Phnom Penh, NIPH conducted a Liberating Structures (LS) Workshop for the Technical Working Group of Management and Leadership Training to Health Professional Managers, Faculty Members at School of Public Health and NIPH Partners. Liberating Structures is an easy learning tool that help to enhance relationship and trust among the group. It helps to make everyone in the group be truly included and unleash their thought.

  This training aimed to:

• Increase understanding of the need for new leadership styles.
• Have a conceptual understanding of why LS and the resources there to support them when they return to the office.
• Gain initial mastery of cutting edge leadership facilitation techniques designed to support a New Generation of Leadership for the training program on Management and Leadership to health professional managers.

The three days workshop facilitated by Ms. Luisa Perticucci, Managing Director, Effective Organizations from Waldron HR, USA. Participants were introduced different levels of LS and guided to use LS App (ISO & Android) of the individual smart phone as their easy and friendly tool to access every time they need. Some structures were introduced and applied by participants such as:

• Impromptu Networking: Rapidly share challenges and expectations, build new connections
• 1-2-4-All: Engage everyone simultaneously in generating questions, Ideas, and suggestions
• Nine Whys: Make the purpose of your work together clear
• TRIZ: Stop counterproductive activities and behaviors to make space for innovation
• 15% Solutions: Discover & focus on what each person has the freedom and resources to do now
• Celebrity Interview: Reconnect the experience of leaders and experts with the people closest to the challenge at hand
• Eco Cycle: Analyze the full portfolio of activities and relationships to identify obstacles and opportunities for progress.

All participant were very interactive in applying the tools and by doing so, they would get deeper understanding of each structure/tool by learning through concepts, practice and reflecting on what they have learnt within themselves and small or big group sharing.

Prof. Chhea Chhorvann, Director of NIPH and the Team Leader of the Technical Working Group encouraged all members to apply this tool either at their working place or in the facilitation techniques for the training on Management and Leadership to Health Professional Managers. He hoped that with a well prepared of each responsible facilitator of the training session the first training program which will introduce to health center managers will make a huge improvement.

During the opening remarks, he also continued “We are going to change how people think, so now we need the skill that help people change their thinking. We also need this skill to help health center managers to think differently, but first we need to be sure that we think differently”.

Management and Leadership Training Program to Health Professional Managers in Cambodia is firstly designed for the Health Center (HC) Managers level. The training program for HC Managers Level aims to create the “New Generation of Health Center Mangers” who are equipped with needed knowledge and skills on management and leadership to effectively and efficiently handle their duties at their responsible health center in providing quality and equity health care services to the community. The first cohort of this training program is going to start in August 2018.