Home / Tools and Resources / Dialogue and Engagement
Support Leaders Through Dialogue and Engagement
Network Partners’ Roundtables - Members Only
Network Partner Roundtables occur twice a year where leaders gather at a system level on their leadership challenges (using Chatham House Rule), opportunities and hear project updates. Meeting materials (Network Partners only) can be found below for the last three years.
Background Documents and Minutes:
Executive Roundtables
CHLNet’s Executive Roundtables are one-hour sessions for senior leaders to discuss “what inspires you” and “your leadership challenges”. One executive leader per organization is invited (i.e. CEO, Executive Director, Chief Nursing, Chief Medical Officer, or VP level) to partake in a candid conversation using Chatham House Rule. Highlight briefs are created from these sessions for educational purposes.
Highlights:
AI and Health Leadership Lunch & Learn Series
CHLNet, in collaboration with partners across the health sector, hosts executive-level discussions exploring the evolving role of artificial intelligence in healthcare leadership. These sessions bring together health system leaders, clinicians, researchers, and innovators to examine opportunities, risks, governance considerations, and practical applications of AI in Canadian healthcare. Resources, executive summaries, and session materials from past discussions can be found below.
Highlights:
World Health Leadership Network (WHLNet)
The purpose of this network is for global collaboration and to address shared challenges by healthcare leaders around the globe. The events will be engaging, interactive sessions, with an opportunity for participants to be involved in discussions looking at a chosen theme from different national perspectives globally.
Resources:
The session drew on insights from the September 2024 ISQua conference session and focused on the leadership challenges of implementing the WHO’s 2021-2030 Global Patient Safety Action Plan. For further detail a briefing note was prepared as pre-reading.
The session focused on the Implications of AI in Healthcare Leadership—a timely and evolving topic.
This session explored the challenges health care leaders face when navigating both large “P” politics (government policies, elections, regime changes) and small “p” politics (organizational and community dynamics) that shape leadership effectiveness.
Our distinguished panel—Dr Mike Durkin (UK), Dr Susan Moffatt-Bruce (USA), and Dr Debashis Basu (South Africa)—moderated by Bill Tholl (Canada), shared firsthand experiences and leadership strategies for managing these complexities.
This session focused on current and emerging healthcare challenges, exploring how leaders are responding and adapting strategically to complex issues in healthcare.
While political factors explored in the broadcast on February 20 remain relevant, this event broadened the focus to explore healthcare challenges that leaders face, regardless of the political environment in which they operate. The focus shifted to the innovative leadership approaches, successes, insights, and future strategies for addressing evolving healthcare challenges internationally.
Our diverse panel included healthcare leaders from across the world, from Kenya (Lydia Okotoyi), India (Gaurav Loria), Peru (Juan Limo) and Belgium (Mathieu Louiset). All are in a positions to share unique insights about challenges in their healthcare systems and the leadership practices and processes they believe are vital for leaders to confront adversity and enhance healthcare delivery.
This WHLNet Global Broadcast brought together healthcare leaders, educators, researchers, and practitioners from more than 20 countries to explore how leadership can strengthen health systems during times of uncertainty, complexity, and change.
Through three interactive breakout sessions—Leading with Compassion, Leading with Integrity, and Leading to Support Staff Wellbeing—participants shared practical strategies for building resilient organizations, fostering psychologically safe workplaces, and leading with courage, empathy, and ethical decision-making. Discussions emphasized that compassion, integrity, and staff wellbeing are essential leadership capabilities that strengthen trust, improve patient care, and support healthier healthcare systems.
This joint WHLNet and ISQua Broadcast explored how artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming healthcare leadership and its implications for improving quality, safety, and system performance.
Building on discussions from the ISQua pre-conference session, “When System Leadership Meets AI – Opportunities and a Way Forward,” the broadcast brought together global healthcare leaders to examine how AI can support effective leadership in an increasingly digital health environment.
Participants explored five key themes through interactive breakout discussions: AI and accreditation and regulation, leading for safety and quality with AI, AI and person-centred care, developing future leaders for an AI-enabled system, and the global perspective on AI and healthcare leadership.
The sessions highlighted the importance of responsible AI adoption, strong governance, ethical decision-making, and preparing leaders to navigate the opportunities and challenges of AI in healthcare systems.
This WHLNet Broadcast explored how expectations for healthcare leaders are evolving in response to increasing system pressures, workforce challenges, financial constraints, and the growing demand for high-quality, safe care.
The session brought together international leaders to examine how leadership approaches must adapt to increasingly complex healthcare environments. Speakers shared perspectives on leadership frameworks and approaches from around the world, including the NHS Management and Leadership Framework in England, the LEADS Framework refresh in Canada, and experiences of adaptive leadership in South Africa.
Through interactive discussions, participants explored the shift from compliance-based to commitment-based leadership, the importance of distributed leadership, and the need to integrate quality, safety, and performance into everyday leadership practice.
The session highlighted the evolving role of healthcare leaders in building resilient systems, strengthening accountability, and creating environments where teams can deliver safer and more effective care.
This WHLNet Broadcast, held in partnership with ISQua, explored one of the most pressing challenges facing health systems worldwide: how to retain a committed, capable, and resilient healthcare workforce amid rising demand, increasing complexity, and global competition for talent.
Bringing together leaders and perspectives from four countries, the session examined the factors that influence workforce retention and moved beyond traditional discussions of recruitment and shortages. Speakers explored how organizational culture, professional identity, belonging, leadership, and working conditions shape whether healthcare professionals choose to stay and thrive.
Through international perspectives and interactive discussions, participants explored the importance of shifting from individual resilience to resilient systems—creating environments that support learning, autonomy, trust, psychological safety, and sustainable careers.
The session highlighted that workforce retention is not only a human resources challenge, but a leadership responsibility. Leaders play a critical role in building healthcare systems where people feel valued, supported, and empowered to deliver high-quality care.
This WHLNet & ISQua Broadcast explored the essential role of leadership and management in strengthening healthcare systems and enabling the delivery of safe, high-quality, and sustainable care.
At a time when healthcare organizations are facing increasing complexity, workforce pressures, financial constraints, and rapid change, the session examined why effective leadership and management are critical capabilities rather than administrative burdens.
Featuring insights from Dr. Vijay Agarwal (India) and Dr. Laura Desveaux (Canada), and moderated by Professor Anurag Saxena (Canada), the discussion explored how leadership and management work together to build organizational capacity, support healthcare teams, and create environments where continuous improvement can thrive.
Participants reflected on the importance of moving beyond the traditional distinction between leadership and management, recognizing that both are needed to establish clear direction, foster trust, enable collaboration, and support innovation across health systems.
The session highlighted that effective leadership and management are fundamental to navigating complexity, strengthening healthcare organizations, and ensuring that clinicians and teams have the conditions needed to provide excellent care.
Towards Leadership Pathways for Health Workforce Wellness
This project prepared by a design team for CHLNet had the goal of assessing how leaders can best address worker burnout and distress at both a network and individual organizational level. A summary and published article are listed below. As well, we partnered with the Canadian Health Workforce Network on a new Health Worker Burnout Toolkit.
- Insight Summary
- Article: Leaders supporting leaders: Leaders' role in building resilience and psychologically healthy workplaces during the pandemic and beyond
- CHWN: Health Worker Burnout Toolkit
- CHWN: Health Worker Mental Health Webinar
- Psychological Health and Safety Toolkit for Primary Care Teams and Training Programs !NEW!