Organizational outcomes and impacts of employee attendance at the municipal forestry institute leadership course

•MFI attendees reported taking a more active leadership role, creating new programs, becoming more efficient, and solving a problem or issue.•Post-MFI, employees reported mentoring other professionals, starting new programs, and assuming leadership roles in professional societies.•The MFI program impacts leadership skills of employees across all experience ranges with only minimal differences based on gender. The Municipal Forestry Institute (MFI) is a continuing education course created by the Society of Municipal Arborists and designed to train leaders in the urban forestry field. Organizations sent almost 500 participants to this annual course during its first ten years of existence. This study documents the outcomes and impacts of employee attendance on participating organizations and examines if there were differences in outcomes based on years of professional work experience or gender. A mixed methods approach with a focus group, interviews and online survey was used to analyze what employees did with the knowledge gained at MFI and how it benefited the sending organization. Substantial advances in enhancing organizational leadership capacity, program innovation and expansion, and changes in organizational function were reported after employee attendance at MFI. The MFI program successfully impacts leadership skills of employees across all work experience ranges with minimal gender differences.