Introduction
Effective leadership is an integral part of a successful organization. It allows for improving workers’ performance and ensures a qualitative working environment that has such aspects as mutual understanding, strategic vision, sincere attitude, and rational decision-making processes. In addition, the leader can establish constant learning, which will be crucial for practical situations and issues. In the sphere of aged care, all the abovementioned aspects are essential to provide patients with high-quality service. The leader should have particular attributes to be professional and effectively communicate various obstacles regarding aged patient care.
Background Information About the Topic
While considering the various aspects of gerontology, it is crucial to explore the leadership issue in healthcare settings. First, one should state that many healthcare providers, including nurses, work collaboratively to provide qualitative services to patients. This process requires ongoing and step-by-step actions, which need to be efficient.
Besides other factors, efficiency can be achieved due to well-coordinated work where every professional knows their duties precisely. The leadership plays this crucial role, allowing the medical facility to improve its services. Consequently, one should highlight that qualitative leadership in the healthcare context will affect not only the working climate but will also improve and enhance the patient’s care.
Leadership is a powerful tool to increase the workers’ productivity not only by constructing efficient working strategies but also by inspiring them. In other words, leadership’s significant impact directly influences people’s psychological and social perceptions. As Backman et al. (2016) state, leadership “contributes to the psychosocial climate for both staff and residents in aged care” (p. 1). Professional healthcare leaders should constantly communicate with healthcare providers and lead them through complex tasks. It will allow one to reduce the level of dissatisfaction and reluctance of nurses and will show them that their work is crucial to other people.
The leader in healthcare should have specific characteristics. Nowadays, much new information based on innovative research arises intensively. This means that the leader should implement this new knowledge and approach into healthcare practices (Short, 2022). Consequently, one should state that the leadership should be innovative. In addition, undoubtedly, one of the primary tasks of the leader is to motivate their team to achieve specific goals. In this sense, the leader should act as a mechanism that will move the working process and allow nurses to accomplish challenging missions.
Key Terms and Important Observations
One of the essential observations is stated in the Aged Care Clinical Leadership Qualities Framework (ACLQF). For example, the researchers observed that there are specific leadership styles, such as transformational, transactional, situational, and supportive (Backman et al., 2016). These characteristics highlight that there is no one ideal leadership approach that will be suitable for every situation.
Remarkably, the transformation approach assumes the application of various practical experiences to increase the staff’s professional skills. For example, the leader should construct constant courses and seminars to transform nurses’ knowledge and get them out of their comfort zones (Backman et al., 2016). On the other hand, the situational behavior of the leader assumes a prompt and effective reaction to the current happenings. The leader should be able to analyze the situation and gather workers around them in order to organize the collaboration operationally.
Another critical term that should be considered is person-centered nursing. It is vital to highlight that this notion describes the nurses’ actions that are entirely aimed toward patients’ needs, identity, and dignity (Backman et al., 2016). When considering this term from the leadership point of view, one should highlight that highly person-centered nursing has a negative influence on the efficiency of leadership (Backman et al., 2016). However, the rational approach, combining leadership and person-centered nursing, will create a qualitative working environment that will not only help patients but also reduce staff burnout (Backman et al., 2016). These factors are essential in understanding that leadership can be influenced by other factors that might increase or reduce its efficiency.
Leadership Attributes in Aged Care and Relevant Stakeholders
Flexibility in Communication
Among the significant attributes of leadership in the context of aged care, one should highlight adaptability and effective communication. Every leader should constantly communicate not only with nurses but with patients to obtain necessary information regarding their needs, preferences, and things that bother them. While considering this data, the leader should construct a qualitative action plan to address patients’ needs involving various healthcare providers.
Due to this issue, adaptability is crucial because it allows the leader to promptly analyze the situation according to the patient’s state and act efficiently and rationally. For example, in the Australian Commission on Safety (2017), it has been stated that the leader should communicate with the organization to ask for support in the implementation of new approaches that require some spending and modern technologies (Australian Commission on Safety, 2017). Leaders should demonstrate these attributes by guiding them in the way of having a sincere desire and appropriate skills to maintain the high standards of nurses’ work.
