Effective Leadership In Healthcare Services: Importance And Key Skills

The Importance of Effective Leadership in Healthcare Services

Effective leaders in healthcare services emphasize constantly that high quality and safe is the top priority. Effective leaders do not ignore their patients and ensure that the voice of patients is continuously heard at every level that is patient experience, needs, concern and feedback whether it is positive or negative. The complete description of effective leaders will be describing in this template. Poor leadership and its consequences will be mentioning that give complete understanding about the pros and cons of leadership in health care.

Leadership is essential in the provision of healthcare. It is important to have the knowledge regarding management. It has been suggested that management is about task while leadership is about perception, skills, knowledge and philosophy. Through understanding the dynamics of negotiation area such as conflict management will help to improve the quality of their relationship and working environment. Leaders in healthcare should be aware about the conflict management (Shanafelt et al., 2015).

Conflict management is the process that enhancing the positive aspect while decreasing the negative aspect in the organization. Leaders must be able to accept their conflict management behavior in the particular situation. To be respected, leaders must react responsibly. It is an important part to develop potential in the process knows how to see conflict and when to grab the opportunity within the situation of conflict before healthy tension develops into overly unruly disorder (Tahir Saeed, et. al., 2014).

Self awareness is an important aspect to be an authentic leader and it requires self improvement, self discovery, renewal and reflection. Self awareness helps to enhance the knowledge and confidence while performing. Leader who has understanding of personal strength are able to maximize their potential. Strength is not enough for self awareness; leaders are required to know about their weaknesses as well (Voss, et. al., 2014).

Effective leaders in healthcare require knowing how to communicate with all elements involving each aspect such as employee, manager, clients, patients and staff. It can be assumed as an important skill in the portfolio of skills and experience. There are mainly two types of communication verbal communication and nonverbal communication (Nagel & Andenoro, 2012). There are so many things and discussion occurred in health and care organization which required effective communication and leaders play a lead role to describe future goals of an organization to the staff members. Effective communication skills help leaders to convey message, information and guidance in an appropriate way.

Key Skills for Effective Leadership in Healthcare Services

Leader must be active in decision making because so many activities depend on the decision of leader and if leader would be unable to make decision fast, organization may lead in to failure situation.  Decision making is conceivably more essential to leaders than strategic planning. Effective decision making in the context of right way may lead organization in the correct path and higher authority would be free from unnecessary situations (Trastek, et. al., 2014).

Leaders should be inspiration of others staff member and to get respected leaders should give respect for others. Attitude of the leader put impact on the culture, environment and mood of the healthcare organization. Respect for others enhances the positive thinking in the workplace and the chances of conflicts will be reduced. This attitude of leader will bring the cooperation within the organization (Barr & Dowding, 2015).

The attitude of leader will be contagious. Cooperative attitude of leader brings best outcomes for organization. Due to clarity about the task of cooperative leaders, employees know what need to be done.  The meaning of cooperative leader is not only about working together in harmony but also about searching the best path to a solution (Lee, et. al., 2014).   

Leader of the healthcare should be committed with their value towards the organization. Honesty, passion, innovation, courage, trust and enthusiasm are the core values of leader which make leader trustworthy towards the organization. These core values help everyone to make a healthcare organization to engage with heart and soul (Lee, et. al., 2014).

Quality assurance, innovation and patient care can give quality outcome. Cooperative leader knows when it is required to polite over awkward situation or rough to get back quality outcomes. High quality, safe and compassionate is top priority for effective leader (Breugom, et. al., 2014).

Leadership skills is most important in healthcare leadership because it contains so many skills in it such as communication skill, decision making, creativity, motivation and delegating which helps organization to move on correct path. Assertive communication skills of leaders are important to carry out an effective healthcare operation. Time and technology has changed and so many advanced technologies took place of an old one. Effective skills of leaders help to understand them efficiently. There are some other operational skills which is necessary to the health care’s leaders work include patient information, measurement of team performance, motivation, logistic and research, maintain awareness of advances in medicine, health insurance changes and financing option. Strong interpersonal skills of leaders help to encourage workplace unity and limit conflict. For instance, good leaders of healthcare should encourage the staff to observe the issues of patients and guide them that how they can resolve their issues efficiently. These strategies of good leadership will lead to enhanced satisfaction of patient (Gopee & Galloway, 2017).  

