Category: Leadership and Systems Thinking

Primary Competency Area

Policy Analysis in the Policy Process and How Systems Thinking Fits In

Course Objective

Define Stage Two of the CDC policy process i.e. Policy Analysis
List types of evidence that can be reviewed as part of the policy analysis phase
Assess feasibility of available policy options via framing questions and rubrics
Identify and define key variables in a complex public health issue
Sketch and interpret a simple systems map/ causal loop diagram
Define and identify leverage points in a system and assess their potential impact on the system
Discuss the importance of systems modeling and explore how systems models can be used to ask and answer policy-relevant questions

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Date: June 30th 2021

Subject Matter Experts:
Helen de Pinho, MBBCh, FCCH (Public Health), MBA
Assistant Professor at Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health, and Associate Director of the Averting Maternal Death and Disability Program (AMDD) at Columbia University

Sylvia Pirani, MPH, MS
Public Health Practice Consultant

The Strategic Skills Training Series developed by the Region 2 PHTC aims to help prepare public health leaders and the public health workforce to develop the practices and competencies associated with being a Chief Health Strategist.

Using a scenario focused on the opioid problem in the fictitious ‘Tycho County’, this course will describe how the ‘Policy Analysis’ stage of the CDC policy process can be implemented by a health department using systems thinking tools and approaches.

Recommended Pre-Requisites:

Participants will be able to:

Define Stage Two of the CDC policy process i.e. Policy Analysis
List types of evidence that can be reviewed as part of the policy analysis phase
Assess feasibility of available policy options via framing questions and rubrics
Identify and define key variables in a complex public health issue
Sketch and interpret a simple systems map/ causal loop diagram
Define and identify leverage points in a system and assess their potential impact on the system
Discuss the importance of systems modeling and explore how systems models can be used to ask and answer policy-relevant questions

Strategy and Policy Development in the Policy Process and How Systems Thinking Fits In

Course Objective

Define Stage Three of the CDC policy process i.e. Strategy and Policy Development
Describe the steps that Health Departments can follow to develop an enactment strategy and draft an actual policy
Understand how systems thinking tools can help strengthen the strategy and policy development process

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Date: June 30th 2021

Subject Matter Experts:
Sylvia Pirani, MPH, MS
Public Health Practice Consultant

Helen de Pinho, MBBCh, FCCH (Public Health), MBA
Assistant Professor at Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health, and Associate Director of the Averting Maternal Death and Disability Program (AMDD) at Columbia University

Using a scenario focused on the opioid problem in the fictitious ‘Tycho County’, this course will describe how the ‘Strategy and Policy Development’ stage of the CDC policy process can be implemented by a health department using systems thinking tools and approaches.

Recommended Pre-Requisites:

Participants will be able to:

Define Stage Three of the CDC policy process i.e. Strategy and Policy Development
Describe the steps that Health Departments can follow to develop an enactment strategy and draft an actual policy
Understand how systems thinking tools can help strengthen the strategy and policy development process

Breaking Through Public Health Bureaucracy: tools and tips to successfully navigate internal administration and processes

Course Objective

Describe how the federal government appropriates funding to public health agencies and other entities
Describe the key challenges faced by health departments implementing federally funded programs
Identify 3 strategies to overcome challenges and enhance efficiency in program implementation

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Date: April 6, 2021

Presenter:
Jennifer McKeever, MSW, MPH
Founder and Principal of WE Public Health, LLC

Rishika Desai, MPH
Senior Analyst at the Association of State and Territorial Health Official (ASTHO)

In this month’s Log-in2Learn, Jennifer McKeever, MSW, MPH & Rishika Desai, MPH, discuss the complexities of public health bureaucracy and the best ways to navigate it. They start by talking about what these bureaucratic issues might look like, how the pandemic has impacted them and the type of problems they might create at different levels. Jennifer and Rishika go on to describe how the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) tried to assess this in their recent qualitative study and highlight some of the key findings and recommendations for overcoming administrative bottlenecks that slow down program implementation. Through a conversation with the audience on what difficulties they’ve experienced, our presenters try to determine the common root causes. Lastly, they share ways in which agencies have responded to these challenges, now and in the past, and guide us through the unique steps that research has helped identify as tools to solve at least some of the bureaucratic problems we face in public health.

