Leadership in Health and Social Care - Essay Example

Leadership in health and social care Name Institution Date Leadership in health and social care is very important at any given time. Leadership is a practice that any human being can manage. It is essential that those individuals, who are charged with leading health and social care board, do so in a way that offers direction and resolution. Leadership in commissioning involves an approach that is visible and viable, coherent, credible, inclusive. The approach should be underpinned by a vision that everybody else can share. Leaders are supposed to steer and influence certain priorities in the health and social care sector of the local area. The main aim of this strategy is to ensure that the coherent and agreed set of values and priorities set by the whole team are achieved (Martin, 2012; Martin, Charlesworth and Henderson, 2010). Leadership, essentially, is about the relationship leaders build with other people. Relating with others is not an option; it is a step that must be taken for effective leadership. I have been a successful leader all along because other people have always been willing to go alongside me or follow my lead. I can say I have been somehow influential. The aspect of being influential in any leadership position is very important. This is what I have come to learn ever since I discovered that I have the qualities of a good leader. Being influential simply means that you have the power to make decisions which can be regarded as wise, and therefore, you can be trusted with them by your followers (Aslop, 2013). Traditional ideas regarding different types of leadership have evolved through a range of different concerns. In the early times, leadership was associated with heroism in battles. This idea led to a view of leaders as single-minded people who are aggressive, risk takers and arrogant. Such like ideas are not welcomed in the field of health and social care. They are not appropriate in this field since leaders in health and social care share basic values of respect for social inclusion and social equality. There is also another traditional aspect of leadership that is associated with leaders born with natural abilities linked to families. These families have powerful positions which they have maintained for generations. This is not my kind of leadership and I can not advocate for such leaders in health and social care (Martin, 2012). Many theories of leadership have informed my way of leading people from the past. These same theories will continue to define my way of leadership as I continue to advance. The same way these theories influence the way I lead people I will continue to influence the people that I lead. Leadership theories shape the way leaders think. They present challenges to leaders and leaving them to ponder over. Wise leaders will develop strategies that are relevant to handling certain situations. These strategies help in managing health and social care in the complex interprofessional and interagency contexts (Aslop, 2013; Martin, Charlesworth and Henderson, 2010). Through the influence of these theories, I decided to take the path of transformational leadership. I decided to follow this kind of leadership just recently and I am seeing myself adopting it for the rest of my career. This is a kind of leadership that fosters achievement of transformations. It is the reason why leadership can be associated with change. Success in transformational leadership involves learning. Learning is about taking control of your own life and shaping the things around you to create a better environment. Learning is thus the key to transformation. Anybody who can learn through reflection is safe towards achieving transformational leadership. Such people who are able to make personal transformation are also capable of translating the transformation into achieving actions. These actions can lead to results in a wider context with regard to health and social care (Martin, Charlesworth and Henderson, 2010). Through transformational leadership, my main focus is centered to ideas that can bring change. I always focus on people since change is something that can be achieved by people. There are five essential disciplines that underpin successful individuals in learning from experiencing and transforming themselves, especially to be effective in changing situations. These disciplines are; systems thinking, personal mastery, mental models, building shared visions and team learning. System thinking is concerned with the manner in which individuals achieve their purposes and the extent to which each component part makes a contribution. This contribution, usually, is aimed at achieving change. Personal mastery reflects the ideas that individuals use to manage themselves and their self-development. Mental models involve the individual`s conceptual view of the world. This conceptual view might need to be revised as changes occur in the world. Building shared visions reflect the ability to develop cognitive and collective imagination. Lastly, team learning involves learning as a team from an experience that is shared among the team members. These ideas reveal that transformational leadership is important in all aspects of health and social care (Martin, Charlesworth and Henderson, 2010). Linking leaders to change has over time, challenged the idea that leadership can be analyzed and defined objectively. This is because there is great emphasis on people and the people`s reactions to other people. Under transformational leadership style, I have, in several occasions, managed to inspire people to lift the attention above their everyday affairs. This is about sharing values and developing a sense of doing something purposeful regarding the health and social well being. The focus is usually directed on the objectives and performance of individual duties than the