Practical Communication
Another important leadership attribute in aged care is practical communication skills. In other words, the leader should be able to both receive and understand the information from patients and colleagues and translate their own ideas to create a mutual understanding between the workers. It is essential because aged patients require not only medical analysis but also constant communication to be assured that they are cared for and someone cares about them. It significantly impacts their psychological state and, therefore, allows them to improve their mental and physical health by improving their mood and positivity (Australian Commission on Safety, 2017).
Emotional Intelligence
In this context, another vital leadership attribute in these circumstances is emotional intelligence and patience. Notably, there are numerous patients in aged care with complex characters and behaviors who need not only unique approaches to communicate with them but also the tremendous patience of the leader and their team. Consequently, the leader’s responsibility is to establish good psychological skills in nurses so they will be able to treat even the most difficult behavioral patients.
Relevant Stakeholders in Aged Care Management
While considering aged care’s peculiarities, one should stress the role of stakeholders in the process. The stakeholders can be considered as all people who are involved and interested in providing aged patient care. For example, the leader can use help to obtain information from the stakeholders closest to the patient and their relatives. In other words, the patient’s parents, siblings, or friends can collaborate with the medical personnel constantly to provide them with necessary information regarding such factors as the patient’s habits, behavior peculiarities, and other vital information (Backman et al., 2016).
However, as mentioned above, many people can be considered stakeholders. In addition to relatives, they can be educational institutions and government representatives who can assist professionally and financially. Consequently, the stakeholders’ role in aged care cannot be overestimated because of the importance of the help they can provide.
Evidence Supporting Effective Leadership and Management
Dawes and Topp
One of the most significant pieces of evidence regarding specific attributes of the leader or manager is related to the entire strategy of the healthcare team. It means that the professional leader can establish current communications and action plans, develop long-term goals, and construct an efficient collaboration to achieve them. For example, in the article “Senior Management Characteristics” by Dawes and Topp (2021), the authors research various literature resources to gather data regarding the possible influences of managers and leaders on nurses’ work. They concluded that there is a direct impact on aged care. According to Dawes and Topp (2021), “senior management stability encourages long-term planning and commitment towards pursuing long-term objectives, including those to enhance care quality” (p. 12). Consequently, the leader should have particular managerial skills to create a strategic plan.
Brennan and Flynn
Another crucial evidence of the positive influence of such attributes as communication skills and adaptability has been described by Brennan and Flynn (2013). The authors state that the professional manager will collaborate with nurses and other employees by successfully delivering their roles and tasks to them (Brennan & Flynn, 2013). In other words, the leader is directly responsible for workers’ understanding of their responsibilities and the company’s strategy or long-term goals (Brennan & Flynn, 2013). These pieces of evidence highlight the necessity of specific attributes for the leader to be professional and effective in organizing the working process to provide qualitative services for patients in aged care.
Impacts of Leadership Attributes on Management Aspects
Governance
Particular examples of attributes’ efficiency should be made regarding specific points. Among them are sound governance, strategic decision-making, and others. First, sound governance assumes a significant number of actions the manager should accomplish. However, a partnership and strategic vision are the most important aspects of the aged care sphere.
Remarkably, while implementing the qualitative strategic vision, the leader can form a highly productive plan to cure patients. This means that a step-by-step plan will be used to provide them with appropriate service (Australian Commission on Safety, 2017). Such attributes as adaptability will allow us to change this strategy when unexpected issues occur. Consequently, these practices will influence strategic decision-making points, allowing the leader to make decisions rationally and patiently. For example, if the workers do not have an understanding of the entire strategy or the end goal of their actions, their effectiveness will be lower.
Stakeholder Engagement
The next feature of leadership in which the mentioned attributes can be effective is staff engagement. The leader’s communication skills will be essential to explain nurses’ responsibilities and elaborate on their passion for the work. Notably, staff engagement and sincere work will directly influence the quality of the aged care sphere.