Participants will learn the following:

Describe how the federal government appropriates funding to public health agencies and other entities
Describe the key challenges faced by health departments implementing federally funded programs
Identify 3 strategies to overcome challenges and enhance efficiency in program implementation

Policy Making and Systems Thinking: tools to help the public health workforce address challenging times

Course Objective

Define policy making in public health and how it can be used to achieve public health goals
Identify how systems thinking can strengthen public health policy development
Discuss how some of the essential steps in policy making and systems thinking can help address “wicked” public health challenges

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Date: January 12th, 2021

Presenter:
Sylvia Pirani, MPH, MS
Public Health Practice Consultant

Helen de Pinho, MBBCh, FCCH, MBA
Assistant Professor
Population and Family Health
Columbia University Medical Center

In this month’s Log-in2Learn, Helen de Pinho, MBBCh, FCCH, MBA, and Sylvia Pirani, MPH, MS, walk us through the process of policy making and the role of systems thinking in combating complex challenges. Sylvia starts by highlighting the steps required to craft good policy and emphasizes the importance of incorporating community members and stakeholders in the process. She then identifies some of the common obstacles seen during this process and shares instances of the same. Helen goes on to unpack the concept of systems thinking, explaining how it can be used and why it is such an essential tool for policy makers and the public health workforce. She demonstrates the ways in which systems thinking can be used to address complex situations and tricky relationships in the policy making process through a series of examples. Finally, they both identify the next steps in policy making and share useful resources for policy identification and systems thinking during challenging times.

Participants will be able to:

Define policy making in public health and how it can be used to achieve public health goals
Identify how systems thinking can strengthen public health policy development
Discuss how some of the essential steps in policy making and systems thinking can help address “wicked” public health challenges

Succession Planning and Change: Growing and Developing Talent in Public Health

Course Objective

Define “succession planning” for public health agencies
Explain the rationale for succession planning in public health
Identify the key elements of the succession planning process
Describe the link between change management and organizational succession planning
Explain the critical success factors for succession planning in public health

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Date: November 10, 2020

Presenter:
Emil J. Sadloch, MA
SADLOCH DEVELOPMENT CONSULTANTS

In this month’s Log-in2Learn, Emil J. Sadloch, MA, highlights the importance of succession planning and why it is so relevant for public health today. While acknowledging the incredible contributions of public health officials during this pandemic, he underscores the aspects of leadership, change management and workforce resilience that enabled this. He goes on to discuss the necessary shift in focus needed to address the future of public health and how leaders can recover and adapt from times of crisis. Emil elaborates ways to strengthen the current workforce in preparation for new challenges, while simultaneously grooming the next generation for the same. He walks us through 10 important goals of succession planning and what the existing barriers look like. Lastly, he shows us how to create an effective succession planning system by walking us through crucial practices and providing us with important tips to develop future leaders.

Participants will be able to:

Define “succession planning” for public health agencies
Explain the rationale for succession planning in public health
Identify the key elements of the succession planning process
Describe the link between change management and organizational succession planning
Explain the critical success factors for succession planning in public health

Reducing Obesity and Diet-Related Diseases by Limiting Predatory Marketing of Unhealthy Food

Course Objective

Learning Objectives for Part I: Understanding Predatory Marketing

Define targeted and predatory marketing.
Distinguish between different types of predatory marketing, with examples.
Describe digital media avenues used for predatory marketing.
Explain how targeted marketing of unhealthy food leads to negative health outcomes, particularly for certain populations.

Learning Objectives for Part II: What Health Departments Can Do to Combat Predatory Marketing

Describe ways to increase awareness of predatory marketing in communities.
Describe how local, state and federal governments can regulate predatory marketing.
List at least 2 actionable strategies for communities to decrease predatory marketing practices.
List 3 policy measures that could be taken to limit predatory marketing of unhealthy food at the city/local, state OR national level.

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Launch Date: June 30th, 2020

Presenter:
Nicholas Freudenberg, DrPH, MPH
Distinguished Professor of Public Health, CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy
Director, CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute

Unhealthy food is the leading cause of premature death and preventable illness around the world today. Predatory marketing makes a significant contribution to this burden. Public health professionals can play an important role in reducing the prevalence and exposure to predatory marketing. This two-part training module develops an understanding of the current landscape of predatory marketing of unhealthy food and beverages, and how it promotes negative health outcomes particularly for vulnerable populations. This program will define the role of health departments in addressing predatory marketing, outline ways health departments can help document predatory marketing in their communities, and provide recommendations and examples of policy engagement activities public health professionals can get involved in.

Learning Objectives for Part I: Understanding Predatory Marketing

Define targeted and predatory marketing.
Distinguish between different types of predatory marketing, with examples.
Describe digital media avenues used for predatory marketing.
Explain how targeted marketing of unhealthy food leads to negative health outcomes, particularly for certain populations.

