Challenge 

RVPHLI serves a diverse region that spans five midwestern states, including rural, underserved, and tribal communities. The program, which attracts over 250 applicants annually, selects just 40 participants for an exclusive, week-long leadership development experience. These healthcare workers face the complex challenge of managing multiple stakeholders: patients, staff, doctors, nurses, government regulations, and voters, while working in an incredibly volatile industry. Participants also struggle with the difficulty of working in silos, a practice that is increasingly ineffective in tackling the diverse and complex challenges they face.  

Interventions

CLA partnered with RVPHLI to provide participants with a half-day session using the Adaptive Capacity Profile (ACP). The engagement was designed to help participants better understand their personal leadership approach and adaptive behaviors, providing them with practical tools for navigating complexity. CLA’s approach also included interactive discussions on how to leverage adaptive leadership to work across silos, collaborate with multiple stakeholders, and address the diverse needs of the communities they serve. Throughout the program, participants applied the insights gained from the ACP to real-time challenges to actively create solutions to their pressing challenges.  

Impact

CLA engagement led to a significant shift in how participants approached their work. The feedback highlighted participants felt more effective in their interventions, with a clearer understanding of how to navigate complexity with intention and efficacy. Many participants reported that they were applying the leadership behaviors they learned in the program to engage their teams and improve outcomes.  

The deployment of the ACP was consistently recognized as one of the most impactful components of the entire RVPHLI program and CLA received the highest participant rating of any firm selected to deliver training.   Through this multi-year partnership, RVPHLI participants gained a stronger sense of their place in leadership and developed the skills needed to lead with greater impact in their communities.