Final Project: Leadership and Strategy Plan
For this Final Project, you select a pressing health problem affecting a community and develop a leadership and strategy plan for addressing the problem. You link this problem to a corresponding Healthy People 2020 objective(s).
Scenario
You are a new Health Program Planner recently hired by the Lake Troubled Shallows Department in Minnesota. Prior to your arrival, a comprehensive community health needs assessment was conducted by the Health Department. Based on the assessment, the following top five community health needs were identified.
* Heart disease and stroke prevention
Diabetes screening
• Physical activity
• Maternal, infant and child health monitoring and treatment
• Mental health and mental disorders screening and treatment
The executive director of the Lake Troubled Shallows Health Department has tasked you with targeting one of the aforementioned community health needs as a top priority during your first year. The director has asked you to develop a leadership andstrategy plan to address your identified community health need.
As part of the pre-planning stage of developing your leadership and strategy plan, first select and match one the Healthy People 2020 objectives to one of the top five needs identified by the Health Department.
For instance, if you choose “physical activity,” review the various physical activity objectives under the general Healthy People 2020 Objectives. Then, select a specific, measurable sub-objective.
You will need to review the current national data on your chosen objective.
Next, for purposes of this assignment, you should assume that the health status of individuals residing in Lake Troubled Shallows is representative of the overall health status of individuals living within Minnesota. You can go to the Minnesota State Health Department’s website to find additional data on state level progress and resources to support your leadership and strategy plan at:
http://www.he alth. state. mn. us/h ealthymno artner ship/hm2020/#fw
Lake Troubled Shallows Health Department’s Vision, Mission, and Guiding Principles:
Vision: Healthy People Living in Healthy Communities
Mission: To promote and protect health while preventing disease
Guiding Principles:
• Evidence-based practices
• Collaboration and communication with community members and partners
• Education and outreach
• Empowering people to make healthy choices
You have been given an initial program startup budget of $250,000 (includingyour salary and benefits) to aid you with initial program planning and implementation. (Note: you will develop an annual operating budget in the Assignment).
The Executive Director of the Lake Troubled Shallows Health Department has asked that you submit a “Leadership and Strategy” plan to her within the next 2—3 months. The next section contains the required components of the plan that you must submit to her.
Assignment Instructions
Once you have completed background research and identified a community health need, you develop a leadership and strategy plan to address it.
Your final project will be a 13-to 15-page paper (not including title page, references and appendices), in APA format and with APA style headings and subheadings for proper organization.
The manuscript section of your Final Project will need to address the following components:
• Introduction (1-2 pages):
Select a problem from one of the five problems identified in the Background (Scenario) and match it to one Healthy People 2020 objective(sub-objectives that are measurable). Describe the rationale for selection of this problem and the magnitude of the problem (e.g., incidence, prevalence, impact on communities and society).
• Strategic Plan (2 pages plus SWOT analysis worksheet, revised from Week 7):
Use the SWOT analysis template completed in Week 7 as a starting point for this section. (You will include your completed template in the appendices of this Final Project.) For this Final Project, address the following based on your SWOT
analysis:
o Identify any connections between listed items in the quadrants (i.e.,
is there an opportunity that can be taken advantage of to address a particular threat or weakness?).
o Propose strategies to maintain, enhance or leverage potential strengths (e.g., make appropriate assumptions about internal strengths of the Health Department).
o Propose strategies to minimize weaknesses (e.g., make
appropriate assumptions about internal weaknesses of the Health Department).
o Propose options for leveraging or taking advantage of opportunities.
o Explain the potential impact of threat/challenges and whatyou should do to address or prepare for the threat.
o Explain potential strategic issues that the health department may need to address.
* Program Description (2 pages):
o Review the evidence for a program intervention—ideally, this will be quality, evidence-based public health information demonstrating best practices from peer-reviewed literature. Find at least three sources of evidence, preferably peer-reviewed, o Briefly describe the hypothetical program to address your chosen community health problem. Based on your SWOT Analysis, include 3-5 specific and measurable program objectives that you hope to accomplish within 1 year (Refer to SMART Objectives Template as a guide for developing appropriate program objectives).
