Practical Leadership in Nursing and Health Care

A book on leadership could be a challenge to read; but not this one. The authors of this book have overcome this potential obstacle by writing in a conversational style, including questions, case studies and reflection exercises throughout. This book will appeal to healthcare staff looking to develop their leadership skills; those wanting to bring staff together to work as an effective team and hence improve the quality of care delivered to their patients. To be an adaptive leader, which is a must in the rapidly changing healthcare setting, we need to use the brains in our heart and gut as well as the brain in our head. The only way this will make sense to you is by reading this book; and I found that once I started reading it, I didn't want to stop. So please do read on. -Michaela Hooper, RGN, BSc, MSc., Infection Prevention & Control Nurse at Frimley Park Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, UK I have just finished reading Suzanne Henwood's book on leadership and must say that I have not been so engrossed by a leadership or management text since I studied with Russell Ackoff in the 1990s. Whereas most such books are heady and attempt to prescribe what must be done from an external perspective, Suzanne and her authors describe from the inner person how to embody the best practices in order to become a truly interactive leader and manager. The book is well designed with plentiful examples and opportunities for reflection. In every chapter there are multiple opportunities for reflection that are apt and designed to place you, the reader, into the flow of the book as participant. The examples are meaningful. It is well grounded in the history and culture of leadership and management in the healthcare professions. It is well documented and well designed for use as a textbook or a book for personal development. -Richard.M.Gray, Research Director, NLP R and R Project, Assistant Professor (ret.), Fairleigh Dickinson University, New Jersey, USA You could be forgiven for assuming that all of the complexities of providing modern health care come down to leadership...or a lack of it. Millions of words are written on the subject and endless varieties of training and development for health staff are available. Failings are easily attributed to poor leadership; the achievement of innovative change is seen as dependent on leadership and those who seem to demonstrate effective leadership are admired, envied and even feared. Behind all of the noise being generated is the simple truth that leadership skills are valuable tools in every-day life, transformative in any work situation and essential for anyone that calls themselves a health care professional. In this book, a number of aspects of leadership in the clinical environment are examined. The approach is refreshingly practical and interactive. The assumption that leadership skills can be taught, practised and perfected is engagingly presented, with opportunities throughout for readers to reflect on their own experiences and traits in leadership. It deserves to become a resource to encourage the development of leaders at all levels in any and every health care service. -Richard Evans, Chief Executive Officer, The Society and College of Radiographers UK Many of us become health professionals because of an innate motivation to help others. Through our experiences, challenges and growing understanding in our varied roles, we strive to offer an improving service to our patients in order to equip them with relief, knowledge and the tools to be responsible for their own bodies and minds. This enlightening book allows us to grow on a personal level as well as a professional one. It does so by expanding our awareness of who we are as therapists, encouraging us to use our developing expertise to complement our colleagues and environment in order to provide the best possible treatment and outcome for each and every patient in every situation. It is also a workbook which I feel is essential to health care providers as a resource we can refer back to in an ongoing process of growth and continuously challenging ourselves along that journey. Each chapter is relevant and a vital part of the bigger picture with authentic and knowledgeable authors. I would recommend it on every practitioner's shelf who cares about the quality of the service they provide. -Michelle Silvester, Director, Back to the Future (physiotherapy practice), New Zealand This timely book practices the kind of leadership that it preaches: it is refreshingly authentic, anchored in integrity and driven by a genuine desire for growth and positive change for those who work within and are served by the health sector. I congratulate the editor and the team of authors for providing such a rich multidisciplinary text that progressively integrates the freshest leadership thinking with the challenging practice of healthcare leadership. -Professor Brad Jackson, Head of School of Government, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand