Effective leadership in healthcare

In its simplest form, leadership is motivating others to follow. This means that anyone who can influence people to follow them possesses leadership qualities.

• Leadership isn't limited to specific roles within organisations or society; it can be found at all levels.
• The concept of leadership can vary among individuals, cultures, and different situations.
• Effective leadership empowers followers to succeed by providing direction, creating a vision, and adjusting as needed.
• Leadership is an attribute anyone can have or attain and is a skill that can be improved over time.

Activity - Watch and Reflect

What is leadership (2:15 minutes}

This video explores what leadership means to a range of people interviewed at the University of Sydney. 

What does leadership mean to you?

As we explore leadership and what makes a great leader, we'll divide it into two key aspects: peer leadership and personal leadership. Your goal is to discover the important qualities, attributes, and behaviours that are vital for success as a leader in your role in the Health and Wellbeing sector. 

Peer leadership 

What is peer leadership? 

Peer leadership is when individuals collaborate with their colleagues and peers to work together effectively. It is the ability to guide, motivate and influence others towards shared goals and objectives. 

Peer leadership does not require you to be in a place of authority like a boss or supervisor. Peer leaders can lead by intentionally changing their own behaviour meaning anyone can be a leader, even if your not ‘officially’ awarded a title. By practicing the following behaviours and principles, you can influence and motivate your team.  

Principles of peer leadership 

Activity - Reflection

Let's apply peer leadership principles to real-life aged care scenarios and explore how they can be effectively utilised.

Scenario 1: Boosting Team Morale 

You are a senior support worker in a busy aged care facility known for its commitment to providing high-quality care for elderly residents. You have a diverse team of support workers, each with unique backgrounds and experiences. 

Background: Your team has been experiencing a period of increased workload due to an unexpected influx of new residents and low staff numbers. 

Some team members are feeling overwhelmed and demotivated, while others are showing signs of burnout. 

Your team includes members from different cultural backgrounds, each with their own motivations and aspirations. 

Challenge: The morale of your team has dipped, and you've noticed a decrease in productivity and enthusiasm. It's essential to find ways to motivate your team and reignite their passion for providing excellent care to elderly residents. 

Your Role as a Peer Leader: As a peer leader, your role is to motivate your team members and address their concerns effectively. You need to apply peer leadership principles to inspire and boost morale while recognizing and respecting the diverse cultural motivations and aspirations of your colleagues. 

Reflect on this scenario and use the following documentation tool to record and download your responses. 

Scenario 2: Resolving a Conflict Between Team Members from Different Cultural Backgrounds 

Background: You work as a support worker in a residential aged care facility known for its diverse and multicultural team. Your team takes pride in providing excellent care to the elderly residents. However, a recent conflict has arisen between two team members: 

Colleague A: Colleague A is from a culture where direct communication is highly valued. 

They tend to be assertive and straightforward when expressing their opinions and concerns. 

Colleague A has noticed issues with the way certain tasks are being carried out by the team. 

Colleague B: Colleague B is from a culture that prefers indirect communication and avoiding confrontations. 

They often use subtle cues and non-verbal communication to express dissatisfaction. 

Colleague B has felt uncomfortable with some of Colleague A's comments about the team's work. 

Conflict: The conflict started when Colleague A expressed their concerns about certain tasks during a team meeting. Colleague A was direct in pointing out areas for improvement. Colleague B interpreted this as criticism and felt defensive. They didn't respond during the meeting, but afterwards, they expressed their discomfort to other team members. 

Your Role as a Peer Leader: As a peer leader within your team, your role is to mediate and resolve this conflict, ensuring that both colleagues can work together effectively. You need to apply conflict resolution techniques while being culturally sensitive to the communication styles of Colleague A and Colleague B. 

Reflect on this scenario and use the following documentation tool to record and download your responses. 

Empathy

Empathy is being able to see things from another person’s point of view. It means relating to how someone is experiencing a given situation and being able to understand their feelings, needs and concerns. Empathy is a skill that can be developed. It allows you to learn more about other people and what makes them ‘tick’. If you can understand another person’s concerns or worries then you have a better chance of succeeding as a leader. People need to voice their concerns. Listening attentively, without getting distracted, helps people feel that they are being recognised and heard and also builds trust. It supports the person’s overall needs and allows them to see you as a trusted colleague from whom they can get support. Empathy helps build and develop meaningful relationships. It also helps you as a leader to understand why a peer may be struggling with their performance.

Example:  A key part of empathy in a health or wellbeing setting is the ability to put yourself in the place of a person you work with or for whom you provide support. When a person asks you for information, you react with empathy when you take the time to listen to them and then explain how their needs can be met, rather than saying “I’m busy, come back later”. In an aged care facility situation, for example, empathy allows you to understand that the person may have had 90% of their choices taken away. You can try to put yourself in their position and understand how hard this must be for them. When the person asks for something, you may then be able to understand how difficult it must be to always have to ask for help. This knowledge could help you provide the necessary support to make the person feel independent and give them the opportunity to make requests of you that could make their lives more comfortable. For example, morning tea time might be 10:30 am, but the person feels like a cup of tea at 9:30. You recognise that they are reliant on you to supply this and you make yourself available to listen to their needs and accommodate their request to the best of your ability.

