The Right Honourable Kim Campbell spoke on the topic of "Leading in Challenging Times" as the keynote speaker of the inaugural Alberta Health Sciences Leadership Symposium.
In a room filled with some of Alberta's top emerging health professionals, the Right Honourable Kim Campbell took a moment to survey her rapt audience before launching into a tale of leadership. As the inaugural speaker of the Alberta Health Sciences Leadership Symposium, Campbell-Canada's 19th Prime Minister and the founding principal of the University of Alberta's Peter Lougheed Leadership College-shared lessons learned from a lifetime of leading, knowing her pupils could help shape the future of Canadian health care.
"For many of these participants, it was likely the first time they ever thought consciously about leadership at large," said Campbell following the event. "And that is the first step towards wisdom."
The leadership symposium, held Nov. 16 in the Edmonton Clinic Health Academy, was an event co-hosted by the University of Alberta's Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry (FoMD) and the University of Calgary's Cumming School of Medicine. The institutions collaborated with a goal of helping prepare new health leaders steer Alberta's health care system through challenging economic times.
"It doesn't matter if we have a title or not, we are all leaders in various capacities," said Mia Lang, associate dean for faculty development at the FoMD. "It's how we show and share that talent that we have."
"We're helping people develop concrete skills in narratives, how to run meetings, how to have difficult conversations and how to get buy-in on projects," added David Keegan, associate dean of faculty development at the Cumming School of Medicine. "These are concrete skills that people will be able to use to advance their local collaborative projects."
The leadership symposium was the first in what organizers say will become an annual event, alternating between Edmonton and Calgary. Next year's symposium is already being planned and will shift venues, moving to the University of Calgary for 2017. Organizers say that, while their goals won't be realized overnight, the ongoing focus on leadership will soon pay dividends.
"My hope is that those who attended the symposium share what they learned with others in the health sciences," said Lang. "We want to make sure that we are building partnerships and planting the seeds for further conversations, further relationships and for uniting together."
"The Canadian public and Albertans want health care providers to step up and provide leadership so that we can make sure they are getting good value for dollar, and so that the health care system is providing effective, high quality care in the way that they need it," added Keegan.
While the goals of the symposium were wide-reaching, Campbell believes those in attendance are on the right path in their efforts to become better leaders.
"It's a constant process of growth. But these courses help put people on a path where they see things that they might not otherwise see, and they think of themselves in ways they might not have otherwise thought," said Campbell. "That's part of creating a process of learning that can be really productive."