Healthcare Leadership: Not All Leadership is About Changing Peoples Vision of the Future - Literature review Example

Healthcare Leadership: Not all leadership is about changing people’s vision of the future. (Name) (Course) (Institution) (Instructor’s name) (Date) Introduction Management should not be mistaken for leadership and vice versa. This is because the two are totally different but in most cases in practice, the two are viewed as one and the same. While management is involved with directing and controlling the completion of day to day tasks, leadership is about directing an organization towards achieving the long term goals and objectives contained in the vision. In cotemporary practice, leadership is most apparent in effecting change in organizations. As such, it is largely assumed that leadership is most applicable in spearheading change processes. Such common changes occur when organizations, both in the healthcare sector and in other sectors change or modify their long term goals. In essence, the role of leadership is viewed as managing future objectives and delegating current objectives to management. Stanley thus states that “Not all leadership is about changing people’s vision of the future” (2011, P.57). Leadership can also be used in directing current affairs with a key to improve output and in the case of healthcare givers, improve quality of care. This paper thus seeks to show how leadership can used in running short term objectives in healthcare firms and improve performance and quality of care. Discussion The success of any leadership initiative is dependent on a number of factors with leadership style being one of the major ones. There are various leadership styles and each proves efficient depending on the attitude, circumstances, beliefs, values, and preferences of the persons involved. Shirey (2007) describes various leadership styles which have diverse impacts on people’s emotions. Some of them include: visionary leadership, affiliative, democratic, autocratic, transformational, transactional, laissez faire, as well as servant leadership. Leadership style entails all kinds of approach and capability directed at realizing organizational goals and further influences all activities within the organization. Leadership style is a form of a relationship that an individual applies his rights and methods to influence many people towards a common goal (Wang et al., 2010). Nevertheless, leadership styles may be effective or ineffective depending on the situation. Effective leadership is concerned on satisfying the needs of the employees, customers and stakeholders, which collectively steer performance. Wang et al. (2010) believe that, effective leadership is directly related to organization success. Effective leaders in the health sector have the responsibility to manage the workforce and work systems in order to effectively and efficiently satisfy the needs, expectations and demands of the patients and employees (Schmidt, 2006). Leaders who have the capacity to do this comprehend the function of their leadership role, constantly developing and improving their communication skills, enhancing teamwork and engagement and minimizing conflicts among the staff, between the staff and the management and between the staff and the patients as echoed by Shirey (2007). An effective communication skill is just one of the many traits that an effective leader should possess. Other skills required in leaders include kindness, being firm, being persistent, visionary, and hardworking and understanding among others. Some of these skills can be honed while others are natural. Effective leadership is perceived as a powerful source of management development and constant competitive advantage for improvement of organizational performance (Feng, Jing & Avery, 2008). For instance, transactional leadership enables companies to realize their present objectives more proficiently by associating job performance to valued rewards and by making sure that employees have the necessary resources to get the work done (Cook & Leathard, 2004). Taking a leadership role in a healthcare setting is similar to conducting a choir where the singers count on the choir master to lead and direct them as they sing. The medical staff counts on the leader to direct and champion them as they interact and work with clients and develop in their nursing careers. Leaders in a healthcare environment must be ready to learn to communicate clearly and effectively when delegating their duties, giving instructions, reprimanding the subordinates and when carrying out their duties. This is because, communicating clearly and effectively is not only important in improving the performance outputs of the staff but also, it enhances workplace safety and is fundamental in minimizing medical inaccuracies (Klainberg & Dirschel, 2010). Leadership in healthcare has embraced nursing practitioners as potential and capable leaders. According to the American Organization of Nurse Executives (AONE), the main objective of a nurse leader is to offer a favourable environment for positive patient healthcare outcomes. According to AONE (2005), quality leaders in the health sector are professional, they inspire and motivate, they are visionary and they are focused in developing suitable working environments in order to sustain the highest medical standards. They are able to achieve staff and organizational goals and vision by communicating effectively to develop the medical staff and transform the health care organization. In visionary leadership, the leader moves individuals towards attaining a shared vision, directing them where to go but not the means of going there therefore, motivating them. Information is openly shared, therefore, providing others with knowledge power (Cook & Leathard, 2004). However, this paper seeks to show that this kind of leadership is not the only one. In affiliative leadership, the leader establishes connections among individuals which create harmony in the firm. This is a collaborative style that centres on emotional needs rather than work needs (ibid). This type of leadership is more concerned about the emotional well being of the employees. As such, it requires a high degree of emotional intelligence that is one of the key traits