Clinical Leadership - Assignment Example

 Introduction to clinical leadership Health care services and the role medical practitioners have become largely complex today. There is increasing demand on healthcare professionals and medical supervisors in charge of nursing teams to deliver efficient services and tune their leadership skills to meet the changing needs of the operating environment. The complexity of handling teams becomes even more tough and challenging in the face of rapidly changing technology and medical advances that trigger widespread changes in the methodology adopted by clinicians today. The survival and successful implementation of new technology and development within the health care centres cannot be accomplished without suitable leadership strategies and peer coaching to adapt to the changing operating requirements. In my role as a team leader in the corporate health board I came across many learning situations and instances that greatly helped me in identifying my strengths in dealing with people and situations, and realizing my personal weaknesses that made me hesitant to make a proactive approach at work. During my tenure in the corporate health board as a team leader I had exposure to managerial concepts and leadership qualities that are required to perform a task more effectively. As a team leader I have to be in touch with all aspects of the team work in addition to coordinating with my supervisors, allocating responsibilities to my team members, motivating the team, monitoring their work and resolving issues. Each of these activities is different from the other and requires different levels of consideration and attention. My role as team leader provided me with plenty of opportunity to manage team issues, plan and coordinate activities with the rest of the team members and develop leadership qualities. The application of clinical leadership in the practical environment has numerous benefits and the need for developing leadership qualities among clinicians is increasingly being felt in the current scenario. The adoption and effective development of leadership skills in clinical health care environment contributes to efficient patient care and improving staff motivation. Clinical supervision or leadership provides a “framework for self-regulation and developing informed deliberative practice, emphasizing not only self-monitoring through reflection on action, but also reflection in action” (Basford & Slevin, 2003). Assuming the skills and implementing clinical leadership in real life situations is far more challenging and exciting as I found in my present role. This involves taking responsibility of the development of the team and contributing to the team morale through increased motivation levels. Personal reflection and critical analysis of the situations is vital in improving the leadership practice and helps in identifying the areas where improvement is required and how this improvement can be initiated. The Gibb’s model of reflection was very effective in analyzing the role of clinical leadership and team management in practical health care environment. The Gibb’s model comprises of six stages of reflection that helps individuals in analyzing the actual state of affairs within the organization. The first stage focuses on describing the events that needs to be analyzed and resolved. This is followed by a reflection on the individual feelings associated with the events and subsequent evaluation of the events that happened. The fourth stage involves breaking down of the events into smaller components for analysis to investigate what exactly went wrong. The analysis of events provides a detailed insight into the situation and how it could have been improved. The identification of steps and strategies that could have made a difference and led to more effective performance is critical in improving the understanding of the overall situation and learning through insights. The conclusion is followed by an action plan for future rectification and change in strategies for desired outcomes. The essay provides a comprehensive investigation and analysis of events using the Gibb’s model that I encountered during the course of my work as a corporate team leader within the health board. Evidence of leadership in the clinical environment has been limited owing to the lack of adequate role models in this field and shortage of leadership capability and confidence among clinicians (NHS, 2008). There are very few health care centres that display a strong leadership practice that helps in promoting the values and principles they represent. In such instances the organizations are very clear about what kind of leadership practice they are promoting and the strategies adopted to develop such traits and individuals within the organization. Managerial attitude and strained relationship with team members are often the biggest impediments to increasing motivation levels among employees. Managers often lack the sensitivity to handle employee issues or team performance related problems. One of the reasons behind this is the lack of perception of real issues that direct employee behaviour and performance. Often the managers tend to criticize and impose their authority in getting a job done without much thought to the efforts placed by the employees in getting the work done. The paper provides a reflection on the theories that I have learnt in the clinical leadership module and highlights the application of these theories in practical environment. As a team leader of the Health Board in the corporate sector, I have come across major issues and challenges in implementing effective leadership strategies to increase the efficiency and performance of my team. The health team members are located across various sites that pose several challenges in improving team performance and applying suitable motivational strategies to deliver the expected outcomes. The course in clinical leadership has improved my perception of situations and has