8 - Leadership in perioperative settings: a practical guide

Summary

Key Learning Points

• Appreciate what good leadership is, and what it is not

• Understand the nature of leadership and whether it is a quality that can be taught or learned

• Appreciate the qualities of established leaders

• Identify ways of improving leadership in perioperative settings

People often misunderstand and misuse the terms leadership and management. It is possible to be a good leader without being a manager, or even without having the word management in a job description. Equally, it is possible for a person to be a successful manager without the team perceiving that person to be a leader. The question is what exactly is the difference between leadership and management. There are many ways to distinguish between management and leadership and the following is my preferred definition.

Management is about tasks, systems and processes; leadership is about people. You lead a team and manage a bank account. Leadership is about identifying and delivering a vision.

Leadership is, therefore, about people and about developing and communicating a vision; it is also about creating an environment in which everyone works towards a common goal or objective. To be successful, a leader does not require formal academic learning or training in management techniques (although many may choose to aim for these). The most important point to remember is that a leader cannot be a leader without followers.

Whether good leaders are born or created is a debate that runs and runs. My view is that it is both.