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This paper aims to describe the design and evaluation of a pilot leadership development programme for infection prevention and control (IPAC) professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic. The programme’s aim was to improve IPAC knowledge and capacity in the health-care system by developing the leadership skills and capacities of novice and advanced Infection Control Professionals (ICPs), to respond flexibly, and competently, in their expanding and ever-changing roles.

The leadership programme was piloted with seven nurses, who were part of a clinical nursing team in New South Wales, Australia, over a 12-month period between 2021 and 2022. The programme was designed using a leadership development framework underpinned by transformational leadership theory, practice development approaches and collaborative and experiential learning. These principles were applied during programme design, with components adapted to learners’ interests and regular opportunities provided for collaboration in active learning and critical reflection on workplace experiences.

The authors’ evaluation suggests that the programme was feasible, acceptable and considered to be effective by this cohort. Moreover, participants valued the opportunities to engage in active and experience-based learning with peers, and with the support of senior and experienced ICPs. The action learning sets were well-received and allowed participants to critically reflect on and learn from one another’s experiences. The mentoring programme allowed them to apply their developing leadership skills to real workplace challenges that they face.

Despite a small sample size, the authors’ results provide empirical evidence about the effectiveness of using a practice development approach for strengthening ICP leadership capacity. The success of this pilot study has paved the way for a bigger second cohort of participants in the programme, for which further evaluation will be conducted.

The success of this leadership programme reflects both the need for leadership development in the IPAC professions and the applicability of this approach, with appropriate facilitation, for other professions and organizations.

ICP leadership programmes have not been previously reported in the literature. This pilot study builds on the growing interest in IPAC leadership to foster health system responsiveness and change.

Value-based healthcare suggested using patient-reported information to complement the information available in the medical records and administrative healthcare data to provide insights into patients' perceptions of satisfaction, experience and self-reported outcomes. However, little attention has been devoted to questions about factors fostering the use of patient-reported information to create value at the system level.

Action research design is carried out to elicit possible triggers using the case of patient-reported experience and outcome data for breast cancer women along their clinical pathway in the clinical breast network of Tuscany (Italy).

The case shows that communication and engagement of multi-stakeholder representation are needed for making information actionable in a multi-level, multispecialty care pathway organized in a clinical network; moreover, political and managerial support from higher level governance is a stimulus for legitimizing the use for quality improvement. At the organizational level, an external facilitator disclosing and discussing real-world uses of collected data is a trigger to link measures to action. Also, clinical champion(s) and clear goals are key success factors. Nonetheless, resource munificent and dedicated information support tools together with education and learning routines are enabling factors.

Current literature focuses on key factors that impact performance information use often considering unidimensional performance and internal sources of information. The use of patient/user-reported information is not yet well-studied especially in supporting quality improvement in multi-stakeholder governance. The work appears relevant for the implications it carries, especially for policymakers and public sector managers when confronting the gap in patient-reported measures for quality improvement.

This paper aims to introduce the Theory of Ethical Leadership as a possible means of actualizing the mission and vision statements of the American Physical Therapy Association as well as individual professional objectives. Specific examples of how this can be applied directly to the profession of physical therapy will be presented.

Leadership influences can profoundly affect a profession, an organization and an individual. This has led to exploring which leadership style would be most effective in moving their organization forward. Through a review of the literature, this viewpoint paper compares leadership theories present in the health-care literature, as well as why they may fall short of actualizing the mission and vision statements of the American Physical Therapy Association as well as individual professional objectives.

Most research has separated ethics from leadership, but all agree that to be successful, the leader needs to exhibit a strong moral compass and demonstrate positive ethical behavior. At the intersection of ethics and leadership is the emerging theory of ethical leadership. Ethical leadership is based on the premise that employees look outside of themselves for ethical guidance and that leaders have an opportunity to provide this moral awareness by making an ethical message sufficiently salient to be recognized in the organizational context as well as allowing the leader to stand out against an ethically neutral ground.

This paper is an original work and has not been published previously, either in whole or in part. Additionally, this paper is not under consideration for publication by any other journal.

The purpose of this paper is to conceptualise a research study to examine leadership as a relational concept between leaders and followers. The context is within surgical practice examining how motivated consultant surgeons are to lead junior doctors and which type of leadership style they use. From a follower perspective, the motivation of junior doctors will be explored, and their leadership preferences will be correlated with those of the actual style of consultant surgeons.

In this paper, the authors provide a detailed description of the methods for an international quantitative research study, exploring sequentially how motivated consultant surgeons are to lead and how leadership styles impact on the motivation of junior doctors. The objectives, method and data collection of this study are explained, and the justification for each method is described.