enhanced my capabilities as a leader. The various strategies and theories that have influenced my leadership skills are outlined and discussed in the subsequent paragraphs. Using the Gibb’s model the paper begins with the identification of the problem situations followed by personal reflection of events and existing practices. Based on the personal reflection the paper evaluates the situation and analyses the contexts to conclude on recommended practices and suggested action plan for effective practice of clinical leadership. Complexities of team membership Various research studies have explored the impact of clinical leadership on team performance and effective health care services provided by the organization. “The best and most cost effective outcomes for patients and clients are achieved when professionals work together, learn together, engage in clinical audit of outcomes together and generate innovation to ensure progress in practice and service (RCN, 2006). Team working within the clinical organization plays a significant role in providing efficient health care system that results in reduced cost and hospitalization time, increased safety and innovation in the area of patient care. This type of efficiency in service is only possible through a well managed network and coordination among team members who are highly motivated and dedicated to the work objectives. Forming well-structured and effective teams is one of the biggest challenges faced by clinicians at workplace. The research report by RCN (2004) provides that effective teams are those that “have clarity and commitment to team objectives; fully involve all team members in the processes and activities of the team; focus on quality through regular interview and feedback on their performance in relation both to their team processes and achievement of their objectives; support creativity and innovation.” The practical issues facing team management and effective team work were more pronounced since team members were located at various sites. Managing a virtual team created increased difficulties in coordinating and communicating ideas, views, and action plans. Managing people who are located in different geographical areas and time zones is an uphill task. Managers who are effective in getting the work in conventional organizations also feel at loss in a virtual setup where most of the team members have not met each other and yet they need to work as a unit. A virtual team with members from different time zones makes it difficult to organize a meeting and hold discussions at inappropriate times for some individuals. An essential requisite for managing virtual teams is to realize and understand the challenges faced by managers in ensuring smooth communication and collaboration between the team members. Often the dynamics involved in the process of managing virtual teams is influenced by multi-cultural, social and economic background of the members in the team. A significant barrier in forming healthy relationship between the team members is the lack of physical presence. Most of the times the members do not know each other or have not met personally. This creates an element of discomfort and uncertainty between them that requires to be dissolved for effective results. “Managing a virtual team is considered to be one of the toughest tasks in today’s organizations and many of these teams are seen to fail” (Communicaid, 2007). Leading and managing virtual teams is quite different from managing teams in a conventional office environment since there are many complexities attached to the team dynamics. However, the same management principles apply in most cases. The key leadership qualities in both circumstances include effective communication skills, building trust and confidence among team members, establishing clear cut goals and objectives that defines the expectation levels, identifies the resources and provides access to the resources required to complete the task, and defining parameters for evaluation of performance. As a team leader it was my responsibility to allocate the work to the team members, motivate them towards achieving goals, measure performance of myself and the team, and measure of outcomes. Nevertheless, since this being a group work there was a higher probability that there can be mismatch between team members that could lead to discontentment and reduced motivation levels. Thereby as a group leader when working effectively in a group it is also my responsibility and duty to have a strategy to increase team motivation and encourage creativity and innovation at work. This was one of the most challenging parts of my job and I faced issues in context of communicating and coordinating with the team members on a regular basis. Virtual team management hence was a critical area of study for improving communication between team members and delivering desired outcomes in the scope of clinical services. Challenges of engagement with stakeholders “A stakeholder is any group within or outside the organization that has a stake in the organization’s performance. Each stakeholder has different criterion of responsiveness, because it has different interest in the organization” (Daft, 2007). The different categories of stakeholders within an organization include customers, regulatory authorities, stockholders, employees, suppliers, creditors, and investors. The primary stakeholders consist of investors, shareholders, employees, customers, and suppliers. Among other stakeholders that impact the organizational functions and operations are government and the community that it serves, trade associations, consumer groups and professional associations. The external stakeholders have a significant influence on the way the business and enterprises operate. The primary stakeholders in the health care organization are concerned with company profits and hospital reputation and efficiency in providing the health care services that has a direct impact on the revenues and market image. The