Blog post written by Dalton Lardinois, Occupational Therapy Student, Concordia University

Having effective and strong leaders is essential for the development of many things such as businesses, various group programs, and even health care systems. However, being a leader in one of these settings can be something that creates anxiety within people. People fall into the fallacy that they are not a good leader, or they are not smart enough. It takes a special person to rise to the demands of leadership. Nevertheless, everyone can be a leader in different capacities and strive to improve the ways in which they lead.

Some of the common themes that form effective leaders in healthcare include clinical competence, effective communication, and team-focused or supportive/empowering just to name a few (King et al., 2016; Stanley & Stanley, 2017). Of the 15 listed most desired clinical leader attributes only three were not interpersonal characteristic in some manner. This shows the importance of developing relationships as a strategy to grow as a leader. Personal connections are far more important to the people that are being led than other characteristics that can create some anxiety in a leader. 

Some interpersonal strategies that will help you grow as a leader may include having an intentional conversation with a different member of the team each day. Being supportive and motivating towards the team that you lead is essential not only the team dynamics but for the productivity of the healthcare organization as well (Stanley & Stanley, 2017). People enjoy being led by a person that they feel understands them and will have their back.

Another strategy is to be a good mentor and being visible (Stanley & Stanley, 2017). Teaching the people that you lead is a great way to boost confidence in various clinical skills while also strengthening meaningful relationships with the team. Also, being visible to the team whether that means treating a client in the gym space or documenting there providing an example of the leader working hard helps to reinforce the team mindset as well as motivate the team. Working in a visible space also demonstrates servant leadership as it’s the team that everyone has a role and no one person is above the team while also building trust (Transtek et al., 2014).

Leadership is not something that needs to be frightening or induce anxiety within a person. When stepping into a leadership role it is important to remember a summary of this post. Your team is looking for a person to build a working relationship with while motivating them through the tough time.

References

King, R. V., Larkin, G. L., Fowler, R. L., Downs, D. L., & North, C. S. (2016). Characteristics of Effective Disaster Responders and Leaders: A Survey of Disaster Medical Practitioners. Disaster medicine and public health preparedness, 10(5), 720–723. https://doi.org/10.1017/dmp.2016.24

Stanley, D., & Stanley, K. (2017). Clinical leadership and nursing explored: A literature search. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 27(9–10), 1730–1743. https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.14145

Trastek, V. F., Hamilton, N. W., & Niles, E. E. (2014). Leadership Models in Health Care—A case for servant leadership. Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 89(3), 374–381. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mayocp.2013.10.012