An evaluation of the National Public Health Leadership Institute--1991-2006: part II. Strengthening public health leadership networks, systems, and infrastructure.

Context: The year-long National Public Health Leadership Institute's (PHLI) goals are to develop the capacity of individual leaders and networks of leaders so that both can lead improvements in public health systems, infrastructure, and population health.

Objective: To evaluate PHLI's impact on networks, systems, and infrastructure.

Participants: Senior leaders from government, health care, associations, and other organizations who graduated from PHLI between 1992 and 2006.

Linking learning methods to outcomes in public health leadership development.

Purpose: The purpose of this research is to present evaluation findings from the National Public Health Leadership Institute (PHLI) regarding how the curriculum's learning methods work singly and together to produce outcomes for learners and their organizations.

Design/methodology/approach: Six months after graduation from PHLI, four recent cohorts of PHLI graduates were asked to report overall reactions to PHLI by using an online survey. The survey consisted of quantitative questions about key leadership behaviors taught in the program and the usefulness of PHLI's five learning methods as well as qualitative questions about changes in understanding, skill, practices, and outcomes.

Strengthening the public health workforce: three CDC programs that prepare managers and leaders for the challenges of the 21st century.

To address the need for management development in public health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) established three independent workforce development initiatives aimed primarily at strengthening management and leadership capacity: the Sustainable Management Development Program, the Management Academy for Public Health, and the CDC Leadership and Management Institute. Though independently designed and implemented, the programs share similar guiding principles in their approach to management development: interactive (adult) learning, management tools that reinforce evidence-based decision making, individual feedback, continuous improvement of the learning process, posttraining support for networking and life-long learning, and teamwork. This article will discuss important lessons learned regarding best practices in management and leadership development.