Leadership is a skill. It’s a skill that can be possessed by any individual at any level in an organization. It’s a skill that can be developed and implemented in any type of setting. Individuals can lead a partner, a team, employees, or their superiors. Anyone can develop plans and strategies, but it requires leadership to execute the plan and deliver the outcomes. Leadership is a necessary skill set to preserve in an organization.
Really effective well-rounded leaders are rare, and few are natural leaders. Leadership skills are acquired and must be maintained. As with other skill sets, leadership skills one works to develop can be very general in nature and application, or very specific to particular needs. In any situation or organization, the right leadership resource will improve both execution and outcome.
Leadership is a mandatory resource to develop an organizational strategy
Leadership development and training is a strong investment in the current stability and future growth of the organization. Good leadership inspires and develops additional leadership, an investment that will remain in the organization.
Let’s take a moment to consider an organization that does not possess any leadership resources apart from the “leader on the top”, the Chief Executive Officer. This means that the organization’s leader needs to be deployed to manage all the daily challenges, problems, and emergencies. While this leader deployment may work for companies of five people or less, the leadership of the CEO, or other company leads, will soon be lost in simple daily activities.
Now imagine an organization that has named the recruitment, training, and development of leaders as a priority objective, and identified leaders as a primary resource to be placed at all levels of the organization. Leaders that understand the strategic goals of the organization, and the operational tasks required to support those goals. With leaders in place, having strategic knowledge at hand, organizational units can operate individually while still supporting each other towards the common objective. This allows CEOs and other organizational leaders to maintain a view on the bigger picture and overall strategic directions.
Leaders that have the right goals in mind will give direction to the implementation of the daily ways of working that are designed to add value.
As discussed in our previous article, one concrete way to add value can be about providing great service. Implementing great service provision comes from an understandable service design that clarifies daily operations. Daily operations are in the hands of department heads, team managers, and frontline staff – now imagine, once again, an organization that has leadership in each one of these daily operational groups to ensure:
- Customer safety and security – a value to be considered in all decisions and actions
- Customer service/personalized care – actions that can impact the customer experience from beginning to end
- Individual accountability – good leadership training encourages individuals to take charge of the professional role that they occupy
- Team and department accountability – leaders encourage cohesiveness and cooperation that improves outcomes
In healthcare service operations, leaders and leadership roles take many forms – all of which have the opportunity to contribute to the same goals.
Leadership should be found in all areas of operations. From the ground level of cleaning and maintenance staff, to frontline nurses and doctors, through to the upper management level of clinic or hospital operations. Each professional level has its own demands, requiring a modified leadership implementation. Ensuring that the leadership skills are developed at each level means independent functioning towards the same overarching strategic goals.
As the old adage goes:
Question: “What if we invest in our employees and they leave?”
Retort: “What if we don’t, and they stay?”
Quite often, in the healthcare sector, individuals with the most experience or technical proficiency in a specific area of expertise become department heads or managers. Unfortunately, being technically proficient does not prepare people for a leadership role. Leadership is a different skill set, which can be taught, trained, and implemented. Don’t wait, develop leaders and strong leadership principles to help direct the organization.
The need for leadership development and training in healthcare is evident. With a clear need for supporting the continued development of the required leaders and leadership skills within healthcare organizations. The Synapsi Mentoring Program was created to help current and aspiring leaders clarify the requirements of management, receive support in growing into the role of a leader, and develop concrete ways to solve everyday challenges – Vertical and Synapsi are ready to support in the development of the leadership resources for your organization.
For more information or to apply for the Synapsi Mentorship program visit here.
