Sustainability of a Leadership Development Program

Purpose: For a program such as KILN to be sustainable, it must be thoroughly woven into the fabric of a School of Nursing’s activities so that its absence would result in a gaping hole.  This presentation provides a description of the processes employed that were designed to promote sustainability.

Methods: Requisite factors to be used as part of the evaluation matrix were identified, including the following.1) The program’s purpose clearly aligns with the School’s and University’s mission and strategic initiatives. 2) Clear, measurable, objectives are in place from the program’s onset. 3) Opportunities are created for ownership of facets of the program by numerous and diverse groups, both within and external to the university (e.g., faculty, community partners), thus promoting long-term ‘buy-in’. 4) Cross-fertilization of mutually beneficial activities with other school, university, and community initiatives are initiated. 5) Professional promulgation (e.g., presentations, publications) and social marketing (e.g., blogs, newsletters) of specific program components and student successes begin at the program’s inception and continue throughout its duration. 6) Associated program costs are addressed with the goal of making the program resource and cost-neutral; this includes the identification and implementation of additional short- and long-term funding mechanisms. And lastly, 7) definitive quantitative and qualitative outcomes data are in evidence that support the program’s contribution to the School’s overall mission.

Results: The KILN program’s evaluation matrix of formative and summative evaluation strategies capture the requisite quantitative and qualitative data needed to help ensure that that these factors needed for sustainability are met. Specific examples used to meet these criteria are presented, thus promoting the potential for replication in other settings.

Conclusion: By attending to those factors needed to ensure its success, programs such as KILN have the potential to become the crucibles needed to develop the next generation of globally involved nursing leaders.