Leadership Change in Public Health

Running head: LEADERSHIP AND EFFECTING CHANGE IN PUBLIC HEALTH
LEADERSHIP AND EFFECTING CHANGE IN PUBLIC HEALTH
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

LEADERSHIP AND EFFECTING CHANGE IN PUBLIC HEALTH1
Introduction:
The paper is based on a scenario concerning a newly nominated public health leader,
named Helen. The case scenario described Helen as a thirty-five years old general
practitioner (GP) nursing staff, who had managed to catch the attention of the local healthcare
authorities by her excellent practice on providing primary care to the individuals. Now, she
has been nominated for the position of the public health leader of the locality. As a leader,
Helen can be expected to face various difficulties for various reasons. This paper will be
focused on analysing the whole case scenario considering the Australian Health leadership
framework firstly. Then there will be a self-assessment on the leadership skills of the author
with the use of the Leadership Framework Self-Assessment tool. Finally, there will be a
reflection on the scenario from the author’s personal perspective.
Discussion:
Part 1: Analysis of the Scenario:
The scenario includes some background information on Helen. It states the area of her
expertise and practice. The scenario recognises her to be a general practitioner (GP), and she
has an experience of 5 years in this profession. Thus she can be expected to possess sufficient
knowledge in the medical field. However, her area of expertise was focused on individual
health. Now, if she is to assume her role as a public health leader, she will require to focus on
the health of a whole population, which will require her to work with more people and
consider many more things compared to her previous practice scenario. The scenario
expresses many concerns of the authorities on the matter of Helen’s capability of managing
her new role. Those concerns involve various areas of the Australian health leadership
framework. The framework suggests that a leader must have the ability regarding leading
self, engaging others, achieve outcomes, drive innovations in the respective field and finally

LEADERSHIP AND EFFECTING CHANGE IN PUBLIC HEALTH2
shape the systems and infrastructures according to the requirement. The following
subsections will separate the issues that might present challenges to Helen in assuming her
role as a public health leader, according to the different aspects of the framework.
Leading Self:
Helen is a GP who has experience in delivering individualised care to her patients.
She has no experience in managing the health of the whole population. She has displayed her
expertise in practicing alone. However, if she is chosen for the role of a public health leader,
she will require to work with many other people and lead them. Helen has been identified to
have an introverted personality, which might be a problem.
However, the scenario also describes Helen to be “a kind, optimistic, and qualified
medical practitioner.” Thus she can be expected to make necessary modifications to her
personality and learn continuously to perform her duties as a leader.
Engaging others:
As a public health leader, Helen will be expected to lead a number of people and
manage them along with the community people. She will require to make sure that all her
subordinates and team members are sufficiently motivated and performing their duties well.
She will also require the community people to make a few changes to their lifestyle and in
their behavioural aspects to improve the health of the overall community (Popescu &
Predescu, 2016). There will also be many stakeholders who will be responsible for the
successful implementation of any plan directed at improving community health. The scenario
described the community to be “a diverse, multi-ethnic, and aging community.” Helen being
female and young, might be a problem to that community since the community people are not
likely to accept her as a leader.