MD Anderson Leadership Institute Overview
MD Anderson Leadership Institute
Transforming leaders and culture
Leadership development in health care is particularly important as we navigate complex academic medicine health systems, new payment models, new advanced technologies and changing care workflows.
MD Anderson's Leadership Institute takes a defined, comprehensive approach to developing current leaders and creating a comprehensively trained talent pipeline for our organization. Learn more about our personalized and team-based curriculum, programs and services.
Award-winning approach
MD Anderson is one of 10 health systems that received a 2020 Best Organizations for Leadership Development (Bold) designation. Every two years, researchers with the National Center for Healthcare Leadership (NCHL) update the organization's national leadership survey. To be considered for the 2020 Bold award, health systems were measured against an NCHL Scorecard that tracks leadership excellence across 12 areas and compares them with systems across the nation.
MD Anderson received a 2021 BEST Award for its demonstration of building talent enterprise wide and strategically driving a talent development culture that delivers results.
Executive Leadership in Healthcare Program
A collaboration between Rice University and MD Anderson that brings together internationally renowned business school faculty, leaders in medicine and seasoned healthcare executives to provide evidence-based insights for leading tomorrow’s healthcare institutions.
About the Leadership Institute
Development at all levels
At each level of LEAD, our curriculum-based program, there are three tiers of development. Core curricula develops the foundation of leadership skills and behaviors necessary to succeed at the current level of leadership. Discover and Accelerate are designed to help leaders prepare for advancement before the opportunities arise.
- LEADing Institution
- LEADing Leaders
- LEADing Teams
- LEADing Others
- LEADing Self
Targeted development
Additional curricula are available to help leaders hone the specific competencies and knowledge to further their development.
- Competency Tracks: Take a deep dive into competencies needing further development.
- Financial Literacy: Learn financial fundamentals and take a deeper dive into how our leaders impact our financial health.
Coaching
Coaching is a key development tool within the Leadership Institute. All internal coaches in the Leadership Institute are International Coach Federation (ICF)-certified. Our external coaches are highly qualified, successful individuals who have a unique blend of experience and perspective. They are carefully screened, thoroughly trained and continually evaluated.
Mentoring
The My Mentoring Program provides two-way programs, guidance and tools to help leaders become effective mentors as well as learn from the experience of other leaders and their teams.
Change enABLEment
Build skills in change leadership through MD Anderson's change enABLEment program and consulting services. Leaders learn how to effectively anticipate, manage, and lead change of various complexities. Change management consultation is available to partner with division and department leaders and implement high impact projects or programs.
Team Development
Using our team-science based framework, we have a diagnostic that will allow a team to understand where they stand on their Foundations, ABCs of Teamwork, and Ideal Team States. Interventions are customized to the team’s needs. We also have Team Effectiveness Workshops to help teams grow their skills and self-service Team Building activities available.
Assessment Tools
We use a range of assessment tools to assist with hiring the right talent for a team or a leadership role, such as personality and emotional intelligence measures. We have also developed the LEAD 360 assessment to provide leaders with insights into their competency strengths and opportunities for growth.
Our publications
Peer-Reviewed
- Cavanaugh, K., Zajac, S., Middleton, E. D., Brown, R. P., Smith, D. B., and Holladay, C. L. (in press). On Coachability: How Practitioners Determine Whether Someone Can Be Coached. The International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching.
- Zajac, S., Woods, A., Tannenbaum, S., Salas, E., & Holladay, C. L. (2021). Overcoming challenges to teamwork in healthcare: A team effectiveness framework and evidence-based guidance. Frontiers in Communication, section Health Communication. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomm.2021.606445
- Reyes, D. L., Traylor, A., & Holladay, C. L. (2021). Do We Practice What We Preach?: The Association Between Judgments of Soft Skills and Performance Evaluations Over Time. Current Psychology. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12144-020-01276-0
- Zajac, S., Holladay, C. L., Tannenbaum, S. & Salas, E. (2021). Building effective healthcare team development interventions in uncertain times: Tips for success. Organizational Dynamics, 100824, ISSN 0090-2616, http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0090261620300760.
- Cavanaugh, K., Lee, H.W., Daum, D., Chang, S., Izzo, J. G., Kowalski, A., and Holladay, C. L. (2020). An Examination of Burnout Predictors: Understanding the Influence of Job Attitudes and Environment. Healthcare. https://doi:10.3390/healthcare8040502
Other Articles
- Cavenaugh, K., DeVeau, M., and Holladay, C. L. (2021) Reframing Leadership Through Coaching. Talent Development Magazine. https://www.td.org/magazines/td-magazine/reframing-leadership-through-coaching
- Anderson, C., Byler, C., Miller, D. Rowe, J., Simon, J. & Holladay, C. L. (2021). Mentoring Up: A different approach to leadership development. Training Magazine. https://trainingmag.com/mentoring-up-a-different-approach-to-leadership-development/
- Cavanaugh, K. J. & Holladay, C. L. (2021). 4 Steps to rigorous leadership development program evaluation. Training Magazine. https://trainingmag.com/four-steps-to-rigorous-leadership-development-program-evaluation/
Advisory boards
Two advisory boards play a role in guiding the Leadership Institute.
The Leadership Development Council
The Leadership Development Council, compromised of divisional and administrative leadership, gives input into and evaluates plans for leadership programs, and serves as a connection point between the core team and their stakeholders in the institution. The purpose of this council is to create and sustain an integrated, dynamic and learner-centric leadership development program that enables an accountable, thriving culture of servant leaders with a patient-centered, value driven and inclusive focus in all mission areas.
External Advisory Board
The External Advisory Board consists of thought leaders, Board of Visitors members, and industry leaders and meets biannually with the Leadership Institute and leadership to discuss ongoing programs and share their high-level insights and experiences. The purpose of this board is to ensure program alignment with current industry trends, evaluate the investment in leadership development, and share best practices.
Our Labs
Learn more about our faculty and research taking place in our labs.
Conferences
View conferences available for continuing education credit.