The Role of Consultant Psychologists - Essay Example

?Health Management Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 A Broad View to Leadership Training Programmes 4 Consultant Psychiatrist’s Point of View towards Leadership Qualities 5 Effects of Leadership and Its Relation with Human Psychology 6 Effectiveness of Offsite Training in Healthcare Organisations 13 Limitations to Leadership Training in Healthcare Organisations 14 Conclusion 16 References 17 Introduction From a modernistic point of view, in accord to the changes occurring in the external environment, the role of consultant psychologists is also witnessed to be altering at a rapid pace. With the passing time, the profession of consulting psychiatrists is emerging to be robustly allied with leadership roles to serve the clients with quality services along with maintaining a degree of coherence with the externalities such as social, cultural, economic as well as biological, and psychological elements related to healthcare services (Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2012). In relation with this, it has been noticed that several organisations including the health care organisations have introduced leadership training facilities which intend to develop leadership qualities among the consulting psychiatrists. However, as per the statement presented by Raelin (2003), “Most leadership training that is being conducted off?site is ill?advised because the intent of most of this training is to put leadership into people, such that they can transform themselves and their organisations on their return”. Based on this statement, it can be argued that most of the programmes of leadership training that are being conducted by the corporate off-sites, such as in the healthcare divisions are considered to be ill-advised (Raelin, 2003). The objective of this paper is to critically evaluate the effectiveness of the off-site leadership programmes that are conducted by the organisations, especially those related with healthcare service rendering activities such as that of consulting psychiatrists. In this regards, the discussion henceforth will intend to examine the aforementioned statement connoted by Raelin (2003) considering the point of view of a psychiatrist. A Broad View to Leadership Training Programmes Leadership training requirements were initially noticed by corporate entities and therefore a significant degree of impression can be identified in the approaches which apparently exhibit the interests of such concerns. The corporate business organisations have been noticed to expend billions of dollars per annum on the training programmes conducted to enhance leadership skills amid professionals. However, with the passing time, leadership approaches conducted by these business entities became to be extensively indulged with human psychology and human responses. Rather than the sole motive to direct or rather instruct the subordinates, the role of leaders extended to identify the rudiments of a particular individual’s psychological framework and thereby motivate the individuals toward the attainment of a particular objective (Durose, 2011). From a consultant psychiatrist’s point of view, it becomes apparent that the philosophy of leadership training, in the modern day context, essentially deals with building up human relations focusing more over intrinsic motivation rather than suppressing the subordinates with external instructions (Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2012). However, with such broad perspective, it is quite likely that the implementations of leadership training programmes, concerning the enhancement of individual leadership skills can emerge to be a challenging task. As from the consultant psychologist’s point view, it is indeed a tough task to identify the psychological order of an individual’s thinking and likewise, maximise their potentialities to develop as leaders along with expanding the capacity of those individuals to serve the community at large (Alimo-Metcalfe, 2010). This particular aspect can be directly related with the argument made by Raelin (2003) that leadership training programmes often tend to indulge responsibilities on the future leaders rather than providing them with the scope to develop their individual skills in this respect. The arguments made by Morley (2008) also indicates that for a leadership training program to be effective enough, the leaders or rather the training providers should identify the spaces existing between the required skills and the possessed skills by the prospective leaders. Again, this can only be possible with gaining a certain degree of knowledge regarding the mental framework of that particular individual to motivate him/her and thus make the training program effective enough. As stated by Morley (2008), the individuals’ attainment of such kind of training facilities needs to be provided with a degree of space to boost their perceptions and critical thinking abilities. Consultant Psychiatrist’s Point of View towards Leadership Qualities The managers are often perceived to play their role as leaders, which is not likely to be true as leadership responsibilities extend vastly from that of the managers being inclusive of the abilities to identify the human psychology of a particular individual and likewise train the member as a prospective future candidate. Certain studies have listed a number of differences existing between a leader and a manager. It has been stated in this regards that leaders tend to be highly inclined towards the task of introducing ideas that does not already subsist a mid his/her subordinates. However, the managers perform the task of managing the ideas which already prevails within the organisation as well as the society by redirecting, revitalising and of course monitoring those. Certain experts have defined leadership from the prospect of those working within the health care sector as “working with and through others to achieve improvements in services for people’s health and health care” (Phoenix Consultancy USA, Inc, n.d.). Furthermore, it has been stated that the leaders should include the ability to bring about new innovations while the managers are likely to possess the qualities to administer. It is in this context that leaders, especially those working in the health care sectors need to build on their critical thinking abilities (i.e. their psychological power) and skills to manage human relations and likewise develop better efficiency in the training programs (Grint, 2005). Apart from these, the leaders should possess certain qualities to develop and inspire the individuals working with them as subordinates and subsequently motivate them to take more significant steps towards achieving their individual as well as organisational goals. Hence, it can be stated that leadership qualities are quite different from that required to operate as a manager on the basis of their ability to judge and motivate the psychological talents of their subordinates. In this context, it has also been noticed that the leadership qualities are quite difficult to incorporate in an individual from outside who does already possess at least some of them and are likely much easier to be developed from within (Phoenix Consultancy USA, Inc, n.d.). Effects of Leadership and Its Relation with Human Psychology Transformational leaders have significant influence over the performance of an organisation. It is in this context that such kind of leadership tends to create an extent of predictability which further facilitates the organisations to prepare for the future market conditions. Leaders further play an essential role in the planning processes which can even include the monitoring of individual activities to identify the leadership quality amid the subordinates and therefore make use of such skills. They play a considerable role in most of managerial activities such as controlling and organising among others. Leaders can also perform an important part in terms of selecting the work-force as it highly focuses on learning the mental behaviour of the individuals, especially in the healthcare sector which depends largely on the organisational efficiency to build human relations. Leaders, especially those who render considerable significance towards these psychological perspectives, have been further noticed to be quite effective in terms of motivating and inspiring the individuals working under them (Davidson, 2011). It is in this context that such leaders have been noticed to be quite effective in maintaining a positive environment within the work place which can further boost the confidence of the individual subordinates. Hence, leaders in addition are likely to play a noteworthy role in the long-term development of the organisation with which they are working (Phoenix Consultancy USA, Inc, n.d.). Leadership is quite a significant for the professionals of every sector. During the recent days, it has been observed that leadership has emerged as an essential factor in terms of the medical practitioners as well. It this regards certain frameworks such as the ‘The Medical Leadership Competency Framework’ has been developed by the National Health Service (NHS) UK. This kind of frameworks essentially portrays the various leadership qualities that are vital for the medical practitioners in order to plan, deliver as well as to bring about certain transformations in the health care services. Thus, the framework can be utilised in the designing of training as well as development programmes within the health care sectors motivating the enhancement of leadership skills within the prospective members. Furthermore, the framework facilitates in identifying the strengths and weaknesses of an individual by means of self assessment techniques and the feedback collected from the respective colleagues. This framework can further assist the individuals in their personal development as well as their career as it solely focuses on the delivery of the healthcare services to the patients as well as other customers. The frame work emphasizes on specific areas within which the healthcare consultants as well as other medical professionals including consultant psychiatrists require to develop competencies (North Western Deanery, 2010). This framework is comprised of certain domains and frame works which have been mentioned below: Personal Qualities The healthcare consultants who possess effective leadership qualities are likely to acquire the skills and abilities of delivering a high quality of services to their patients. In relation with this, the healthcare consultants need to exhibit in various sectors from physical to psychological aspects. One of the major competencies is the ‘self awareness’ which states that the healthcare consultants should be able to understand their personal values and assumptions with efficiency and should also be capable of learning from their sole experiences so as to apply these learning on the service rendering process. Another significant competency required among the leaders in the healthcare division, can be identified as the ‘self management’ aspect which implies that the leaders should possess the qualities of managing their activities according to the situation. ‘Self development’ is also a significant competency which indicates that the healthcare consultants or rather the healthcare organisational leaders should attempt to develop themselves based on their learning from various experiences. Apart from these, the healthcare consultants should also attempt to ‘act with integrity’ which implies to behave in a way which is ethical (North Western Deanery, 2010). Working with Others The healthcare consultants are likely to demonstrate qualities of leadership by operating in a team with other individuals and conveying high quality services. In this context, the healthcare consultants need to demonstrate certain competencies. A significant competency in this scenario is ‘developing network’ which implies that the healthcare consultants should be able to work in co-ordination with their colleagues and clients in order to improve the quality of services offered by them in terms of consulting. Another significant competency in this context is ‘building and maintaining relationships’ which refers that the healthcare consultants should have the capacity to listen to others in order to develop mutual trust with the clients. Furthermore, ‘encouraging contribution’ holds that the healthcare consultants should possess the ability to create a working environment which would provide opportunities to others to make certain contributions. The competencies in this regards also include ‘working within terms’ which fundamentally implies to provide higher quality of services (North Western Deanery, 2010). Managing Services This particular dimension of the framework presented by NHS states that the healthcare consultants who confirm effective leadership qualities are likely to focus solely on the achievement of the goals of the organisation with which they are associated. In this context, the healthcare consultants need to demonstrate a different array of competencies related to both psychological and methodical attributes. One of the major competencies in this regard is ‘planning’ which implies to make significant contributions to the plans in order to attain the goals. Another essential competency in this context is ‘managing resources’ which indicates that the healthcare consultants should have the ability to utilise the available resources in an efficient way. ‘Managing people’ is also a significant competency which signifies that they should have the ablity to provide the right direction and thereby to motivate others with efficiency. Another competency identified in this context is ‘managing performance’, according to which it has been stated that the healthcare consultants should essentially possess the ability of control the quality of the provided services (North Western Deanery, 2010). Improving Services According to this domain, it has been stated the healthcare consultants who demonstrate the qualities of effective leadership are likely to have significant capabilities of improving the health of their clients by providing quality services. It has further been mentioned that they are likely to make notable attempts to improve the quality of the services. In this regards, the healthcare consultants need to demonstrate specific competencies such as ‘ensuring patient safety’. It means that the consultants should have the ability to evaluate and manage the risks associated with the health of their clients. Another competency in this context is the ability of ‘critically evaluating’, which implies that they should have the capacity to think conceptually in order to identify the areas where services needs to be improved. The healthcare consultants should further possess the competency of ‘encouraging innovation’ which states that they should be able to develop a working environment which would facilitate in the improvement of the quality of services. Apart from these, another essential competency in this context is ‘facilitating transformation’ which implies that the consultants should possess the skill to make active contributions in terms of the changing processes which are vital for the improvement of the healthcare services (North Western Deanery, 2010). Setting Direction This domain states that the healthcare consultants demonstrating the qualities of effective leadership are likely to have the ability to make certain contributions towards the vision of the organisation and are also likely to work in accordance with the values of the same with which they are associated. In relation with this, the healthcare consultants are required to exhibit competencies in ‘identifying the contexts for change’ which signifies that they ought to be able to identify the various elements that should be taken into account while making any decision. Another important competency quality identifiable in this context is ‘applying knowledge and evidence’ which fundamentally means that the consultants should have the ability to accumulate the vital information which are significant to bring about improvements. In addition, they should possess the competency of ‘making decision’ which means to incorporate the gathered information and values while making any decision. Apart from these, another important competency in this prospect is ‘evaluating impact’ which implies that they are likely to be able to evaluate the aftermath of a decision which is quite necessary for indulging into effective decision (North Western Deanery, 2010). Effectiveness of Offsite Training in Healthcare Organisations It has been stated by certain experts that the most essential factor which should be present in an efficient leader is emotional intelligence which entirely represents the significance of psychological abilities to identify the skills possessed by the subordinates and likewise control them towards betterment through training (NHS North West leadership Academy, n.d.). However, it still remains a subject of debate that whether it is possible to create leaders by training the individuals adding extrinsic values to the training facilities as was mentioned in the argument presented in Raelin (2003). Certain researches conducted on a scientific ground reveal the fact that emotional intelligence of an individual is significantly dependent upon the genetic characteristics of an individual. In addition, certain psychological studies indicate that the emotional intelligence of an individual is also dependent on the beliefs of individuals which they have accumulated throughout their life span. Furthermore, the