health care institution trustee boards are primarily interested in profitability, improved cash flow and effective utilization of resources. The efficient utilization of resources will drive profits and increase the scope for operational expansion. Managerial groups are concerned with devising strategies and operations to achieve growth and improve organizational work environment. Customers are the patients who expect high quality services, efficient solution to their health problems, and convenience of availing the services in terms of reduced cost and improved health care. When the expectations of the primary stakeholders are not met there is increased dissatisfaction and it threatens the smooth functioning of the organization. The present economic environment has made the task of satisfying the stakeholders of a health care institution more complex owing to their demands of meeting both profit generation and social enterprise motives. The financial and social viability of operations is increasingly important to the external stakeholders and it becomes a challenging task for clinicians to meet these objectives through enhanced performance and productivity within the teams. The demands and expectations of the stakeholders are met through the implementation of specific performance goals that direct organizational activities and managerial strategies. One of the primary responsibilities of clinical leadership is to drive team performance to meet organizational objectives and to pursue the interests of the stakeholder. However, this is not an easy task. Ensuring high levels of performance within the organization requires active participation of both management and individuals in the workforce in implementing tasks and objectives. An effective performance leveraging strategy involves identifying and setting up job objectives for the individual employees, identifying their core strengths and areas of development, devising a plan for training and development within a specific time frame, assessing performance and evaluating the impact of the training programs on performance levels. Personal reflection and evaluation of clinical leadership development Managing a health team or running a health institute involves the sharing of responsibility of providing care for patients and monitoring and improving the quality of health care. Leadership plays a significant role in delivering high quality service to customers in this sector and developing a work culture that promotes motivation and increased performance efficiency within team members. The distinct advantages of promoting clinical leadership are visible in the implementation of sustainable health and safety programs. The clinics and health institutions are increasingly reliant on the managers and leaders within their organization to improve the health care services and adopt a professional approach to the whole setup. “Valuing clinical leadership and embedding a culture which frees health professionals to invest time in quality improvement may be as important as structural change in achieving health reform” (VHA, 2009). Leadership concept has been explained and analyzed by many over the past few decades and most of them agree that management is distinctly separated from leadership. An individual can be an effective manager but not a good leader and vice versa. “One difference between managers and leaders is that managers strive to produce order and stability whereas leaders embrace and manage change” (Nickels, 2008). The leadership theories emphasize that leaders can create a compelling vision for others to follow, establishes corporate values and ethics, and transforms the way organization operates to increase its efficiency and effectiveness (Nickels, 2008). The application of these leadership principles in the clinical environment requires the establishment of a culture that promotes openness in communications, mutual respect among team members, and a high level of commitment to the cause of improving overall health services. The role of a good leader is essentially to keep an objective view of the whole operations applying his extensive knowledge about the operational trends, problems, and activities. He guides the overall process armed with a deep understanding of the existing procedures, potential show stoppers that can prove a barrier to achieving set targets, and preventive action plans that can be implemented in times of distress. The role model leader gets the job done using appropriate methods to inspire and motivate the team members. The process involves the active involvement of each team member in the operational front. This type of leadership approach invites suggestions from the team members on defining targets, identifying resources that ensure smooth operations, identify risks involved and the best possible ways of mitigating such risks. This encourages the team members creating a sense of responsibility towards the project at hand in addition to giving them a sense of enthusiasm to fulfil the objectives. It gives the workforce a sense of belongingness and ownership to the tasks and set objectives increasing their satisfaction level. The crucial task faced by the leaders is to build a shared vision. All the employees need to share the company’s vision and long-term objectives to meet them successfully. Leadership begins with a vision that is shared by all the team members. A transformational leader will be able to articulate the vision in clear practical terms that the others can relate to. The goals need to be tangible and challenging enough for the individuals to buy it. The role of the transformational leader is to challenge and motivate the team members and gain their commitment to the cause. The leader should entice response on how these long-term goals can be broken down to short-term objectives. The next step would be to plan the course of action and time frame within which the objectives are met. Involving the team members in such strategic planning not