For example, in the National Model Clinical Governance Framework by the Australian Commission on Safety (2017), the authors state that medical staff should communicate their profession’s commitment to establishing safe and quality health care (Australian Commission on Safety, 2017). Therefore, the self-consciousness and passion of healthcare workers can significantly increase the quality of aged care services. The leader should use their communication skills to enhance these qualities and engage nurses in the process. Notably, this approach will also reduce the burnout of medical staff and increase their satisfaction.
The leader’s attributes also impact the learning culture and the development of strong stakeholder relationships. For example, the Australian Commission on Safety (2017) highlights that one of the primary tasks of a leader is to sustain constant learning and improve healthcare providers’ skills and knowledge (Australian Commission on Safety, 2017). The communicative attribute, in this case, could be helpful in explaining to the employees the necessity of acquiring new practical skills to provide better service in aged care. It means that the leader is responsible for creating a learning culture inside the team.
As an example of the importance of this method, one can highlight the situation when the patient requires new approaches in terms of treatment and communication with them. Practical training for nurses and the knowledge that healthcare providers have acquired will be crucial in this case. Workers will be able to apply modern practices and technologies due to the constant refreshment of their experience caused by the learning culture.
Performance
Respecting diversity and organizational performance are other essential features connected with the leader’s attributes. In this situation, the manager’s responsibility is to collaborate effectively with the HR department to understand the issues of workers’ diversity. In other words, the leader should have data concerning such factors as age, culture, race, ethnicity, and other characteristics of the healthcare team for which they are responsible.
It is vital to maintain justice and qualitative diversity, which will also positively influence the outcomes of the services in aged care. Mainly, diversity will differentiate points of view and allow one to consider various opinions to establish the most rational decision (Australian Commission on Safety, 2017). Notably, the absence of a leader’s attributes mentioned above, such as communication skills, can cause the impossibility of collaborating with various workers and stakeholders. As an example of this issue, one can highlight the situation when the leader cannot communicate with the patient’s relatives. However, this process is absolutely necessary to obtain essential data to cure this particular aged patient.
Barriers to Effective Leadership in the Aged Care Sector
Among the personal barriers leaders can face in the aged care sector, one should stress such factors as shyness in communicating with a significant number of people simultaneously. In addition, overthinking may negatively influence the creation of essential features such as strategic views and end goals. These problems can eliminate the advantages of the leader’s attributes mentioned earlier.
On the other hand, specific organizational barriers can occur, which will prevent the efficiency of the leader’s work. Among them are particular frameworks and rules that are impractical and negatively influence the workers’ productivity. In addition, system barriers should be mentioned to underline specific problems. One should state the lack of attention paid to aged patients and the biases concerning this point.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is essential to highlight that the presence of specific attributes of the leader is a significant advantage in providing aged care. Such talents as effective communication and adaptability are crucial to address various issues in the process. In particular, collaboration with stakeholders and healthcare providers is necessary to accomplish end goals concerning patient treatment.
Due to the consideration of detailed information from the National Model Clinical Governance Framework of Australia and various research studies, it was possible to explore the particular advantages of the leader’s attributes in depth. However, many obstacles can hurt the manager’s work and harm the treatment’s efficiency. To avoid it, professional leaders should maintain their skills and establish constant learning for themselves and nurses.
References
Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care. (2017). National Model Clinical Governance Framework. Web.
Backman, A. S., Gren, K., Lindkvist, M., Lo, V. H., & Edvardsson, D. (2016). Towards person-centredness in aged care – exploring the impact of leadership. Journal of Nursing Management 24, 766–774. Web.
Brennan, N. & Flynn, M. (2013). Differentiating clinical governance, clinical management and clinical practice. Clinical Governance: An International Journal, 18(2), 114-131. Web.
Dawes, N. & Topp, S. (2021). Senior management characteristics that influence care quality in aged care homes: A global scoping review. International Journal of Healthcare Management, 14(3), 731-743. Web.
Short, L. M. (2022). Patient leadership in aged care. Australian Health Review, 46(4), 387-387. Web.