University Essay: Leading and Managing Care Services and Leadership

This essay provides a reflective analysis of leadership within the context of leading and managing care services, focusing on the author's leadership style and potential as demonstrated through a SWOT analysis. The essay explores current issues in healthcare practices, proposing approaches to ov...Read More

LEADING AND MANAGING CARE SERVICES

1LEADING AND MANAGING CARE SERVICES
The essay demonstrates an insight into my leadership style and the potentiality that I
possess as a leader through my practice based on SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunities,
and Threats) analysis (Appendix 2). Through this reflective essay I will highlight the current
issues surrounding the health care practices and provide with approaches in order to overcome
these issues. I will also show my ability to work collaboratively with diverse professional and
multi-disciplinary groups (Porter-O’Grady and Malloch 2015). Through my reflection, the
importance of leadership role will be portrayed within the field of healthcare through showcasing
the fact that how the current challenges and issues require an effective leadership to resolve. I
will also evaluate the different types of leadership strategies that I have applied during my role as
a leader. Through this reflection essay, the demonstration and evaluation will emphasize on the
importance of the implementation of solution for all the issues and challenges that the present-
day health care is facing.
Leadership is defined as the ability of an individual to assess and develop a particular
vision that the other workers will follow and perform accordingly towards the desired change
(Lacasse2013). And this quality is something that is not inborn in an individual, but is taught
from the experiences that they have. The form of leadership which will motivate and empower
the other workers to work collaboratively towards the achievement of goals can only be attained
of the leaders participate in a very interactive process (Fallatah and Laschinger 2016). NHS has
multiple challenges due to the field in which the work is done and it requires an effective
leadership in order to navigate through these conflicts successfully (Papathanasiou et al.
2014).Management comprises everything about tasks and performance on the other hand;
leadership is a performance that demands philosophy or judgment (Case 2011). Therefore,
leadership in the context of NHS can be explained as the ability of an individual to focus on the

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available limited resources which is an important ability required in the field of nursing. Figure 1
of Appendix 1 shows a NHS leadership model which shows nine dimensions and each dimension
describes briefly about the behavioral indicators and a set of question that is helpful in guiding
the leaders in their effective leadership act (Heckemann, Schols and Halfens 2015). However,
leadership has been defined as a process which is not only difficult but also multifaceted
(Carasco-Saul, Kim and Kim 2015). In NHS, Nursing Leaders are required to provide support
and direction along with which they also need to provide motivation, effective communication,
collaboration so that optimal patient health is achieved (Long et al. 2014).
In the year 2017, NHS found itself in crisis by facing a lack of available beds for the
overwhelming number of patients and there were also critical issues about funding (Robertson et
al. 2017). The state of crisis took such a bad form that many of the hospitals failed to cope with
the challenges and this had a major impact on the safety of the patients. The simple reason
behind such a failure is the negligence of the justice, non-malfeasance, guidelines and the ethics
of beneficence; thus it violated the fundamental principles of the nursing practice and leadership
(Francis 2013). Nurse leaders are trained to project confidence, calm and authority and thus the
financial crisis would have been eased through their efforts. The efforts of the leaders can be
analyzed through a set of values named the “6Cs” which are significant for the health and social
care of the patients in the UK; these 6Cs are: Care, Competence, Commitment, Compassion,
Courage and Commitment (Hutchinson and Jackson 2013). A leader in NHS must fulfill their
responsibilities by these 6Cs since the lack of these values in leadership prevented the financial
crisis of NHS to be solved. The Berwick report, in this context can be mentioned since it
explains the identification of the importance of monitoring, constant vigilance and learning in
order to make sure that the patients are kept away from the avoidable harm (Department of

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Health and Social Care 2013). A great leader with effective leadership strategies will be able to
put to use all the mentioned recommendations in the Berwick report as well as the Francis Report
(Joseph and Huber 2015). The effectiveness of the leadership in a nurse is shown through the
outcomes in a patient’s safety and the improvement of the quality of the care by ensuring that
proper manpower as well as resources is utilized to achieve the optimal quality of care (Huber
2013).
There are several theories of leadership that emerged over time that suggested the
practical application of the concept of leadership. The ‘Great man Theory’, Behavioral Theory,
Contingency Theory, Post Contingency Theory are some of the leadership theories that
developed from the time of 1920s (Giltinane 2013). For instance, the Contingency Theory is an
integrative perspective at leadership which gives more specifications to task of group work and
the leader’s position within the group (Giltinane 2013).
Similarly, transactional leadership theory is a theory that is based upon people who are
leading by the asset of the position of management whose position is held within the hierarchy of
the organization (Wong, Cummings and Ducharme 2013). Leaders with this type of leadership
strategy look towards the needs of the followers and try to interact with them (Spano-Szekelyet
al. 2016). Therefore, this theory is believed to be a process of social exchange based on the
system of power and reward (Giltinane 2013). In the organization of health care, this leadership
theory is linked to the attainment of the goal of organization that also includes acquiring of the
health of the local population. According to Bass and Riggio (2006), these kinds of leaders are
successful in maintaining harmony and equilibrium since they fulfill their roles in accordance to
the policies and the procedures and they utilize the method of incentives to motivate the
employees and enhance their performance.

