training & workforce development
A Decade of Excellence: Celebrating 10 Years
of APHL’s Emerging Leader Program
by Laura Siegel, senior specialist, Training & Workforce Development
On a gray and misty morning in Seattle,
a group of 12 individuals who were
strangers just 24 hours ago work together
to lift a 60-foot Olympic rowing shell into
the waters of Lake Washington. Keeping
in mind the instructions they’ve received
from a rowing coach just a few hours
before, they work in unison to balance
their boat as they race through the water.
Rowing may look easy; in reality it
is anything but. Rowing takes focus,
coordination and the ability to act for the
good of the team. Not everyone in the
boat has the same role, but every role
is important to the success of the crew.
Many of the qualities needed to succeed
in rowing are not so different from the
qualities needed to succeed in running
complex organizations.
This is one of the reasons why rowing
is incorporated into every orientation
workshop of APHL’s Emerging Leader
Program (ELP). The ELP is a 12-month
leadership development program for
public health laboratory professionals.
Each year a dozen individuals are selected
to form a cohort, and together they
attend three in-person workshops and
collaborate on a distance-based project.
During each in-person meeting they
participate in training sessions to enhance
their leadership and management skills.
To-date, over 110 laboratorians have
graduated from the ELP, and this summer
APHL celebrated the completion of its
10th cohort class. To honor this milestone,
I spoke with Pandora Ray, APHL’s
Leadership Development Advisor, who has
As a member of the ELP, I have not only seen changes in myself during
the program, but I have seen changes in my peers. While we learn together,
we help each other grow. The ELP provides a comfortable environment for
professional development and growth to occur.”
Kathleen Street, laboratory resource group manager, Texas Department of State Health Services.
been part of the ELP since its inception
and has seen the program evolve over
time.
Of all the team building activities you
could choose, why did you choose
rowing to kick-off the ELP?
Rowing is a great team building activity
because it takes people out of their
comfort zones. Also, in many ways rowing
is a great metaphor for work situations.
For instance, in the workplace you can’t
always see the future and often someone
else is leading the way. All you can do
is follow the person in front of you and
maintain synchronicity. Rowing is a
physical exercise that demonstrates the
importance of being able to both lead and
follow, and work as a cohesive unit.
What are some of the biggest
accomplishments of the ELP over the
past decade?
What comes to mind first is the sheer
number of ELP graduates across the
country who are serving on APHL
committees, assuming progressively
higher leadership positions and
volunteering for special projects. Also,
our graduates are gaining visibility and
taking the tools they’ve learned from the
ELP and applying them on a broader scale.
It’s really fulfilling to see them facilitate
better meetings, tell more stories, give
better presentations and become stronger
advocates for the public health laboratory
system after completing the program.
Looking ahead, how would you like
to see the program evolve in the next
10 years?
In the future I’d love to benefit even more
people by running more than one cohort
per year. Or, I’d like to establish more
regional ELP programs so participants can
delve deeper into workforce issues in their
own networks.
26
LAB MATTERS Summer 2018
PublicHealthLabs
@APHL
APHL.org