The Impact of Poor Leadership on Healthcare Organizations

A leadership skill makes a difference to leadership in the health care context. Clinical leadership is not only the entire domain of certain professional group while every member of the health care team is considered as the potential leader. Communication skill, decision making, motivation are some of the major skills of leaders which is totally differed from other attributes such as value, attitude and knowledge. There is a variety in the styles of leaders. The skill of an effective leader is able to compete in ways that increase rather than spoil co-operation. With the help of effective skills, leaders are able to ensure that junior staff is clear about what they are need to do, effective feedback on performance, involving appreciation. Leaders of healthcare insist on transparency in terms to serious complaints, accidents and issues and they motivate their junior staff to learn from mistakes. The attribute of effective skill of leaders help to them to act effectively to deal with unwanted circumstances, inappropriate behavior shown by staff or patients.

Skills attribute help a leader become effective because due to effective skills leader can convey message efficiently. To lead is to guide and to manage. Ultimately, an aim of any healthcare organization depends on the provided quality of patient health care through effective nursing leadership. Empowered leaders are eager to started evidence based practice. They are highly enthusiastic, committed and well informed to organizational aims and thus they are able to deliver effective services and care to patients (Groves, et. al., 2016).

Good leadership is considered as a light whereas poor leadership is like the shadow which darkening many aspects of the organization. Employees are aimless without any guidance and direction. When leaders of organization are unable to provide the direction, motivation, training and coaching for staff, the culture of organization often suffer. Poor leadership influences negative effects not only the staff but also the organization. Poor leadership directly effects the healthcare organization. Due to poor leadership, staff of the health care organization cannot get proper training towards performing task which reduces the consumers of healthcare organization and the fame of healthcare organization may get badly influenced (Munir, et. al., 2012). Ineffective leadership may bring the situation of bad financial result. To optimize, sales and production, organization needs effective involvement of employees to their jobs. Poor leaders do not encourage staff members to attain the goal timely and do not motivate or inspire to staff members to deliver best services to the patients. Lack of training and development programs and right guidance can make patients unsatisfied and unsatisfied consumer does not get back and recommend to others for the same organization. Poor leadership impacts every part of the organization. Poor leadership in the organization can lead scaling issues, low performance of employee, reduced engagement and so on. The impact of healthcare organization when leadership is poor includes financial lose, low employee dissatisfaction, improper services, unpredictable business performance, erosion of work ethics, misunderstanding between employees and lack of vision (Taplin, et. al., 2013). Ascribed to poor leadership, health care organization can face the issue of high turnover. Workers of an organization who are not motivated and fed up from poor culture start looking for other jobs (NHS Leadership Academy, 2013). This downward spiral brings the struggle situation for the company when company loses its top performers and experienced employees. In that case organization must replace them with new hires which is not necessary that they can do work as them.

Leaders with poor skill causes a wide gap in the making of strategy, the work process, the communication between departments and the ability to the strategy of execute. Cognitive gaps take place as well in the organization because they only appreciate and like those people who are agree on their decision and think like themselves, for instance the setting of homogeneous team causes cognitive gaps in the making of strategy and capability gaps lies in strategy execution. Huge gaps between execution and strategy influence the healthcare organization. Poor leadership of leaders feels employees of an organization stressful and lack of trust. Due to over promise, postponing decision and worst reaction influence the organization badly and the workers of employee gets de-motivated. The image of and health care organization get influenced worst when the leaders of organization would unable to accomplish the task and handle the situations. Execution gaps and communication gaps is done due to poor leadership (McCauley & McCall, 2014).

Poor leadership impacts on the way off improvement of the staff within the group, where the position of employee remains same performance till management is taken action to solve the issue of leadership. Most of the employees of healthcare are left wondering if the progress of employees is at all in the list of poor leaders. Poor leader starts to rival their style of business decision and managing people. Healthcare organization gets influenced by the environment of mediocrity. Due to this environment, the cost goes higher and quality of services goes slow. Improper services give result of high complaints of customer (Fitzgerald, et. al., 2013). Poor leadership will also cause turnover for the talented employees, where experienced employee will give up organization very soon and switch to another organization where they can get what they want. On the other hand, due to lack of good leadership, healthcare organization will have a big un-satisfaction by the lack of performance of employees. Poor leadership is not only affect the single area but also impact the entire organization hugely. Low morale is also considered as the consequences of poor leadership. If the employees of the healthcare organization is not satisfies with their jobs, they would not be able to make clients satisfied. Poor communication of leaders can lead clients and employees in the situation of low morality. Poor leadership leads employee in the level of frustration where the working style of employee influence and the services does not reach at that level where it should be. Good leaders are the backbone of the organization because they handle situation effectively even in absence of high management (NHS Leadership Academy, 2011).

