Strong leadership is a key component for any business to be successful. Leaders create the mission and vision of their company, set the goals and define the culture. Their behaviors and attitudes towards work and their employees can either drive the company forward or drive it straight into the ground.
Different types of leadership roles in healthcare
Healthcare leadership in clinics, rehab facilities or hospitals is a little complex. Most large complex organizations have two groups of leaders: a governing body such as board members, and a leadership team made of the CEO, CFO and other senior executives. Healthcare organizations have a unique third dimension to their leadership staff. It is comprised of the leadership of the physicians and the medical staff.
Licensed practitioners add another level to leadership
This third group of healthcare managers makes healthcare leadership complex. The doctors treat the patients, who essentially are the customers. They are coming to a particular health facility to receive some kind of service. The decisions that doctors make about their patients drive many of the other decisions within the organization – things like nursing care, diagnostic imaging, laboratory testing and medication use – all with the goal of providing safe, high-quality care. Not having some form of a senior healthcare manager as part of a leadership team would be detrimental to the organization’s sustainability.
Working together drives success
Collaboration across all the parts of the healthcare leadership team drives success. In smaller organizations, there may be one person filling multiple roles and working across the leadership groups. In larger organizations, there is usually one person filling a specific role to meet the needs of the organization as a whole. Those needs are providing safe, quality care, ensuring financial stability, offering community service and outreach and making sure ethical standards are being upheld.
Several opportunities to lead in a variety of fields within healthcare
There are several different healthcare leadership roles. Doctors can lead by overseeing care. Administrators and managers run the daily operations, manage staff, and lead departments such as human resources, finance and accounting, all to keep the organization functioning. The board of directors answers to investors and creates long-term goals. There are several leaders required to make a healthcare organization function. Collaboration and cooperation among leaders make it successful.
Sources:
http://www.jointcommission.org/assets/1/18/WP_Leadership_Standards.pdf
