The current set of concepts being used to organise health care prioritise a certain reductionist view and assume the ability to predict outcomes of actions – as if health and health care were linear systems (hint – they’re not! They are complex and non-linear). One of the consequences of this way of thinking is to break professional roles down to a series of tasks. Once a simple task is examined, it is usually possible to argue that only a little training and knowledge is required to carry out that task (just the skills and knowledge required for this particular task). What we lose sight of, is a person-level perspective, and hence a professional one.
Let’s consider one type of health care professional. A doctor. What is a doctor? What’s a doctor’s role? Actually,that’s not so easy to answer, but if you read “Tomorrow’s Doctors” by the General Medical Council, which is their attempt to describe what a doctor should be able to do, you’ll find a strong emphasis on leadership.
So, it was interesting to come across the concept of “humble leadership” which is beginning to attract attention.
In the midst of spectacular failures of the “superman” type of leader in the financial, corporate and political sectors, people are beginning to question the wisdom of seeking such charismatic but frequently arrogant individuals whose main strength seems to be the conviction of the rightness of their own decisions.
So what is a humble leader? Leadership humility…
generally involves how leaders tend to view themselves (more objectively), others (more appreciatively), and new information or ideas (more openly)
And
The humble leader behaviors we identified (e.g. acknowledging mistakes, spotlighting follower strengths, modeling teachability) as well as the mechanisms (e.g. legitimization of uncertainty and personal development) were often described as directly challenging the more popular top-down conceptions of leadership.
As doctors are expected to be able to handle complexity and uncertainty, it would seem that humble leadership skills might be highly relevant. Wouldn’t you like your doctors to observe themselves more objectively, you and their colleagues appreciatively, and to be continuously open to new information and ideas?
Such a shift to humble leadership could completely change the doctor-patient relationship for the better. It is a much more appropriate way to deal with the reality of the complexity and uncertainty which is characteristic of human health and disease.
The researchers who are studying leadership humility identify two key characteristics or qualities – competence and sincerity.
Hard to argue with that!
The area of medicine that I deal with – memory loss, is far more complex than we are today making out. I am concerned that we are not being ‘authentic’ about this, and as a result there is the potential for harm.
I think a bit more of leadership humility would help.
Thanks for this fascinating post.
Hi Bob,
I think this applies across all the professions. In the legal profession there has been a significant shift from the traditional solicitor approach (knowing your client, providing broad-based advice) to specialising and reducing transactions to their parts with the majority of the work carried out by non-solicitors. Will get the job done, no doubt, but loses the intrinsic value of what it means to provide a legal holistic service. To be a professional…
I too am fascinated by humble leadership. In some ways we are all leaders, not just those at the very top, and it behoves us to behave in a humble, open and accepting way. It can be infectious I’ve discovered!
Mary