only creates high level of enthusiasm but also increases the motivation level of the individuals. Leaders must project a clear, compelling business vision and provide the employees with consistent feedback on where the organization stands relative to that vision. The competency framework for clinical leadership constitute demonstrating personal leadership qualities, setting directions to others within the team, working with others to manage services and improve the scope of services (Hadley, 2009). As discussed in the previous sections the tasks and attributes of the clinical leader is to a large extent driven by the demands and expectations of the external stakeholders and the desired level of service quality and personal health care services provided to patients. Hence the desired leadership attributes include inspiring a shared vision, challenging the existing process to deliver improved results, enabling and motivating others to act (VHA, 2009). The primary responsibilities of the individual assuming the role of a leader involves facilitating staff members to acquire the desired level of skills, promoting improved communication and coordination between the team members, motivating team members through adequate performance building strategies, and encouraging peer coaching and mentoring practices. Key clinical leadership strategies During the course of my career as a corporate team leader I realized some of the key concepts that drive clinical leadership. These leadership concepts are vital in promoting a healthy team work environment within clinical settings and deliver the desired levels of service and outcome to the organization. In context of the challenges and evaluation of leadership requirements discussed in the previous sections I have summarized the key aspects of clinical leadership within an organization in the subsequent paragraphs. I realize that the incorporation and adoption of these key issues are imperative in driving effective teams and propose to implement these in future course of action for increased effectiveness. Summary of key strategies to be adopted in clinical leadership context An organization needs dynamic leadership qualities and behaviours at all levels to implement strategies, and raise performance. This type of scenario demands leaders who can inspirer and motivate, uncover hidden opportunities, implement changes and deliver tangible results. The lack of leadership qualities in an organization is the prime reason for failure of strategy, and inadequate execution of plans. Leadership within clinical setups is essential for driving team motivation levels to encourage innovation and boost individual performance levels. Employee motivation and satisfaction is one of the core elements that have a direct impact on the overall productivity and performance of the organizations. Numerous strategies can be adopted by organizations and managers to enhance employee productivity and motivate the workforce to perform better. Communication plays an important role in the process of motivating employees and increasing performance levels within organizations. Improved communication can help in motivating employees, reduce employee resistance, and pursue change mechanism effectively. But it needs to be understood that the communication process is not simply conveying the message. It is a two-way process that needs interaction between the two parties. The management and the employees need to interact on how the plan is going to take shape and what are best possible ways to minimize risks and hurdles in the process. Giving the employees a chance to participate in management decisions not only makes them feel valuable but also ensures their support and enthusiasm in the whole process. Another vital ingredient for successful communication process is consistency. The management policies need to be consistent in their approach to instil trust and confidence in the employees. The whole purpose of selling change to the employees will be lost if the employees do not have confidence or trust in their company management. It should be noted that effective communication needs clarity, consistency, and reinforcement. Effective communication includes various strategies that can create an impact on the team. “The leader must take a point of highlighting the successes within a team, using charts or graphs, with little presentations and fun ideas” (Fenton, 1990). Small tokens of appreciation work wonders in driving employee interest and enthusiasm towards work. Feedback delivery mechanism adopted should act as a positive reinforcement rather than create negative feelings among employees. Applying motivational statements and reinforcing high standards of work can have a positive impact on the employee performance. These discussions should encourage open and honest communication between the employees and the managers and based on observation and performance statistics. Clinical leadership can maximize the output and performance of their teams provided the team members are equipped with the necessary skills to perform the tasks and objectives given to them. “Effective teams require leadership to establish clear goals, agreed ways of communicating and working, recognition of individual skills and strengths with corresponding task assignment, ongoing evaluation of progress and achievements and identification of training needs” (VQC, 2005). Identifying the training needs of the team is critical in order to optimize the performance levels and provide the teams with a specific guidance and direction in their efforts to achieve set goals and targets. Knowledge is the key to survival in today’s world and with health institutions and clinics implementing new technologies and innovative methods to improve their facilities and benefit health care; a skilled workforce is of paramount importance. The opportunity to build and develop skills while working acts as a great motivator for team members since the challenges of learning new skills and