Leadership and Effecting Change in Public Health

This paper discusses about perspective of Helen, a 35-year old General practitioner (GP), on public health issues related to sanitation, infection control, housing, and immunization. Helen has experience of five years as a GP and during her practice she focused on primary care of individuals. She was also recognised for her services including increasing awareness on cancer screening programs and enhancing child immunization rates. The members of board also nominated Helen’s name for new officer for public health in the area. This report presents leadership skills required for public health covering definitions, types, styles, and key leadership skills.

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Leadership and Effecting Change in Public Health

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Public Health Leadership...........................................................................................................2
Leadership VS Management..................................................................................................4
Are Leaders Born or Made?...................................................................................................4
Barriers to Leadership............................................................................................................5
Part 2..........................................................................................................................................5
Part 3..........................................................................................................................................6
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................8
References..................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction
This paper discusses about perspective of Helen, a 35-year old General practitioner
(GP), on public health issues related to sanitation, infection control, housing, and
immunization. Helen has experience of five years as a GP and during her practice she focused
on primary care of individuals. She was also recognised for her services including increasing
awareness on cancer screening programs and enhancing child immunization rates. The
members of board also nominated Helen’s name for new officer for public health in the area.
This report presents leadership skills required for public health covering definitions, types,
styles, and key leadership skills. This report derives results from the provided scenario which
consist of issues such as Helen found that the area in which she is appointed as a public
health officer is diverse, ageing, and multi-ethnic community where public health agenda is
driven by traditional architects, town planners, and policy makers as well as the community is
resistive towards young female leaders. This report presents challenges faced by Helen in
order to become an influential leader and how she will make use of her leadership skills to
complete the task given to her and ensures good health and sanitation for the population of
the area.
Public Health Leadership
There are many definitions related to the leadership which includes ability of a person to
guide and influence people and his/her followers; the ability of building confidence and
boosting enthusiasm into people who needs them in order to achieve the target; or it can be
defined as an act that inspires others to respond in a shared direction (Rowitz, 2013).
According to Rowitz, however there are differences between being a business leader and
a public health leader but ‘leadership is leadership and no matter in which system a person is

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working’. He has identified and defined 16 principles of public health leadership and these
principles help in understanding the role of these leaders and what are the additional
attributes needed for public health settings. Rowitz provided the definition for the public
health leaders as those who are decisive, change agents, visionary, risk takers, and good
communications (Rowitz, 2013). Public health leaders are committed towards their work of
improving the health of people and keep strong beliefs in their values of making changes in
the lives of everyone in the country. Some other characteristics of public health leaders
include: they are politically perceptive, respectful to various cultures, patiently listen to the
people and try to understand what they are trying to say, emotionally intelligent, future
focused and resilient, and they love to serve people (Parris & Peachey, 2013). They know the
importance of collaboration and relationship building for the public health work.
Rowitz defined five levels of the leadership according to its complexity and size. These
levels of leadership are helpful in developing a framework for the ability and strategies are
needed to be an effective leader. These levels are:
1. Personal leadership development: a person takes the role of leadership individually
and believes that leadership can be learnt (Blumenthal, Bernard, Bohnen & Bohmer,
2012).
2. Leadership at the team level: Leaders work with a team of some people.
3. Leadership at Agency level: A leader has to work within a complex system and
bring changes in the health and well-being of individual and populations.
4. Leadership at Community level: Leaders work with and within community to effect
change.
5. Leadership at Professional level: Work in the multi-disciplinary nature of public
health to influence change.

