Leadership in Social Care Practice in United Kingdom

LEADERSHIP IN SOCIAL CARE PRACTICES, UK
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Leadership in Social Care Practice, UK
Introduction
"Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others." Jack Welch (Schmiedel 2017)
Leadership is the facilitator of well-operating organizations. In a social care practice, well-led professionals contribute positively to families and communities to improve support, life opportunities, and wellbeing. These practices safeguard the most vulnerable families, adults, and children (Vito 2020). Social care in the UK is a profession in crisis undervalued by other professions in the society. Social care with strong leadership is crucial in sustaining the occupation. The core elements of leadership in social care are similar to other disciplines, which means that social care leadership should not be considered different from other sectors. A leader who focuses on learning something new can achieve set goals through self-awareness and team development (Smith et al., 2018). Hence, social care leadership prioritizes team development, allowing employees to handle tasks independently.
Social leaders create an environment where everyone feels safe and tries to try new things. Leadership is known as a synonym for learning. The best leaders constantly learn and figure out to fill the gap and develop necessary skills to improve the work environment. The Healthcare sector benefits from leadership with active policies and practices (McGee 2019). The report starts with the concept of leadership and its role in change management. The social care leadership used in the paper is from the United Kingdom. The first section in the discussion facilitates change, explaining why change is needed in social care, which could be done using theories and concepts of the organizational change process. The second section explains leadership models where we compared and contrasted three models of leadership and their application at the individual, corporate, and global levels. The third section discusses the factors resisting the change and explains how good leaders can tackle the situation. In the end, a reflection based on my strengths and weaknesses further highlights my preferred leadership style and its role in negotiating new techniques.
Leadership and Social Care
Change is the transition process from one state to another through internal and external factors. Organizational change is a continuous process to handle specific challenges and avail opportunities at work (Sharp et al., 2018). Like other sectors, social care settings need constant changes to serve best to communities. The critical factors that required change in the social care setting are political, economic, social, and technological. Political factors state reforming services in health and social care to meet citizens' expectations; these factors attempt to manage social issues like mortality and morbidity. In the UK, the current active legislations are Health Act 1999 and Health and Social Care Act 2012. These policies have brought reforms in health and social care services. The social Care Act 2012 deals with health inequalities which brings local authorities changes on public health matters. The Equality Act 2010 integrates consideration of equality advancement into the day-to-da businesses (NHS (a)).
Economic factors are analyzed in terms of funding issues. The minimum government funding issues brought several changes into the healthcare system, i.e., lack of resources, long waiting queues, and improper treatment. However, the government increased the efficiency of public resources to sustain the economic downturn. Over the last seven decades, NHS funding closely followed the ups and downs of broader economic cycles. NHS funding is much slower than the long-term historical trend. Age-weighted funding per person was reduced in 2018/19 and 2019/20 (NHS (b)). Both political and economic factors need to consolidate together in social care to improve health services.
Further, the analysis of the social factors shows that the development in the healthcare system has improved life expectancy. However, chronic diseases which increase with age put a significant burden on the healthcare sector. The UK's population is aging. By the end of 2018, there were 8.2 million more aged people (above 65) in the UK. In 1998, 15.9% of the population was above 60, which has increased to 18.3% in 2018 (ONS 2019). Besides aging, different demographic and cultural factors have driven the health and social care setting to meet minority ethnic community needs, increase public awareness, and emphasize lifestyle focus. People from diverse demographic backgrounds have different health needs. For example, ethnic minorities are more prone to diabetes or obesity as compared to white Europeans. Ethnic minorities are 18% of the UK population (Allas et al., 2020). Social care practitioners and leaders must focus on meeting the demands of the aging and minority population.
Similarly, technological factors encouraged the extensive development and better healthcare provisions through electronic record-keeping and electronic communications. However, NHS is slow in adopting consumer-facing and patient-centric technologies (Kings Fund 2020). The SWOT matrix is widely used for strategic planning tools. External developments and internal capabilities are an excellent combination for organizational success; these strategic options can be identified. An analysis of 38 home care organizations and 112 nursing homes states that SWOT analysis is a beneficial strategic planning tool in the healthcare sector (Allas et al., 2020). The strength of the NHS system is that it has a diverse employee base, and the weakness is that it does not facilitate modern technology to deal with patients.
