Educational Leadership

What does it mean

in the context of a medical school?

Quotations
Leadership and learning are indispensable
to each other.
John F Kennedy
Academic leadership is a major determinant
of
Effective curriculum change
Organisational productivity
Faculty morale
Bland & Wersal (2002)

Quotations
The search for solutions to the leadership
dilemma leads us to thousands of
leadership studies, most of which are
contradictory and inconclusive.
Gmelch (2000)

Quotations
There comes a point where faith and
conviction are more important than hard
data.
Lowry (1993)
Associate Dean at
Harvard Medical School

Quotations
Leaders have two main tasks:
To set a path, goal, or vision for the people who
are being led
To motivate people to pursue and
eventually achieve the goal
Richard Smith
Editor, BMJ

The nature of Leadership

Leaders are born, not made; they have particular
traits, such as intelligence, extraversion, etc.
Some leaders can be good for one situation, but
not for another
Leaders need vision and charisma
Leading and managing are different

The nature of Leadership

Charismatic leaders hold positive
images and express ideas that appeal to
followers ideologically
Charismatic leaders arouse emotional
responses in followers relative to
achieving goals

The nature of Leadership

Emotional Intelligence is a characteristic
of good leaders
IQ predicts about 10% of work success
(Sternberg, 1996)
In professional fields, emotional
intelligence carries more weight in
detecting who should be a leader

The nature of Leadership

The more complex the job, the more
emotional intelligence matters
Leadership is the ability to combine
emotions and cognition

Leadership characteristics
Articulate, and able to arouse enthusiasm for
a shared vision and mission
Steps forward to lead, as needed, regardless
of position
Guides performance of others while holding
them accountable

Leadership characteristics

Lead by example
Lead by giving energy
Maintain an open door policy
Mingle with colleagues at all levels

Leadership & Management

(Covey)
Leaders and managers are different

Managers deal with speed/efficiency

Leaders deal with direction
Managers focus on organisational nuts & bolts
Leaders keep the mission in sight
Managers are process oriented
Leaders are outcome oriented
Managers focus on the bottom line
Leaders focus on the top line

Leadership & Management

(Covey)
Leaders and managers are different

Managers use transactional forms of motivation

Leaders us transformation and empowerment
Managers manage things
Leaders lead people
(Hunter)
Managers do things right
Leaders do the right thing (Bennis)

Doctors problems

Doctors work primarily as individuals

Doctors guard their independence
Doctors value autonomy
Leadership is about working with others
Doctors have little experience of setting
strategies
Doctors have difficulty seeing the broader
picture

Doctors problems
Doctors are inclined to be analytic rather than
creative, imaginative, sympathetic
Doctors are often poor communicators
Doctors are wary of expressing emotion in themselves
Doctors have problems being leaders
- and being led

Conclusions
Leadership is important to effect change
Leadership is primarily about setting a
vision and motivating people who want to
achieve the vision
Communicating the vision, building trust,
empowering people, and working in teams
are also important
Leadership and management are different

Conclusions
Doctors have problems with leadership, both
leading and being led
There have been outstanding examples of
doctors leading
Leadership is not entirely inborn, but neither
can everybody learn to lead
The profession needs to think about
leadership and encourage the development
of doctors who can lead