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Leadership VS Management
Leadership is demanding and this is more in case of public health leadership. As
compared to other fields, public health is different because its work is evolving. Methods,
audience, and the plans for the public are always changing. Hence, it is difficult to manage
these tasks and it becomes more difficult when the audience does not want the changes and
information (Sharma & Jain, 2013). Working in this scenario becomes redundant for
employees and they start losing stamina, interest, and purpose. This emerges a great leader.
The key difference between management and leadership is the capability of one to inspire.
Most of the people can be good managers and manage everything such as creation of work
plans, distribution of work, and managing the budget if proper instructions are provided. But
a leader on the other hand is the one who inspires people and guide and lead them to achieve
the set goals of the organization (Rowitz, 2013).
Are Leaders Born or Made?
One common question that comes into mind of most of people is ‘Are leaders born or
made?’ Different theories are available to answer this question. As per the Trait and Great
Man theories, people inherit some specific traits and qualities that make them good leaders.
But in contrast to this there is behavioural theory which says that people can learn leadership
skills through the process of learning, teaching, and observation and can become good leaders
(Piaw & Ting, 2014). Rowitz added his views in this scenario and suggested that ‘if
leadership is inborn then there I no need for leaders to develop skills, but if leaders are made
then anyone have the ability of becoming leader’. In his final statement he said leaders are
both born and made in the sense that some people are natural leaders for being an effective
leader. However, public health leaders are required to work continuously to develop their
leadership skills.

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Barriers to Leadership
A leader has to face several challenges and resistance which stops him/her becoming a
good or effective leader. One of the major barriers to leadership is dissatisfaction with the
state of management and leadership specifically at front-line and middle line manager level
(Cook & Glass, 2013). Some dissatisfaction is focused on individuals’ role and other
dissatisfaction is associated with external context where they work. Barriers to effective
leadership for public health leaders are identified by Zheltoukhova which are given below:
 Bureaucracy and hierarchy weaken front-line leadership.
 Individualism in accountability and reward obstructs team working.
 Bottom-line and short-term focus dominates preference of quality delivering.
 Workforce diversity’s benefits are congested by mentality of ‘Us’ and ‘them’.
Part 2
The Leadership Framework Self-assessment tool assists in identifying the key
strengths and weaknesses on a leader on seven domains which include working with others,
demonstrating personal qualities, setting goals, improving services, managing services,
delivering the strategy and creating the vision (Leadership Academy, n.d.). In the case of
demonstrating personal qualities, I scored higher because I am self-aware about my personal
values and principles and I rely on them while taking decisions. I focus on managing myself
in order to continue personal development while acting with integrity to be open and honest
with others during interactions. When it comes to working with others, I lack specific skills
that are required for a good leader. I find it difficult to build and maintain a relationship with
others since I did not listen to others and I also failed to encourage contribution between
individuals. When it comes to managing services, I focus on implementing plans in order to
achieve service goals. I am good at managing resources as I scored higher on this domain and

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I need to work on my skills to manage people. In the case of improving services, I focus on
ensuring patient safety and critically evaluating my values before taking a decision. I also
encourage improvement and innovation among others while facilitating transformation due to
which I scored high on this domain.
When it comes to setting directions, I struggle because it finds it difficult to identify
contexts for change in the organisation. Although I can rely on my skills to apply knowledge
and evidence to make good decisions by evaluating their impact on a diverse range of
stakeholders; however, I find it difficult to evaluate various external factors to make sure that
I implement change policies in the organisation (Leadership Academy, n.d.). In the area of
creating the vision, I strive because I am able to rely on my values and principles to take
decision for my subordinates which are ethical. I also focus on influencing the vision of
others to make sure that we work together to partner across the organisation in order to
achieve common goals. I also effectively communicate the vision with others to make sure
that I work with others to achieve common goals. I also focus on embodying the visions in
order to focus consistently on my goals and values while also positively influencing the
decision of others. Lastly, when it comes to delivering the strategy, I find it difficult to frame
the strategy while relying on and critically evaluating relevant information, experience and
knowledge. However, I evaluates others’ ideas while developing the strategy along with its
implementation which is crucial for ensure its effectiveness. I also find it difficult to embed
the strategy along with other strategic plans to achieve maximum benefits for everyone which
is also sustained.
Part 3
In this scenario, I would have relied on my strengths and skills in order to develop
relevant leadership strategies to make sure that I achieve common goals. I have to prepare an

