Leadership in the National Health Service - Case Study Example

Leadership in the NHS Table of Contents Introduction 3 The Context of Leadership in the National Health Service (NHS) 4 The Chosen Leadership Theory/Style — A Rationale 6 Managing Change – The Selection, Application and Rationale of a Chosen Model (s) of Change 8 Team Working and Conflict Management, Influencing Skills 9 Conclusion 10 References 11 Bibliography 14 Introduction As can be observed in the recent phenomenon, the demand for the healthcare sector has accelerated quite extensively. The internal operations have changed with due time that has created new scope for the development of the leadership quality within organizations that has further enhanced the productivity and success rate of the healthcare sector. Leadership quality entails three basic frameworks arranged within the personal qualities, delivering the concerned services and setting directions to be adhered by the employees (Storey & Richard, 2013; Storey & Richard, 2012). It is in this regard that application of the effective leadership quality is necessary to upgrade the operational skills of the employees and to achieve the desired objectives. Emphasizing similar value attributes concerning its leadership roles, the Local’s Children’s Centre hosts an interactive session with respect to the progress of wean process as a measure to reduce obesity rates among children. This initiative has been undertaken by the NHS to create awareness amidst the society with respect to child obesity and its dreadful implications. The study intends to discuss about the various measures undertaken by National Health Services (NHS) to ensure about the nutritional benefits to the society, especially the children (Bevan, 2012). In addition, the NHS healthcare service organization attempts to practice various leadership qualities in order to manage the change with respect to the wean process that results in childhood obesity. Accordingly, the study discusses about the various initiatives been undertaken by NHS to create awareness within the society with respect to the nutritional benefits. The Context of Leadership in the National Health Service (NHS) NHS needs to mitigate various changes, likely to occur while transforming the traditional processes pertaining to weaning into progressive for deriving better nutritional benefits for reducing the risks of childhood obesity. In general, the ‘weaning’ process conveys about the process of involving the nutritional, biochemical and immunological adjustments by providing complementary food items in the child’s diet. Contextually, it has been noted that the breast-milk has been traditionally perceived as the most essential as nutritional food diet for infants. Traditionally, the children in their early years were provided only with breast milk. Feeding breast milk to the children has always been considered as the best source of providing nutrition. However, changes observed in the lifestyle choices in recent scenario have apparently influenced the biological, immunological and nutritional aspects of parenting today. This has given rise to numerous health problems within the children in their early years. The initiative executed by NHS in this regard is bringing transformation within the wean process with a motive to accelerate the childhood nutritional benefits and reducing the danger of obesity among children by way of augmenting awareness regarding the importance of complementary nutritional food items besides weaning. Accordingly, it has been observed by NHS that in order to provide all the nutritional benefits to the children, the inclusion of complementary foods must be considered as a necessity, besides weaning, which will constitute the prime objective of the proposed leadership initiative for the organisation (Dixon-Woods & et. al., 2014). Leadership quality in this context is implemented to assist NHS leader to foster effective awareness amidst the society about childhood nutritional benefits. The application of the leadership skills is quite likely to enable NHS to bring changes within the nutritional diet of the children effectively. Leadership skills thus require directing the team members in creating awareness about child health with regards to nutritional diet. The NHS took this particular initiative with a motive to improvise the diet routine and assist the families in choosing healthier options related to food intake for their children. It is also expected to reduce child obesity and will provide the children with enhanced health benefits (Department of Health United Kingdom, 2012; Department of Health United Kingdom, 2011). The NHS, in its recent operations, has adopted various strategies to provide accelerated health benefits to the society, including the importance of complementary foods besides the traditional process of weaning to reduce child obesity. Leadership is important for NHS services, as it ensures the application of set standard for deriving the value for money. Furthermore, effective leadership in NHS shall lead to the attainment of improvised results by creating advocacy within the team members and achieving the outcome of childhood health benefits. It can also be ascertained that the key elements fostering effective quality within the NHS system incorporates vision, behaviour and method with respect to the initiatives been undertaken for providing the children with the nutritional food diet. Contextually, it shall be noted that NHS believes leadership quality aspects to provide it with better the opportunities of providing knowledge to the team members about childhood health benefits. Furthermore, NHS system has been considered as the way of providing enhanced health benefits to the children within the society. Leadership quality also plays a vital role in the execution of any NHS program for the betterment of the society, overall. The methodology, which the NHS follows in this regard includes diagnosis, plans to close the relevant gaps, pathways along with the investments, system-wide initiatives and the barriers along with the risks (Francis, 2013). In accordance with the NHS