Meta-Leadership Summit for Preparedness Initiative

Program Design

The Summits

Meta-Leadership Summits were distinctive, ten-hour leadership development, networking, and community action planning events. Many months before a Summit was delivered, the instructors and Summit managers met with a local host committee, composed of high-level, decision-makers representing the government, business, and nonprofit sectors within a selected Summit site, to learn about state and local preparedness and emergency response issues and areas of concern. The host committee was also responsible for assisting with the recruitment of participants for the Summit, acting as a supporter of the Summit, and often providing financial sponsorship.

Post-Summit Activities

The Post-Summit Activity (PSA) was the formal, follow-up meeting held 3-12 months after the conclusion of the Summit. The purpose of the Post-Summit Activity was to reconvene leaders for one day to continue building cross-sector connectivity and apply Meta-Leadership concepts to preparedness planning. The Post-Summit Activity was unique to each community. Following each Post-Summit Activity, community leaders were encouraged to continue advancing Meta-Leadership practice and to support actions that could foster a better prepared and more resilient community.

Evaluation

Evaluation of program effectiveness and impact was a priority for the funder and partners. Well before the very first Pilot Summit was delivered, an extensive evaluation methodology was designed for the purposes of improving the design and implementation of the Summits, documenting outcomes and results attributed to the program, and to informing and directing CDC’s post-summit, follow-up activities at the state and local level. The MLI evaluation was both formative and summative in its design. Evaluation questions were developed using the steps and standards outlined in the CDC’s Framework for Program Evaluation, 9 informed by Kirkpatrick’s four levels of training evaluation, 10 and framed within a basic logic model structure used in planning and evaluating public health programs. 11 Several different methodologies were used to evaluate the Meta-Leadership Initiative (MLI), including analysis of registration and attendance data, various web-based surveys, focus groups, in-depth interviews, and the collection of success stories. Evaluation results were shared frequently with MLI partners and stakeholders in order to rapidly affect program design and implementation throughout the Initiative.

9. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Framework for Program Evaluation in Public Health. MMWR 1999; 48(No. RR-11).
10. Kirkpatrick DL & Kirkpatrick JD. Evaluating Training Programs: The Four Levels, 3rd Edition. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc., 2006.
11. McLaughlin JA & Jordan GB. Logic models: a tool for telling your program's performance story. Evaluation and Program Planning. 1999; 22(1): 65-72.