Is leadership a useful concept in healthcare? An essay

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to stimulate thinking about the relative importance of leaders and leadership or teamworking and teamsmanship in promoting progressive improvements in health care provision. The author argues that much more emphasis should be placed on the purpose and functioning of health care teams than on developing traditional heroic leaders. The attributes that the author has come to see as important in leaders within healthcare teams have been described. Some of these are far from glamorous and include good organisation, hard work and self-discipline.

Design/methodology/approach

Over the past five years, the author has read widely on leadership, as well as on “lean” philosophies of working. During that time the author has tried to introduce changes to improve the working practices of their inpatient care team. The essay was written on the basis of reflection and discussion. This is a free-form article, in the old style of essay writing. This format is ideal for stimulating high-level thinking in readers’ minds.

Findings

There should be far more emphasis on training in and development of teams, team-working and teamsmanship than on individual leaders and leadership skills in health care.

Originality/value

The author hopes this essay is original, stimulating thinking, expressed in a readable format, and that it will prove valuable to those responsible for making improvements in health care provision at both the macro-and microlevels.

Citation

Caldwell, G. (2014), "Is leadership a useful concept in healthcare? An essay", Leadership in Health Services, Vol. 27 No. 3, pp. 185-192. https://doi.org/10.1108/LHS-03-2014-0017