Organizational leadership competencies for effective and equitable public health governance in Canada

Organizational-level leadership competencies are critical for the development and governance of resilient public health systems that can endure and thrive in an ever-evolving economic, social, and political context.

A mixed-methods research study identified 20 organizational leadership competencies for public health in Canada, across eight domains, including: systems thinking (e.g., leaders are able to adapt, are nimble, and innovate), policy development/implementation/evaluation (e.g., leaders engage multiple actors in policy) and resource stewardship (e.g., leaders develop a resource allocation strategy that balances efficiency and equity).

Recommendation: Governments across Canada should undertake legislative and regulatory efforts to implement organizational-level leadership competencies in public health organizations to strengthen system-level governance. Status quo: Without a systemic approach, some organizations will continue to undertake actions that strengthen their governance, while others will not. This could exacerbate inequities in population health outcomes and organizational performance.

Strengthening organizational leadership competencies is critical for the effective and equitable governance of public health organizations in Canada. Failure to do so could undermine their resilience in a resource-constrained and changing context.