(APEX) program is designed for upper-level leaders, who desire to grow their influence and hone existing leadership skills. APEX is a six-month leadership development program to accomplish four objectives:
- Deliver high-impact leadership training tailored to leaders within the ever-changing healthcare landscape.
- Cultivate strategic cross-functional connections.
- Offer personalized executive development sessions and coaching.
- Drive practical application of leadership principles and tools.
Growth is supported through the following structured opportunities:
- 6 in-person, half-day sessions
- Monthly 1:1 coaching- sessions
- Mastermind Group activities
- Assigned reading materials and discussion
- Capstone Project
- Administrative Sessions (6 in-person, 2- hour sessions)
Session dates are as follow:
Session 1: October 10, 2025 – Noon – 4 pm
Session 2: November 7, 2025 – Noon – 4 pm
Session 3: December 5, 2025 – Noon – 4 pm
Session 4: January 9, 2026 – Noon – 4 pm
Session 5: February 6, 2026 – Noon – 4 pm
Session 6: March 6, 2026 – Noon – 4 pm
Course Overview
The Stile Group will facilitate a six-month, customized leadership development program for up to 25 participants. The course is divided into three main categories:
1) Leading Self –
Leading oneself is foundational to leadership effectiveness. By knowing, embracing, and applying personal strengths, leaders enhance self-awareness and authenticity, in turn fostering trust and expanding influence.
– Session 1: Authentic Leadership
– Session 2: Emotional Intelligence
2) Leading Others –
Leading others requires the ability to coach, motivate, and inspire individuals while fostering strong, collaborative teams and strategic partnerships to drive success.
– Session 3: Building Teams
– Session 4: Building Partnerships
3) Leading Teams –
Effective team leadership involves developing the skills to guide groups through change, drive performance outcomes, and cultivate a collaborative environment focused on achieving strategic priorities.
– Session 5: Driving Results
– Session 6: Leading Change
Detailed Course Description:
Session 1 Authentic Leadership –
- Core Skills & Unique Styles
- Pre-Work Assignment:
- Complete DISC Assessment
- Meet 1:1 with your coach to review the DISC report
- Read “The Leadership Challenge” by Kouzes/Posner Chapters 1-3 (please read more if you’d like)
Overview: Everyone is a leader. Authentic leaders know first how to lead themselves and then they apply those leadership skills to leading the people and diverse teams around them. With a foundation of integrity, they build trust, allowing everyone to develop their strengths and bridge gaps at work. The group will process what they learned about their leadership styles from the DISC assessment. You will create your own leadership definition and your leadership brand.
Session 2 Emotional Intelligence – Amplifying Your Leadership Strengths
- Pre-Work Assignment:
- Complete the EQi Assessment
- Meet 1:1 with Coach to review the EQi report
- Read the HBR article, “Building the Emotional Intelligence of Groups”.
- Meet with Mastermind Group
Overview: Developing high emotional intelligence is foundational to building trusting relationships, inspiring people to follow you and generating extra effort from team members. Emotional intelligence is divided into two categories – internal and external. Internal emotional intelligence is the ability to identify emotions, understand why the emotions started and then harness emotional energy towards goal-directed behavior. External emotional intelligence is the ability to do all three of those with other people. We will explore methods to enhance your own emotional intelligence as well as methods to increase the group’s emotional intelligence.
Session 3 Building Teams – Coaching, Developing, & Delegating
- Pre-Work Assignment:
- Meet 1:1 with Coach
- Read “The Essentials of Appreciative Inquiry” Article
- Read Dare to Lead by Brené Brown
- Meet with Mastermind Group
Overview: Leadership is a team sport, and mature leaders must be able to align goals, create an intentional culture, and empower others to make effective and nimble decisions.
We will focus on creating intentional cultures where team members thrive. Every culture has unique behavioral expectations – such as how groups celebrate success, how teams navigate change, or handle disagreements. The important leadership skill is to intentionally choose the behaviors you want to encourage and flourish. We will also focus on coaching techniques. Participants will practice a coaching technique they can use with each other, mentees, and people they supervise. Finally, we will focus on how to effectively delegate assignments and empower groups to make decisions.
Session 4 Building Partnerships – Engaging & Sustaining
- Pre-Work Assignment:
- Read “Crucial Conversations”, by Grenny et al.
- Meet 1:1 with Coach
- Meet with Mastermind Group
Overview: Strong partnerships form when you have mutually beneficial goals. Leaders must be adept at discovering what motivates individuals and groups and finding places of overlap. We will explore how to create and use effective questioning to uncover group synergies and unleash extra effort from group members. Sometimes, however, groups have contrary goals. A leader’s job is to gain access to all relevant information, so the group can make great decisions. We will learn techniques to get ideas from every group member, even when they disagree, and use this information to help arrive at a decision the group can respect. We will review five methods of dealing with conflict and how to select the best method of response for various situations. We will also learn a method for preparing for and handling difficult conversations.
