Public Health Renewal
““We were looking for fundamental change and innovation that would help us as a provincial system to shift where we could have the biggest impact on the health of Nova Scotians. This work achieved what we wanted. Sera had unwavering commitment to help us develop as leaders as well as landing on a purpose statement that would catapult us to a new future. We are poised for system change because of this work.”
- Janet Braunstein Moody
Senior Director, Public Health Renewal
Nova Scotia Dept of Health and Wellness
”
The Renewal of Public Health in Nova Scotia: Building a Public Health System to Meet the Needs of Nova Scotians” – accepted by the Government of Nova Scotia in 2006– outlined a ten-year blueprint for the future of public health in the province. It presented 21 recommendations, the first of which was for Nova Scotia’s public health practitioners, to “articulate and be guided by a collective vision for the public health system.”
From the Summer of 2008 to the spring of 2010, Sera Thompson led a change process that supported the Public Health System in that Journey. We were asked to build leadership capacity, connect various parts of the system, engage a wide diversity of Public Health stakeholders and build a collective vision of Public Health across the province. This consisted of several phases:
- Facilitating clarity and resolving tensions within the formal leadership team.
- Forming, training and building a diverse core team of players across the province with different roles either directly or indirectly connected to Public Health.
- Designing with and coach the team in undergoing an in-depth engagement and “sensing” of the system including ~60 interviews, 7 Learning Journey site visits and 5 stakeholder gatherings with over 300 people.
- Facilitating the building collective clarity and buy-in from formal leaders and Core Team around the Purpose of the Public Health System and the Strategy around bringing that purpose to life.