* Leadership Challenges and Systems Thinking (3 pages):
(Refer to Weeks 1,2 and 3 Learning Resources.) Describe and explain the leadership approach you will take to execute your plan. Include the leadership style(s) you will employ and the leadership skills necessary to be effective including emotional intelligence and cultural competence.
o Briefly describe how you will apply systems thinking to your identified community health issue in order to communicate to others (stakeholders) with regards to how your proposed plan may impact the community. A common systems thinking tool is a casual loop diagram. Please review the resources from Weeks 2 and 3 related to systems thinking and create a simple casual loop diagram that relates to your program development. The draft causal loop created in week 3 must be revised and updated for your final project. You must discuss the changes made to the draft causal loop developed in week 3 and how it has changed throughout the development of your final project.
o Note: You can use PowerPoint (go to “Insert” then “SmartArt”) to create your casual loop diagram and copy and paste the graphic into the paper.
o The following is an example of a simple causal loop diagram:
Morbidity and Mortality
risks of HIV/AIDs
Development of public based screening,
health initiatives treatment, and education
Engagement of key H Community Awareness of stakeholders In the ■ risks and treatment community S options
• Ethical Implications (0.5-1 page):
(Refer to Week 3 Learning Resources.) Describe anticipated ethical issues or concerns of your leadership and strategy plan. What are some of the challenges anticipated?
• Engaging Communities and Building Constituencies (1.5-2 pages):
(Refer to Week 4 Learning Resources.) Describe how you will engage community partners and key stakeholders. Describe key partners and stakeholders and the level of engagement needed. Discuss anticipated conflict resolution and negotiation skills that will be required.
• Budgeting, Financing, and Human Resources (1-1.5 pages):
(Refer to Weeks 5 & 6 Learning Resources.)
You have been given a budget of $250,000 in initial start-up funds, which includes your salary and benefits. You must develop an annual operating budget (in addition to the $250,000 start-up funding).
o Explain the funding issues related to your Final Project community health problem. Include such characteristics as whether these issues are long-or short-term, how urgent they are, and which stakeholders might be most affected. Identify in your budget any additional staff that you will need to hire, including a brief description of their roles and responsibilities, o Complete the blank budget worksheet provided (similar to the one you completed in Week 5) indicating the funding opportunities and costs related to the chosen project.
o Based on your research, as well as the information included in the budget worksheet, recommend some potential funding sources (including grant funding) and explain why you recommend them. In your explanation,
include variations in funding and how these variations influenced your decision making. You are expected to search various funding sources such as community-level grants, state funding, nonprofit associations, etc.
* Performance Management & Health Informatics (2 pages):
o (Refer to Weeks 8 and 9 Learning Resources.) Based on your SWOT Analysis, include 3-5 specific and measurable process objectives that you hope to accomplish within 1 year. (Refer to SMART Objectives Template as a guide for developing appropriate program objectives.)
o Explain how you will measure the objectives identified in your program
description to determine if you have reached them. Include a description
of how you will get the data with which to evaluate your objectives.
Remember the need to be realistic in your use of data sources and,
wherever possible, aim to use data that are being collected by others
(e.g., BRFSS -Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, America’s Health Rankings report -State Health Statistics atAmericasHealthRankings.org).
■ Conclusion (0.5 -1 page)
o In preparation for your final submission, you must now develop a thorough conclusion reviewing how the principles of leadership, governance and management all worked together to achieve your final plan. In this conclusion, you must also include a review of how empowering others, fostering collaboration and guiding/informed decision making addresses your identified issue and how it will help ensure strategy sustainability in the future.
* Reference List (minimum of 8—10 credible references; e.g., peer-reviewed, governmental websites)
* Appendices
The appendices will include completed versions of additional documents required to complete this Assignment:
o SWOT Analysis Template (including SMART Objectives Template) o Excel Budget Worksheet