Now that the first month of the year is in the books, we’re taking a moment to reflect on the great work in 2024 and look ahead to what is shaping up to be a fantastic 2025. With full credit to my predecessor, Alain Doucet, and the amazing CCHL staff, the College continues to grow.
Over the past 5 years, our annual enrollment in CHE has increased by 180% while use of the LEADS 360 tool has increased a staggering 212%; there is no doubt that leadership development is in the hearts and minds of Canada’s Healthcare Leaders! Our membership continues to grow steadily – with an average of 732 new members per year since 2020. Our membership base is bolstered by our 80 corporate members – their support of our educational events allows us to keep focus on serving our members with excellence.
I would be remiss if I didn’t credit our 20 chapters from coast to coast to coast. The dedication and leadership at the local level is inspiring – collectively our chapters hosted 62 educational events last year. A very heartfelt thank you to the chapters, chapter executives and chapter chairs. I’m looking forward to working with all of you in the years to come.
While I’m excited about our progress to-date, I’m also acutely aware that our environment is both emergent and dynamic. To keep pace with change, our approach must be sufficiently adroit to nimbly respond to changes as they happen – no small order! Some of the areas where we will be focusing time and attention in the coming year includes:
- Refreshing our Strategic Plan. As our current Plan will end in December of this year, listening to and learning from the voices of the CCHL community is not only strategic – it’s imperative. Working closely with the Board, I’ll personally be leading the initiatives and activities that will inform the new Strategy and support the CCHL Board in discharging its role as Stewards of the College’s Mission. Some of our planned initiatives will include hosting “Co-Creation” events at our National Conference in Edmonton, meeting with chapters (in person and virtually) and hosting retreats with our Board and Senior Team. Charting the course for “tomorrow’s College, today” will be a primary focus of 2025.
- LEADS and CHE Refresh. Our Professional and Leadership Development team will be leading a re-calibration of the CHE designation and participating in the steering group guiding the refresh of the LEADS in a Caring Environment capabilities framework. While these projects do not imply wholesale change to either, we want our members, partners and participants to know that your feedback has been well-placed. Refreshing both LEADS and CHE will support the College’s ability to meet the needs of a wide variety of learners, who serve as leaders in a wide variety of settings across the country. I’m confident that this activity, led by our Senior Vice President Brenda Lammi and our experienced, dedicated team, will allow CCHL to continue to grow in ways that are most meaningful to members.
These two initiatives will be executed alongside our “usual” offerings: three major conferences (CCHL National Conference, Canada West Health Leaders Conference and Colloque francophone des leaders en santé) as well as our Health Professionals’ Roundtable on Strategy (HPRS). The regular hosting of webinars and education events have been carefully designed to allow our members to participate in a way that is low friction/high impact.
Finally, a note of thanks to my colleagues and fellow members for their messages of support – and for their focused feedback in my first full month. In my past consulting roles, we abided by the adage that ‘feedback is a gift.’ I’ve received many ‘gifts’ over the past 4 weeks! I have heard from you that there are opportunities to amplify CEO/C-Suite engagement in the College – and, as we hit ‘send’ on this note, we are working on designing and delivering events tailored to this audience. Look for more details in the coming weeks.
We also heard from members who have left the College – for a variety of reasons – that coming back to CCHL may be cost-prohibitive. We’re pleased to introduce our “Come Back to the College” Campaign. Designed to re-engage previous members at an attractive rate, we’re truly hoping to make it simple and cost effective for these individuals to return to CCHL – and we’re eager to welcome them back!
I do hope you will join me in my excitement and enthusiasm for 2025 – and we are looking forward to hosting as many of you as possible at our events throughout the year.
Sincerely,
Sue Owen, CHE
President & CEO
CCHL
