and their collective expertise.

Main Results:

• The proposed framework highlights collaborative behaviors, collective efficacy, and performance.
• It acknowledges the importance of diverse expertise and team interactions.
• Leadership is viewed as a distributed, emergent process within teams.

Conclusions:

• The framework supports intentional development of collective leadership in public health and primary care.
• Recommendations are provided for integrating this framework into leadership development programs.
• Strengthening collective leadership abilities can accelerate intersectoral integration and improve health equity.