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After an intensive nine months of skill building, teamwork and a final project, the 10 participants in BWH’s Leadership Competencies for Managers program graduated on Jan. 16.
“This entire experience has been transformational for all of us,” said Mary Forbuss, residency operations supervisor for the Department of Medicine. “It has truly taken us on a path of career enrichment.”
Established three years ago, Leadership Competencies for Managers is facilitated by Lianne Crossette, of Human Resources’ Organizational Effectiveness, in partnership with Northeastern University. Throughout the program, participants from BWH and BWFH focus on developing as leaders through weekly learning breakfasts, one-on-one coaching and classroom sessions designed to teach key business and competency-based skills that are essential for leaders.
“The value came from sharing this learning experience together,” said Elizabeth Reed, operations supervisor for Thoracic Surgery. “Through our most challenging moments, we truly found out what kind of leaders we are.”
Barbara Bierer, MD, senior vice president of Research and director of the Center for Faculty Development and Diversity, congratulated the participants at the graduation: “Part of what makes you a leader is your resilience. You’ve continued to support your own teams as managers during the day, and then you came here to learn something new with each other. The accomplishments you’ve had are huge, and we really trust that you are going to be part of our future here.”
The culmination of the program is the presentation of a project chosen by senior leadership. This year’s cohort had three months to study OurGenes, OurHealth, OurCommunity® and develop recommendations for how to expand and diversify the OurGenes biobank.
OurGenes is an innovative research initiative at BWH that aims to produce a state-of-the-art library of blood samples and associated health information and family history from 100,000 patients. OurGenes would then serve as a resource for many scientists conducting research on causes, prevention and treatment of diseases, rather than each scientist having to find their own new participants and information for every study.
The team spent weeks examining the project from every angle—with one member even donating a sample to get a first-hand look at the process. The team’s recommendations, presented during the graduation event, included engaging employees across BWH and BWFH, streamlining the consenting process, and educating and exciting people about this unique initiative and the impact their donation can have on future generations.
Beth Karlson, MD, principal investigator for OurGenes, thanked the cohort for their diligence.
“Some of the recommendations you made are already in the works, but much of what you presented, we hadn’t even thought of yet,” she said. “I really appreciate everything you have done.”
Learn more about OurGenes. For information about Leadership Competencies for Managers, email lcrossette@partners.org.