Objectivity

Objectivity is the ability to act in a fair and just manner, focusing on facts and aiming to reduce or remove biases, prejudices and personal opinions from the way you act. Objectivity in the workplace means to be open-minded to others’ ideas, to consider all options when making decisions and to avoid making judgements. Objective decisions are based on facts and evidence, not on the personal judgement of one person or a group. It is important not to allow your emotions to drive how you behave towards others. Listen to what the person has to say and allow yourself time to process the information. Acting like this, rather than reacting, will help you build trust in your ability to remain thoughtful and impartial in your decision-making – one of the qualities of a leader.

Example: In a health or well-being setting, objectivity is essential for both your colleagues and the people you support. Focusing on the facts and providing meaningful feedback will keep you out of gossip circles and will help you build trust and confidence with your team. Similarly, when writing in a person's personal care plan, you must present just the facts, not opinions or judgements. Record only the facts of what happened and do not use assumptions or opinions: • Wrong: “Mr Brown had an angina attack.” • Right: “Mr Brown complained of pain in his chest.” Do not be judgemental when writing progress notes: • Wrong: “Mr Brown pretended he could not walk after lunch in order to gain attention and sympathy from staff.” • Right: “Mr Brown stated he had pain in his back, which prevented him from walking after lunch. The doctor will be asked to assess.”

Transparency

Working in a transparent way means you work openly and without secrets so that people can trust that what you do is fair and honest. It also means that the decisions you make are made collaboratively and in cooperation with others in your team – in other words, you work well with others to achieve the best outcome.

If you set a schedule or plan with one co-worker and then tell another co-worker to dismiss what the first person is doing and only deal directly with you, you are being sneaky or secretive. Another example would be to change a person’s schedule without consulting them.

Honesty and integrity

Honesty means not only telling the truth but also being open, straightforward and direct in what you do and say. Integrity is the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; looking at your own values and acting on them with respect for others. Integrity puts honesty, a sense of commitment and sound moral principles above all else. Honesty is being true in what you say; integrity is being true in what you do. Honesty and integrity are essential for developing trust and credibility because a good leader’s words will match their actions. Honesty and integrity are at the core of being able to influence people and provide strong leadership.

Assertiveness

To be assertive is to be open about your intentions and requirements while still taking into account the rights and needs of others. Being assertive does not mean behaving aggressively or taking what you want or need regardless of the consequences. It means that you can express yourself effectively and stand up for your point of view, while also respecting the rights and beliefs of others. It means that you state clearly what you would like to happen, without demanding it. If you are assertive, you have confidence in yourself. In turn, if you are confident then those around you will be more likely to listen to what you say and take your lead.

Accountability  

Accountability means taking responsibility for your actions and their results. In Health and Wellbeing, it's vital for safe and effective care. For example, if a healthcare worker makes a mistake, they should admit it, report it, and work to fix it. Accountability builds trust, encourages learning, and helps improve care by promoting reflection, corrective actions, and ethical standards. 

Responsibility 

Responsibility means reliably fulfilling one's duties and obligations. In Health and Wellbeing, professionals must be responsible for their actions and the well-being of their patients. For instance, a nurse must accurately give medications, follow infection control rules, and support patients. Responsibility ensures safe, high-quality care, builds trust among patients and colleagues, and maintains professional standards. 

Consistency 

Consistency means being reliable and predictable in your actions and behaviours. In a Health and Wellbeing setting, it's crucial for building trust, ensuring consistent care, and keeping patients safe. For instance, as a support worker in aged care, consistency might involve always assisting residents with their daily routines at the same time each day, following the care plan consistently, and providing reliable information to residents about their daily activities and medications. This consistency instils trust in residents and helps maintain a stable and comfortable environment. 

Ethical and professional standards of conduct 

Ethical and professional standards of conduct consist of principles and guidelines that healthcare professionals are obligated to adhere to in their work. These standards guarantee that care is provided with integrity, respects patient autonomy, and complies with legal and ethical frameworks. In Health and Wellbeing settings, it's essential for professionals to maintain these standards when dealing with patients, colleagues, and the healthcare system. For example, if a resident shares personal information with you, it is your ethical duty to ensure their privacy and confidentiality. You should not discuss this information with others unless there is a legitimate need to know for the resident's care, and you have obtained their consent to share it. Respecting confidentiality maintains the trust of residents and upholds ethical standards in aged care practice. 

Activity - Reflection

Let's apply peer leadership principles to real-life aged care scenarios and explore how they can be effectively utilised.

