Relational Leadership at Carolina: An Interprofessional, Cross-generational Leadership Development Learning Collaborative

Embedded within UNC’s Office of Interprofessional Education and Practice, Relational Leadership at Carolina is an interprofessional, cross-generational learning community focused on building skills to support “an inclusive mindset and community” to thrive through authentic connection. Relational Leadership at Carolina was founded in 2018 and launched its first pilot program in Spring 2019. Participants are introduced to the skills of Relational Leadership through the Relational Leadership Institute (RLI), a multi-day program focused on Psychological Safety, Narrative Leadership, Identity, Impact, & Power, One-to-ones, Teaming, Collaborative Decision-making, Giving Feedback, Conflict Transformation, and Advocating to Accelerate Change, that has trained over 140 participants at UNC representing nursing, medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, social work, public health, allied health, business, education, and the health sciences library. These alumni of RLI make up the RL@C community who have the opportunity to join the Leadership Pathway to become trainers and facilitators in future RLI cohorts, participate in RL@C booster programs, and engage the RL@C core team to share RL content with their departments and units. To date, RLI assessments have been highly favorable, including in Spring 2021, where 79% of respondents reported that RLI was better than their previous leadership trainings, and 100% reported that they could bring up issues and take risks in their small groups (approximating psychological safety). After the first three cohorts (n=104), 26% of participants (n=27) joined the Leadership Pathway, volunteering their time to facilitate (over 55 volunteer hours per cohort) or train in RL content for future cohorts.Future directions for RL@C include the development of a team-based delivery model adaptable to busy interprofessional teams. We recognize that the clinical environment is the learning environment, and multiple stakeholder groups (patients, communities, health care system leaders, and academic administrators) hold a shared interest in improving the work culture in the clinical environment.