Strategic Leadership in Healthcare: Key Actions, Importance, and Qualities of a Strategic Leader

STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP
Strategic leadership- strategic leadership is the ability
of the managers to express a strategic vision for the
organisation and motivating the other employees to
follow the vision for the betterment of the company
(Bolden, 2016).
Importance of strategic leadership
Health care system is complex and it is often hard to manage the
complexities in different levels in the managerial sense. Terms like patients
rights, internal and the external customer satisfaction, leader and strategic
management of the workplace employees have been at the focus in the
current health care management (Schoemaker, Krupp & Howland, 2013).
• It allows the organisation to become proactive rather than reactive.
• It increases the efficiency of the organisation
• It helps to increase the profitability.
• It helps to make the business more durable.Key strategic leadership actions
Some of the key strategic leadership actions are-
Determination of the strategic directions
The management team should be able to develop,
articulate and communicate a clear vision for the
organisation. They should be able to paint a picture of
where the organisation would be after a few years, which
will motivate the employees to work beyond their
capacities (Schoemaker, Krupp & Howland, 2013).
Exploitation and the maintenance of the core
competencies
The core competencies should continuously emphasize on
the continuous improvement of the performances- by
nurturing a healthy work climate, promotion of an
enabling culture and stretching the objectives and the
expectations.
Development of the human capital
Employees are the capital resources of the organisation
that needs investment. Active support of the senior
management is required for developing the human capital
(Barr & Dowding, 2015).
Sustaining an effective organisational culture
Organisational culture can be enhanced by valuing the
employees, their beliefs, rewarding them and maintaining
flexible environment for the employees maintain the work
ethics (Bolden, 2016).
Emphasizing the ethics of the organisation
Strategic leaders develop and communicate the codes of
ethics, provide ethics training to the employees and form
an ethics committee to give a guidance on the ethical
matters
• Example of strategic
leadership in health
care
• Measuring and
reporting the quality
performance in
hospitals .
• Adapting to new
payment models like
transformation from a
fee-for service to a pay-
for-value model
• Data system
management in a
hospital and health
systems to ensure
clinical integration,
which is an important
part of the health
management
(Schoemaker, Krupp &
Howland, 2013)..
• Exploring new physician
alignment strategies
• Trying out the new
physician relationship
straregies, clinical co-
management and
employment and ACOs.
Qualities of a strategic leader
• Loyalty
• Keeping the employees updated about the organisational strategies
• Judicious use of power
• Self –regulation
• Compassion
• Self awareness
• Motivation
• Reliability
• Adaptability and articulacy
The leadership skills to drive a change
• Leading the change
• Some of the best practices should include establishment of the accountability across the organisation, developing a culturally safe workplace,
mastering positive change in workplace.
• An excellent communication skills.
• The changes has to be communicated to the employees in a way that is acceptable to the employees and do not arise any conflicts.
• Responding to the feedback
• Providing desired feedback on the cultural beliefs and the desired outcomes to the team members. Without team there is no leadership.
Barr, J., & Dowding, L. (2015). Leadership in health care. Sage.
https://books.google.co.in/books?hl=en&lr=&id=hySJCwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=strategic+leadership+skills+in+health+care&ots=dhHV5smVZQ&sig=PObv7_zS
5F9_INVF3qrn1og4WJM#v=onepage&q=strategic%20leadership%20skills%20in%20health%20care&f=false
Bolden, R. (2016). Leadership, management and organisational development. In Gower handbook of leadership and management development (pp. 143-158).
Routledge. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781317125235/chapters/10.4324%2F9781315585703-18
Goodwin, N. (2013). Leadership in health care: a European perspective. Routledge.
Schoemaker, P. J., Krupp, S., & Howland, S. (2013). Strategic leadership: The essential skills. Harvard business review, 91(1), 131-134.
https://www.harvardbusiness.org/sites/default/files/HBR_Strategic_Leadership.pdf
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