On Tuesday, March 14, the 2023-24 Nursing Professional Development Leadership Academy cohort kicked off at the 2023 ANPD Aspire Convention. The Leadership Academy is a 12-month mentored program based on the content of Leadership in Nursing Professional Development: An Organization and System Focus, (2nd ed.) (Harper, 2022). The program includes synchronous webinars conducted by subject matter experts and asynchronous assignments.

Enhancing Leadership

The academy's purpose is to prepare nursing professional development (NPD) practitioners to assume formal leadership roles in various settings. NPD leaders are well positioned to use evidence-based practice (EBP) and EBP leadership to address complex issues in the fast-paced, ever-changing healthcare environment to produce quantifiable outcomes (Harper & Maloney, 2022). The Leadership Academy facilitates opportunities for NPD leaders to enhance their communication skills, NPD practice, and leadership competence by following a curriculum that fosters them to demonstrate outcomes aligning with their practice setting organization’s mission and values.

One of the most recognized components of the program is mentorship, with each participant being matched with a mentor. This relationship is unique as the mentor acts as a guideline for the participant through the duration of the program. Mentors guide mentees through key steps towards demonstrating a return on investment through their best-practice initiative and also provide guidance, advice, and a listening ear.

Orienting the 2023-24 Cohort

Chris Wilson, MSN, RN, NPD-BC, is the program facilitator, and she began the kickoff with introductions so the participants could get to know each other. The cohort comprises 20 NPD practitioners residing across the country and working in settings such as regional, acute care, veterans’ affairs, and children’s hospitals, in roles such as formal leader and informal leader serving NPD practitioners, staff nurses, and academic partners. The diverse experience of the members adds to the collective strength of the cohort.

The large preconvention room was set up to create an intimate learning environment with a horseshoe-shaped space to facilitate group sharing and learner-driven discussions. Each participant conducted a customized assessment to identify their own leadership strengths and opportunities. Chris Wilson took cohort members on a deep dive to teach them how to maximize these individual strengths, leverage the strengths of others, identify what responsibilities and activities energize them, and analyze what drains them.

The cohort reviewed the syllabus outlined for the year and had an opportunity to request specific content to be added to the academy by responding to a needs assessment. The day closed with leadership pearls and a networking session for mentors and mentees to meet in person.

As ANPD’s director of education, I found it so rewarding to meet everyone and ensure the success of the start of a new cohort! Chris and I can’t wait to form forever bonds with each participant and help them achieve their individual goals while building strong leaders in NPD practice. A big congrats to the 2022-23 Leadership Academy participants who graduated from the academy on Wednesday, March 15. They shared their best-practice initiative through a poster presentation during the poster reception.