Program Operations Guidelines for STD Prevention: Leadership and Program Management

As the Institute of Medicine’s report The Hidden Epidemic: Confronting Sexually Transmitted Diseases indicates, state and local health departments are the logical agencies to lead area-wide STD prevention efforts. STD program managers within these agencies carry out the primary responsibilities of developing, implementing, and supporting comprehensive STD prevention systems throughout their jurisdictions. In collaboration with health care and community partners, these agencies provide leadership to determine and define STD prevention needs and priorities of the communities based upon analyses and interpretation of local data, relevant research, and other pertinent information. They also furnish program management the opportunity to direct and administer program operations and program resources.

Leadership and program management are necessarily related but have very distinct concepts. Although attentive to both content and process, leadership is much more related to the concept of effectiveness--doing the right things--while management must attend to efficiency--doing things right. One definition that seems particularly appropriate for use by public health programs is “Public leadership is the inspiration and mobilization of others to undertake collective action in pursuit of the common good” (Bryson 1992). Leadership tasks laid out by Bryson include the following:

• Understanding the context
•Understanding people involved, including oneself
•Sponsoring the process
•Championing the process
•Facilitating the process
•Fostering collective leadership
•Using dialogue and discussion to create a meaningful process
•Making and implementing decisions in arenas
•Enforcing rules, settling disputes, and managing residual conflicts
•Putting it all together.