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Transformational leadership theory is a theory which has gained huge support as an
approach for the healthcare arena since in this kind of leadership, the leaders transcend their self-
interests and motivate the followers thus enhancing their needs and raising their sense of
awareness about the enormous mission that they do for the organization (Giltinane 2013). As a
Transformational leader I am self-aware, self-confident and have a visionary in developing a
multidisciplinary team through breaking the professional boundaries and approach towards the
patient care (Fischer 2016). The rationale of my choice for this kind of approach is that it follows
an open and honest interaction and most importantly the personal qualities that I have like
communication skills, influencing skills and others will have to be equally balanced with high
level of personal insight and understanding.
As a leader, I have exhibited my strengths when I was on my placement; I utilized my
transformational leadership through my communication skills, my ability of task delegation,
working in a team and multitasking abilities. In a scenario, my strength was highlighted when I
challenged one of the nurses since she did not wash her hands before performing dressing for
surgical wound and attended another patient. Not only it is against the infection control, but it
also can be fatal to the patient. It has been estimated that 300,000 of the infections are acquired
from hospital each year and according to the NMC guidelines, the most effective method of
controlling infections is hand hygiene (Owen et al. 2017). Initially I was hesitating to challenge
the nurse due to the difference in hierarchy in the form of ranking professional, yet the potential
fatality risk was reduced due to my ability to challenge other professional. However due to the
transformational leadership trait in me, I was able to confront the nurse with elf confidence and
approach towards the patient care.

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Another scenario highlighted my weakness when I was unable to manage time and this
happened due to my inability to delegate tasks to the other nurses according to their expertise.
This inability of time management once resulted in extreme worse patient outcome, since his
treatment was delayed due to poor time management. Being a leader, I should be able to delegate
the tasks properly and in such a way that every patient is attended at proper time. A leader must
know how to manage time and have sorted priorities; even the NMC guidelines also mention the
importance of clear delegation of tasks to the others (NMC 2018). Appendix 3 demonstrates a
smart action plan, using the SMART goals, that outlines my weakness in the leadership trait and
provides the possible solutions to reduce the negative outcomes.
It can be concluded that leadership is not a quality that is inborn; in fact, it is a quality
that is teachable. The NHS identifies the importance of leadership which is why it offers all the
staffs with platforms for training and the NMC provides the guidance in order to enhance their
skills with values like 6Cs. This paper reflects that leadership can be developed through
experience, self-awareness and education through the reflective learning and the personal
developmental plans provided in this paper. It is recommended that students need to understand
the importance of leadership and leadership skills. The trait of transformational leadership style
is also advised to utilize in the field of nursing since it shows the importance of leaders’ ability to
work together effectively through motivation and raising self awareness among the other
workers.

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References:
Bass, B.M. and Riggio, R.E. (2006). Transformational leadership [Kindle version].
Carasco-Saul, M., Kim, W. and Kim, T., 2015. Leadership and employee engagement: Proposing
research agendas through a review of literature. Human Resource Development Review, 14(1),
pp.38-63.
Case, P., French, R. and Simpson, P., 2011. Philosophy of leadership. Sage.
Dalton, J. (2017). The 6 Cs of the National Health Service - Latest News - DG College London.
[online] www.davidgamecollege.com/. Available at:
https://www.davidgamecollege.com/216/latest-news/post/229/the-6-cs-of-the-national-health-
service [Accessed 2 Dec. 2019].
Department of Health and Social Care. (2013). Berwick review into patient safety. [online]
www.gov.uk/. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/berwick-review-into-
patient-safety [Accessed 2 Dec. 2019].
Fallatah, F. and Laschinger, H.K. (2016). The influence of authentic leadership and supportive
professional practice environments on new graduate nurses’ job satisfaction. Journal of Research
in Nursing, 21(2), pp.125-136.
Fischer, S.A. (2016). Transformational leadership in nursing: a concept analysis. Journal of
Advanced Nursing, 72(11), pp.2644-2653.
Francis, R., 2013. Report of the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust public inquiry:
executive summary (Vol. 947). The Stationery Office.

