Clinical Leadership Case Study

This essay will focus upon leadership and how it can be used to develop a caring and compassionate culture within the clinical team. Firstly, it will discuss the notion of leadership in general terms, specific to health and current health policy. Secondly, it will consider reasons we need to develop a culture of compassion and caring with the nursing teams. Thirdly, it will discuss how effective leadership can inspire and develop an established clinical team and finally, it will link the concept of leadership to the development of a caring and compassionate culture within an existing and established clinical team.

Leadership is a concept that is present in every entity such as school, church, business organisation, state and association. Grimm (2010) defined leadership as a multifaceted process of
These traits can be described as confidence, purpose, courage, ethical fitness and ability to prioritise (Grimm 2010). The personality and style of any leader has a significant impact on the culture of a team. There is no ideal style, however, there are personality traits that characterise effective leaders and style that suit some teams more than others. Styles can range from democratic to autocratic (Winkler, 2010).

In healthcare, the predominant style of leadership has been a pace setting style of leadership based on meeting targets. This style has been associated with a loss of compassion, producing a climate which is not conducive to building morale and motivation (Daly et al, 2014). This style has also been associated with disastrous patient outcomes. In other hand, the leadership style that shown to have the most benefit effect on clinical team climate is a more engaging style of leadership that emphasises patient care, enables staff and listens to their views, rather than adopting a more command and control style (Dixon-Woods, 2013