EMS Leadership Academy
SafeTech Solution’s innovative EMS Leadership Academy is a dynamic, four-level educational program designed to prepare participants to lead and manage today’s emergency medical services (EMS).
It is for current leaders, new leaders, and anyone with an interest in the leadership and management of EMS and designed to give students the basic tools and information needed to quickly and successfully assume the role of a leader. More than 500 leaders across the nation have participated in the EMS Leadership Academy since 2009.
- Level I: Managing and Leading the EMS Organization
- Level III: Moving Your Organization Forward
- Level II: Showing up as a Leader
- Level IV: Your Specific Role and Challenges: A Retreat
Each level is a two-day program presented on consecutive days in comfortable settings that invite participation. Class size is limited to 26 participants or less, and two faculty members are involved in the sessions at all times. A cohort model is used to maximize learning and build a network of peers for organizational and emotional support. Rather than long PowerPoint lectures, these sessions are engaging, lively and participatory. Dialogue is ongoing, questioning is encouraged and laughter is common. Fifty percent of the time is spent in dialogue, small group exercises and role-playing. Students have the chance to see, practice and critique actual leadership activities in a safe environment.
Contact us for more information or scheduling.
Level I: Managing and Leading the EMS Organization
Beginning with the challenges facing EMS organizations today, this first level inverts the way we often think about running an EMS organization and shows participants how to manage with leadership in mind. Specifically, this level addresses:
- How to blend the roles of both leading and managing and how to know the difference;
- The essential components of a thriving ambulance service;
- The leader’s impact on recruitment and retention;
- Creating an ambulance service culture people want to join;
- Strategies for recruiting the right staff;
- Improving each member’s performance;
- Dealing with troublemakers;
- How to recruit the young people of today; and
- How to strengthen the relationship with the medical director.
Level III: Moving Your Organization Forward
Building upon previous levels, this level tackles moving the EMS organization forward, making change and ensuring the organization avoids trouble and continues to be a place good people want to work. Specifically, this level addresses:
- Why is change so difficult?
- What is strategic alignment and who cares?
- Balance Scorecard as a tool for change and forward movement;
- Working with measurements and variables;
- Fun hands-on exercises on how to lead and manage change;
- What you need to know about EMS law and human resource law;
- Financial management and creating budgets; and
- Appreciative feedback.
Level II: Showing up as a Leader
Beginning with each participant’s personal leadership challenges, this second level moves beyond management to the practice of leading. Leaders see destinations and inspire people to move toward those destinations. This level prepares the leader to reflect on his or her own organization, its challenges and opportunities, and then clarify a destination and get people – regardless of their generation – moving toward the right destination. Specifically, this level addresses:
- Conducting a practical analysis of your organization’s status;
- Clarifying a destination that matters to what you do every day;
- Inspiring people to follow;
- How the history of EMS continues to influence our actions and stories today;
- The EMS leader’s guide to storytelling;
- Using a council process to increase listening and talking; and
- How to lead and inspire generation X, Y, and Me.
Level IV: Your Specific Role and Challenges: A Retreat
At this level, the senior participants in the EMS Leadership Academy set the agenda in a facilitated retreat-style session that focuses specifically on each participant’s roles and challenges. Utilizing an "open space" format, participants chose the topics: Brief presentations are made on the topics and the balance of the allotted time is used to workshop each topic with discussion, exercises and the sharing of best (and worst) practices.
