Part A: Analysis of Scenario of The Public Health Leader Using Australian Health Leadership Framework

Introduction to Public Health Leadership

A health leader refers to the individual who endeavors to refine the superiority of life and the welfare of the health system of the nation (Pinck & Sonnentag, 2018). It is true that public health today is in need of an effective leader to emerge the true public health in order to cure disease, extend life, and promote health via well-ordered efforts of the society. An effective leader in public health is one who has a clear understanding of the goal, is effective at decision-making, able to connect and encourage all organizations under expertise to work as a team and is able to demonstrate an attributable development in the health of inhabitants of the nation (Srivastava & Kunwar, 2018). This report is going to analyze the scenario of Helen, a general practitioner, using the Australian health leadership framework

Australian Health Leadership Framework

This is the initiative of the Australian government aimed at leadership for a public focused health system that is reasonable, effective, and supportable. Moreover, as per this framework, health leaders demonstrate respect for all who consume health services, their societies, and families, and for those who work offering health services. It is a national health leadership framework in austral that defines competencies for leaders in all fields of the health care system and offers a mutual language for sectors across the nation. It is the basis for:

Allowing and refining safety and excellence in all parts of the system
Reinforcing and assisting the growth of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders
Endorsing mutual inter-professional leadership expansion and medical practice
Embedding leadership in health teaching, training, and attributed ongoing development.
Connecting and reinforcing health leadership training and expansion prospects (Krishnan, 2018).

Principles of Framework

There are three key principles of the Australian health leadership framework illustrated below:

Everyone owns leadership: As per this principle, the superiority of leadership throughout any system is essential for its modification and attainment of the purpose. Similarly, effective leadership is a community good for which everybody shares accountability in the health system. It also allows the organization to reform the operational process and attain the purpose of business.
Developing capable leaders shapes health leadership capability: This aims at improving the abilities of leaders to influence others for better health outcomes. It also means that leading in health, independently, and collectively, needs courage, passion, and the ability to follow through.
The person you are is the leader you are: It means that people will show the competencies in this framework in a different way in diverse settings and in a way reliable with their style, role, and personality (Health Workforce Australia, 2013).

Five Elements of This Framework and Analysis of Scenario

The leadership in public health as per the Australian health leadership framework is based upon five key elements named LEADS that entail lead self; engages others; achieved outcomes; drives innovation; and shapes systems.

Leads self: This framework requires the leader to display the skills namely self-regulation, social ability, sympathy, enthusiasm, and self-awareness. Additionally, they must showcase honesty in their role and setting and show flexibility in stimulating situations. As far as Helen’s leadership skills are concerned, it can be analyzed that she holds empathy, motivational skills, and show flexibility in the changing roles that is from practitioner to a new public health officer.

Engage others: Leaders must engage others in challenging situations so that they may learn and grow from the newer opportunities. Further, the leader has the responsibility to engage people by clarifications that make sense of difficulties. Helen was well-versed in engaging the people in health initiatives. She was of the view that there is a need to involve the society, enabling them to take control of their own settings, and include themselves in policymaking. Moreover, she values diversity and considers cultural responsiveness.

Achieve outcomes: Health leaders must work with sympathy to impact the quality of care and sustainability of the system. They must have the ability to collaborate with peers, customers, and others to attain the vision. However, Helen was not somehow introverted and has fewer abilities to collaborate as she has never worked with stakeholders. Instead, she is kind, positive, and a qualified health doctor, whose leadership is regarded with uncertainty by policymakers.

Drives innovation: In the health system, innovation refers to vital changes to models of care to attain people-focused services (Saxena, Desanghere & Suryavanshi, 2018). In this aspect, Helen wants to solve the issue regarding the shortage of specialist care in a remote area and wants to bring changes in the health system. Furthermore, for the convenience of senior citizens, she wants to bring services like telesurgery and teleconsultations. She is not much innovative due to the fact that she has never done the leadership role. She has been given the task of bringing significant changes by end of the year and provided with funds also to start her initiatives.

Shape systems: It is true that health is a complex emerging system in which all fields like legislations, services, and finance are interrelated. This component says that the leaders who identify trends of interdependency are capable to elucidate the patterns and enable policies that attain maximum advantages and minimize involuntary outcomes. Since Helen was not associated with leadership roles before and also stakeholders are uncertain about her new role as society is not open to a younger female leader. Therefore, she has yet to prove her leadership skills in terms of engaging and partnering with communities to attain better results. However, she is good at understanding that all things are interrelated in the health system.

From the above, it can be concluded that Helen has almost all the qualities that are needed to bring about effective changes in the quality of health reforms in the nation. She has the ability to educate the communities about health-related concerns like cancer screening programs. Furthermore, it can be concluded that she has to improve her leadership abilities by fulfilling the initiatives taken by her with the stipulated time and money. Moreover, she has to make more partnerships with people and collaborate with them to become an effective leader.