The theory applicable here is Lewin’s Change Theory. Lewin's Change Theory has three factors: unfreezing, change, and refreezing stage. Continuity is needed for health and social care to meet healthcare challenges. Change is practiced through people who face the consequences of change. The UK social care system is recommended to automate its healthcare system just like the US did. The staff redundancy to cut funds is a clear example of change management. Working with a diverse range of people would be necessary to deal with internal and external pressures (Fransen et al., 2020). Responding to changes in the broader environment by cutting funds is a clear example of coping with COVID-19 pandemic conditions.
While talking about change, it is of importance to discuss relevant leadership models. Three models primarily used in social care practices are autocratic, transformational, and coaching. These models are based on the emotional intelligence of leadership. The authoritarian leadership style focuses on individual control over decisions where the leader takes little input from employees. Such leaders make decisions based on their knowledge, experience, and judgment and rarely accept any advice from their subordinates. Their control over a group of working people is absolute and authoritarian. The leadership style is preferable in crisis to meet emergencies. It offers an evident chain of commands where the discipline is fully maintained, making the decision planning and implementation easy (Pendleton, Furnham, and Cowell 2020). However, the disadvantage is that people dislike such leadership styles, leading to negative motivation. Frustration and conflict development reduce organizational effectiveness (Fransen et al. 2020). The approach has more dependence on the CEO/ leader, which restricts developing future leaders. Employees work because of fear of punishment or termination; hence, the system does not meet situational needs.
Autocratic leadership is getting outdated with the advancement of technology. The digital transformation is taking place worldwide, and social care executives are spreading the shift to the correct type of leadership. The transactional leadership style is known to work on a humane theory, unlike autocratic leadership. The approach inspires employees to perform extraordinary under good supervision; it motivates others to rise higher with positive motivation (Kotter and Rathgeber 2006). The advantage of the approach is its focus on the quick formulation of the vision by assessing the current situation and developing growth strategies. The process promotes a vibrant working environment to drive innovations and a higher efficiency level. However, leaders face issues of detail orientation at times. They need support from social care workers for a detail-oriented and organized workplace. Further, the process might overlook reality and truth (Buil, Martínez and Matute 2019). Transactional leadership uses inspiration to motivate people and optimize performance.
The coaching leadership style encourages employees to try something new on their own. It allows people to look at the big picture by taking an interest in helping customers and maximizing growth opportunities. Such leaders delegate challenging assignments with the necessary resources to perform tasks. The success tools are self-awareness and empathy to encourage persons to develop their strengths. The advantage of the coaching leadership style is that it produces a stable working environment to assist employees toward their personal and organizational objectives. Employees know the management's expectations because leaders ensure that no question is left unanswered before a project is started. The approach increases the skill set of all workers, which creates a competitive advantage over rivals. However, the process is time-taking to produce results (Fransen et al. 2020). The coaching-style leadership depends entirely on the leadership skills; a lack of leadership skills creates issues at multiple levels. For every critical situation, separate coaches are required, making the leadership expensive.
Leadership styles like authoritative, transformational, coaching and democratic are based on emotional intelligence, creating connected and balance working teams. Such leaders focus on the demands of employees and inspire them. Their ultimate goal is building personal integrity, communication skills, and better relationships with employees. On the other hand, performance-driven leadership provides necessary skills to employees in meeting the growing challenges of performances and a sense of entitlement within the organization. The essence of leadership is to get most of all employees they are leading. Their ultimate focus is on profitability and growth rather than building relations with employees. Such companies face huge employee turnover issues (Hallinger 2018). Emotional intelligence leaders maintain a long-term employee base as compared to performance-driven leadership.
One of the key factors to consider in this context is resistance to change. A strategic approach to leadership makes problem-solving and decision-making meaningful. Notably, leaders have to set ethical practices and civic-mindedness in social care practice, allowing everyone to be a part of the team's culture. Employees resist change because they are afraid of unknown risks. It occurs when leaders push empl...