Leadership in healthcare education
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Leadership in healthcare education Christie van Diggele1,2*, Annette Burgess2,3, Chris Roberts2,3 and Craig Mellis4
Abstract Effective leadership is a complex and highly valued component of healthcare education, increasingly recognised as essential to the delivery of high standards of education, research and clinical practice. To meet the needs of healthcare in the twenty-first century, competent leaders will be increasingly important across all health professions, including allied health, nursing, pharmacy, dentistry, and medicine. Consequently, incorporation of leadership training and development should be part of all health professional curricula. A new type of leader is emerging: one who role models the balance between autonomy and accountability, emphasises teamwork, and focuses on improving patient outcomes. Healthcare education leaders are required to work effectively and collaboratively across discipline and organisational boundaries, where titles are not always linked to leadership roles. This paper briefly considers the current theories of leadership, and explores leadership skills and roles within the context of healthcare education. Keywords: Leadership, Leadership theory, Teamwork, Role models, Management, Organisational goals
Background Leadership has many interpretations, and has been likened to “the abominable snowman whose footprints are everywhere but who is nowhere to be seen” [1]. It is an influential process, through which groups of people work towards the achievement of a common goal [2]. Leaders have the ability to shape and influence their followers’ values, attitudes and behaviours through a dyadic relationship. They are able to gain and enlist the support of others in order to achieve shared goals [3, 4]. Effective leadership is a complex and highly valued component of healthcare education, increasingly recognised as essential to the delivery of high standards of education, research and clinical practice [3]. In order to achieve more effective outcomes, leadership and management skills are now an expectation and requirement in the healthcare education setting [5]. However, leaders within healthcare * Correspondence: [email protected] 1 The University of Sydney, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Edward Ford Building A27, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia 2 The University of Sydney, Faculty of Medicine and Health, Sydney Health Professional Education Research Network, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia Full list of author information is available at the end of the article
education should not rely on formal positions of authority, but instead, utilise their own appropriate leadership qualities irrespective of their level within the organisation [3]. A new type of leader is emerging: one who role models the balance between autonomy and accountability, emphasises teamwork, and focuses on improving patient outcomes [3]. This paper briefly considers the theories of leadership, and explores leadership skills and roles within the c
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