For the last decade, the Emerging Leaders program has given Indiana University School of Medicine staff members meaningful tools to advance their careers. Program alumni say the two-year development program exceeded their expectations. Beyond leadership lessons, they gained cross-unit connections that enhance their success at work.
“I knew the program included curriculum related to leadership on various topics, but what I did not expect — and quite enjoyed — was the peer aspects of the program,” said Courtney Medlock, MPH, assistant director of policy and strategy at the Bowen Center for Health Workforce Research and Policy in the Department of Family Medicine.
Medlock entered the Emerging Leaders program in 2019 and had the unique experience of processing the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic with her cohort, which shifted from in-person to virtual events.
“One of the most valuable activities during my participation in the program was a peer discussion where we shared our individual experiences with our teams' transitions to remote work — strategies to continue supporting our staff in the newly remote environment, how to maintain staff engagement, successful electronic meeting practices, et cetera,” she said. “Since we were all learning to adapt to that new challenge, it was helpful to have colleagues to learn from and bounce ideas off of.”
Post-pandemic, the Emerging Leaders program contains in-person and virtual components. That wasn’t the case when Leeann Parker, MS, participated in 2017. She was the program’s first regional campus participant.
“I thought it was a great opportunity for me to connect since I was at a regional center that is so physically disconnected from Indianapolis,” said Parker, operations director for Graduate Medical Education at IU School of Medicine—Evansville. “I made it a priority, and my director was supportive, for me to go to Indy physically to participate in meetings and build relationships. It was an opportunity to get face time with key leaders in the school, build rapport, learn how things work, and bring a regional perspective into conversations.”
Parker suggested adding a regional campus visit to the Emerging Leaders program, which is now part of the curriculum.
“Most of the people in Indy had never been to one of the regional centers,” Parker said. “It baffled me that some of the folks had never met a medical student because their jobs in areas like finance or human resources did not have direct student contact. In Evansville, there’s only 30 students, so the staff has that personal connection.”
The staff connections Parker made through the program included a peer in Indianapolis who held a similar position as clerkships coordinator for the Department of Surgery.
“Now she is the residency education manager, so we are working together again on a statewide residency coordinator panel,” said Parker, who directs operations for the Southwest Indiana Graduate Medical Education Consortium. “We both moved up and are connecting again.”
Like other Emerging Leaders participants, Parker said she enjoyed learning about leadership styles and personality types.
“I’m a ‘make it happen’ kind of person,” she said. “As a result of Emerging Leaders, I started checking in with people on my team informally and understood it was important to build rapport. Instead of creating spreadsheets myself, I started delegating tasks and realized you get more accomplished when you support others through learning the work.”
Demetrius Logwood, director of human resources at the IU School of Medicine, said his experience in the Emerging Leaders program reinforced a “servant leadership philosophy.”
“It’s not about me, but how I can help someone else achieve success in the School of Medicine,” said Logwood, a recent program graduate in 2023.
That’s not to say Logwood didn’t benefit, too.
“The Emerging Leaders program exceeded my expectations because I formed relationships with my cohort that have proven invaluable,” he said. “Hearing others live your experience in a completely different department was refreshing and confirming. Refreshing because you find out you’re not the only one going through similar challenges, and confirming because you realize you’re on the right track as you hear how others employed similar strategies to address those challenges.”
Wendy Crandall, executive liaison to the dean, began her Emerging Leaders experience in January 2023 and will finish at the end of 2024.
“It is reassuring and motivating to engage with others who are on similar paths striving to grow professionally and become positive leaders,” she said. “On a more personal level, I’ve established connections with a few participants outside of work due to our shared interests. An unanticipated benefit of these personal relationships is how they’ve further increased my enjoyment working as an employee of IU School of Medicine.”
Crandall won’t stop growing her leadership skills after she leaves Emerging Leaders. Each cohort helps refine the curriculum for subsequent cohorts.
“One thing about leadership that has stuck with me is the value of and need for sustained learning,” she said. “Great leaders have the mindset of always seeking to learn more — learn more about the work being done, learn more about your people, learn more about market trends, learn more about growth opportunities and opportunities to improve.”
Nominations for the 2025 Emerging Leaders cohort are being accepted now through Nov. 10, 2024. Department leaders and area supervisors are encouraged to nominate individuals who meet the selection criteria:
- Demonstrated leadership ability (directly and/or indirectly) and potential
- Be in good standing (e.g. not be in an active performance improvement plan)
- Evidence of collaborative/collegial approach to work
- One year of service at IU
Past participants vouch for the value of the program. Since her Emerging Leaders experience, Medlock has grown in her position to supervise three other staff members, and her team has successfully overseen several collaborative projects for the Bowen Center in partnership with state agencies. For her leadership on one of these projects, Medlock was awarded the 2023 Outstanding Community Engagement Award from IU School of Medicine.
“Wholeheartedly, I believe the Emerging Leaders program is an excellent professional development opportunity for inexperienced leaders,” she said.
