One of the more practical questions in Madelaine Flynn’s interview is also one of the most common: how does a staff-level Infection Preventionist gain leadership experience before officially stepping into management? It is a familiar problem in healthcare. Many professionals are clearly capable of more, but when leadership roles open up, organizations often want proof of prior management experience. That can leave strong candidates stuck in an odd middle ground—ready for more responsibility, but without the exact kind of experience the next role requires.
Madelaine’s answer is useful because it avoids vague encouragement and moves straight into specifics. In her view, the first step is initiative. If someone wants to be seen as a future leader, they need to create visible evidence of leadership before the promotion arrives. That means more than doing solid daily work. It means leading projects, stepping into performance improvement efforts, contributing to research, and finding ways to take ownership of work that extends beyond a standard task list.
That distinction matters. In Infection Prevention, many staff-level professionals already demonstrate relationship-building, communication, and technical knowledge. Those are important. But as Madelaine points out, leadership is multifactorial. The harder thing to demonstrate in a non-management role is whether someone understands structure, strategy, and the mechanics of how organizations actually function. In other words, can they do more than contribute? Can they help move something forward?
Her advice centers on finding opportunities to do exactly that. Lead a project. Participate in performance improvement. Write something up for an internal award. Get involved in research. None of those things immediately makes someone a manager, but each creates a track record of initiative, organization, and follow-through. Those experiences also give future interviewers something concrete to evaluate. Instead of saying, “I think I’m ready to lead,” a candidate can point to work they initiated, coordinated, and completed. That is a much stronger case.
Madelaine also points to a path that is often overlooked: committees. In many organizations, committees are where professionals get an early view of leadership in action. They reveal how meetings are run, how priorities are set, how leaders communicate, and how decisions actually move through a system. For someone hoping to grow into management, that exposure can be just as valuable as a formal title. It helps translate leadership from an abstract idea into something observable and learnable.
There is a subtle but important insight underneath her answer. Leadership development is not only about collecting experiences. It is also about learning how organizations work. That is why she encourages people to join committees that interest them, whether in occupational health and safety, antimicrobial stewardship, or another area. Those settings give emerging leaders a chance to see how strategy is executed, how priorities compete, and how influence is built across teams. In a field as collaborative as Infection Prevention, that kind of visibility matters.
She closes with another point that deserves attention: personal growth is part of leadership growth. Identifying gaps, recognizing areas for improvement, and actively working on them is not a side exercise. It is foundational. A future leader is not someone who presents as fully formed. It is someone who can assess themselves honestly and keep developing.
That may be the most encouraging aspect of this clip. It treats leadership as something that can be built intentionally, not something reserved for a select few. For Infection Preventionists who feel ready for more but are unsure how to bridge the gap, Madelaine’s answer offers a clear direction: do not wait to be handed leadership. Start practicing it where you are.