Part B: Leadership Self-Assessment Tool

Using the leadership self-assessment tool, I am able to assess my leadership skills and qualities needed while health care of patients. It helps me to manage my own development and learning by enabling me to reflect on areas where I need to improve myself or develop further (Moodie, R. (2016). As far as my personal qualities are concerned, this leadership tool concluded that I already have definite self-awareness abilities and I love getting feedback from others so that I can modify my behavior. Further, I need to improve on my application skills means that I have to make myself competent enough to use or apply my learning to the practical work. Also, I need to improve myself to develop certain moral values needed in a healthcare setting and take instant action when these are being compromised.

In the second aspect ‘working with others’, I found that I have good abilities to develop networks with others and share the information appropriately. It is a much-required trait for a leader to effectively collaborate with the stakeholders. Additionally, I have good listening skills and communication skills to understand the needs and desires of others. However, there are certain areas wherein need to improve myself like I need to know how to manage conflicts of interest between the different opinion people that are a must quality of an effective leader. Further, I need to understand who the right person for a suitable task is and allocate it accordingly.

In respect of managing services, I just need to improve on the effective and efficient use of resources. Also, I have to develop my analysis skills with respect to the performance evaluation of individuals. Apart from these developments, I have all the skills needed to manage services like managing people and support them in any issue. I use feedback from patients and peers to develop further plans.

In terms of improved services, I have to work with others to constructively assess the services and invite feedbacks from patients also in this aspect. This will help in building trust with patients and hence the reputation. Furthermore, I have strong skills to motivate others to bring changes and encourage novel ideas of others. Decision-making is most important for a health leader and I have robust skills as I actively involve myself in formal and informal processes for decisions (Žibert & Starc, 2018). I have few skills to consider and understand the future challenges thus I have to improve on in this respect.

Moreover, I am good at impacting the vision of the broader healthcare system. I have to develop my skills in considering the entire range of factors impacting the future of healthcare services. Besides, I always demonstrate commitment, confidence, and passion for the vision frequently. Also, I must have strong abilities to involve numerous stakeholders while making strategic plans. Additionally, I need to have skills to evade the risks and uncertainties liked with the created plans.

Part C: Reflection

I perceive myself to be a transformational leader as I possess all the qualities needed to become a transformational leader. These are leaders who always inspire and stimulate others by involving them in the decision-making process. Furthermore, these leaders possess self-awareness, are creative, enthusiastic, carry a sense of authority, and consider the specific needs of individuals (Hamdani, 2018). I carry all these qualities and thus I perceive myself suitable to become a leader who can be a public health officer to lead the healthcare system. There are numerous strengths attached to this leadership style as it helps me in making suitable planning to start the operations with superior services. Furthermore, it will help me in allocating the resources effectively and efficiently. I will apply all of these skills in the given scenario by my inspirational skills so that all stakeholders could trust my abilities and competencies to resolve the issues of the health system. Moreover, I will use my transformational leadership skills in building trust and improve the health of communities (Erwin & Brownson, 2017). As per the self-assessment in part b, I would use my self-awareness skills in a better manner by knowing myself first and then convey to others. Further, I would use my decision-making skills to make better and effective choices that are benefited to all stakeholders. However, there are certain areas where I can see gaps in my leadership skills like I do not consider the future prospects and risks associated with the plans created by me. Further, I will have to build more effective transformational leadership skills so that I will use the resources appropriately.

Action plan on Public Health Leadership

I will ensure to continually grow my leadership skills to persist competitive constantly working on my communication skills, management skills, and problem-solving strengths, association management, honesty, sympathy for individuals, and more. In my future career in the field of healthcare, I would require certain skills like professionalism, cultural awareness, time management, compassion, critical thinking, excellent communication skills, people skills, and more. Furthermore, the leadership skills that I need to work and improve on our mentorship, and dedication to excellence to become successful in the healthcare profession. The standards that are needed for this profession are ethics, accountability, administration, decision-making skills, and more. Also, I would ensure that I practice leadership in an extremely democratic yet in a much-managed manner so that inter-department synchronization can be preserved. I will also increase my knowledge of legal aspects for the smooth direction of communities as a public health leader.

References for Public Health Leadership

Erwin, P. C., & Brownson, R. C. (2017). The public health practitioner of the future. American journal of public health, 107(8), 1227-1232.

Hamdani, M. R. (2018). Learning how to be a transformational leader through a skill-building, role-play exercise. The International Journal of Management Education, 16(1), 26-36.

Health Workforce Australia. (2013). Health LEADS Australia: the Australian health leadership framework. Health Workforce Australia.

Krishnan, A. (2018). Public health leadership in India: Reflections from my journey. Indian journal of public health, 62(3), 171.

Moodie, R. (2016). Learning about self: leadership skills for public health. Journal of Public Health Research, 5(1).

Pinck, A. S., & Sonnentag, S. (2018). Leader mindfulness and employee well-being: the mediating role of transformational leadership. Mindfulness, 9(3), 884-896.

Saxena, A., Desanghere, L., & Suryavanshi, P. (2018). Developmental readiness and leadership development in medicine. BMJ Leader.

Srivastava, V. K., & Kunwar, R. (2018). Leadership in public health. Indian journal of public health, 62(3), 165.

Žibert, A., & Starc, A. (2018). Healthcare organizations and decision-making: leadership style for growth and development. Časopis za primijenjene zdravstvene znanosti, 4(2), 209-224.

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