Clinical Leadership

Our PHN is leading the way with the first wave of seven Early Adopter Practices (EAPs) implementing the new model of care. These practices have demonstrated leadership capacity, a key enabler to success in adopting a change culture and undertaking a quality improvement program.

In health, the overall aim of leadership is to sustainably improve quality of care; the WQ HCH initiative is a whole practice transformational change approach to achieve that objective. Transformational change “is the emergence of an entirely new state prompted by a shift in what is considered possible or necessary which results in a profoundly different structure, culture or level of performance.”   It is not just about changing how a service operates but it is about shifting mindsets and changing relationships.  This type of change requires transformational leadership rather than transactional leadership.

Practice leaders are fundamental to facilitating the transformation by charting the course for change and supporting and sustaining change efforts. This includes providing the necessary time and resources, removing barriers and providing continuous inspiration and motivation for staff. Leaders will need to guide staff by providing protocols for enrolment of patients, address pushback as care team members’ roles change, find ways to protect time for care coordination, and encourage a quality improvement agenda.

A leading guru on leadership and change is Simon Sinek, the British-American author, motivational speaker and organisational consultant. He has the largest LinkedIn online professional community and still maintains the number one position for a decade now for the most viewed TEDx talk worldwide. His “How great leaders inspire action” talk provides a simple but powerful model for inspirational leadership and one we believe resonates with the drive and persistence our practices need to implement the new WQ HCH model of care.