The Health Foundation: What's Leadership Got To Do With It?
Exploring Links between Quality Improvement and Leadership in the NHS
In January 2011, The Health Foundation published ORCNi's in-depth independent evaluation of their leadership programme, including an exploration of the links between leadership and quality improvement.
The three core inquiry questions for the study were:
- What are the links between quality improvement (QI) and leadership behaviour?
- Do different types of QI require different 'leadership' behaviours?
- What are the lessons for leadership development generally and for The Health Foundation specifically?
Some of the key findings included:
- Engagement and relationship skills are of fundamental importance in leading improvement. These skills feature more prominently in reported patterns of leadership behaviour than task-related skills.
- As quality improvement work becomes more complex, NHS leaders increasingly rely on their inter-personal and relational skills to bring about the changes involved. These skills characterise the leader as playing a key role in enabling others in the system to contribute their views, expertise and ideas.
- Responsive, nimble leadership which anticipates change, is ready to adapt to altering, unpredictable circumstances, is particularly associated with sustainable improvement and tangible impact.
www.health.org.uk/publications/what-s-leadership-got-to-do-with-it/
