Introduction
The main goal of public health practitioners is to promote the health and wellbeing of individuals and communities. To attain it, they must be able to collaborate with interdisciplinary professionals, communicate with people from diverse backgrounds, and inspire them for action. They must have critical thinking skills to identify needs for change and then be able to mobilize available resources for its implementation. For this reason, public health practitioners must possess leadership qualities and competencies and adhere to effective Leadership and change management models that would help them to direct and empower others successfully. Thus, the present paper will discuss the importance of traditional leadership and change leadership. Initially, these two concepts will be defined, and, consequently, different Leadership and change management models will be critically evaluated. Lastly, leaders’ roles in the delivery of health promotion programs will be described to conclude the discussion.
Background
Leadership
There are a plethora of different definitions of Leadership that may capture distinct leader roles, functions, and abilities. The main ones include guidance, influence, inspiration, support, responsiveness to others’ needs, development of a shared direction and vision (Moodie 2016). As for Leadership in public health, Moodie (2016) defines it as maximizing personal potential, as well as the sense of personal worth and meaning, along with maximizing “the potential of others and the sense of worth and meaning they draw from their lives” (p. 679). This take on Leadership implies that a successful leader can align individual preferences and interests with organizational or public health needs and goals and influence stakeholders to adopt values, beliefs, and behaviors needed to attain the desired objectives. As noted by Hao and Yazdanifard (2015), in the business environment, these leadership functions are crucial for attaining sustainable growth, increasing competitiveness and innovation, and motivating subordinates to commit to their jobs. Similarly, Leadership in public health motivates stakeholders to accept and take a proactive stance on any proposed public policy change and other initiatives aimed at improving public wellbeing and quality of life.
Change and Change Leadership
Change is an intrinsic element of human lives and is part of every field of performance, including healthcare. It may be regarded as the modification of specific states of being and behavioral adaptation to evolving environmental demands and trends. Although changes may take many shapes and forms, they often share a common characteristic: they induce a certain degree of discomfort and stress since they require one to alter the way they usually act, think and look at things (Hao & Yazdanifard 2015). For this reason, people may be resistant to changes, especially when those changes affect long-established modes of behavior.
Change leadership is meant to minimize resistance to change and mobilize resources needed to attain it more smoothly and successfully. Change leadership incorporates the characteristics of traditional Leadership discussed above with a minor difference in focus. According to Gill (2003), specific tasks involved in change leadership are the creation of a vision for change, promotion of supportive values and culture, strategic planning and analysis, stakeholder empowerment, motivation, and inspiration. This leadership model, which primarily works with the psychological and emotional aspects of human performance and emphasizes the importance of communication, can help to eliminate all possible obstacles to change and also design an efficient management approach.
Leadership and Change Management Models: Critical Analysis
Models of Leadership
In this section of the paper, two leadership models – action-centered Leadership and Situational Leadership – will be discussed and compared. The former model was created by John Adair in 1986 and incorporated three basic elements: 1) achieving the task, 2) maintaining the team, and 3) meeting individual needs (Williams 2005). The first one includes such activities as planning and monitoring; the second one comprises conflict management, team building, and other practices aimed at team coordination (Williams 2005). The third element – accountability of individual needs – requires the provision of feedback and support to an individual involved in a certain endeavor (Williams 2005). In accordance with the action-centered leadership model, the main role of a leader is to keep a proper balance between these three aspects of organizational performance.
The situational leadership model was created by Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard in 1977. It is more specific than Adair’s model in terms of advising leaders on how to choose leadership styles depending on employee characteristics. According to Williams (2005), subordinates’ “functional maturity” serves as the primary determinant of leadership style in this model, and it refers to their ability to perform tasks independently and effectively, as well as their level of commitment and motivation to work (p. 33). For instance, when all employees are competent and engaged, one should apply the delegating leadership style that is characterized by a high level of empowerment and work autonomy. Conversely, when employees do not have the necessary competencies, greater control should be imposed on them by leaders.
Overall, Adair’s model proposes an integrative and highly engaged leadership approach, which may be considered its main strength. It is valid to say that it combines the features of both transactional and transformational Leadership since it is both task-oriented and people-oriented. It means that when using this model right, one will be able to increase individuals’ motivation and satisfaction with work by taking into account their interests and increase productive outputs of the team by aligning members’ personal objectives with the organizational ones.
