Abstract
ABSTRACTDespite the proposed benefits of applying shared and distributed leadership models in healthcare, few studies have explored the leadership beliefs of clinicians and ascertained whether differences exist between professions. The current article aims to address these gaps and, additionally, examine whether clinicians’ leadership beliefs are associated with the strength of their professional and team identifications. An online survey was responded to by 229 healthcare workers from community interprofessional teams in mental health settings across the East of England. No differences emerged between professional groups in their leadership beliefs; all professions reported a high level of agreement with shared leadership. A positive association emerged between professional identification and shared leadership in that participants who expressed the strongest level of profession identification also reported the greatest agreement with shared leadership. The same association was demonstrated for team identification and shared leadership. The findings highlight the important link between group identification and leadership beliefs, suggesting that strategies that promote strong professional and team identifications in interprofessional teams are likely to be conducive to clinicians supporting principles of shared leadership. Future research is needed to strengthen this link and examine the leadership practices of healthcare workers.
Highlights
The challenges involved in providing patient centred care during periods of financial instability have encouraged organisations to develop new models of delivering healthcare
Concluding comments Despite the limitations of the current study, the findings are important in demonstrating a link between group identification and clinicians’ leadership beliefs
The current study reaffirms previous research that has demonstrated it is possible for clinicians to hold strong duel identifications with their teams and profession in situations when the level of professional threat is low
Summary
The challenges involved in providing patient centred care during periods of financial instability have encouraged organisations to develop new models of delivering healthcare. Shared leadership involves the collective influence of team members which is embedded in social interactions (Carson, Tesluk & Marrone, 2007; Currie & Lockett, 2011), whereas distributed leadership refers more explicitly to the distribution of influence to frontline workers (Spillane & Diamond, 2007). These leadership theories are relevant to healthcare where there is an explicit focus on interprofessional teamwork. Comparable findings have been reported in healthcare studies that have demonstrated a link between features of shared / distributed leadership and a number of organisational outcomes including staff empowerment (Barden, Griffin & Donahue, 2011), staff satisfaction (Sherman & Pross, 2010) and improved service outcomes (Fitzgerald, Ferlie, McGivern & Buchanan, 2013)
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