Three consequences

1-Poor leaders influence team performance

Productivity of the employee has to suffer due to lack of good leaders. Employee of the company will not do work effectively due to lack of guidance which may lead organization in the worst situation and the goodwill of the company influenced badly. Less efforts and communication with team member bring the situation of less productivity in health care organization (Mason, et. al., 2013).

2- Organization development suffer with poor leadership

Healthcare organization is totally depending upon the effective leadership. Poor leadership can be the hurdle of development of organization. Poor leadership is unable to identify the potential among their employees. If one of the employee of the organization works on a team where they are not motivated to enhance their skills, in that case work of employee may instantly become stagnant. If employees of the health care organization are motivated to explore their strength and work on their deficiency. if this practice is accepted by healthcare organization over a period of several years, it can be imagined that how much productivity will  be disappeared in that first situation or scenario in the comparison of second (Stoll & Foster-Turner, 2010).

3- Turnover of employees at other level will enhance

It has been observed that most of the employees of the company do not lose the job just because of bad environment. They leave their job because of a poor set with the leader. Due to losing experienced employees, organization’s work will be influenced. If one employee switches the company for grabbing other opportunities, other may be encouraged do to same (Daft, 2012).

There is various ways such as models, tests, theories and a principle to study a leader. Leadership assessment is important for an organization because it helps to promote effective leadership. Knowledge of vision and mission is necessary aspect of strategic leadership. Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, Fiedler’s Contingency Model, Leadership Grid, Vroom-Jago Contingency Model and Tuckman’s Group Development Model are the leadership assessment tool.  These all models have their own style and strategy. It helps healthcare organization to make services better. Due to leadership assessment tool, job of leaders can be depicted as a task oriented leader (Flow psychology, 2016). Leadership assessment tool helps to understand the quality of effective leader and promote efficiency of good leadership. The effective leader should be rationale, relational, practical and directional. It facilitates to know the capabilities of leader that brings much success through job experience (Melnyk, et. al. 2015). Work environment, communication skill, workplace challenges and leadership skills will improve via leadership assessment tool.

The Myers-Briggs type indicator (MBTI) is a theory of personality framework that facilitates leaders with task or work with conflict management, career development, team building and placement of jobs.

MBTI helps to create an effective interview session. Leaders or managers can be hired appropriately because asking right and relevant question facilities to know the quality of hiring leader. It aids in building effective team. There is a lot of employee who are working in a different designation and within team. It is necessary for the leader to know the different personalities within team; MBTI is an assessment tool which helps leaders to know the capability for handling team efficiently. It is a tool which is being used by many companies to assess their current and potential employees. This tool endeavors to be generally neutral and neglecting negative personality traits such as neuroticism. MBTI improve communication and increase the productivity and self awareness. It helps to understand assumption when interrupting actions of others.

MBTI consumes a lot of time while there are free online test available and many companies prefer their analysis from professional company. It costs money and there are several companies who have to give paid packages for assessment. It contains personality test which is not possible to get succeed every time. Personality test cannot give a practical knowledge of working in healthcare organization.  It can provide a good estimate but is not a final verdict as compared to the abilities of the potential employees. This learning assessment can be rigid and insensitive. It forces to try predict others behavior. Reliability of Myers Briggs is low. 

Conclusion

It has been concluded that leadership is essential for every business whether it is corporate or healthcare because leadership gives support to analyze the situation of particular business. Knowledge of leadership regarding conflict management and decision making has been described widely. Along with that the skills, attributes and values of leadership in healthcare has been described. Poor leadership and its impact on organization have been mentioned in this template. To improve the leadership, assessment tool- myers-briggs type indicator has been chosen and its strength and weaknesses have been mentioned.

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