Session 5 Driving Results – Visioning, Measuring, & Accountability
- Pre-Work Assignment:
- Read “Measure What Matters”, by Doerr
- Meet 1:1 with Coach
- Meet with Mastermind Group
Overview: Effective teams relish in data that drives them toward excellence. This means nurturing a culture where people follow through with what they say they will do. First, leaders must place that expectation where it most appropriately fits. Second, they must celebrate wins. Third, they must address problems that inhibit progress toward their goals. We will continue to build on skills from prior sessions. We will focus on creating an inspiring vision for the future, setting measurable goals that move you closer to making the vision a reality, and creating a culture where everyone is focused on accountability for progress.
Session 6 Leading Change – Inspiring, Communicating, & Pacing
Meet 1:1 with Coach
Pre-Work Assignment:
Read the HBR article, “Change is Hard, Here’s How to Make it Less Painful”
Read “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team”, by Lencioni
Guest Speaker:
Leaders from the College of Medicine in Jacksonville and UF Health Jacksonville were invited to engage with APEX participants in a series of interactive discussions. During these sessions, leaders spent approximately 10–15 minutes sharing their experiences, insights, and perspectives on the key leadership themes explored throughout the APEX program.
Authentic Leadership (Madeline M Joseph, MD – Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Advancement and Engagement)
Everyone is a leader. Authentic leaders know first how to lead themselves and then they apply those leadership skills to leading the people and diverse teams around them. With a foundation of integrity, they build trust, allowing everyone to develop their strengths and bridge their gaps at work. The group will process what they learned about their leadership styles from the DISC assessment. You will create your own leadership definition and your leadership brand.
Emotional Intelligence (Linda R Edwards, MD – Dean, College Of Medicine – Jacksonville)
Developing high emotional intelligence is foundational to building trusting relationships, inspiring people to follow you, and generating extra effort from team members. Emotional intelligence is divided into two categories – internal and external. Internal emotional intelligence is the ability to identify emotions, understand why the emotions started and then harness emotional energy towards goal-directed behavior. External emotional intelligence is the ability to do all three of those with other people. We will explore methods to enhance your own emotional intelligence as well as methods to increase the group’s emotional intelligence.
Bringing Out the Best (Colleen J Kalynych, EdD – Associate Dean for Medical Education)
Leadership is a team sport, and mature leaders must be able to align goals, create an intentional culture, and empower others to make effective and nimble decisions. We will focus on creating intentional cultures where team members thrive. Every culture has unique behavioral expectations – such as how groups celebrate success, how teams navigate change, or handle disagreements. Emotionally intelligent leaders intentionally choose the behaviors needed to encourage and flourish. We will also focus on coaching techniques. Participants will practice a coaching technique they can use with each other, mentees, and people they supervise. Finally, we will focus on how to effectively delegate assignments and empower groups to make decisions.
Healthy Conflict & Universal Accountability (Frank J Genuardi, MD, MPH – Senior Associate Dean for Educational Affairs)
Strong partnerships form when you have mutually beneficial and well-defined goals. Leaders must be adept at discovering what motivates individuals and groups and finding crucial places of overlap. We will explore how to create and use effective questioning to uncover group synergies and unleash extra effort from group members. Sometimes, however, groups have contrary goals. A leader’s job is to gain access to all relevant information, so the group can make great decisions. We will learn techniques to get ideas from every group member, even when they disagree, and use this information to help arrive at a decision the group can respect. We will review five methods of dealing with conflict and how to select the best method of response for various situations. We will also learn a method for preparing for and handling difficult conversations.
Driving Results: Visioning, Measuring, Accounting (Patrick L. Green, FACHE – Chief Executive Officer, UF Health Jacksonville)
Effective teams relish the data that drives them towards excellence. This means nurturing a culture where people follow-through with what they will do. First, leaders must place the expectations where it most appropriately fits. Second, they must celebrate wins. Third, they must address problems that inhibit progress towards their goals. We will continue to build on skills from prior sessions. We will focus on creating and inspiring vision for the future, setting measurable goals that move you closer to making the vision a reality, and creating a culture where everyone is focused on accountability for progress.
Leading Change (Alexander S Parker, PhD – Senior Associate Dean for Research)
Before starting any race or athletic competition, athletes spend time getting ready. Organizations must spend time getting ready for change, especially for disruptive change, before embarking on that change journey. Once you are actively implementing change, many organizations and leaders can become overwhelmed by “fallout” of rapid change. Teams, like runners, have a sweet spot of endurance, where the pace is sustainable for long distances. Leaders must know when teams need a burst of speed, when they need a recovery period to energize and restore. We will learn how to measure organizational readiness for change. This will include assessments, key indicators for change fatigue, and how to sustain bursts of speed.
