Every crisis puts our leadership skills to the test, whatever our role or field of activity.  

When managing a crisis, it is necessary to make decisions quickly and effectively in order to guide and mobilize team members towards achieving the objectives.

The role and qualities of a leader are fundamental and can facilitate this decision-making, due to their position and knowledge of the priorities that will lead to an optimal distribution of tasks.

‍Thesoft skills for quality leadership!

In healthcare, several definitions of "leadership" exist. Consider the definitions of the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement and Peter G. Northouse.*

According to the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement, leadership is about " creating an environment that helps team members to be as effective as possible in achieving outcomes that are valued by service users and their supporters ".

According to Peter G. Northouse, " leadership is the process by which one person influences a group of people to achieve a common goal ".

To improve teamwork, leadership is a key skill.

In a crisis situation, the involvement of all members of a team is essential to achieving a common goal. The leader must be able to establish a climate of trust in order to foster collaboration and create synergy with the care team.

To this end, the leader must possess non-technical skills such as emotion and fatigue management, decision-making, communication, medical reasoning, and conflict management.

Indeed, to impact a team, the leader must not give solutions to their team but above all facilitate problem-solving through the coordination process. Moreover, to facilitate understanding of the problem during a crisis, it is recommended that the leader not be directly involved in the technical gestures and stand back, as far as possible, to obtain an overall view of the situation.*

Therefore, within a team of healthcare professionals, the role of leader should not necessarily fall to the most experienced or the oldest person. The leadership role can be passed on to all members of a team, and this should be perfectly clear to all team members.

To improve the quality of care, it is necessary to develop leadership in healthcare facilities. It is inseparable from management in its ability to unite and mobilize caregivers around common goals. Leadership must be present at all levels of a facility and act at the team level, as close as possible to the field, where actions are implemented.

‍SafeTeamAcademy and the development of leadership skills in crisis situations.

In the daily lives of healthcare professionals, the role of leader is generally occupied by the most experienced, most qualified, or oldest person. However, this person does not always have prior training or preparation. Within a team, leadership cannot be improvised.

SafeTeam Academy has chosen to address the theme of leadership and offer a module on developing leadership skills in crisis situations.

Through a video immersion, the learner participates in the management of a life-threatening emergency with leadership that we propose to discuss. During this management, the learner sees the impact of this leadership on the organization of care, communication, and workload management.

As with all SafeTeam Academy training courses, the goal is to stimulate learners' reflection on areas for improvement, whether individual, collective, or institutional.

If you too would like to play your part in improving the reliability of care within your facilities, SafeTeam Academy training courses are for you! To find out more, write to: contact@safeteam.academy

‍

* Peter G. Northouse, Leadership – Theory and practice

* http://maryland.ccproject.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2016/04/Cooper-1999-Leadership-of-resuscitation-teams-%E2%80%98Lighthouse-Leadership%E2%80%99.pdf