Monthly Archives: January, 2011

Posted: January 27th, 2011

Please note that registration is closed.

Program Description:
The Management Skills Academy is a professional development initiative designed to strengthen the participant’s basic and intermediate level management skills. The curriculum encompasses 12 topics offered on a monthly basis for three hours in person at the UIC School of Public Health.  Sessions can be taken on a stand-alone basis or as a certificate program.  Sessions will be offered in a workshop format and will include an information-packed overview of the workshop topic as well as participatory learning activities such as case studies, role-playing, and group discussion. Participants will have the opportunity to build their knowledge base on management practices, policies and principles, sharpen comprehension of complex topics, and practice ways to apply new knowledge as a manager in a public health setting.

Workshops:
Foundations of Managing an Organization
Introduction to Management Principles
March 24, 2011

Vision, Mission, and Strategic Planning
April 21, 2011

Building an Effective Board of Directors/Advisory Board
May 19, 2011

Increasing Your Management Effectiveness
Understanding Communication Styles
June 16, 2011

Building and Motivating Teams
July 21, 2011

Conflict Resolution
August 25, 2011

Overcoming Burnout
September 15, 2011

Managing Operations
Planning and Managing a Sustainable Budget
October 20, 2011

Project Management
November 17, 2011

Continuous Quality Improvement
December 15, 2011

Managing the 21st Century Organization
Increasing Impact through Collaboration and Partnerships
January 19, 2012

Using Social Media for Marketing and Advocacy
February 16, 2012

Click here to view a list of objectives for each workshop.

All the workshops are from 9am-12pm, except for the last session on February 16, 2012 which will be until 1pm.

Cost:
$50 per session
$450 for all 12 sessions if you register on-line by March 11th
$475 for all 12 sessions if you register on-line after March 21st

Scholarships Available for MCHP Students and Alumni:
Scholarships will cover the cost of all 12 sessions.  MAPHTC will be giving out 5 scholarships, 2 awards will be given to MCH/MCHP EPI students and 3 awards will be given to MCHP alumni. In order to qualify for the scholarships you must be currently enrolled in the UIC Maternal and Child Health Program or the Maternal and Child Health Epidemiology Program or be an alumna of the Maternal and Child Health Program or the Maternal and Child Health Epidemiology Program.  Ideal candidates would have 1-3 years of work experience and be able to attend all 12 workshops.

Application Requirements:
Please submit your resume and a short statement describing your interest in the program.  Your statement should be no more than 1-2 pages. Please address the following questions:  1) Why do you want to participate in this program?  2) What goal(s) are you hoping to achieve through this program?

Please email your resume and your statement to Jaime Klaus, MA, at jaimkl@uic.edu by February 25, 2011.  You will be notified if you received the scholarship by March 2, 2011.

Please note: Continuing education units (CEU’s) are not available for this program.

Sponsored by:  MidAmerica Public Health Training Center (MAPHTC), Greater Cities Institute at UIC, and the Maternal and Child Health Program.

Posted: January 26th, 2011

The UIC MCH Program is now using Twitter.  Follow us on Twitter at MatChildHlthUIC.

Posted: January 18th, 2011

By Kris Risley, DrPH, CPCC
Continuing Education Director, Maternal and Child Health Program, Division of Community Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Illinois at Chicago

Hanna Cooper, MPH, CPCC, PCC
Public Health Consultant and Leadership Coach

Professional coaching, a process to maximize personal and professional development, is a relatively new but cost-effective and increasingly accessible leadership development approach available for maternal and child health (MCH) professionals. By incorporating coaching into the menu of professional development options available to MCH practitioners and scholars, we extend the breadth of professional training to include the personal aspects of leadership development that involves the life-long exploration and expansion of emotional intelligence (EI) which contributes to upwards of 80 percent of the success that distinguishes outstanding from average leaders (Goleman et al, 2002).

MCH leaders express knowledge and skills across a range of 72 MCH leadership competencies in 12 domains and three circles of influence including self, others, and wider-community (MCH Leadership Competencies 3.0) with the ultimate goal being that we actively engage in work that results in the significant improvement of the health and well-being of women, children and families. Professional coaching and coaching programs facilitate the development of MCH leadership competencies in the domains of Self-Reflection, Ethics and Professionalism, Critical Thinking, Communication, Developing Others Through Teaching and Mentoring, and Working with Communities and Systems.