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Giltinane, C.L. (2013). Leadership styles and theories. Nursing Standard, 27(41).
Heckemann, B., Schols, J.M. and Halfens, R.J. (2015). A reflective framework to foster
emotionally intelligent leadership in nursing. Journal of Nursing Management, 23(6), pp.744-
753.
Huber, D. (2013). Leadership and nursing care management. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Hutchinson, M. and Jackson, D. (2013). Transformational leadership in nursing: towards a more
critical interpretation. Nursing inquiry, 20(1), pp.11-22.
Joseph, M.L. and Huber, D.L. (2015). Clinical leadership development and education for nurses:
prospects and opportunities. Journal of healthcare leadership, 7, p.55.
Lacasse Cheryl, M.S. (2013), September. Developing nursing leaders for the future: Achieving
competency for transformational leadership. In Oncology Nursing Forum (Vol. 40, No. 5, p.
431). Oncology Nursing Society.
Long, C.S., Yusof, W.M.M., Kowang, T.O. and Heng, L.H. (2014). The impact of
transformational leadership style on job satisfaction. World Applied Sciences Journal, 29(1),
pp.117-124.
NMC (2018). The Code: Professional standards of practice and behaviour for nurses, midwives
and nursing associates. [online] www.nmc.org.uk/. Available at:
https://www.nmc.org.uk/standards/code/ [Accessed 19 Dec. 2019].
Owen, L., Pennington, B., Fischer, A. and Jeong, K. (2017). The cost-effectiveness of public
health interventions examined by NICE from 2011 to 2016. Journal of Public Health, 40(3),
pp.557-566.

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Papathanasiou, I.V., Fradelos, E.C., Kleisiaris, C.F., Tsaras, K., Kalota, M.A. and Kourkouta, L.
(2014). Motivation, leadership, empowerment and confidence: their relationship with nurses’
burnout. Materia socio-medica, 26(6), p.405.
Porter-O'Grady, T. and Malloch, K. (2015). Leadership in nursing practice. Jones & Bartlett
Publishers.
Robertson, R., Wenzel, L., Thompson, J. and Charles, A., 2017. Understanding NHS financial
pressures. How are they affecting patient care.
Spano-Szekely, L., Griffin, M.T.Q., Clavelle, J. and Fitzpatrick, J.J. (2016). Emotional
intelligence and transformational leadership in nurse managers. JONA: The Journal of Nursing
Administration, 46(2), pp.101-108.
Wong, C.A., Cummings, G.G. and Ducharme, L. (2013). The relationship between nursing
leadership and patient outcomes: a systematic review update. Journal of nursing
management, 21(5), pp.709-724.

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Appendix:
Appendix 1:
Figure 1: NHS Leadership Model

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Appendix 2:
Strength Weakness Opportunities Threats
 Effective verbal skills and
written communication
skills.
 Ability to work in a team
 Multitasking capabilities.
 Ability to remain calm
under stress.
 Confidence while
challenging other
professionals.
 Weak in
managing
conflicts between
co-workers.
 Ability to manage
time
 Sorted priorities
 Allocation of
equal workload.
 Lack of
emotional
resilience.
 Offer from a
senior colleague
to mentor as a
good leader.
 Working with
patients and
staffs from
diverse cultural
backgrounds
will enhance the
skill of working
in a
collaborative
manner.
 Lack of
emotional
resilience can
cause potential
obstruction in
the work.
 Inability to
manage conflicts
will cause
stagnation in
development as
a leader.
Figure: SWOT Analysis

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Appendix 3:
Goals Specific Measurable Attainable Relevant Time Bound
-A need to
learn about
time
managemen
t and
delegation
of tasks.
-Efficiently
managing
time through
proper
delegation of
tasks.
-When every
patient will be
attended within
the shift timing
of the nurses as
per the tasks
allotted to them.
-I will arrange
a meeting with
the nurses in
order to
delegate tasks
properly.
-I will get
guidance from
an experienced
nurse.
-Better
delegation of
tasks will help in
the time
management.
-It will help me
in being able to
communicate
more with the
other nurses and
help to work
more efficiently
in a
multidisciplinar
y team.
-The delegation
of tasks and time
management
ability will be
achieved in 2
weeks of time
through
meetings and
proper
communication
with the team.
Figure 1: SMART action plan