Edinburgh Napier University: Leadership and Innovation Report on Falls

This report, prepared for a Leadership and Innovation module, examines the critical role of leadership in healthcare, particularly in the context of patient safety and fall prevention. It begins by defining leadership and its importance, highlighting transformational and collaborative leadership styles....Read More

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Leadership and Innovation
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction
In the nursing literature, the phenomenon of leadership is connected with the nurse
executives along with the formal leadership roles. It is defined in terms of the interactive
process in which the followers are much motivated for accomplishing the specific goals.
There is something common between nursing and leadership. The leaders are responsible for
organizing, directing, delegating with their extraordinary visionary sense and the
interpersonal skills in order to support others and achieve the highest potential. There is a
specific theme in literature that involves the behaviours, the beliefs, attitudes and the feeling
of others. It is rather a special way to achieve the goals. It is a feeling of being valued that is
the foundation of achieving the self-actualization and growing a trusting culture. In the
nursing practices, the leadership is a simple way to bring the mission and vision of an
organization to fruition. This report will focus on the of patients’ falling down and causing
injuries and deaths. This report will introduce the use of toolkits for the multiple audiences .
The toolkit will consist of the faceback loop which will be helpful in preventing the patients
fall. The toolkit will focus on reducing the fall rates during the hospital stay of the patients.
Discussion
2a) The concept of leadership
Leadership can be referred to as a process through which a person influences the other
persons to accomplish a particular aim that directs the organization to become more
organized and logical. Hence, leadership can be said to be a process through a group of
people are motivated to achieve a common goal. This process is carried out by the leaders
having applied the leadership skills and knowledge. The previous researches suggest that
when a leader has the willpower, he can easily become an effective leader. There are good

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leaders who develop through the education, study, experience and training. A truly dedicated
leader always inspires the workers to grow into higher levels of teamwork. However, the
effective and dedicated leaders should know certain aspects of their leadership. Some of the
attributes already exist within the leaders and some are acquired through continual work and
study. The effective leaders consistently study and work in order to improve the leadership
skills. The knowledge and the skills contribute directly to the leadership process whereas the
other attributes provide the leaders with some uniqueness.
The importance of effective leadership in leading change
The involvement of a leader is crucial for the success of the change management.
Studies have found the traits, the behaviours and values of the leaders become reflected in the
reaction of the followers when there is an organizational change. It is also reported that the
due to poor leadership, many organizations fail in terms of organizational change. The failure
in the change initiatives occur when different factors are related to weak leadership. A leader,
who does not believe the change, will fail to inspire their followers. Moreover, a leader who
does not ensure support for the change will be unable to drive the followers towards
accepting and embracing the change. A leader who is unable to explain the followers about
the occurring change will face heavy resistance from the part of the followers during
managing change. The management of change is difficult and involves different moving
parts.
The strong leadership as emphasized by the Luecke method of change suggests the
development of a shared vision. It further emphasizes on the adjusting and monitoring of the
strategies for any type of strategies which might arise in the process. This leadership method
follows the transformative leadership style. Apart from this, the Kanter, Jick and Stein
method helps to implement the change having considered various internal and the external

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forces at play. This particular method stresses at the importance of possessing the “change
agents”. Those people who are responsible for the formation and the implementation of the
change are referred to as the “change agents”. Notably, as evident from both the methods,
there is a need for strong leadership to manage the change in an organization. The effective
leadership helps to smoothen the communication, manage the fears, drive collaboration
among the organizational members respond quickly to the change. The process of change
without proper leadership can result in chaos and distrust among the employees. The poor
leadership results in the negative responses out of the employees along with internal
instability in the organization. The leaders are responsible for the establishment of common
goals, demonstrating the need for the change and appearing as the convincing leader during
organizational change.
The theories/models of leadership
The theories behind the leadership suggest that there are particular traits, influential
abilities and behaviours which determine whether a leader is efficient and effective or not.
The theories of leadership consist of two types such as the trait and the behavioural. The trait
leadership and the models are concentrated on the personal characteristics and qualities of the
leaders. On the other hand, the behavioural leadership theories examine the way the leaders
behave. The theories related to the trait leadership suggest that these types of leaders possess
the natural leadership qualities and abilities. The behavioural leadership theories are related
to acquiring the leadership qualities.
The most difficult factor in the nursing leadership is that most of the leadership
theories were not developed in the healthcare context but in the business contexts. The
leadership theories change over time and these are absolutely dynamic. Between the years
1940 and 1980, various leadership styles have developed such as the democratic,