power of my leadership. The essence here, again, is to transform the way my staff see themselves and the health and social care organization. Transforming my subjects simply involves making them aware of the necessity of their roles to the success of managing health, and hoe dependent health and social matters achievements also rely on them. Since the skills of my subject my subject are crucial, they also encourage people to manage their own performance in matters concerning their health. The subjects are also motivated to work on their goals as wells as the overalls goals set for the health and social care unit (Martin, Charlesworth and Henderson, 2010). These principles of transformational leadership tend to be uncontentious, but they prove to be of significance implications to the behaviors of leaders. Transformational leadership depends on the power of a leader to a considerable extent. A leader should be able to communicate clearly his or her visions. If this step is done with a lot of enthusiasm, the subjects are encouraged and inspired. If the staff is encouraged to engage with health and social care issues, and to use their intellects in handling various problems, as a leader I must focus on the development and nurturing of the capabilities (Martin, Charlesworth and Henderson, 2010). Ways in which other people think about their leaders is very important in the determination of behaviors that are considered successful in health and social care services. As a leader, I tend to express what portrays leaders in health and social care services as successful people. the mental models or constructs that differentiate leaders from their subjects are, for example, approachability, concern for others, encouraging question and promoting change, charisma, integrity, intellectual ability and the ability to communicate, unify, set direction and manage change. This is a very crucial sector that determines the level of self awareness in any leader (Martin, Charlesworth and Henderson, 2010). The above paragraph introduces a new central aspect of leaders in the health and social care field. This is the aspect of self awareness. Establishing and maintaining viable productive relationships with our colleagues, irrespective of their roles and status is at the heart of effective leadership. Leaders need to be able to relate to different groups of people. They should be able to recognize and value their individuality in terms of personality, interests, preferences and needs. The ability to relate well with regard to leadership profession requires highest levels of awareness of self and of others (Gray, Field & Brown, 2010). The greatest challenge that presents itself to leaders is that of learning how to interact with a wide range of people (Rothstein & Burke, 2010). As leaders, we tend to meet individuals who we experience as being different. This can be a potential procedural preference. We might be forced to avoid the need for additional provision of guidance at a later stage. At the same time, it might be helpful for us to continue giving less guidance to those individuals who need more freedom. The ability to flex behavior in order to adjust to tasks, context and personality is a desirable leadership trait (Gray, Field & Brown, 2010). Awareness of existence of difference results in recognition that this adds something to, rather than distracting from, a leadership relation. This is a sign that marks emotional intelligence, that as a leader, I can progress from recognizing differences, to valuing it, and finally to harnessing it. Gaining an understanding of differences, valuing and working effectively with the groups of people we experience, as being different is important both in personal success and success of organizational provision of health and social care services. Developing this understanding always seems as a lifetime`s chore. Leaders achieve their ends through the people they relate with, and as a consequence, the capabilities in establishing and sustaining good relationships are of paramount importance. The efforts made in working effectively with a diversified interaction with other colleagues are increasingly becoming important (Rothstein & Burke, 2010). They require us to sense how other people who are our subjects might be, understand we might be affecting the situation and finding a solution to the development of a modification of our actions. At the heart of all these efforts, the need for high levels of self awareness prevails (Gray, Field & Brown, 2010). Lets us now reflect on the relationships of leaders in groups and teams. These groups and teams usually, are created with the aim of maintaining good health and social care status of people and their communities. There are times when I used to belong to several project and management teams or groups in the health and social care services. I worked alongside groups of people who would use my services. I was able to move in and out of the teams with much ease; I could collaborate with leaders and group or team members from other professions, sectors or agencies and deal with diverse problems. I also worked in novel uncertainty contexts that proved to be complex in several occasions. Talking of truth, this is what leaders go through especially, when dealing with groups or teams with specific health care goals (Gray, Field & Brown, 2010). Working as a team warrants access to a range of experiences, skill and knowledge that is appropriate to the context and challenges faced. The environment of operation might demand for a high level of team diversities as reflected in the various professional backgrounds, personalities and varying attitudes to risk. These diversities increase the risk and range of problems that a certain team is most likely to tackle. They also raise the likelihood of innovation. The more complex a change and the rate of change in the environment