At the same time, situational Leadership implies a more substantial degree of flexibility and adaptability, which can be considered the major model’s strength. However, its weakness is insufficient consideration of other factors affecting a person’s performance besides their level of skill and knowledge. While it suggests that the provision of psycho-emotional support helps to motivate employees better, it does not take into account other factors that may affect one’s commitment. According to Lee and Raschke (2016), psychological safety, self-actualization, ability to meet personal needs and interests are among those factors. Based on this, Adair’s model may be more successful in motivating subordinates as it focuses on such an extrinsic factor as team relationships and also pays greater attention to individuals.
Regardless of the discussed weaknesses and differences, both situational Leadership and action-centered Leadership can be used by leaders as guides during the development of necessary competencies. It is clear that these two models require a leader to have extensive knowledge of how to direct activities, coach, and encourage individuals. Nevertheless, they do not offer exhaustively full answers on how to do that. Thus, one will have to conduct additional research to apply the ideas proposed by Adair, Hersey, and Blanchard well.
Change Leadership Models
Two of the models that can be utilized to lead changes in organizations, as well as projects, service systems, and public health programs, are Lewin’s three-stage model and Beckhard’s change program. The first one includes such steps as unfreezing, changing, and refreezing, which refer to “altering the present stable equilibrium which supports existing behaviors and attitudes,” developing new procedures and rules, and “stabilizing the change by introducing the new responses into the personalities of those concerned” (Brisson-Banks 2010, p. 244). The model developed by Beckhard comprises the following phases: 1) goal setting and development of a vision of a desired future state, 2) diagnosis of present conditions, 3) definition of a transition state and formulation of short-term objectives, and 4) design of strategies and action plans to manage the change (Brisson-Banks 2010). Both of the models imply an extensive analysis of environmental trends and an understanding of the goals that should be attained.
It is valid to say that Lewin’s model is stronger in terms of eliminating psychological obstacles to change, such as individuals’ resistance due to high perceived risks or unwillingness to alter habitual ways of behavior. This model focuses on culture-creating and value-adding activities, as well as communication of a need for change, vision, mission, and other things that may inspire stakeholders to commit to the process of change. It is observed that when the elements of organizational culture are aligned with employees’ personal values, they become more willing to work toward the achievement of organizational goals (Suwaryo, Daryanto & Maulana 2015). Moreover, the manner in which a leader communicates with subordinates, the clarity of objectives, and need for communication, and the efforts to build trust with the team are also crucial for the smooth execution of planned change programs (Suwaryo, Daryanto & Maulana 2015). Since Lewin’s model captures all of these aspects, its application can be particularly beneficial when there is a need to instill greater motivation.
At the same time, Beckhard’s program seems to be more task-oriented. It does not specify that stakeholders’ attitudes should be changed in order to foster change, yet it does not exclude an element of people-orientedness either. Overall, it proposes which steps must be undertaken but provides leaders and managers with the freedom to choose specific activities. Therefore, the success of its implementation will largely depend on leaders’ background knowledge and competence.
Leadership Roles in Delivering Community-Based Health Promotion Programmes
In order to initiate community-based health promotion programs and bring them to success, it is pivotal to ensure a high level of community participation and develop partnerships (Hunter 2009). Moreover, wellbeing promotion normally requires changes in behaviors and views, as well as existing health systems. Leaders can play a crucial role in fulfilling both of these aspects by performing such functions as the analysis of needs, vision creation, development of strategies aimed at minimizing risks, and allocating resources optimally. The main leader task in health promotion is probably the involvement of different stakeholder groups in intended initiatives by identifying why they may resist change and then addressing their fears and other psychological barriers by drawing on high-quality evidence and demonstrating possible benefits of their engagement in health promotion and change. Through communication, leaders can establish program credibility, build trust with different stakeholders and gain their support, which, along with the overall implementation strategy, can substantially define the outcomes of any planned endeavor.
Conclusion
Leadership determines the way any project and initiative are administered and can often determine stakeholders’ willingness and desire to spend their time and efforts on health promotion and change. In the present-day environment, no organization or program can avoid difficulties and barriers to better performance. While bad Leadership would fail to eliminate them, good Leadership will not only eliminate them successfully but also strive to prevent their occurrence. Excellent Leadership always finds the right balance between strategic tasks, individual needs of those involved, and overall organizational/project needs. Moreover, it concentrates on communication, the creation of a shared vision, the dissemination of information, and the promotion of values. Thus, good leaders are capable of addressing the very core of human motivation and inspire others to participate in public health improvement.
Reference List
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