SPECIAL SESSION: Developing Nursing Education Leaders through Intentional Behavior Change and Expanded Scope of Influence

Description/Overview: The Nurse Faculty Leadership Academy (NFLA) is a 20-month personal leadership development experience that engages junior faculty and leaders of their home academic institutions. The experiential nature of the NFLA requires intentionality and commitment from all members of the academy community. The NFLA is designed to facilitate personal leadership development; foster academic career success; promote nurse faculty retention and satisfaction; and cultivate high performing, supportive work environments in academe. A rigorous international leadership development experience, the NFLA is constructed on a behavioral philosophy of leadership development that is integrated throughout all curricular and relational components of the academy. The NFLA employs a triad mentoring structure as the foundation for Scholars’ learning milieu. Each triad is composed of an experienced Leadership Mentor, an academy Faculty Advisor, and a Scholar participant. Throughout the academy the triad meets regularly to implement the application of curricular activities, to guide reflective exercises, and to provide a framework for the leadership development process. The Kouzes-Posner ‘Leadership Challenge’ model serves as a behavioral practice framework for the leadership development curriculum. Three domains form the basis of the experience: individual leadership development, advancing nursing education through leadership of team projects, and the Scholars’ expanded scope of influence within their sponsoring academic institutions, the community, and the profession. The structure of the academy includes two immersion leadership development workshops, two in-person Site Visits, and monthly Scholar Community Conference Calls. In addition, triads meet regularly by phone or videoconference for guided advisory conversations. The NFLA leadership development philosophy, history of the academy design, curricular elements and composition, mentoring roles and responsibilities, and the impact of the academy on the future of leadership in nursing education will be described by current faculty. As aspiring leaders, three Scholars from the current cohort will present their leadership development experiences through storytelling and discussion of outcomes from the three domains.