In healthcare, leadership is all about leading teams and individuals. The primary challenge in healthcare leadership is delivering and maintaining high quality, safe, and compassionate healthcare at all times. Ensuring that the right leadership style is used at all times is essential as it shapes organizational culture, effective strategies, professional behavior, and quality is upheld (Scott, Mannion, Davies, & Marshall, 2013). In healthcare, leaders ensure direction, commitment, and alignment. The right direction ensures confidence and agreement. Also, alignment relates to effective coordination and integration while commitment involves taking responsibility.
Two theories of leadership that can be used in healthcare include situational leadership and transformational leadership theories. Notably, the latter goes beyond supervision, team performance, and organization. It is about creating a sense of mission among people. Transformational leadership requires that healthcare leaders communicate their mission and vision to their subordinates in a meaningful and exciting manner so as to inspire performance beyond the expected levels. In situational leadership, effective leadership is task orientated, and a leader is he who rises to the task, adapts to the situation so as to influence the ability, and willingness of the people. It is important to note that modern healthcare services are diverse, drastically changing, patient-oriented, and include new interventions and treatments. A situational leader ought to be resonant and put the needs of their teams and those of their clients into consideration (Laschinger, Wong, Cummings, & Grau, 2014). He or she should encourage his team to consider the needs of the patients and consider quality at all times.
References
Laschinger, H. K. S., Wong, C. A., Cummings, G. G., & Grau, A. L. (2014). Resonant leadership and workplace empowerment: The value of positive organizational cultures in reducing workplace incivility. Nursing Economics, 32(1), 5.
Scott, T. I. M., Mannion, R., Davies, H. T., & Marshall, M. N. (2013). Implementing culture change in health care: Theory and practice. International Journal for Quality in Health Care, 15(2), 111-118.