The findings for this outline study illustrate how critical it is to redefine leadership as a relational concept of leader and follower to ensure adequate support is provided to the next generation of consultant surgeons. Without consideration of the relational model of leadership, attrition will continue to be a critical issue in the medical workforce.

The research limitations are that this is a proposed quantitative study due to the need to collect a large sample of data from surgeons across the UK, Egypt and Germany. This research will have immense implications in developing new knowledge of leadership as a relational concept in medicine and healthcare. This study additionally will impact on how leadership is conceptualised in the curriculum for specialist surgical practice.

The practical implications are that relational leadership is supportive of generating a supportive leadership culture in the workplace and generating more effective teamwork.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study of its kind to look at a relational model of leadership in surgical practice between consultant surgeons and surgical trainees. This study will also identify any specific country differences between the UK, Germany and Egypt.

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has challenged leadership in hospitals worldwide. The experiences of leadership during the pandemic changed leadership significantly. This study aims to describe nurse leaders’ perceptions of what future leadership in hospital settings in the post-pandemic era needs to be like.

A qualitative descriptive study was used. A total of 20 nurse leaders from the Finnish central hospital were interviewed from June to October 2021. The data were analysed using inductive content analysis.

The analysis revealed five main categories describing nurse leaders’ perceptions of future leadership in hospital settings in the post-pandemic era: digitalisation and hybrid working culture, development of sustainable working conditions, moving smoothly to the post-pandemic era, dissolution of traditional regimes of organisation and flexibility in leadership.

In the post-pandemic era, the constantly changing demands and challenges currently facing healthcare systems have significantly increased the complexity of hospital organisations. This requires critical evaluation and change to traditional leadership. Enhancing flexibility and authenticity in leadership, strengthening competencies, implementing a wide range of digital resources and increasing the appeal of the nursing profession to build the next generation of nurses – all of these are needed to provide sustainability in future healthcare.

The results identify the critical points of leadership that need to be developed for future challenges and for maintaining a sufficient supply of qualified professionals. Acting on this information will enhance flexibility in organisations and lead to acceleration of changes and the development of new kinds of leadership in the future

In 2014, the Health Service Executive (HSE) in Ireland published its Safeguarding National Policy and Procedures (HSE, 2014). Under this policy, all agencies providing services through the social care directorate must ensure a robust culture of safeguarding is in place. Concurrent to this has been a move in social policy, practice and research to include the voice of the service user, both in terms of planning and reviewing services. (e.g. HIQA, 2012; Flanagan, 2020) This article examines whether service users with intellectual disabilities want to be involved in safeguarding plans and, if so, how that can be supported. Using focus groups service users demonstrated their knowledge of safeguarding as a concept, how they felt about the issues raised, and, crucially what they felt they would like to see happen next in addressing a safeguarding incident or concern. The focus groups took place in a large organisation providing residential services, day services, independent living supports and clinical supports. Engaging service users in planning and responding to safeguarding concerns is a fundamental principle of human rights legislation, both nationally and internationally. This study aims to highlight that it is both possible and desirable to engage fully with service users using a range of simple communication tools. For this to be implemented as routine practice in services providing support for people with intellectual disabilities, authentic leadership is required. Services will need to devote time, human resources and will need champions to get on board with the necessary culture shift.

Qualitative research examined peoples’ “lived experiences” and knowledge of safeguarding. Focus groups were used with thematic analysis highlighting common themes throughout, as guided by Braun and Clarke (2006). There were two objectives: Objective 1: measuring participant’s understanding of the safeguarding process. Objective 2: compare the potential differences between safeguarding plans devised by the participants in the focus groups, versus plans devised by trained designated officers responsible for safeguarding within the service.

Four principal themes emerged – 1. participants understanding of safeguarding; 2. restorative justice; 3. consent; and 4. high levels of emotional intelligence and compassion. Participants demonstrated that they could and did want to be involved in safeguarding planning and showed little variation in the plans compared to those completed by trained staff.

The study was completed with a small sample size in a single service in one area. It may not represent the lived experiences and knowledge of safeguarding in other services and indeed other countries. The video may have led to some priming; for instance, the Gardai in the footage being called may have resulted in the participants stating that contacting Gardai should be part of the plan. After the video was shown, there was a heightened awareness of safeguarding. This may indicate that participants are aware of safeguarding but unsure of the terminology or how to discuss it out of context.

For this to be implemented as routine practice in services providing support for people with intellectual disabilities, authentic leadership is required. Services will need to devote time and human resources and will need champions in the safeguarding arena to get on board with the shift in culture required.

