LEADERSHIP COMPETENCIES IN HEALTHCARE ORGANIZATIONS

Managing healthcare organizations is a great challenge, as it requires an array of diverse leadership competencies that may be divided into 4 categories:
- technical competencies connected to management and organization in healthcare;
- cultural competencies referring to the mission, vision, values, norms and principles;
- interpersonal competencies concerning communication and teamwork skills;
- intrapersonal competencies including self-awareness and self-development.

All the categories of competencies listed above are significant in leading a healthcare organization; however, nurses, doctors and directors may expect the manager to have different skills, as their roles in healthcare system are different and so are their expectations towards the leader.

Therefore, the main aim of the research was to find out which of these leadership competencies are the most significant and which are the least important in managing healthcare organizations according to nurses, physicians/dentists/surgeons and leader/directors/managers of healthcare centres. In addition, the research aimed to find out the differences between the most important and the least important competencies selected by nurses, physicians/dentists/surgeons and leaders/directors/managers of healthcare centres. The research survey contained 40 mixed specific leadership competencies (10 from each of the categories) and the respondents were asked to name 10 of the competencies that they believed were the most significant and 10 the least important in exercising the function of healthcare organization’s leader/director/manager. The survey was conducted via Internet in order to access the largest possible number of respondents from various locations around Poland.

The results of the research allowed to determine the leadership competencies that a leader of an healthcare organization should focus on in order to meet the needs of nurses and doctors. The conclusions from the research allowed also to formulate specific recommendations for managers of healthcare institutions.