Scenario: Supporting an Overworked Colleague 

Background: You work in an aged care facility alongside Sarah, a fellow support worker. Sarah is known for her dedication to providing excellent care to residents. However, lately, due to feeling overworked and stressed, she made a mistake in some administrative tasks, and it's affecting her confidence and performance. 

Scenario: 

One morning, Sarah approaches you with a distressed look on her face. She confides in you that she made an error in handling some administrative tasks related to resident records. She's worried about the potential consequences of her mistake and the impact on the facility's operations. 

Peer Leadership Behaviors to Apply: 

1. Behaviour A: You listen attentively to Sarah without interruption, expressing understanding of her situation. You assure her that everyone feels overwhelmed at times, and it's essential to address the root causes. 

2. Behaviour B: You recommend that Sarah owns up to her mistake by reporting it to her supervisor and following the facility's protocols. You emphasize the importance of transparency in addressing errors. 

Reflect on this scenario and answer the following quiz questions.

Reflecting on your peer leadership strengths and weaknesses is a valuable exercise for personal and professional growth. By regularly assessing your strengths and weaknesses and actively working on improvement, you'll become a more effective and influential peer leader in your Health and Wellbeing setting. 

Activity - Self-Reflection

Note: there are no right or wrong answers and no results will be displayed. This simply gives you an opportunity to consider your strengths in this area.

What is Personal Leadership? 

Personal leadership refers to taking personal responsibility for your own development and achieving personal goals. It may include self-awareness, self-reflection, obtaining feedback from others, taking responsibility, professional development and career planning. 

To be an effective leader you need many skills and to be able to lead by example. Consider the personal leadership skills and how these would inspire your team.

• Know yourself and seek self-improvement: To know yourself, you must understand your ‘be, know and do’ attributes. Self-assessment and a continuous improvement attitude to development will help you to strengthen your attributes. This can be accomplished through self-study, formal classes, reflection, and interaction with others.
• Be technically proficient: As a leader, you must know your job and be familiar with your employees' tasks.
• Seek responsibility and take responsibility for your actions: Search for ways to guide your organisation to new heights. And if things go wrong, do not blame others. Analyse the situation, take corrective action, and move on to the next challenge.
• Make sound and timely decisions: Use good problem-solving and planning tools to make sound decisions.
• Know your people and look out for their well-being: Know your staff; understand human nature and the importance of sincerely caring for your workers. Be observant and notice changes in staff attitudes and behaviours.These may indicate well-being issues.
• Keep your workers informed: Know how to communicate with your staff, management, senior management and other key people.
• Ensure that tasks are understood, supervised, and accomplished: Communication is the key to this responsibility.
• Develop as a team: Although many leaders call their organisation, department or section, a team; they are not really teams. They are just a group of people doing their jobs. By developing a team spirit, you will be able to employ your organisation, department, and section, to its fullest capabilities.
• Gather feedback: Leadership is not just about giving feedback, it is also essential to receive feedback.
• Be invested in personal development

Self-awareness

To understand other people, you need first to understand yourself. If you understand how you think and learn, what your talents and abilities are, how you make decisions and how you behave, then you will have a better understanding, not only of yourself, but also of how other people feel and behave. Being self-aware can help you control your emotions and behaviour when dealing with other people. In practising self-awareness, we each need to focus on our own personality and behaviour and consider how these might be seen by other people. In becoming self-aware we can recognise things in our attitudes or behaviour that might be holding us back at work, making relationships with other people more difficult, or simply stopping us from achieving what we want to do.

Activity - reflection

Think about your current level of self-awareness: What aspects of your own thoughts, emotions, attitudes and behaviours do you think you understand well? What aspects do you struggle with? Can you think of two examples where being self-aware helps you to deal with other people in your work?

Feedback from others

Feedback is just as important for you to receive as it is for you to give. Feedback is an opportunity for you to learn what others think of your work, attitudes and behaviour so that you can improve the way you do things. Getting feedback can be a formal process using the policies and guidelines of your organisation (this is sometimes called a performance appraisal). It can also be informal – for example, asking for advice over a cup of coffee or a conversation in passing. Some things to remember when receiving feedback are:

• Don’t be defensive – feedback is not criticism. If you treat it as criticism, people may be reluctant to give you feedback in future.
• Listen to understand – remember that communication is a two-way process. If you don’t listen, you are not communicating, and if you are not communicating, you don’t understand.
• Ask questions – this helps you to understand what is being said and will clear up any possible confusion or ill feelings.
• It’s a positive thing!

You should take every opportunity you can to get feedback. Not only does feedback help you do your job better, it gives you that extra motivation to excel in what you do.

Professional development

Professional development is a way in which you can improve your knowledge, competence, skills and effectiveness in your work. This can be done through education and training opportunities within your workplace or provided by an outside organisation. Professional development can be both formal and informal and can take place in a variety of ways. These include gaining a formal qualification, mentoring, peer collaboration and/or coaching in the workplace, or simply from watching others perform their jobs.

Learn more about how to develop your personal leadership.