of operation, the greater the desired level of team diversification. Diversity in a team is accompanied by the challenge of learning how to work together in an effective manner. Instances of misunderstanding, disagreements, and plain “not getting along” are very high is these circumstances. Teams with low levels of diversity usually are expected to be formed more quickly. Reaching agreements is more easily and it is also easier to manage. Sometimes when the level of diversity increases, relationships between members tend to become more difficult. In such scenarios, lack of emotional intelligence may lead to fall of effectiveness of the respective teams or groups (Gray, Field & Brown, 2010). The two major challenges I used to face while working with groups were; how to achieve the targeted goals and how to work with each other effectively. More often, team members are known to make the mistake of concentrating more on the task ahead. This is an approach that might work well while the task is progressing well and in a manner that meets the needs, preferences and interests of each team or group member. Life is rarely this easy since at some point difficulty might arise on the side of the task or on the side of our relations with each other. I have been such a lucky leader since I have the natural facilitation skills. I am also a charismatic leader and I can handle problems reaching to their solutions. In whatever circumstance, I have always learned that team members and especially leaders need to work productively with those they experience as different. This can be achieved only if; group and team members understand themselves and what brought them together, appreciate other members in they way they are and valuing their contribution and lastly developing a range of behaviors that can help members work together effectively (Gray, Field & Brown, 2010). The range of behaviors experienced when leading a team or a group has to be learnt. Some of them are not natural and so; require input of a certain amount of effort. It is a possible for a leader to make the necessary adjustments for the relationship to work. This can be very demanding and in some cases it may seem unfair. Whenever three or more people are working together, it is very unlikely that the necessary adjustments can be made by one person. Ideally, every person in the group or team will be required to flex their behavior so that the course towards achieving goals in the health and social care sector can be smooth. Degrees of adjustments made by individuals can be lowers and less demanding as well. These members can also develop the ability to look into matters involving two people or more who are in an unproductive conflict. This ability is supposed to be possessed by anyone in the group but leaders should never have an option of missing this. This knowledge is largely unconscious and is more often needed to be further developed (Gray, Field & Brown, 2010; Rothstein & Burke, 2010). Leading in most cases, appears like a very unconscious process through which most leaders appear to be successful. It is unlikely that I could have got this far in my leadership career without reading the situations and changing the way I behave in my response. Effective leaders prepare for each situation that comes their. They do this by selecting an approach that they believe, will, in the end deliver the expected outcomes. They are also ready to adjust their way of conducing as the ongoing situation unfolds in their hands. Both selection and adjustments tend be related skills which require one to be flexible. Awareness, outcome clarity and motivation are also aspects of the two related skills (Gray, Field & Brown, 2010). Great leaders are viewed as effective managers who are accustomed to the language of objectives, ratings, indicators and performance assessment. I remember when I once handled the managerial position; it became clear to me that I needed to clarify my own objectives. The means through which I would achieve these objectives were inevitably one of my first concerns. It did not make a great deal of sense to contemplate how I was to set about doing a job if I was not clear in what I was going to achieve (Hafford-Letchfield, Leornard & Chick, 2007). As a manager, a leader should not overlook the importance of reviewing his or her objectives. Objectives can serve the purpose of clarifying the purpose of the management activities. They can also help in identifying the processes through which leaders can make progress. Setting viable and clear objectives and how their achievements will be realized is fundamental in managing health and social care organizations. Earlier in the context, it had been discussed that, flexibility is very important while a leaders is adapting to certain changes like varied ideas from team subjects. Leaders need to allow for flexibility in how objectives are pursued in order to accommodate the views proposed by other, and also to adapt to changes regarding the current circumstances (Martin, Charlesworth and Henderson, 2010). As a leader, I have enjoyed my work when effectiveness is the core drive towards achievements. Usually, a sense of direction and purpose are critical to effectiveness. Effectiveness in management is determined by several stages as discussed below. These stages depend on how leaders and their health and social care organizations respond to the priorities before them. These stages include; reviewing what needs to be done in order to be effective, determining priorities in terms of objectives and planning how you will be able to achieve the objectives. It is important that targets set by leaders be the ones that will add value to the area of work to which the health and social care organization is responsible (Martin, Charlesworth and Henderson, 2010). Lets us now discuss what I had to do to ensure that I embrace effectiveness