The healthcare sector could be considered one of the biggest industries when it comes to leadership roles; every department, sector, and specialization needs those qualified and in charge to lead in medicine, treatment, and research.

Nevertheless, being qualified and experienced doesn’t always equal the best leader. It’s easy to slip into the role of a trained boss without knowing how to best lead or inspire in healthcare.

Whether you’re looking to work your way up to a leadership role, or you’re already in one and looking how to improve your leadership skills, this guide may help you.

5 Signs You’re Not the Best Leader

It’s never easy, to be honest with yourself, but looking for the following signs with an objective mind could help you to understand the qualities you may need to work on. Even with the best intentions, you may be exhibiting these signs without realizing it.

  1. You focus on the negative quality of work or areas of improvement and never praise the good. Leading a team means highlighting what your staff members have gotten right and when they have worked hard. While it’s important as a person in charge to highlight when things go wrong or conduct disciplinary action, it’s also important to keep morale up by giving positive performance feedback.
  2. You use your title or experience as the only reason people should listen to you. There is a hierarchy when it comes to any career industry, and within healthcare, people need to listen to those in charge. However, if you’re constantly reminding people that you’re in charge or to do what you say simply because you’re telling them to, this isn’t leading or inspiring in the best way.
  3. You never acknowledge your own accountability. Being in charge doesn’t mean being immune to any blame. While the team under your direction can make mistakes, you also need to be in tune with the fact that mistakes could be made because of your decisions or the way you lead. Holding yourself accountable, too, is key.
  4. You’re too proud. Being a leader doesn’t mean you’re invincible. You don’t have to take on everything and never ask for help. Being too proud to admit fault, asking for help from your team, or failing to deliver promises because you have taken on too much, are all signs of bad leadership.
  5. Your team are afraid to come to you. As a leader, you should be the first port of call for any team member who needs guidance, or who needs to bring up an issue. If your team is afraid to speak with you regarding problems because they’re unsure how you’re going to react, this could be a sign that you’ve given the wrong message and are becoming too intimidating. You need your team to comfortably be able to communicate with you as a leader.

Here’s How You Can Become a Better Leader in Your Healthcare Position

Get to Know Your Own Leadership Style Better

You’re an individual with your own personality, which means you will have your own leadership style. While important industries such as healthcare will require rules and regulations to always be adhered to, that doesn’t mean you can’t let your own personality shine through with how you choose to lead.

Allowing people to see the real you and your own leadership transparently will help people know where they stand with you and what to expect from your leadership. Getting to know your own style will also help you to understand yourself within a role like this better.

Take the Next Qualification Step

There are many qualifications that will allow you to concentrate on learning better leadership abilities. These next steps in education will also equip you with further knowledge and help you to inspire those around you.

Those looking up to leaders in this profession will expect them to be qualified in their field, so a little extra qualification can be a big help. You can take many higher qualifications within healthcare or even an online course such as an online DNP to further nursing leadership skills.

No matter your field, there’s always a way to learn more and be more respected as a leader for what you know.

Be a Role Model

Everyone wants someone to look up to. Within healthcare, when you have such a varied team of employees at different stages of their careers, it’s important to always lead by example and show someone’s strengths in your position. That way, if you’re with a team of people just starting out who hope to be where you are one day, you can be the positive professional influence they need.

Be Positive and Encouraging

Mistakes always happen, no matter the job, and you may have team members pulling their weight more than others. No matter the problems within a work environment, being sure to remain positive and encouraging is key for a leader.

Even if you’re not directly in charge of appraisals or official reviews within a healthcare role, you can still promote positivity and encouragement by on-the-job compliments and feedback when team members have got something right. Even the simplest positive comments can help a team to remain focused and optimistic — and within such a high-pressured working environment as healthcare, this positivity can make all the difference.

Communication is Key

This is both on a professional and personal level. Good leaders within healthcare will need to be exceptional communicators to ensure the best patient care and medical work. Communication is also key to make sure that anyone under you who is learning can always be sure that they know what they’re doing or who to go to should they have any questions.

You can be exceptional in your field of study and good at what you do, but if your communication skills aren’t up to scratch, this can make for a difficult working environment, so brushing up on this skill area can be a plus.

Are you ready to be a better leader?