Leadership in Health Care: Evolution of Leadership

Leadership in Health Care
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Leadership in Health Care
RN Amanchukwu in her study conceived leadership to be the ability to provide direction for a given group of people and to elicit the desire to achieve a common purpose for the benefit of the group (Amanchukwu, 2015). Leadership is particularly critical in the health care system. Health care is a sensitive industry noting that it deals directly with human life. Thus, there is a need for continued, sustained leadership in the sector to ensure it consistently delivers top-notch health care to those in need (West, 2015). There is thus a need to have a comprehensive understanding of leadership in health care. The paper works towards this understanding by dissecting the subject matter of leadership. The paper asks key questions and in determining the answers, a framework for leadership and how it can be learned is effectively developed.
Evolution of Leadership
In the middle ages as the European nations were being formed, good leaders had to have the ability to provide clear, concise orders and the capability to ensure these orders were followed. As the nation states emerged, authoritative leadership i.e. (autocratic and directive leadership) was essential. This form of leadership would, however, become diluted after misuse. The most prominent attack on this form of leadership would be the Magna Carta (Stiffner, 2015). The charter established a participative form of leadership. Business would in later centuries take on the authoritative form of leadership. Business leaders favored the top down approach, noting that it required less consultation and faster implementation (Carmeli, 2014). However, emerging concepts and technologies have rendered this form of leadership irrelevant. In the modern workplace, creativity and innovation are given much more attention that the implementation of organization strategies (Reisman, 2015). Thus, the modern leader must make room for creativity to create new products and imagine new ways to do business. In Health care, the participative form of leadership allows every individual to provide potential solutions to a given problem. Thus, the odds of solving the problem are exponentially increased.
Leadership compared to management
The concepts of leadership and management have drawn discourse from scholars for decades. These concepts while inherently separate are inexplicably linked. In the past, a manager could have thrived without being a leader e.g. a supervisor in a factory making boots did not need to give much thought to the end use of the product or the employees. In the modern world, a manager and a leader must consistently add value to the organization they are working (Chuang, 2013). Key differences between leadership and management include; leadership is people oriented while management is task oriented, management focuses on directing and controlling while leadership focuses on motivation and influence, management demands results while leadership requires achievement, leadership facilitates work while management is involved in it, and leadership appeals to the hearts of the people while management appeals to their minds (Chuang, 2013).
Leadership Trait Theory
The trait theory rests on the premise that leaders are individuals with innate traits of leadership. As such, leaders are born and cannot be trained or developed. These traits include drive, honesty, integrity, charisma, self-confidence, etc. The theory was first advanced by Gordon Allport (Aron, Aron, & Jagiellowicz, 2012). The theory has an advantage as it is easy to accept for a lot of individuals and research has validated the foundation of the theory. The theory, however, can be challenged in that there is no universally accepted roll of values expected of a leader. The leadership trait theory has been utilized extensively in determining candidates for leadership positions (Tredway, 2012).
Strategic Thinking
It refers to the thought process of an individual that utilizes cognitive thinking mechanisms geared towards the effective use of those mechanisms in achieving a set purpose. In the health care system, it refers to the use of new, creative means towards the treatment of a given ailment. Strategic thinking requires that an individual thinks outside the normal parameters (Winterfeldt1, 2013). It enables individuals to proactively seek solutions to potential problems. This is the basis of the maxim in health care that emphasizes prevention rather than curative health care. Strategic thinking works to provide a competitive advantage to the organization that adopts it. It also supports team work through strategic group thinking noting that creatively in the group can be increased (Winterfeldt1, 2013). It requires that the future is conceptualized so that mechanism can be formulated to ensure organizational success. This is critical noting the modern business landscape where technology has resulted in the organization being inherently dynamic. Thus, strategic thinking ensures organizational survival (Winterfeldt1, 2013).
Leadership Skills
Effective leadership requires that the potential leader possesses a number of key skills. These skills are essential in the modern organizational structure. These skills allow leaders to be able to motivate and influence diverse groups of employees to drive productivity. There is no universally accepted list of the necessary leadership skills (Chuang, 2013). These skills include; Confidence, Integrity, Inspire, Communication and commitment. A leader must be confident in the ideal they are propagating. A health care provider should be able to confidently inform a patient of his potential to get better. In this manner, the patient will also become confident and will be more likely to get better. The leader must have integrity; the leader must hold himself to the highest moral standards of honesty transparency and accountability (Chuang, 2013). A leader must be able to continuously inspire and motivate his employees to do better work. The leader should be able to communicate clearly and coherently his aims and objectives for the organization. The leader must also be committed to the goals and objectives of the organization (Chuang, 2013).
Organizational Skills
Organizational skills are simply skills that allow one to optimally organize or manage resources. These resources can be any group of diverse resources including; time, physical, financial, human, etc.. At an individual level, the organization can also refer to the management of one's mental facilities (Spaho, 2013). This is essential for a leader who has to do different tasks at the same time. Thus, the ability to manage these tasks will ensure optimal use of his mental acuity. Leaders must be able to adequately manage their time. This is important noting that patients seeking health care need treatment and care in a time efficient manner (Spaho, 2013). Thus, failure to manage time properly puts the lives and well-being of patients in danger. The leader must be capable of managing deadlines. The leader must set goals for the organization and make decisions that ensure those objectives are met. Organizational skills are essential for the potential leader to be able to manage and lead the organization (Spaho, 2013).
Time Management
Time is a finite resource. As such, management of time is essential as a resource for any organization. Time management is necessary to ensure that time is utilized optimally (Fapohunda, 2013). The greatest wastage of time occurs in the following instances; procrastinating, failing to delegate, lack of clear policy guidelines that guide how employees carry out their specific duties, micro-management, poor planning and unnecessary meetings. A leader must be...