of leadership. Democratic leadership on the other hand acts in valuing commitments and inputs via individual participation. A democratic leader listens both to the good and bad news. A democratic leader is always ready to listen to the subordinates and take suggestions from them. In the healthcare industry, this is very important because it the medical staff that interacts with the patients who are the end user of the service. Due to their close interactions, patients are more willing to give honest opinions on the delivery of healthcare in the given facility. In an organization that follows a democratic leadership process, medical staff such as nurses and clinical officers who interact freely with patients will be more willing to share such insights with the facility’s leadership (Stanley, Gannon, Gabuat et al., 2008). As such, democracy in leadership should be upheld by organizations keen to receive feedback and work on it to improve performance. Transformational leadership focuses on transforming an employee from a worker to a valuable team player. Therefore, the leader can influence the way employees think and perceive their work and the organization by developing an ownership attitude. Health workers tend to trust the organization, its mission and are less sceptical about the objectives of the organization and thus work tirelessly to achieve results. This definitely leads to increased organizational performance in terms of quality, patient satisfaction as well as financial performance. In transformational leadership, the leader can stimulate a sturdier sense of commitment from the employees, which brings about positive effect on efficiency and effectiveness of their work and that of the organization (Shirey, 2007). In effective transformation leadership, the leader believes in delegating duties, involving subordinates in critical decisions and exhibiting confidence in their capability to make rational decisions. Directive leadership entails carrying out various departmental activities, which guides and structures the conduct and actions of team members (Northouse, 2009). Firstly, leaders applying directive leadership must establish the needs of the subordinates for information and direction during performance of roles and tasks and offer the required support to meet these needs (ibid). At this juncture, emphasis is placed on timing and the suitability of directive leadership behaviours. There are roles and responsibilities that require structure and guidance during the goal setting phase while there are others that need performance feedback and elucidation in execution time (ibid). Various leadership styles are used in organizations that are meant to produce results. It does not necessarily mean that one type of leadership is better than the other, but the situation and the culture in an organization determines the result brought about by such leadership (Rowitz, 2009). Leadership is pivotal in shaping the trend in the organization. When there is effective leadership, the results are a motivated staff, improved performance and ultimately organizational performance improves. Studies have linked various leadership styles to organizational performance. Authoritative leadership in which the leader has all the authority and makes rules and demands things to be done his or her way is for instance perceived to reduce performance. Laissez faire on the other hand gives employees too much autonomy without limit or coordination. These are not effective leadership styles and can lead to failure in an organization. Conclusion Conclusively, the success of any healthcare organization depends on effective leadership and the relevance of the leader’s values and beliefs to emerging opportunities and limitations facing the organization at a given time. Effective leadership ensures that the leader can adapt to changes and challenges in the contemporary industry environment and knows how to motivate followers and inspire them to take further ownership for their work. The varying leadership models can be applied effectively to enhance results in an organization other than manouver through change. However, the most advocated effective leadership models by various scholars include visionary or transformational leadership and servant leadership. Other models are also effectively applied to achieve results. Normally, effective leadership seeks to empower, motivate, support, encourage, and guide employees towards attaining satisfaction and increase orgnanizational and individual performance. When employees are satisfied and motivated, they tend to increase their performance and hence that of the organization. References American Organization of Nurse Executives. (2005). AONE nurse executive competencies. Nurse Leader, 3, 15-21. Cook, M. & Leathard, H. (2004). Learning for clinical leadership. Journal of Nursing Management, 12, 436–444. Feng H., Jing, F. & Avery, G.C. (2008). Missing Links in Understanding the Relationship between Leadership And Organizational Performance, International Business & Economics Research Journal, 7, (5), 67-76. Klainberg, M., & Dirschel, K.M. (2010). Today's Nursing Leader: Managing, Succeeding, Excelling: Managing, Succeeding, Excelling. New Jersey: Jones & Bartlett Publishers. Northouse, P.G. (2009). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Sydney: SAGE. Rowitz, L. (2009). Public Health Leadership: Putting Principles into Practice. New York: Jones & Bartlett Publishers Schmidt, K. (2006). The Invention of a Nurse Leader. Nurse Leader, pp 34-36. Retrieved from http://elsevierhealthcareers.com/site/8769/Career_Dev/pdfs/PIIS1541461205001990.pdf Shirey, M.R. (2007). Competencies and tips for effective leadership. Journal of Nursing Administration, 37(4), 167-170. Stanley, D. (2011). Clinical Leadership: Innovation Into Action. Sydney: Palgrave Macmillan. Stanley, J., Gannon J., Gabuat J., Hartranft, S., Adams, N., & Mayes, C. (2008). The Clinical Nurse Leader: A catalyst for improving quality and patient safety. Journal of Nursing Management, 16, (6), 614-622. Wang F., Chich-Jen, S. & Mei-Ling, T. (2010). Effect of leadership style on organizational performance as viewed from human resource management strategy, African Journal of Business Management 4, (18), 3924-3936. Read More