Many Voices, One Mission: Sustaining IPE Leadership Through Teamwork, Adaptability, and Reflection

While some literature and organizational documentation exists describing interprofessional education (IPE) team resources and institutional structures, little is shared regarding the teamwork, communication, and roles and responsibilities within IPE teams. In line with the Nexus Summit theme “Developing and Sustaining Leadership in Interprofessional Practice and Education,” this seminar session presents the perspectives of the University of Minnesota Center for Interprofessional Health (CIH) leadership, faculty, and staff regarding the past, current, and future state of operations in achieving the Center’s mission and serving diverse partnership stakeholder needs in the face of unprecedented change and uncertainty.

Team members will share successes, challenges, quality improvement efforts, and lessons learned from the lens of each CIH role, as well as personal insights as one of 12 team members with unique responsibilities. The interplay among team members will showcase the need for continuous improvement and adaptability, particularly when team members change and external demands shift, to promote sustainability of programming and relationships across and outside of the institution. The unique inclusion of perspectives from all CIH roles surpasses the depth of conversations that often occur among IPE leaders across institutions, lending recommendations and calls to action from key voices not traditionally represented. Additional CIH programming related to developing and sustaining IPE leadership will be briefly presented as related to non-CIH team members within and outside the University.

This session is relevant for any IPE champion, regardless of the IPE team’s structure within a University. The conversation throughout the seminar will be highly interactive, using a worksheet format to guide participants through reflections on the experiences and opportunities within their own team, discussed in small and large groups. Polling and collaborative online spaces may also be used. Question and answer components will allow various voices of CIH to engage with participants to further meet the practical needs of each session attendee. Participants will leave the session energized to facilitate discussions among their own teams and/or with new colleagues through networking.

After attending this session, participants will be able to:
1. Reflect on the unique contributions of IPE team members across various roles and responsibilities within an institution, respecting their perspectives in achieving an IPE team’s mission and considering applications to one’s own institutional context.
2. Assess the communication and teamwork strategies used by the presenting team and consider strengths and opportunities in one’s own IPE team efforts, both currently and in a future state, regardless of team or portfolio size (even if only one person).
3. Map one’s own IPE team structure and identify strategies to develop and sustain leadership in IPE in times of change and/or uncertainty, spurred by networking with presenters and attendees regarding others’ models and practices.