Advanced Leadership

Health leaders in complex organisations face several challenges that strain healthcare systems. They must balance competing priorities, including resource allocation, regulatory compliance, and workforce management. Effective leadership requires adaptability to rapidly changing healthcare landscapes, technological advancements, and policy shifts. Communication and collaboration are crucial, as leaders must engage diverse stakeholders, from medical staff to policymakers. Furthermore, ethical decision-making and patient-centred care remain central, often requiring difficult trade-offs between cost efficiency and quality of care. Resilience, strategic thinking, and emotional intelligence are essential for successfully navigating these complexities. 

Health leaders need diverse skills to navigate challenges effectively.  The WHO Collaborating Centre’s Advanced Leadership Course responds to the evolving needs of today’s healthcare leaders. The Training is bespoke and always adapted to the particular cohort, ‘localised’ to the contexts the participants operate in. The training is rooted in scientific evidence, lived examples and provides ample opportunity for practice in a safe evironment of the new competencies. 

Key competencies the course is facilitating include:

Strategic Thinking – The ability to plan long-term while managing immediate challenges;

Evidence based Decision-Making – Making informed, ethical, and data-driven choices under pressure;

Effective Communication – Engaging with diverse stakeholders, including staff, policymakers, and patients; 

Emotional Intelligence – Understanding and managing emotions to lead teams effectively; 

Change Management – Implementing and guiding teams through organisational change; 

Data Management, Analysis and Interpretation – Fully versed with data sources and how to use it in strategic and operational planning, Decision Making and Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E); 

Financial Acumen – Managing budgets, resources, and cost-effectiveness in healthcare delivery; 

Crisis Management – Handling emergencies and unforeseen disruptions in healthcare services; 

Technological Literacy – Adapting to evolving healthcare technologies, AI and digital systems;

Collaboration & Teamwork – Working across disciplines to ensure coordinated patient care; and, 

Ethical Leadership – Upholding integrity, patient-centred care, and regulatory compliance. Mastering these skills helps health leaders drive efficiency, innovation, and quality care in complex healthcare environments. 

This well-established bespoke interactive training programme is designed to prepare new generations of leaders in health services. Health organisations (hospitals, primary care, ministries, public health, etc.) are complex in structure and operation, organic in nature, and subject to continuous public and political scrutiny. The training is an excellent and unique platform to expose participants to the skills mentioned above and much more. We prepare health leaders to govern and lead. 

Key benefits

Staff from WHOCC have designed and developed this practical, interactive programme to realise the potential of aspiring and senior health leaders across nations. Participants will be able to:

1. Understand the characteristics of effective leadership and how to achieve it
2. Explore the ways leaders excel in their jobs
3. Exercise situational leadership and how and when to apply it
4. Comprehend how good leaders communicate and why some fail
5. Experience how to develop leadership skills
6. Engage in leadership in practice
7. And much, much more… 

Some Learning Outcomes

• Fully understand the role of leaders in achieving the goals of the organisation through innovations and creativity
• Present effective communication, both verbally and non-verbally
• Describe how effective and efficient leaders lead
• Demonstrate how leaders look after their teams and inspire them to thrive
• Interpret the leadership values and ethics, appraise them and adapt to their cultural context

What some of our trainees said:

“A course worth the time.”    

“Overall a good course. Helped me understand many nuances that are not easily found in literature.“

“It is a great learning opportunity.“

Participant profile

This course is designed to meet the needs of policymakers, health managers, heads of clinical and administrative departments, health professionals interested in management, staff in international and regional organisations, academic health directorates and authorities, and other interested stakeholders.

The face-to-face version of this course can be delivered in any location worldwide and will require five working days.

For more details, please see the course brochure at the bottom of this page.

Course duration:

Depends on client requirements and budget. Usually runs for 5 days. 

Previous Course dates:

• 8th – 16th September 2025, London, WHOCC 
• 8th – 12th November 2024, Pakistan, University of Lahore
• 8th – 12th July 2024, London, WHOCC
• 18th October – 1st November 2021, Online
• 9th – 14th March 2020, London, WHO CC
• 14th – 18th October 2019: London, WHO CC
• 29th July – 2nd August 2019: Geneva & London, WHO CC
• 19th – 23rd November 2018: London, WHO CC
• 6th – 10th August 2018: London, WHO CC
• 5th – 12th August 2017: Dubrovnik, Croatia, InterUniversity Centre  – Organised by: WHO Collaborating Centre for Public Health Education & Training & Zagreb Institute for the Culture of Health – Aimed at Policy makers, health managers, heads of clinical and administrative departments, health professionals with an interest in management, and other interested stakeholders
• 3^rd – 7^th July 2017: London, WHO CC
• 8th-12th July 2024: London, WHO CC
• 8th -16th September 2025: London, WHO CC

Bespoke courses can be organised on request.

How to apply

Please click here to go to the registration form.

Please contact Ms Ela Augustyniak if you want to arrange a bespoke course.