widening their scope of functionality within the clinical environment brings in a sense of enthusiasm. Many clinics and hospitals now use Internet and Intranet networking channels to share vital health care information and data. Effective mentoring and coaching strategy is gaining prominence in most organizations today providing grounds for a fruitful management employee relationship sharing the same goals and vision for the company. The scope of this strategy includes teaching people how to apply, share knowledge, and transfer of skills within the department. It encourages self-awareness and flexibility to cope better with recent changes in health care programs and strategies. Mentoring is seen as partnership strategy in today’s world where the mentor is happy to guide his protégé in the desired direction. It is mutually beneficial relationship that where both the parties gain in terms of recognition and satisfaction for the mentor and fulfilment of expectations for the mentored. Coaching concentrates on an individual development that will directly contribute to goal achievement in clinical settings. An effective leadership style is encompasses a more participative approach that draws suggestions from their co-workers giving them due credit for their work. “Research has found that employee participation in decisions may not always increase effectiveness, but it usually increases job satisfaction” (Nickels, 2008). The common characteristics of an effective leader include single mindedness, strong self-belief, strong sense of purpose, and charismatic. Leaders are employed to get a job done with the assistance of a team of people over whom he has control. The team comprising of people is an important aspect of leadership. An effective leadership style stresses the importance of people in the overall scenario – since without people participation the leader cannot achieve anything. Employee empowerment is a new approach to management that incorporates employee self development programs to enable their involvement in corporate decision making process. Robert Heller in his article “Employee Empowerment: Management giving power to the people” defines empowerment as organizational culture where everyone can take action to enhance his or her own work, either in personal or professional terms. Empowerment has been defined by Dimitriades (2001) as the process of enabling, and supporting an organization’s human resources to make high quality, efficient, and effective decisions leading to continuous quality improvement. It provides the team members with the scope to enhance and enrich their work profiles by undertaking additional responsibilities, learn new skills and enrich their work experience by actively participating in managerial decisions and handling operations in their own way. Duke Okes and Russell T. Westcott observe in their article “Employee Empowerment and Involvement” (2001) that employee empowerment implies giving up “power traditionally held by management, which means managers must take on new roles, knowledge, and responsibilities.” This process requires significant amount of time and effort to build trust, confidence and evaluate individual capacities in the given work environment. A capable leader must be in a position to understand these anxieties and boost the confidence level of the employees. “Experts feel that sharing information and data with the employees alone cannot reduce anxieties; employees must have confidence in their leaders and they must feel safe under their leadership as well as get the assurance that the leaders will guide them towards the right direction” (Nair, 2009). Nair (2009) in her article Leading the Way also emphasizes that besides effective communication the most effective way of motivating the workforce during challenging times is to apprise the concerned employees about the developments and impacts of the proposed changes within the organization. Listening to their doubts and observations is vital to gain an understanding of their thought process and opinion related to the change process. This requires the leader to be easily accessible to the team and involve them in the decision making process. This is a useful strategy since some of the suggestions from the employees who are directly concerned with the practical aspects of the operations can make a lot of difference to the way some of the issues are dealt and handled. It can provide practical insight into how the situation can be made more effective and enable improved performance from the workforce. The additional benefit of this exercise is the involvement of employees in the whole process and their acceptance to the proposed changes. An organization needs to understand that the goals and objectives set need to be tangible and challenging enough for individuals to buy it. The leaders play a vital role in challenging and motivating the team members to gain their commitment to the cause. The broad company goals need to be broken down to short-term objectives that are achievable and yet challenging to inspire the workforce. The leaders should elicit response from the team members on the strategies that need to be adopted to achieve these goals. It is imperative that employees identify with the company goals and objectives and effective leadership is displayed in communicating and creating a strong belief in the company objectives among the workforce. In order to induce a strong belief in the company goals, the leaders need to believe in these objectives foremost. The management and leaders within the organization face the crucial task of building a shared vision. An effective leader is successful in articulating these goals and objectives in clear practical terms that the employees can easily relate to. Subsequently once the goals are set, the leaders need to define and identify the parameters on which the objectives will be assessed and the time frame in which it needs to be completed. 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