Learning Objectives for Part II: What Health Departments Can Do to Combat Predatory Marketing

Describe ways to increase awareness of predatory marketing in communities.
Describe how local, state and federal governments can regulate predatory marketing.
List at least 2 actionable strategies for communities to decrease predatory marketing practices.
List 3 policy measures that could be taken to limit predatory marketing of unhealthy food at the city/local, state OR national level.

An Overview of the Policy Process in Public Health and the Need for Systems Thinking

Course Objective

Explain the role of policy engagement in public health
Describe how policy is understood in a Public Health 3.0 context
Define the role of a public health agency in policy making
List ways that systems thinking concepts and tools can strengthen the policy process

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Launch Date: June 30th, 2020

Presenter:
Sylvia Pirani, MPH, MS
Public Health Practice Consultant

Engaging in policy making is an essential activity of public health agencies and staff to achieve the goals of Public Health 3.0 and to work collaboratively to address the social determinants of health. This training provides an overview of the policy making process as defined by the Centers for Disease Control, draws on the COVID-19 and other complex public health problems to discuss the challenges commonly faced by public health agencies during this policy process, and makes the case for using a systems thinking approach to overcome these policy roadblocks and address unintended consequences.

Participants will learn about the following:

Explain the role of policy engagement in public health
Describe how policy is understood in a Public Health 3.0 context
Define the role of a public health agency in policy making
List ways that systems thinking concepts and tools can strengthen the policy process

Problem Identification in the Policy Process and How Systems Thinking Fits In

Course Objective

Explain Stage One of the policy making process i.e. Problem Identification
Describe how Systems Thinking tools and approaches can help visualize a problem
Describe how Systems Thinking tools and approaches can help define the boundaries of a problem

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Launch Date: June 30th, 2020

Subject Matter Expert:
Helen de Pinho, MBBCh, FCCH (Public Health), MBA
Assistant Professor at Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health,
Associate Director of the Averting Maternal Death and Disability Program (AMDD) at Columbia University

This training describes how to implement the first stage of the CDC policy process – Problem Identification. Using a scenario focused on the opioid problem in fictitious Tycho County, the course discusses the practical steps that a health department, working in collaboration with key stakeholders, can take to describe and understand this complex problem. The course also explores how the application of systems thinking tools and approaches to make boundary decisions and visualize the problem using behavior over time graphs and rich pictures, can strengthen this stage of the policy making process.

Participants will learn about the following:

Explain Stage One of the policy making process i.e. Problem Identification
Describe how Systems Thinking tools and approaches can help visualize a problem
Describe how Systems Thinking tools and approaches can help define the boundaries of a problem

Assessing your Audience for More Effective Cross-Sector Collaboration

Course Objective

Define an audience analysis
List approaches to audience analysis
Describe how to conduct an audience analysis based on situational characteristics
Describe how to conduct an audience analysis based on demographic characteristics
Describe how to conduct an audience analysis based on audience disposition and motivation

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Launch Date: June 30, 2020

Subject Matter Expert:
Nick Linardopoulos, PhD
Assistant Teaching Professor & Public Speaking Coordinator
Rutgers University, School of Communication & Information, Department of Communication

Multi-sector collaboration is increasingly important for addressing health challenges. This training focuses on assessing audiences to develop tailored communication strategies for building collaborative partnerships. Using a case approach based in fictitious Tycho County, this training will describe the steps of developing an Audience Analysis strategy in order to build cross-sectoral partnerships to address opioid misuse.

Participants will learn about the following:

Define an audience analysis
List approaches to audience analysis
Describe how to conduct an audience analysis based on situational characteristics
Describe how to conduct an audience analysis based on demographic characteristics
Describe how to conduct an audience analysis based on audience disposition and motivation

Shifting the Narrative: Trauma Informed Care to Systems Change

Course Objective

Develop a shared understanding of the importance of viewing trauma on a systems level
Identify how to utilize trauma informed principles in organizational policy and program development
Explain the stages of trauma informed organizational change development and implementation

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Date: March 3rd, 2020

Presenter:
Ali Mateo Belen, MSW
Trainer and Principle Consultant
A Mateo Consulting

This month’s Log-in2Learn Webinar takes a look at trauma-informed principles and procedures, encouraging organizations and systems to acknowledge and recognize the trauma that individuals experience. Participants will learn how understanding individual trauma/manifestations of trauma, reflect in the way systems are able to give care to clients and workers within the organization. Participants will also be able to differentiate between policies and practice and learn ways to implement practices that not only benefit clients, but also benefit employees.

Participants will learn how to:

Develop a shared understanding of the importance of viewing trauma on a systems level
Identify how to utilize trauma informed principles in organizational policy and program development
Explain the stages of trauma informed organizational change development and implementation