Leadership is an essential component of effective healthcare management. The quality of healthcare management and medical leadership defines the quality of care provided to patients (Sfantou et al., 2017). The healthcare team’s working process needs to be adequately regulated by the hospital administration to provide exemplary patient care. Healthcare management needs administrators with a deep understanding of the medical practice and requires them to be influential leaders. According to Sfantou et al. (2017), a leader is a person who motivates workers to increase productivity, introduces changes for improvement, can take full responsibility in emergencies, and plans hospital activities. Effective leadership in healthcare management ensures creating a safe environment in hospitals and providing the best possible patient care. Therefore, employing a qualified person possessing management and leadership characteristics helps to achieve effective hospital management.
Defining the proper management and leadership characteristics is essential when creating the job posting for a healthcare manager’s role. Job positions in healthcare management were explored on the Indeed website using the following keywords: management positions in healthcare, healthcare management, and healthcare administrator positions. The keywords found in job postings that represented the desired management skills included communication skills, business mindset, problem-solving and conflict management skills, and strong technical skills (Covenant Living, 2021). The keywords that described leadership characteristics required for the job were mentoring experience, creative mindset, ability to prioritize activities, and forward-thinking (Covenant Living, 2021). These leadership and management skills are essential for a leader to organize effective hospital management.
Healthcare organizations that created job postings want to find a leader experienced in working in a stressful environment. Furthermore, they want to hire a leader with strong interpersonal skills to organize practical teamwork. The leader should be able to motivate staff to work harder. The manager should also be strategic to plan and supervise hospital activities and to be able to make quick, reasonable decisions in case of emergency. The person who acquires a manager role in a healthcare institution is expected to provide high-quality care to patients, evaluate personnel performance, and establish communication between different hospital departments. An effective leader can successfully perform all of these extensive tasks.
Effective leadership in healthcare management combines management skills and leadership skills to coordinate work in a multifaceted hospital environment. Leadership and management skills described in the job postings characterize the desired characteristics of an effective leader. Interpersonal communication skills are essential for a leader to clarify job responsibilities effectively and know how to motivate employees properly. Moreover, managers need to have strong technology skills because modern hospital settings digitalized almost all intra-hospital communication aspects. A business mindset is required for effective leadership to coordinate and plan different aspects of hospital work. Furthermore, leaders with a business mindset possess a strategic view on various issues. A strategic view is an example of an individual’s perspective or understanding of a subject. For instance, if a leader’s mindset is such that work can be improved only through motivation, the effective leader will make sure that every worker’s achievements are recognized or rewarded. However, a leadership style is built upon learned management and leadership skills, but it requires specific personal characteristics that help managers become influential leaders.
Personal characteristics are as crucial for the leader as one’s management and leadership skills. Since effective leadership requires wise strategic management, a candidate for the role of healthcare manager needs to have such personal characteristics as self-discipline, confidence, and empathy. A disciplined leader can organize working processes effectively and be viewed as a great example of the importance of self-discipline in the workplace. Confidence allows effective leaders to tackle difficult situations, even in emergencies. Motivating and inspiring personnel is a difficult task, which requires empathy to understand employees to find ways of effective communication with each of them. A leader’s personal characteristics are essential for effective management and vital in building exemplary working relationships between healthcare managers and hospital personnel.
Overall, leadership and management are essential components of effective hospital administration. Medical organizations always try to indicate in job postings the desired characteristics of a healthcare manager. Communication skills, technology skills, and a problem-solving mindset are essential attributes of a good manager. A healthcare manager’s leadership skills include motivating and inspiring personnel, coordinating hospital work effectively, and thinking strategically even in emergencies. I believe that these leadership characteristics can be helpful for me to become a successful healthcare manager. My business mindset, combined with self-discipline, will be necessary for effective hospital work coordination. Furthermore, the empathy that I developed over the years will be essential for effective communication. Traits that I continue to master are communication skills and confidence. These skills combined will ensure that I will be an effective healthcare manager to achieve good health outcomes for patients.
References
Sfantou, D. F., Laliotis, A., Patelarou, A. E., Sifaki-Pistolla, D., Matalliotakis, M., & Patelarou, E. (2017). Importance of leadership style towards the quality of care measures in healthcare settings: a systematic review. Healthcare, 5(4), 73. Web.
Covenant Living. (2021). Healthcare administrator. [Post]. Indeed. Web.