Portfolio Review & Assessment

Change Leadership Initiative (CLI) Storytelling Study
Funder: The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Project Time Period: 2022-2024

Project Category: Portfolio Review and Assessment

About Change Leadership Initiative (CLI). The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) is committed to improving health and health equity in the United States by working to develop a national Culture of Health. RWJF’s multi-million dollar Change Leadership Initiative (CLI) funded four Change Leadership Programs (Clinical Scholars, Interdisciplinary Research Leaders, Culture of Health Leaders, and Health Policy Research Scholars). The CLI aimed to develop a diverse set of leaders to achieve a Culture of Health through multidisciplinary leadership development training, positioning leaders from different backgrounds and disciplines to become key ambassadors for changes leading to a national Culture of Health. 

The Work. MAI conducted a large-scale qualitative study of over 130 people currently or previously involved with CLI and its four Change Leadership Programs to learn how the implementation of the CLI unfolded. MAI shared these findings back with the Foundation, Change Leadership Program leadership, and study participants.  

What We Learned. Findings from this study can inform funders implementing future leadership development efforts to avoid the seven tensions that arose during CLI implementation.  The Storytelling Project identifies seven high-level dynamic tensions that RWJF and its partners encountered throughout the CLI. Each tension emerges as a continuum, with more conventional views of learning and action at one end and less conventional views at the other. The high-level tensions were in the following areas:

  • setting goals

  • defining leadership

  • valuing expertise

  • engaging alumni

  • negotiating authority

  • layering individual programs

  • designing and resourcing support

Learn more about the tensions here.