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authoritarian and the laissez-fair. There are also the situational and the contingency theories
which recognize the importance of the needs of the workers.
The transformational leadership –
The transformational leadership goes beyond the traditional theory such as the
transactional leadership which concentrates on the supervision, the organization and the
group performance. It emphasizes on people working more effectively with a sense of
mission. The transformational leadership theory suggests that the leaders need to
communicate their vision in a meaningful and exciting manner creating unity and collective
purpose. In the nursing context, the transformational leader must have the collective purpose,
the vision. These types of leaders can easily motivate the performance of the subordinates
through their efficiency.
The collaborative leadership –
The collaboration is a cooperative and assertive process which occurs when the
individuals work together for a mutual benefit in the form of an organizational symbiosis.
The main concept of the collaborative leadership suggests that proper communication of the
information among the co-workers and the associated workers help them to construct their
own decisions. The collaborative communication strategies support to enhance the
management of the healthcare having encouraged the dialogue between the multiple
stakeholders, the sharing of the experience and knowledge and reducing the complexities in
the healthcare organization. Those individuals having various levels of responsibilities are
required to engage in the leadership process for communicating the needs and the
modifications for addressing the demands. The collaborative healthcare leadership needs a
synergic work environment where the multiple parties are inspired to work together. This
collaborative environment promotes the understanding of diverse cultures and facilitates the

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interdependency among multiple stakeholders. Hence, the leaders are require to model the
collaborative behaviours for raising the motivation levels among the healthcare practitioners.
These two leadership theories have been chosen because these are the best suited to
the nursing leadership. In the healthcare system, there are various professional groups, the
specialties and department. There are also non-linear interactions between them, there are
complexities related to the constraints to various diseases, the multidirectional goals along
with the multidisciplinary staffs. In a large organization in the healthcare sector, there are
chances of conflicts. There is need for the capitalization of the diversity in the organization.
It utilizes the resources efficiently while designing the management process. These two
approaches are highly useful in optimizing the management in a complex environment
especially in the healthcare sector.
2b)
The importance of innovation in Healthcare
In the healthcare sector, innovation is the key trend in both the emerging and
developed markets. Innovation is necessary for quickly and easily access the medical
information, provide proper education to the patients and give the doctors the opportunity to
collaborate in critical medical cases. It is necessary to keep innovating in this sector due to
the existence of abundant fatal illness. In the healthcare sector, innovation is required because
the patients, the service delivery, the payers and the politician demand improved results,
faster diagnosis, treatment, better access and greater sensitivity to the cultural differences and
the like. The challenges in the healthcare sector call for the innovative approaches at par with
all the innovative aspects in the healthcare system.
The environment of the place of change

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In order to determine the environment of the healthcare organization where the
change will take place, the PESTEL analysis is the best suited. PESTEL is a strategic
management tool used for making better decisions. The PESTEL stands for the Political,
Social, Economic, Technological, Environmental and Legal factors which impact the macro
environment of the organization. The healthcare organization, for which I am proposing the
innovation of faceback loop and suggesting the fall prevetion awareness is influenced by the
government decisions, the technological changes, the customer spending behaviour,
increasing regulatory framework, increasing environmental activism in the customers,
evolving legal system and collective social trends.
The political factors
In Singapore, the current governance system has served the purpose for a long time
and the organizations are supposed to go by the norms. The industry wide government, their
priorities have to be understood to predict the trends. The governments are changing their
policies and there are various current trends. There are pressure on the healthcare
organization to adhere to the World Trade Organization’ regulations. Different places of
Singapore have few similar trends which can lead to the greater instability in the market. The
regulatory factors are also there and the organization has to manage the specific requirements
of the sector. The diversity of regulations has to be managed. Through the past few years,
the emerging economies and Singapore too have changed their regulations related to the
market entry and
Economic factors
The downward pressure on the consumer spending can leave impact on the spending
behaviours of the consumers. Although, the disposable income of the consumers remains
stable, the inequality in the society can also affect the consumer. The selected healthcare

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organizations’ economic performance depends on the economic condition of Singapore. It
will determine the feasibility and affordability of the faceback loops. Fortunately, the
economic condition is stable due to globalization.
The social factors
The societal norms and the attitudes should be analysed first for serving the
customers better in Singapore. The customers of Singapore give more preference to the
experiential products instead of the traditional value proposition in the healthcare industry.
The media also plays a pivotal role in Singapore. The attitude towards the health and safety
is quite insufficient.
Technological factors
The government and the private players are always agile in spending resources on
any technical adversity in the healthcare industry of Singapore. There have been various
technological inn ovations in the healthcare industry which helps to understand the demands
of the customers. However, the technology in the healthcare facilities has not still reached the
maturity level. Hence, the faceback loop is expected to be supported by the customers.
Environmental factors
There are regular scrutiny from the environmental agencies which adds to the cost of
operations in the Singapore healthcare sector. The product innovation priorities have been
altered by the environmental standards along with the expectations. The customer awareness
are increased and compels the healthcare organization adhere to the legal standards and the
regulatory frameworks.
The legal factors

