Leadership Styles in Healthcare
In the current clinical settings, quality leadership strategies are essential because they ensure an effective healthcare system that seeks to provide consistently safe and effective care. When it comes to healthcare, policymakers try to achieve their goals by influencing the medical practitioner’s behavior. It is essential for clinical practitioners to recognize leadership styles that enable them to develop their skills to become better leaders and improve clinical outcomes, and delivery of better healthcare (Alilyyani, Wong, & Cummings, 2018). This study aims to explore the various leadership theories such as transformational, behavioral, and transactional styles of leadership within the clinical setting and highlights their impact on the provision of quality healthcare.
Transformational leadership theory involves building a relationship between the healthcare leader, and the subordinates, in which they motivate each other to higher levels that result in adding value to the system congruence between the followers and the leaders. Consequently, the transformational theory motivates healthcare practitioners to adjust their opinions, expectations and helps them embrace a strong vision and personality (Alilyyani, Wong, & Cummings, 2018). Therefore, transformational leadership impacts the followers’ satisfaction levels and commitment towards organizational targets.
Behavioral leadership theory provides healthcare practitioners with a chance to address critical questions that improve health care delivery. By considering the behaviors of the patients, clinicians are able to increase patient engagement in a given behavior. The behavioral theory helps the healthcare professionals to better inform the patient, thereby sharpening the patient’s perception of their illness, and refer the patients to better treatment centers (McCay, Lyles, & Larkey, 2018). Additionally, behavioral leadership theory emphasizes coaching the patient to be the key player towards their recovery, while the family members play as the team members, and the entire team helps to minimize the health risks. The healthcare practitioner assesses the current ability to embrace behavioral changes that improve the targeted outcome. For example, the healthcare practitioner could assess if the patient with smoking addiction is willing to quit smoking and adjust the clinical goals towards helping the patient quit smoking.
Transactional leadership theory involves exchange procedures whereby the clinical practitioners agree to the request of the leaders to make commitment and enthusiasm to task objectives within the clinical setting. The objective of the transactional leader is to create a path that will help them accomplish the clinical objectives, as well as eradicate potential barriers within the system (McCay, Lyles, & Larkey, 2018). Additionally, a transactional leader is tasked with the duty of inspiring the people they lead to achieve scheduled organizational targets. Therefore, the leader focuses on improving the internal player’s performance towards the required tasks for the institution to reach its desired goals. Transactional leadership involves both corrective approaches and conditional rewards such as clarification of required tasks geared towards specific goals, and the necessary incentives required.
In conclusion, leadership takes practice. Therefore, leadership is not a role that is mastered once without practice. Healthcare leaders must ensure that they are well versed with the numerous challenges they face in their job and should not rush to solve them. Different clinical leadership styles should be combined because each has its advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, it is important for clinicians to develop diverse leadership skills because they encounter many varying situations, and no particular leadership style is suitable for all. Additionally, the application of varying leadership styles seems to be more effective than just utilizing one style. Thus, clinicians should be flexible in their leadership styles and adapt them accordingly.
References
Alilyyani, B., Wong, C. A., & Cummings, G. (2018). Antecedents, mediators, and outcomes of authentic leadership in healthcare: A systematic review. International journal of nursing studies, 83, 34-64.
McCay, R., Lyles, A. A., & Larkey, L. (2018). Nurse leadership style, nurse satisfaction, and patient satisfaction: a systematic review. Journal of nursing care quality, 33(4), 361-367.