Coaching builds EI by helping individuals to become increasingly self-aware and able to manage their emotions as well as increasingly socially aware and able to manage their relationships with others (Goleman et al, 2002). Individuals high in EI competencies are adept at self-reflection and assessing how their feelings affect them and their job performance, they rely on their internal value system to guide decision-making, and tend to be authentic and transparent in their interactions with others compared with those who have lower EI. Emotionally intelligent people are aware of their strengths and limitations, use empathy to relate to a wide range of people from diverse backgrounds and perspectives, and they inspire others to move passionately toward a shared vision. Emotional intelligence may be the key factor to support MCH professionals as they navigate the high degree of change, challenge, stress and burnout present in the field.

There are many coaching programs and approaches available in the market-place. The best programs integrate adult learning approaches such as Transformational Learning Theory (TLT) (Mezirow et al, 2009) and they enhance EI. In TLT, learning is defined as transformation associated with challenging individuals to assess how their experiences interact with their existing value system and worldview. This compares with an informational learning in which new information is transferred from an expert to a student. For example, MCH scholars teach graduate students about the social determinants of health. Both are important and they serve different purposes.

Although there are many different schools of thought about coaching, professionally trained coaches provide an ongoing partnership designed to help clients improve their performance and enhance the quality of their lives. Coaches are trained to listen, to observe and to customize their approach to individual client needs. They seek to elicit solutions and strategies from the client; they believe the client is naturally creative and resourceful. The coach’s job is to provide support to enhance the skills, resources, and creativity that already exists within the client. Coaching enables individuals to translate personal learning and insight into improved effectiveness; it increases linkages among self-development, leadership development and organizational effectiveness (International Coaching Federation, 2010).

Coaching can be applied in a variety of ways including:
• Developing leadership development and coaching programs for MCH professionals (contact Kris Risley at UIC for an example of how this is currently being implemented).
• Adding coaching to existing leadership and career development programs such as those in Schools of Public Health
• Offering coaching as an alumni or association member benefit
• Providing in-service coach training to integrate coaching as a method of engaging with students and colleagues

Whatever the method, coaching can be used as a leadership development method to support our field in achieving the Healthy People 2020 objectives for Women, Children and Families by helping individuals identify and fully express themselves and their unique passion and commitment to women, children and families.

References
Goleman, D., Boyatzis, R, & McKee, A. (2002). Primal Leadership: Learning to Lead with Emotional Intelligence. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.

International Coaching Federation, http://www.coachfederation.org/find-a-coach/what-is-coaching/, retrieved December 1, 2010.

MCH Leadership Competencies Workgroup (Editors). (2009).Maternal and Child Health Leadership Competencies: Version 3.0.

Mezirow, J, Taylor, Edward W, and Associates. (2009). Transformative Learning in Practice: Insights from Community, Workplace, and Higher Education. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

This article was featured in the January issue of PULSE: A Monthly Newsletter from the Association Of Maternal and Child Health Programs http://www.amchp.org/AboutAMCHP/Newsletters/Pulse/January2011/Pages/Feature3.aspx.

Individual Professional Coaching
Individual sessions are available to AMCHP conference attendees at no cost. Conference attendees will have an opportunity to take advantage of individual, private 40-minute coaching sessions Sunday through Tuesday, February 13-15, by registering in advance or by registering on site. Space is limited and available on a first-come, first-serve basis. To find out more about coaching at the 2011 AMCHP Annual Conference or registering for an individual session, please contact Librada Estrada or call (202) 266-3046.

Posted: January 5th, 2011

For additional information and resources related to Life Course, please visit the Maternal and Child Health Bureau’s website.

Posted: January 5th, 2011

For additional information about the MCH Life Course Research Network, please visit their website.

Posted: January 5th, 2011

Hi all.

Here is a link to the MCHCom.com website which includes many interesting MCH-related talks including several about the integration of Life Course into our MCH work.

Posted: January 3rd, 2011

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

CRUNCHY NUMBERS

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 5,500 times in 2010. That’s about 13 full 747s.

In 2010, there were 37 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 40 posts. There were 10 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 13mb. That’s about a picture per month.

The busiest day of the year was October 28th with 158 views. The most popular post that day was Distance-Based Leadership and Coaching begins January 2011.

WHERE DID THEY COME FROM?

The top referring sites in 2010 were uic.edu, digg.com, slashingtongue.com, facebook.com, and mail.yahoo.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for tiana kieso, theresa chapple, leadership development and coaching for mch professionals, word press mchatuic, and martha may eliot.

ATTRACTIONS IN 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1. Distance-Based Leadership and Coaching begins January 2011 October 2010
2. Martha May Eliot: Life and Legacy May 2010
3. UIC Celebrates the 75th Anniversary of Title V of the Social Security Act August 2010
4. MCH Stories October 2009
5. Professional Development October 2009