Abstract
BackgroundLeadership courses and multi-source feedback are widely used developmental tools for leaders in health care. On this background we aimed to study the additional effect of a leadership course following a multi-source feedback procedure compared to multi-source feedback alone especially regarding development of leadership skills over time.MethodsStudy participants were consultants responsible for postgraduate medical education at clinical departments. Study design: pre-post measures with an intervention and control group. The intervention was participation in a seven-day leadership course. Scores of multi-source feedback from the consultants responsible for education and respondents (heads of department, consultants and doctors in specialist training) were collected before and one year after the intervention and analysed using Mann-Whitney's U-test and Multivariate analysis of variances.ResultsThere were no differences in multi-source feedback scores at one year follow up compared to baseline measurements, either in the intervention or in the control group (p = 0.149).ConclusionThe study indicates that a leadership course following a MSF procedure compared to MSF alone does not improve leadership skills of consultants responsible for education in clinical departments. Developing leadership skills takes time and the time frame of one year might have been too short to show improvement in leadership skills of consultants responsible for education. Further studies are needed to investigate if other combination of initiatives to develop leadership might have more impact in the clinical setting.
Highlights
Leadership courses and multi-source feedback are widely used developmental tools for leaders in health care
We have previously demonstrated that multi-source feedback (MSF) used by consultants responsible for Postgraduate medical education (PGME) at clinical hospital departments resulted in clear and concrete plans for improvement of management skills, while plans for development of leadership skills and personal development were scarce and less concrete
These difficulties in formulating goals and plans for personal development were interpreted by stakeholders as a need for further initiatives to support leadership development [10]. On this background we aimed to study the effect of a leadership course following a MSF procedure compared to MSF alone especially regarding development of leadership skills over time
Summary
Leadership courses and multi-source feedback are widely used developmental tools for leaders in health care. The various stakeholders have only limited knowledge of the role of leaders in PGME, they suggest formal leadership education to meet the expectations [3]. It has recently been questioned it is still the general opinion that education of leaders results in improvement of leaders' performance [4,5,6,7], especially if the content of the leadership courses relates to the organisation the leader works in [5,6,8]. In other organisations than health care it has been suggested to combine leadership courses with multi-source feedback (MSF) or other initiatives supposed to initiate personal development in coherence with development of the organisation [7,9]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