in my work. Being effective in management refers to the extent in which I achieve the results I had set out to achieve. Achieving this, according to my own views was never enough for me. I always have always had this passion of doing more in more effective ways. At times it proved tricky when I met hurdles which tried to push me away from my targets. I always looked for alternative ways just to make sure I do not fail. Objectives that add value to the organization that I am working with were the objectives of choice. Achieving planned results involves two stages in actual sense. I have also realized that the quality of these objectives should be high such that there is clarity in the type of results one wants to achieve (Peck, 2005). This is the first stage, and the second stage involves reviewing progress against the stated objectives. This will help in determining your own progress and taking action in case to ensure you stay on track if necessary. Setting objectives and reviewing them is not as easy and straight forward as it always appears at the first glance. There are many factors which might make certain objectives difficult to achieve. In the health and social care, the varied factors have proved to be numerous and also the situations are in a state of frequently changing. Asking of how the effectiveness of an individual can be measured, it is important to know against which criteria the judgment is to be made. In my own sense, this effectiveness can be determined when it is measured against the owner`s intentions. It is also important to realize that while judging people about their effectiveness in performance, you need to have a common understanding of what the ultimate outcomes include (Martin, Charlesworth and Henderson, 2010; Nzira, V & Williams, 2008). Having a clear picture of what effective management is all about is very important. From my own experience, to be effective, leaders who in most cases are managers need to have a wide repertoire of skills and competencies so as to carry the many different tasks that lay a head of them. However, effective management does not just come from having the right skills. The reality is that, effective management results from something more complex than having the right skills. Myself as a unique and skillful leader, my workers as my resources and my organization`s structure and culture are major factors that determine my effectiveness. When skillful leaders work with dormant servants, this tends to hinder their effectiveness unless they motivate them. Effectiveness can also be hindered when working small health care organizations with limited resources (Northouse, 2009). My position in such organizations heavily impacted on the nature of my authority and responsibilities and thus posing constraints on what I was able to achieve. Similarly, the culture of the organizations, norms and standards, written and unwritten rules, and the styles of operation also had a direct impact on my levels of effectiveness. The world outside the organization also had a part to play regarding my effectiveness. The social trends, changes in technology, the state of the economy and in general, the people and other organizations with which I interacted also had a part to play regarding my effectiveness. I remember when I organized for a campaign to mobilize and advice youths and adolescents against drug abuse, I almost failed because I was working with a small organization and my objectives were high. The resources were less and also the financial support was limited. I had to struggle anyway to gain the most I could out of the campaign. The weeks that followed recorded a significant increase in numbers of adolescents who came for advice on how to escape drug addiction (Peck, 2005). Determination of priorities in terms of objectives is also an important step. This was quite a challenging step towards ensuring effectiveness in management. After making a list of important needs, I was forced to convert this list of perceived needs into statements that indicate what I might achieve in response to each need (McCarthy & Rose, 2010). The aim here was to give accurate information about the service that the organization was to offer to the community and the intended achievement. This step was important to me and so to any other colleague in the same profession (Clouston, & Westcott, 2005). At least it set out a direction for me but with no indications on how to achieve the results. Laying down strategies that would work was the next step. I could strategize well and end up scoring high in all the intervention procedures that I used to solve certain health issues (Jasper & Jumaa, 2008). From the various experiences I have had in the leadership profession, I have come to realize that leadership is a position that can be handled by any human being. Leadership is all about practicing and learning new ideas on how to handle situations. Leaders can not perform on their own and as a result, other people and bodies or organizations are needed to make leadership practical. This is how experience is gained, and effective performance follows. Ambitious leaders focus on their development as guided by the leadership theories. These theories have helped in growing to be both an influential and transformational leader throughout my career. References Aslop, A. (2013). Continuing Professional Development in Health and Social care: Strategies for Lifelong Learning. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Clouston, T.J & Westcott, L. (2005). Working in Health And Social Care: An Introduction for Allied Health Professionals. Churchill: Elsevier Health Sciences. Gray, I., Field, R & Brown, K. (2010). Effective Leadership, Management and Supervision in Health and Social Care. New York: SAGE. Hafford-Letchfield, T., Leornard, K & Chick, N.F. (2007). 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