References
Assessing leadership in a US home visiting programme
Abstract
Leadership and supervision are a critical aspect of workforce development for home visiting programmes in the US; yet little is known about leadership skills of home visiting supervisors. An online leadership assessment survey of South Carolina Maternal Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) supervisors and home visitors (76 total) was conducted. The survey gathered information on demographics and each identified component of comprehensive, high-quality leadership. The most frequent areas home visitors assessed as an area for growth or needing attention were: Experience in the Field; Fiscal Management; Advanced Skills and Education; Clear, Flexible, and Adaptive Approach; and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. The most frequent areas supervisors self-assessed as an area for growth or needing attention were: Fiscal Management; Community and Early Childhood Systems Development/Resource Coordination; Experience in the Field; Use of Programme Data; Programme Vision; Advanced Skills and Education; and Advocates for Home Visiting. This is the first study, to our knowledge, to examine and assess home visiting leadership among home visiting supervisors, by themselves and by the home visitors they supervise. This work highlights several future areas for training of supervisors and emerging leaders in home visiting.
The extent to which home visiting programmes in the US can achieve high-quality implementation depends on the service delivery system – or implementation support system. Prior research has identified three different levels of the home visiting system: system level, organisational level, and the service delivery level. Organisational level influences on implementation quality include organisational climate, which includes leadership capacities (Ryan et al, 2021). Effective leadership has been identified as a key implementation support, but it also has the potential to influence other aspects of a programme, including organisational climate, communication, and establishing a collective vision (Durlak, 2013; Kirby et al, 2020).
It must be acknowledged that there are a variety of approaches to leadership. An approach or style to leadership can be defined by the behaviours exhibited by an individual in a formal position of authority designed to drive a group towards a goal, with many leaders having their own style (Bass and Bass, 2009; Northouse, 2021). For example, leadership is key to driving a programme's ability to respond to changes and/or emergent needs, including COVID-19 (Roben et al, 2022).
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