How does an organization get work done?
Good management systems are vital, but organizational effectiveness and sustainability also depends on the values and efforts of people, who are directed and energized by good leadership. The LMS Program develops managers and leaders who achieve results in the areas of reproductive health, HIV/AIDS, infectious disease, and maternal and child health.
The LMS Program was awarded to MSH in August 2005 by USAID's Office of Population and Reproductive Health, in the Bureau of Global Health. LMS is focused on the following key result areas:
- Improving management and leadership of priority health programs. LMS is working to develop a critical mass of managers who lead at all levels of health systems to advocate for, and implement, inspired leadership and sound management.
- Improving management systems in health organizations and priority programs. LMS works to transfer approaches and skills to organizations to ensure that management structures and systems contribute to sustainable organizational success.
- Increasing sustainability and ability to manage change. LMS enables organizations and individuals to lead and manage concerted responses to complex health challenges at all levels in NGOs and the public sector, multi-sectoral bodies, national governments, and international agencies.
Examples of some of the results LMS is capable of producing include:
Sustainable Leadership Development—LMS works with teams to build their leadership and management skills to overcome their challenges. After an initial
Leadership Development Program facilitated by MSH staff in the Aswan governorate of Egypt, participants carried the program forward, replicating it throughout the governorate to more than 100 teams. During the program, one district increased its first-time family planning visits by 68% in one year.
Rapid Scale-up—In Nicaragua, a municipal management and leadership training program, now fully in the hands of the Ministry of Health, was scaled up in 2004 by 550 Ministry facilitators to reach more than 4,000 managers throughout the country.
Virtual Learning—Recognizing that health teams rarely have the time or resources available to attend off-site training programs, LMS offers a variety of virtual and blended learning approaches. One such program is the
Virtual Leadership Development Program (VLDP), which brings leadership development to the workplace. Combining face-to-face learning with Internet-based facilitated instruction, the VLDP has improved the leadership capabilities of more than 800 health professionals from 29 countries.
Organizational Development—Using a variety of approaches and products, LMS can help support an organization to respond to a changing environment through improved management systems. One approach is through the
Management and Organizational Sustainability Tool (MOST), a structured, participatory process allowing organizations to assess their own management performance and develop a concrete action plan for organization-wide improvement.
