Are You Ready for Shared Leadership

Ancillary care departments, such as respiratory care, have traditionally been managed from the top down, but some hospitals are abandoning the standard hierarchy in their departments in favor of a concept called shared leadership. The model allows leadership duties to be distributed more evenly among team members, and many believe it has great potential to build higher-performing teams. What does this look like in real life? Here are a few of the key characteristics of this management model:

Everyone takes part

Under shared leadership, everyone in the organization is held accountable to the same set of values and practices, and everyone is asked to participate, at some level, in making the decisions that will govern the group as a whole.

Team performance is enhanced

Shared leadership comes with shared responsibility, which gives team members a greater opportunity to respond quickly to changing clinical conditions. A good example is the Rapid Response Team, which calls for the team member most suited to the task at hand, whether that be the physician, nurse, or RT, to take the lead when addressing patient needs.

Adaptability and innovation increase

Distributing leadership roles among more team members can increase the department’s ability to respond to changes in technology, policy, and patient needs, and it also encourages innovation by bringing a more diverse set of views to the table. This can be particularly useful in fast-moving, high-stress situations, such as those that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Staff members become more motivated and engaged

When leadership is shared, team members take greater ownership not only of their own responsibilities but also of the department’s responsibilities as a whole. They gain a sense of empowerment that may have been lacking under a rigid hierarchical management approach and are more likely to advocate for clinical improvements that increase patient safety and improve patient outcomes.

Senior leaders go with the flow

Shared leadership doesn’t mean an end to managers, but it does mean that those managers spend more time ensuring a steady flow of information and decision-making across the entire team than they may have in the past. Instead of issuing commands, they now seek input so that the decisions made ultimately reflect the best interests of all involved.

Shared leadership can be implemented in many ways, but the overriding goal is to increase the number of staff members who participate in decisions that govern the organization, with an emphasis on getting the right people on the right problems so that the right solutions result.