2026 Leadership Academy
Are you interested in fostering future leaders in your organization? Are you an existing leader looking to enhance your leadership techniques? Are you a new long-term care professional looking to develop your leadership skills? Do you wish to become a successful and engaging leader? Are you a provider wanting to improve your facility culture while recruiting & retaining quality staff? Have you worked in long-term care for decades and believe you know it all when it comes to effective leadership?
If you answered “Yes” to any of these questions, then the 2026 Leadership Academy is the perfect program for you!
At its most fundamental level, leadership is about the ability to make a decision. Since we all make hundreds of decisions each day, everyone has leadership characteristics. Just having these characteristics does not mean that we are consistently good at exercising them. Like a muscle, leadership strength is developed through deliberate focus on the skills and behaviors that build leadership acumen. As your self-awareness of leadership matures, your impact and potential will grow.
WHCA/WiCAL has designed the six-month Leadership Academy for the unique needs and demands of long-term care professionals. Individuals at any stage of their career are invited to join this cohort-based model for an immersive experience unlike other training and development opportunities previously experienced. The academy is for ALL LEADERS, both well-tenured and emerging. Titles are irrelevant and any individual working in or supporting long-term care is encouraged to enroll in the academy. Those who claim to have “heard it all” when it comes to leadership development and training, should enroll in the academy immediately. This academy is unlike any leadership development program you may have experienced!
The academy cohort will engage in the exploration of advanced leadership skills and behaviors, and then apply their learning to their workplace as “homework”. In addition to growing confidence and their leadership acumen, personal efficiency and effectiveness will emerge. Proven through more than seven years of programming, the WHCA/WiCAL Leadership Academy will not only ensure retention of impactful leaders in long-term care, it will change the way the graduates approach their roles and their influence in the long-term care sector.
The need for strong leadership in long-term care has never been greater! The future of our sector is dependent on effective leadership! We have a choice: we can hope that someone else will step in to fill the void and solve the problems that hinder our performance – OR – we take responsibility for our own future and narrow the gap between our performance and personal potential. Leadership is a choice!
Registration Closes April 30th!
2026 ACADEMY DATES: May 13, June 17, July 15, August 12, September 16, October 21. Each session is a full day of programming, starting at 8:30 AM and concluding by 4:30 PM.
LOCATION: May – September session will be hosted at the Milwaukee Marriott West | October 21 will be hosted at the Wisconsin Club, with a celebration of achievement reception immediately following the session. Hotel information will be available soon.
TUITION/ENROLLMENT: $2,000 for the entire six-month program. Tuition includes the six-month curriculum and education, a personality and communication assessment, breakfast, lunch, and refreshments during each session, and indefinite access to the Leadership Academy faculty, resources, and archives. Additionally, this program is approved for continuing education through NAB. Each individual who enrolls in the academy by April 17, 2026, will automatically receive a $250 scholarship, which reduces tuition to $1,750.
EXPECTATIONS: Attend and be an active participant in each leadership academy session. Complete assignments and “homework” provided at each session. Complete a performance improvement project for your facility and present the project to the 2026 Leadership Academy Cohort on the last day of the academy. Choose to be a leader!
Email Jena Jackson if you have any questions regarding the Leadership Academy!
Academy Benefits & Curriculum
LEADERSHIP ACADEMY BENEFITS
- Measurable changes in individual leadership capability and personal effectiveness.
- Broader, more skilled pool of internal candidates for leadership positions, as well as an enhanced ability to retain high-potential employees and a committed workforce.
- Improved relationships and personal networks that strengthen the organization’s capacity to work cross-functionally on important projects, initiatives, and requirements.
- More collaborative behavior that supplants competitive behavior resulting in more successful outcomes for residents, their families, and other stakeholders.
- Service innovation projects designed to improve current operations and/or strengthen the facility’s ability to thrive in an ever-changing environment.
- All 2026 Leadership Academy participants will graduate and be honored at the Awards Ceremony on October 29, 2026 during the WHCA/WiCAL Fall Convention.
ACADEMY APPROACH
Leadership is a complex competency which requires practice and development. This is precisely why Leadership Academy is a series of courses taught over a six-month period and not just one week. We want participants to reflect on what they have learned, try it out and come back to discuss what they have learned. Actual lecture during the courses selected is limited because we want a majority of the class time to be taken up with discussion, exercises, and case study analysis. We also stress direct application to work situations in all academy exercises and discussions. Case studies, which are developed for each course, are created using the ideas of academy work teams. These teams are charged with generating problem scenarios that are relevant and ongoing for the Academy.
Leadership involves more than what you say; it’s about what you do. To keep aligned with this principle, the WHCA/WiCAL Academy begins with a leadership self-assessment designed to provide feedback in four key leadership practice areas. Participants are asked to develop a leadership goal early in the Academy. Participants report back during each session about the progress and challenges encountered in reaching their goals. Our focus in the Academy is on taking action, trying new things and pushing you to reach your personal potential, not just talking about leadership.
COURSE CURRICULUM
The Leadership Academy is comprised of six separate courses, each focused on a different aspect of becoming an effective leader. Each course is a full day of education, interaction, and discussion, with built-in opportunities for action learning and time to address actual long-term care issues, concerns, and problems. Curriculum details coming soon!
Testimonials
TESTIMONIALS
“The Leadership Academy is one of the best leadership classes I have ever been a part of. I love that all the members of the academy are Wisconsin long-term healthcare providers so we are able to discuss our struggles and strategies as a very specified small group. The presenters seem invested in each of us individually and are ready to provide advice and guidance. I really look forward to attending the sessions every month!” Lori Post, LNHA
“The academy has helped me have a healthier view of failure–using it as a tool for success rather than something to fear or something that stops me from implementing change. Failure is inevitable so we must use it to learn from.” Jennifer Burklund, NHA Executive Director
Academy Faculty
MEET THE FACULTY
Brett Remington: Brett Remington is a true blue rock star at Blue Rock WI. Brett’s focus on enterprise-based performance improvement considers all the factors that drive outcomes in complex environments in order to achieve meaningful and sustained improvement. These include leadership effectiveness, organizational governance, strategy development and deployment, customer and market knowledge, information and knowledge management, work systems design, change management strategies and employee well-being, business process design and continuous improvement methods.
Jena Jackson: WHCA/WiCAL’s Vice President of Business Development has facilitated the Academy since 2019. Jena brings practical leadership experience and outside-of-the-box ideas to the cohort, while reinforcing the curriculum developed by Brett. Jena is the cohort liaison and provides encouragement to the cohort for the duration of the academy. She supports the cohort during the Academy and continues that support after the program has concluded.
Thank You to the 2026 Leadership Academy Sponsors
