NHA Leadership Institute Helps Develop Hundreds of Healthcare Leaders

Step into any Nebraska hospital and it’s likely you’ll encounter an employee who’s a graduate of the NHA Leadership Institute.

Since its inception 20 years ago, the institute has helped more than 500 healthcare professionals advance their careers and elevate their leadership skills.

From five participants in its first year to a current average of 40 each year, the NHA Leadership Institute has grown and evolved, but its original mission remains the same — to advance the effectiveness of hospitals by providing a quality environment for professional development and support for healthcare leaders.

Participants come together over the course of 10 months for intense, day-long sessions designed to help them learn new skills, find inspiration in their roles, and invigorate their performance in the hospitals where they work. Some of the specific topics included in the institute’s agenda are emotional intelligence, working with conflict, workplace diversity and analyzing performance issues.

Participants also take advantage of one-on-one executive coaching from a certified executive coach and other content delivered by expert faculty from Bellevue University. One such instructor is Dr. Mike Freel, program director for the Master of Healthcare Administration program at the University, who’s worked with the institute for the past 14 years.

“Of course, participants are learning what it takes to be an effective leader in their hospitals, but a lot of the value that the Leadership Institute brings is the opportunity to learn from each other,” he said. “The program isn’t designed to be a lecture — it’s an interactive, discussion-based program that is facilitated by experienced faculty, but the real learning takes place in the conversations, stories and shared experience of the entire class of healthcare leaders.”

Freel believes what makes the Leadership Institute so effective is the fact that hospital leaders in Nebraska aren’t satisfied with doing the same thing day after day.

“They look for opportunities for professional leadership development,” he said. “They look for individuals who have the knowledge and skill set to lead their hospitals into the future. A leader’s ability to understand how their behaviors and influence affect the outcomes of the hospital and the people within their walls, patients and staff, is critical to their success.”

Professionals involved with the Leadership Institute are identified by their hospitals as up-and-coming leaders. Freel shared that he asks participants in the orientation session, “Why are you here?” and is met with a lot of different responses, including “My boss told me I had to come,” or, “I want to learn more about how to be an effective leader.”

“But what they may not realize is that they’re here because their hospital values them,” Freel said. “The hospital sees them as someone they want to develop and prepare for bigger, more impactful leadership roles. No one gets enrolled in the Leadership Institute because they aren’t doing a good job. This program is designed to prepare future hospital leaders with the bedrock knowledge and skills they need to be excellent leaders.”

Brian Noonan, Senior Director of Communications and Education at the NHA, seconds that thought. He said he tells institute participants, “The reason why you’re here is your hospital thinks highly enough of you to invest both a dollars and time commitment to have you in this class, so take advantage of it.”

Noonan explained that demand for the Leadership Institute continues to grow. In fact, the institute is now seen as the premier leadership development program for hospitals in Nebraska.

“There’s no other program that offers extensive training over several months at multiple locations with the inclusion of a customized 360° leadership assessment and multiple coaching sessions offered by graduate-level faculty,” Freel added. “There’s competition among the hospitals in Nebraska wanting to host a Leadership Institute session. There’s community pride in the opportunity to showcase new hospital service lines or new facilities to other healthcare leadership professionals.”

Troy Bruntz, president and CEO of Community Hospital in McCook, shared that his hospital has been involved with the institute from the get-go and sends about five employees each year. He himself is a graduate of the program.

“The institute is the first experience with leadership training for most of them,” he said. “They have clinical degrees but that rarely includes good leadership training of any kind. It won’t change someone into a great leader by itself, but it provides them the tools necessary to grow every day.”

Bruntz feels the Leadership Institute has opened employees’ eyes to the value of networking as well. As such, they tend to become involved with associations and other meetings across the state and country.

By nature, the institute is unique in that participants from a range of roles come together from across the state — from Regional West Medical Center in Scottsbluff to Pender Community Hospital in Pender.  

“It’s a bit of a melting pot,” Noonan said.

He, too, has seen the strong relationships participants build with each other and maintain even after their time in the program is done.

For Freel, it’s been a privilege to see so many people with a passion for taking care of others come through the program.

“They’ve been through so much, especially in the last few years,” he said. “COVID fundamentally changed how healthcare is delivered. Leadership has changed, too, and participants in the Leadership Institute learn to adapt and apply their leadership skills in a dynamic, changing environment. We get the opportunity to see the growth in their leadership skills and how they continue to have a positive impact on their hospitals.”

Indeed, that’s what the NHA Leadership Institute is all about.