Research identifies key skills for public health leaders to drive change

New research from Public Health Wales, in collaboration with the University of Wolverhampton, has identified four key skills that help public health leaders to drive change and ultimately to improve health outcomes, especially for the most vulnerable in our society. 

Leading systems change is a vital skill needed in the field of public health; the ability to influence decision makers and to inspire others to lead change and to facilitate this to happen. Public health leaders have to work across multiple ‘systems’ because the causes of public health issues are often complex and multi-faceted.  

The role of public health leaders is ultimately to improve health outcomes, especially for the most vulnerable in our society. Public health leaders have to work across multiple ‘systems’ because the causes of public health issues are often complex and multi-faceted.  

James Rees, Reader and Deputy Director and Sophie Cole, PhD candidate at the Institute for Community Research and Development at the University of Wolverhampton, worked closely with Professor Jo Peden, Consultant in Public Health and holds an Honorary Professorship from University of Wolverhampton on this important new research.  

From Spring 2023 the team of researchers jointly conducted a rapid literature review and a series of interviews with senior public health systems leaders across Britain, aiming to explore the role of public health leaders in driving change for better health outcomes and the attributes needed to be successful. The resulting report argues that driving systems change is a core public health skill and defines key traits of public health leaders who have been successful in driving system change.  

The findings of a literature review and interviews with eleven public health systems leaders highlight four key leadership traits needed for driving systems change in public health: 

Seeing the bigger picture and choosing suitable approaches 

Effective collaboration and boundary spanning 

Empowering others to lead, building on the concept of distributed leadership 

Maintaining strong underlying motivations and values, including the need for humility and a learning mindset. 

Professor Jo Peden, Consultant in Public Health in Policy and International Health, WHO Collaborating Centre for Public Health Wales, said: “Now more than ever, with fiscal constraints and the need to shift health systems towards prevention, having the leadership skills to bring partners on the journey is essential.  

“At a global and national level, complex public health issues such as climate change need a systems response. This means that public health leaders need to have the ability to understand the bigger picture, to present a vision on how sectors can work together, and to bring those sectors along to collaboratively come up with and implement joint solutions.  

“Whether leading at a local, regional, national or global level, driving systems change is a core public health skill. This research defines the traits of public health leaders who have been successful in driving systems change. We hope that this report encourages the development of these traits in future leaders.”