title: iLead-a transformational leadership intervention to train healthcare managers' implementation leadership.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Leadership is a key feature in implementation efforts, which is highlighted in most implementation frameworks. However, in studying leadership and implementation, only few studies rely on established leadership theory, which makes it difficult to draw conclusions regarding what kinds of leadership managers should perform and under what circumstances. In industrial and organizational psychology, transformational leadership and contingent reward have been identified as effective leadership styles for facilitating change processes, and these styles map well onto the behaviors identified in implementation research. However, it has been questioned whether these general leadership styles are sufficient to foster specific results; it has therefore been suggested that the leadership should be specific to the domain of interest, e.g., implementation. To this end, an intervention specifically involving leadership, which we call implementation leadership, is developed and tested in this project. The aim of the intervention is to increase healthcare managers' generic implementation leadership skills, which they can use for any implementation efforts in the future.
  
  
  METHODS
  The intervention is conducted in healthcare in Stockholm County, Sweden, where first- and second-line managers were invited to participate. Two intervention groups are included, including 52 managers. Intervention group 1 consists of individual managers, and group 2 of managers from one division. A control group of 39 managers is additionally included. The intervention consists of five half-day workshops aiming at increasing the managers' implementation leadership, which is the primary outcome of this intervention. The intervention will be evaluated through a mixed-methods approach. A pre- and post-design applying questionnaires at three time points (pre-, directly after the intervention, and 6 months post-intervention) will be used, in addition to process evaluation questionnaires related to each workshop. In addition, interviews will be conducted over time to evaluate the intervention.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The proposed intervention represents a novel contribution to the implementation literature, being the first to focus on strengthening healthcare managers' generic skills in implementation leadership.
authors.affiliation: Procome Research Group, Medical Management Centre, Department of Learning, Informatics, Management and Ethics, Karolinska Institutet, 171 77, Stockholm, Sweden. anne.richter@ki.se.|Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, 106 91, Stockholm, Sweden. anne.richter@ki.se.|Unit for Implementation, Center for Epidemiology and Community Medicine (CES), Stockholm County Council, 171 29, Stockholm, Sweden. anne.richter@ki.se.
authors.forename: Anne
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8473-915X
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Richter
authors.affiliation: Procome Research Group, Medical Management Centre, Department of Learning, Informatics, Management and Ethics, Karolinska Institutet, 171 77, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Ulrica
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: von Thiele Schwarz
authors.affiliation: Unit for Implementation, Center for Epidemiology and Community Medicine (CES), Stockholm County Council, 171 29, Stockholm, Sweden.|Leadership, Evaluation and Organizational Development Research Group, Department of Learning, Informatics, Management and Ethics, Medical Management Centre, Karolinska Institutet, 171 77, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lornudd
authors.affiliation: Procome Research Group, Medical Management Centre, Department of Learning, Informatics, Management and Ethics, Karolinska Institutet, 171 77, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lundmark
authors.affiliation: Procome Research Group, Medical Management Centre, Department of Learning, Informatics, Management and Ethics, Karolinska Institutet, 171 77, Stockholm, Sweden.|Unit for Implementation, Center for Epidemiology and Community Medicine (CES), Stockholm County Council, 171 29, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mosson
authors.affiliation: Procome Research Group, Medical Management Centre, Department of Learning, Informatics, Management and Ethics, Karolinska Institutet, 171 77, Stockholm, Sweden.|Unit for Implementation, Center for Epidemiology and Community Medicine (CES), Stockholm County Council, 171 29, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Henna
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hasson
mesh_terms: D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000193:education*; D006284:Health Plan Implementation / Q000379:methods; D006298:Health Services Administration; D006801:Humans; D007318:Inservice Training / Q000379:methods*; D007857:Leadership; D009936:Organizational Innovation; D013548:Sweden
keywords: Change management; Full range leadership model; Intervention; Leadership training