emotional awareness of an individual is likely to develop with their age. However, it has been noticed that a few matured individuals still require training in order to develop their emotional intellect and thereby grow as a leader where psychological aspects are considered to be crucial. These kinds of training curriculum have been regarded as waste of wealth as well as time. The major reason behind this is likely to be the fact that most of the training programmes of this kind focuses solely on the wrong sections of the human brain (Llywodraeth Cynullaid Cymru, n.d.). Furthermore, as stated by Goleman (1998), emotional intelligence is mostly generated within the neurotransmitter present in the human brains’ limbic system. This system oversees the feeling of human beings and also governs the various drives as well as impulses. Moreover, researches also indicated that this system gets significantly influenced by the motivational factors and long-term practices of a particular profession. However, most of the offsite training programmes target the neocortex system of human brain which is administered by the logical factors (Alimo-Metcalfe, 2010). Thus, it can be stated that the offsite training programmes conducted by the various organisation in the modern day context are likely to have limited effectiveness in developing the emotional intelligence of a leader and hence, have limited ability to incorporate leadership skills into them. In addition, certain researches also affirm that the neocortical approach adapted by most of the offsite training programmes can have certain negative impacts on the job performance of the leader and thereby prove efficient in rendering the services (Goleman, 1998). Limitations to Leadership Training in Healthcare Organisations NHS is a health foundation and solely focuses on the improvement of leaders in order to enhance the quality of healthcare services provided worldwide. In relation with this, the organisation has introduced certain programmes. However, these programmes were likely to have several limitations which can be apparently identified with reference to the argument made by Raelin (2003). One of the major limitations was the over emphasise of these training programs provided on self-efficacy concepts. This implies that most of the training programmes mainly focused on the individual benefits of leadership rather than considering the group impact. These programmes were further based on the assumptions that an enhancement in the level of confidence of the individuals through psychological empowering would likely result in the improvement of their performance. Moreover, the assessments of these improvements were not based upon the effects of leadership on the superiority of services offered. In addition, these programmes endeavoured to figure out the methods that would justify the investments made rather than focusing on the outcomes of the programme (Hardacre & et. al., 2011). According to the conventional view, the leadership qualities of an individual are closely related with their decision making capabilities and likewise become related with their rational thinking abilities. However, in case of the leadership training facilities, it is quite possible that the training supervisor may not identify the elements upon which the individual’s decisions were based (Grint, 2005). Furthermore, it has been a known fact that human beings resist to change. This is also likely to be a major problem which can arise while conducting the programmes of leadership training. The training supervisors may not possess the sufficient amount of knowledge about the individuals who participate in the training programmes (Hardacre & et. al., 2008). Moreover, the individuals may also resist change as a result of the procedures that were introduced during the training program, thus restricting the efficiency of such programs (Durose, 2011). Conclusion Summarising the above mentioned limitations or rather challenges likely to be faced by leadership training initiative adopted in the healthcare sector, it can be affirmed that psychological perspectives in the modern ideology of the concept is quite crucial to lead towards developing effective leaders. In this regards, it has been a subject of debate since the past that whether leaders can be created or they are in-born. From a psychiatrist’s points of view, it can be thus affirmed that if leadership has proved to be so intensely depended on individual’s psychological attributes, a major proportion of leadership skills should be in-born qualities which again signify the argument of Raelin (2003). Certain researches have confirmed that leadership quality of an individual is significantly dependent on his/her emotional intelligence which again is likely to be considerably dependent upon the genetic characteristics of that individual. However, most of the leadership training curriculums have been noticed to target the neocortex system of the human brain which is associated with the logical decision making. Thus, it can be stated that such kind of training programmes may essence the logical decision making expertise of an individual, even though having effectiveness in terms of developing their leadership qualities. In addition, the human psychology also acts fundamentally in limiting the effectiveness of these programmes as human beings in most of the cases resist towards any kind of change. References Alimo-Metcalfe, A., 2010. The Nature of Engaging Leadership and Its Effect on Productivity, Morale and Well-Being. University of Bradford School of Management. Alimo-Metcalfe, A., 2010. Health Service Journal. Leadership: Commitment Beats Control, pp. 1-3. Davidson, D., 2011. No More Heroes: Leadership in the NHS today. University of Birmingham. Durose, J., 2011. Human Responses to Change. University of Birmingham. 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