The traits that make amazing leaders share common threads throughout various industries, but in healthcare fields, leaders often must demonstrate a more personal and empathic approach when guiding their teams. Inspire your employees with these five effective leadership traits and strategies.
Empathy
Showing empathy can positively affect individuals’ experiences at work while improving retention and strengthening culture. When healthcare workers show empathy to their patients, it creates a sense of comfort and rapport for those receiving care. Healthcare workers are at an increased risk of burnout, and being shown empathy for the challenges they face at work can contribute to better well-being at work.
Emotional Intelligence
Managing one’s emotions and having the ability to perceive the emotions of others is critical to effectively leading a team in healthcare. Leadership roles require the ability to quickly make sound decisions without being distracted by your emotions or someone else’s. The goal of emotional intelligence isn’t to neglect your feelings but to manage them to complete the task at hand.
Decision-Making
The healthcare work environment is complex, and leaders must be educated and confident in their decision-making to best serve the teams they lead. A balance of trusting your instincts, knowledge, training, and listening to your team’s input can contribute to better decisions that influence employees and the patients they serve.
Persuasion
When your team disagrees with your decisions or processes, you might need to kick up your persuasion skills to get everyone on board and even excited about workplace practices. Speak to the values of each individual to show you understand their priorities and demonstrate how your decisions recognize and respond to those values.
Mentoring
Being a person who employees feel safe asking questions or advice from is evidence that you have their trust and credibility. Positioning yourself as a mentor, through a one-on-one relationship or informally as a person of trust and expertise at work, can contribute to positive morale, better relationships with your team members, and advance your leadership skills.
Which leadership traits do you strive to demonstrate at work? Share your strategies in the comments!
Last Updated on August 7, 2024