methodology, effective leadership quality enables the healthcare management to diagnose the health problems within the children and identify the prior reasons for the same accordingly. In this context, it has been further ascertained that leadership quality within the NHS assists in directing the workforce to attain the desired goal of providing accelerated health benefits to the children. In this respect, it can also be ascertained that NHS system provides effective strategic plans for mitigating the gaps with respect to the initiative of informing the parents about the nutritional benefit required to omit risks of obesity for their children. Apart from these benefits derived by the application of effective leadership, proper investment, aligned direction and future risk and barriers are also determined by the leaders. This helps them to design strategic plan more effectively and in an objective oriented manner, pertaining to health benefits and to attain the desired goals of creating awareness within the society with respect to childhood health benefits (Francis, 2013). The Chosen Leadership Theory/Style — A Rationale In the recent scenario, the change management style is applied to achieve the desired outcome. As observed in the NHS, the change management is applied to derive childhood health benefits. It is worth mentioning in this context that leadership styles are the part of change management. There are various forms of the leadership styles that can be followed by the organization to determine effective results in pursuit of the stated objective concentrated on progressing the wean process for providing the children with nutritional security against obesity risks. The NHS initiative reflects about the nutritional health benefits for children in their early years, which is quite likely to reduce the issue of childhood obesity. It has also been ascertained that the experiences and the nutritional intake during early life usually decide upon the lifestyle choices at the later stage. The initiative undertaken by NHS, in this regard tends to enable and direct the team to generate awareness about the nutritional benefits of weaning along with complementary food intake in reducing the risks of childhood obesity. As the proposed change comprises various components, in order to manage the entire working process, the team is required to implement effective leadership style. Correspondingly, the transformational and the Laissez-Faire leadership styles can be applied by the NHS leader to attain the desired level (Shribman & Billingham, 2009). From the results obtained through the SWOT analysis of NHS from a leadership perspective, the strengths of the interactive program have been determined as communal focus, societal cohesion and the build of trust. Apart from this, the optimum utilization of the available resources and the transfer of skills and knowledge have also been determined as the strength of the interactive program being conducted by the local Children’s Centre (LCC) as an initiative of NHS. The transformational leadership skills will hereby facilitate changes within the organization and create a scope for the team to practice charismatic leadership. Besides, implementation of the transformational and Laissez-Faire leadership style to accelerate the nutritional benefits and mitigate obesity risks for the children can prove highly beneficial to alter or bring required changes in the traditional wean process and the related belief of its significance to the well-being of the child. To execute the interactive session effectively by the team members, it is necessary for the NHS leader to ensure proper training to them. This will further assist them in convincing the parents about the nutritional health benefits associated with the progressive wean process in a more comprehendible manner. Considering the strengths, it can be noted that transformational leadership style will enable the team members to spread the importance of the nutritional benefits and its positive implication on minimising childhood obesity. Besides, by applying the Laissez-Faire style, the power can be channelized by the NHS leader to the team members to design their own plan of reaching a larger base of parents (i.e. the target audiences of the program), with a motive to attain the desired objectives (Storey & Holti, 2013; Ham, 2011; Haque & Das, 2009). Managing Change – The Selection, Application and Rationale of a Chosen Model (s) of Change The selected leadership styles, to perform the stated program, focus on the transformational and the Laissez-faire leadership qualities with the aim to achieve the childhood health benefits pertaining to balanced diet. Through this initiative, emphasis will be delivered on the formation of small groups to create awareness within the society about child heath nutrition. However, as the formation of small groups will possess its advantages and the disadvantages, significance will also be delivered on the structure of decision-making and flow of information to gain better efficiency in the operational process (Côté & et. al., 2010). This particular leadership style shall facilitate NHS’ small teams to foster the importance of childhood nutrition within the society. However, the team will practice transformational leadership style for gaining self-confidence and implement change strategies to provide the parents with ample data and information about childhood nutritional benefits. Correspondingly, in order to build effective team and advantageous programs, such as simple food shopping, administrative support, printing of the leaflets, facility within the room for the children’s centre and health visitor among others, sufficient budge is required. Following the Laissez-faire leadership style will hereby provide the body with power to gather efficient resources and funds from the external body, through enhanced coordination and utilise it to the optimum level. In addition, it should also be considered that it is the responsibility of the NHS leader to derive the advantages being provided under The Health and Social Care Act 2012. The application of leadership will therefore