While there did not appear to be many barriers to listening to participants, to progress this as a standard practice a very real shift in culture will be needed. It is important for practitioners to ask: Is the vulnerable person aware that this concern has been raised? What is known of the vulnerable person’s wishes in relation to the concern? To truly engage with service users in safeguarding plans these questions need to be more than a “tick box” exercise. This process needs to be fully embedded into a culture that promotes a person-centred, rights-based, inclusive approach as a standard rather than a one-off project. Some structural changes will be needed regarding the time given to designated officers, and what resources they can access (such as speech and language therapy). However, the real difference will be made by services operating authentic leadership that champions engagement on this scale, to fully answer the question posed by the researchers at the beginning of this report, “Whose safeguarding is it anyway?”

There appears to be little evidence of service user engagement in terms of planning and processing safeguarding responses, either in research or anecdotally.

The anticipation of organizational change and the transition process often creates uncertainty for employees and can lead to stress and anxiety. It is therefore essential for all organizations, especially those that operate in high-demand working environments, to support the well-being of staff throughout the change process.

Research on how employees respond to the organizational change of relocating to a new work space is limited. To fill this gap in the research, we present a case study examining the well-being of clinical and health care employees before and after a disruptive change: relocation in workplace facilities. In addition, factors that enabled successful change in this high-stress, high-demand working environment were investigated. Interviews were conducted with 20 participants before the relocation and 11 participants after relocation. Following an inductive approach, data were analyzed using thematic analysis to identify key themes.

Our findings suggest that a supportive team, inclusive leadership and a psychologically safe environment, may buffer negative employee well-being outcomes during disruptive organizational change.

This research contributes to the literature on successful organizational change in health care by highlighting the resources which support well-being throughout the change process and enabling the successful transition to a new facility.

This paper investigates the change talk (CT) strategies of the motivational interviewing (MI) technique and their relevance in achieving change goals within communities of practice (CoP), focusing on addressing real-world problems in today's complex world.

We employ a literature review and conceptual analysis to study the interactions and potential areas of complement between CT, MI and CoP theories.

This paper combines CT, MI and CoP theories to develop an integrated model called Facilitative Change Talk Leadership (FCTL).

This paper provides an innovative model (FCTL) to inform leadership educators about facilitating communities of practice. We provide a hypothetical case study to suggest how FCTL might foster collaborative inquiry and resilience amidst complex challenges. This case study illustrates a practical pathway for leadership educators and community practitioners to use this model in their own contexts.

This study aims to examine nurses’ motivation for leadership and explore important challenges nurses face in leadership positions.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 nurses in leading positions. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data.

Nurse leaders are recruited from clinical settings, and the transition process from clinical nurse to leader is demanding. Their motivation for leadership seems to be in human values and caring for others. Lack of strategic focus might be a challenge. Nurses in leadership positions emphasize the importance of good relationships with the staff and require an increased focus on strategic leadership.

Studies have revealed the frustration associated with the role of a nursing leader. According to an evaluation of a clinical leadership development programme, nurses were found to be inadequately prepared for their roles. They had not experienced positive role models, they felt overwhelmed and they regarded colleagues and nursing management structures as unsupportive. There is a need for further research into effective measures to strengthen nurse managers.

The role of leaders has changed over time. There are now increasing requirements and objectives with regard to laws, action plans, improvement projects and cost-effectiveness. A nurse leader has both many tasks and great responsibility. Good leadership relies on skilled nurse leaders meeting statutory requirements in patient care and delivering good quality and patient-safe services. Engaging in process-oriented guidance, such as mentoring, is one way to become more aware of oneself as a professional leader (Mathena, 2002).

By identifying and understanding the specific challenges that nurse leaders face, this study can contribute to the development of interventions and strategies to improve leadership practices, thereby enhancing organizational effectiveness.

This paper aims to introduce two draft concepts, spiritual self-managed teams and holacracy, as solutions for reducing the friction within neo-enterprises and the issues of hierarchical leadership dynamics and mindset present within orthodox organizations’ structures and communications and they help businesses to grow further, achieve their goals, and become self-sustainable.

To counter the popular maxim, “management and leadership are what cause many problems for organizations and its people,” the authors argue for six novel propositions constructed around the two draft concepts following a critical review and meta-analysis of notable business/leadership cases, presented in a narrative-based descriptive style.

This article presents a list of novel propositions for entrepreneurs, managers and researchers who may investigate further and possibly test it in organizations. The findings merit opening new frontiers for perceiving leadership, group dynamics and decision-making in organizations using spiritual ideas.

Adopting the paper’s content can benefit organizations’ management, efficiency and sustainability. Implementation of the two novel concepts – spiritual self-managed teams and holacracy – and their combination can significantly reduce friction within organizations’ structures and communications.