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action plan that is focused on my strengths to leverage them in order to achieve the desired
results. I have realised that I have strong values that guide my actions towards the
achievement of common objectives. I would rely on these strengths to influence the decision
of the board of directors to make sure that they trust my leadership skill and allow me to
effectively develop strategies in the given scenario. The key gaps in the profile are related to
lack of experience in leading individuals and interacting with them to achieve common goals.
A good leader listens to his/her subordinates along with their ideas before forming a strategy
to ensure that it positively affects everyone and it also reduces resistance in the organisation
(Delmatoff & Lazarus, 2014). In order to achieve this goal, I have to increase my interaction
with subordinates which include 10 staff members to understand their views and opinions
regarding the implementation of specialist care facilities in the area. As a GP, I have to
convince policy makers to trust my leadership skills by informing them regarding my strategy
to bring specialist care in Warrnambool.
This strategy is crucial for the interest of people living in Warrnambool as it will
assist in increasing child immunisation rates along with increasing awareness regarding major
issues such as cancer screening programs. While presenting my report, I will focus on
influencing the decision of policy makers to make sure that they understand the importance of
these changes that are crucial to achieve common healthcare goals. As per this action plan, I
will start working on my people skills by effectively deal with my 10 subordinates. A good
leader listens to the opinion of everyone before taking a decision to make sure that the values
of subordinates are also included in the final decision. I will also collect key insights from my
subordinates to make sure that they did not feel left out and they also play a major role in the
completion of the strategy. A good leader also works closely with others to understand their
scepticism and implement policies after understanding their issue (Al-Sawai, 2013). I will
also focus on working with policymakers, senior citizens and senior government stakeholders

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in the community to understand their perspective to achieve common goals. This action plan
will assist me in fulfilling key leadership gaps and implement effective policies to achieve
common goals.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the role of public health leadership has grown substantially which
increases the importance of leadership in the healthcare sector. This report evaluates the role
of leadership and management in healthcare along with an evaluation of whether leaders are
born or made. The barriers of leadership are also discussed along with evaluation of my
leadership strengths and weaknesses through the Leadership Framework Self-Assessment
tool. Lastly, an action plan is discussed after evaluating key gaps in the area to apply key
leadership learning in order to achieve common goals in the scenario.

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References
Al-Sawai, A. (2013). Leadership of healthcare professionals: where do we stand?. Oman
medical journal, 28(4), 285.
Blumenthal, D. M., Bernard, K., Bohnen, J., & Bohmer, R. (2012). Addressing the leadership
gap in medicine: residents' need for systematic leadership development
training. Academic Medicine, 87(4), 513-522.
Cook, A., & Glass, C. (2013). Glass cliffs and organizational saviors: Barriers to minority
leadership in work organizations?. Social Problems, 60(2), 168-187.
Delmatoff, J., & Lazarus, I. R. (2014). The most effective leadership style for the new
landscape of healthcare. Journal of Healthcare Management, 59(4), 245-249.
Leadership Academy. (n.d.). The Leadership Framework. Retrieved from
https://www.leadershipacademy.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/NHSLeadership-
Framework-LeadershipFrameworkSelfAssessmentTool.pdf
Parris, D. L., & Peachey, J. W. (2013). A systematic literature review of servant leadership
theory in organizational contexts. Journal of business ethics, 113(3), 377-393.
Piaw, C. Y., & Ting, L. L. (2014). Are school leaders born or made? Examining factors of
leadership styles of Malaysian school leaders. Procedia-Social and Behavioral
Sciences, 116, 5120-5124.
Rowitz, L. (2013). Public health leadership: Putting principles into practice. Jones & Bartlett
Publishers.

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Sharma, M. K., & Jain, S. (2013). Leadership management: Principles, models and
theories. Global Journal of Management and Business Studies, 3(3), 309-318.