ensure proper flow of funds for accelerating the initiations of societal benefit pertaining to childhood nutrition (The National Health Service, 2014; Ham & Walsh, 2013; Department of Health United Kingdom, 2012). Team Working and Conflict Management, Influencing Skills NHS usually executes its plan by forming small teams to cover wider area within the society and creating adequate awareness regarding the pros and cons of weaning when concerning childhood obesity risks and nutritional requirements. Effective team working is an important part included in the achievement of any desired objective. In this respect, it can be noted that small teams usually have to face the challenge of not working cohesively with a common focus to attain childhood nutritional benefit. It is in this context that conflicts might arise within the group and/or in the inter-group level with respect to achieve personal interests rather than the organisational objective. In order to maintain such conflicts and to initiate skills within the team members, it is necessary for the NHS leader to practice various measures with respect to conflict management with the intention of fostering better health of the children. Apart from this, the leadership styles, i.e. transformational and the Laissez-Faire, will enable the teams’ to enhance their competency level encouraging greater participation of the parents, which shall be quite helpful to create desired level of awareness within the society with respect to childhood nutritional benefit. This will further result in the reduction of childhood obesity. Effective leadership quality also enhances the training program being provided by the NHS in order to assist the team members for informing the people about the benefits of the complementary foods in order to provide accelerated nutritional benefits to the children and reduce their risks towards obesity (Carr, 2012; 1The Kings Fund, 2011; 2The Kings Fund, 2011). Conclusion This study reflects about the initiative being undertaken by the NHS for creating awareness within the society about the nutritional benefits being attached with the complementary food as a part of the weaning process. The findings revealed that the in recent scenario, the lifestyle pattern has impacted the parenting diet, which has led to the necessity for the development of a progressive weaning process with the inclusion of complementary food items. This further will ensure the development of childhood nutritional benefits by including complementary food in the diet chart. The study hence reflects about the application of transformational and the Laissez-faire leadership quality for assuring better nutritional benefits of the children. References Bevan, H. (2012). Helen Bevan on Change Management. NHS. [Online] Available at: http://www.institute.nhs.uk/quality_and_value/introduction/article_15.html [Accessed April 07, 2014]. Carr, S & et. al., 2012. UK Community Health Visiting: Challenges Faced During Lean Implementation. Journal of Healthcare Leadership, Vol. 4, pp. 1-7. Côté, S. & et. al., 2010. Emotional Intelligence and Leadership Emergence in Small Groups. The Leadership Quarterly, Vol. 21, pp. 496–508. Department of Health United Kingdom, 2011. Health Visitor Implimentation Plan - A Call to Action. Department of Health. [Online] Available at: www.DH.gov.uk/publictions [Accessed April 07, 2014]. Department of Health United Kingdom, 2012. Health and Social Care Act 2012. GOV.UK. [Online] Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/health-and-social-care-act-2012-fact-sheets [Accessed April 07, 2014]. Dixon-Woods, M. & et. al., 2014. Ten Challenges In Improving Quality In Healthcare: Lessons from the Health Foundation’s Programme Evaluations and Relevant Literature. BMJ Qual Saf, Vol. 21, pp. 876–884. Francis, R., 2013. Report of the Mid Stafforshire NHS Foundation Trust Public Inquiry Executive Summary. House of Commons. Haque, S. I. & Das, B., 2009. Effective Leadership Style. Slide Share. [Online] Available at: http://www.slideshare.net/chintu83/leadership-styles-with-examples [Accessed April 07, 2014]. Ham, C., 2011. The NHS in England in 2012. BMJ Publishing Group Ltd, pp. 1-2. Ham, C. & Walsh, N., 2013. Making Integrated Care Happen At Scale and Pace. Lessons from Experience. [Online] Available at: http://cdn.basw.co.uk/upload/basw_105641-3.pdf [Accessed April 13, 2014]. Shribman, S., & Billingham, K., 2009. Healthy Child Programme, Pregnancy and the First Five Years of Life. Department of Childrens, Schools and Families, pp. 7-74. Storey, J., & Holti, R., 2013. Storey, J., & Holti, R., 2013. The Contribution of Clinical Leadership to Service Redesign: A Naturalistic Inquiry. Health Services Management Research, Vol. 25, No. 3, pp. 144–151. Storey, J., & Holti, R., 2013. Towards a New Model of Leadership for the NHS. The Open University Business School, pp. 3-29. 1The Kings Fund, 2011. Leadership And Engagement For Improvement In The NHS: Together We Can. The Kings Fund, pp. 1-36. 2The Kings Fund, 2011. The Future of Leadership and Management in the NHS: No More Heroes. The Kings Fund, pp. 1-34. The National Health Service, 2014. Leadership Development. NHS Connecting for Health. [Online] Available at: http://www.connectingforhealth.nhs.uk/systemsandservices/icd/informspec/careerplan/phi/personal/learningweb/leadership/dev [Accessed April 07, 2014]. The National Health Service, 2012. Lewins Change Management Model. North West Leadership Academy - Our Futures. [Online] Available at: http://www.nwacademy.nhs.uk/downloads/documents/microsite_ests/86_1722011_lewin_s_change_management_model.pdf [Accessed April 07, 2014]. Bibliography Dahlgaard, J. J. & et. al., 2011. Quality and lean health care: a system for assessing and improving the health of healthcare organisations. Total Quality Management, Vol. 22, No. 6, pp. 673–689. Flodgren, G. & et. al., 2011. Local Opinion Leaders: Effects on Professional Practice And Health Care Outcomes (Review). The Cochrane Collaboration, pp. 1-41. Wallace, M. & et. al., 2013. Public Service Leaders as ‘Change Agents’ – for Whom? Public Management Review, Vol. 13, No. 1, pp. 65-93. Read More