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The healthcare organizations are compelled to follow the laws and meet the
regulations too. In Singapore, the employment law impact the business model of the
organizations. There are business law and the data protection law.
2C: Change and Change Management
Theories related to the change management
It has to be noted that change is a process and not an event The organizational change
is not a process to happen instantaneously since there are various steps and the steps are time
consuming too. When change happens, people move from what they had previously known
and done for arriving an expected new way of doing the job. In an organization, change
should be considered as a central component for a successful change management. The
management of the change in any organization is more important than the implementation of
change. The organizations should avoid the implementation of the random methods ad focus
more on the suitable plan of action. It is an ongoing process which takes proper time ,
dedication and expertise along with the efforts for implement and run. It needs the
involvement of people or the staffs of an organization that might result in the changes
affecting people. There are different models to change management. The models are as
follows:
Lewin’s Change Management Model
The change management model of Lewin is considered to be one of the most popular
and effective model helpful for the organizational change. There are three main stages such
as unfreeze, change and refreeze. The first stage consists of the preparation for the change. It
means that at this stage change is highly required and crucial. This particular phase is
important for breaking the status quo. In the change stage, the real change takes place and it
is the most time consuming period. It is the stage when good leadership and the reassurance

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are essential since these aspects lead to the right direction and smoothen the whole process.
Hence, time and communication are the keys in this stage. After the change has been
accepted and implemented by the people of the organization, the organization becomes stable
again. This is the reason the stage has been termed as the refreeze stage. This is where the
processes and the staffs start refreezing and everything goes back to the normal routine. The
help of the members of the organization is highly needed in this stage and there is a shared
sense of confidence, employee’s stability.
McKinsey 7s Model
It is one of the biggest models of change which was developed by the consultants of
McKinsey & Company in the early 1980s. There are seven steps for the management of
change. The benefit of this model is that it offers various ways to understand a particular
organization and receiving a deeper insight into the methods. This model usually integrates
the emotional along with the practical components of change which is something more
important to create methods. Moreover, this model considers all the parts being equally worth
addressing and does not leave few of the aspects which may be of some importance. The
disadvantage is that the organizations having used this model have gone through some cas3es
of failure which can be considered as something negative connected with it.
Kotter’s change management theory
It is one of the most adopted management theories in the world and the process is
divided into eight stages and each stage is focused on people’s response to changes. This
model will be implemented for the management of change that is being proposed to be
implemented in the healthcare organization of Singapore. The changes are as follows:

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Increasing the urgency- This particular step will be helpful in creating a sense of urgency
among members of the organization to motivate them towards the goals.
The team building – As per the change management of Kotter, the team building will be
done through being associated with the right people having selected the right mix of skills,
commitment and knowledge.
Getting the correct vision- This particular stage is connected with the creation of right vision
through taking into account the emotional connection, the objectives and the creativity.
The organizational communication- In this stage, the reason for the change will be well
communicated with the members of the organization. It is the key part of the management
theory of Kotter.
Getting everything moving- In order to get everything moving and empowering the action,
the feedbacks and the opinions will be taken into account in a constructive way.
Focusing on the short term goals- The focus will be on the short term goals as per the theory.
The goal will be divided into few shorter goals which would be achievable too.
Persistence- Since persistence is the key to success through this model, it will be maintained
till the end until success is achieved.
Incorporation of change- Being inspired from this stage, besides the management of change
it will be made a part of the working culture.
The nurses will be appointed as the agents of change. The nurses will be on the floor to see
whether the medicinal system and the entire health care system is working properly on the
patient or not. The nurses execute a huge responsibility given to them. The role of change
agents for the nurses has various barriers such as the lack of proper education and training. In

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order to make the nurses unction as the change agents, the Transitional Care Model Program
will be conducted where the nurses will follow up the patients before and after the change.
2d) Use of evidence to support the change
The change in the system will reduce the rates of fall and along with the injuries. It will
combine the information about falls and the level of injuries. The fall rates will be tracked
and the hospital authority will provide the faceback loops to the patients especially the aged
patients. The number of the repeated falls will also be tracked and at first, there will be given
a uniform definition of patients’ fall so that precautions can be taken before falling. Patients
fall in the healthcare industry is crucial due to which , there has been death cases too. The fall
prevention of the patients and the awareness is necessary for reducing the fall rates. The
toolkits, the awareness and the faceback loop are supporting in reducing the patient fall rates
in the healthcare industry.
Conclusion
Therefore, from the above discussion, it can be said that in the nursing practices, the
leadership is a simple way to bring the mission and vision of an organization to fruition. This
report has focused on the of patients’ falling down and causing injuries and deaths. This
report has also introduced the use of toolkits for the multiple audiences. The toolkit will
consist of the faceback loop which will be helpful in preventing the patients fall. The toolkit
will focus on reducing the fall rates during the hospital stay of the patients. The collaborative
and transformational leadership has been selected for leading the change in a healthcare
organization of Singapore.

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