Evaluation of Leadership Training and Resilience Development Outcomes during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Human service organizations can support leaders through training to become resilient, adaptive, and innovative during rapid complex changes. This qualitative descriptive exploratory research study reports findings on a leadership resilience training program using online evaluation surveys of 56 directors and managers in a large Canadian not-for-profit mental health/substance abuse agency. Thematic data analysis and descriptive statistics revealed positive training outcomes on four levels: satisfaction; knowledge/skills; work/team performance; and organizational resilience/sustainability. Leaders identified adaptive, resilient, and authentic leadership styles, clan/adhocracy organizational cultures, psychological safety and innovation, and organizational preparedness as important to successfully manage the pandemic and future extraordinary organizational challenges. Leaders' satisfaction with training structure/content was high; ensuring topic relevance, including small group discussions and team-building opportunities are valuable.Leaders' knowledge/skills improvements were very/mostly high; they learned coping and resilience strategies to build with their staff and nurture organizational sustainability.Anticipated positive impacts on work/team performance were extremely/very/mostly high, including change management abilities, supporting the goal of training transfer.Organizational resilience/sustainability was very/mostly high, with planned meeting restructuring, although intentional implementation of actionable steps is required.Leaders endorsed adaptive, resilient, and authentic leadership styles, clan, and adhocracy organizational cultures, psychological safety/innovation for organizational sustainability.