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This series of four articles opens by discussing the concept of leadership and its importance in the fast-changing world of dental practice. Styles of leadership are considered and the opportunity to develop your leadership skills is affirmed. Leadership is not something that you have to be born to; the art can be developed. Three pillars of leadership are proposed namely:
These articles aim to give the reader some straightforward ideas for developing their leadership skills and a set of further reading references to help with further development.
What is it? – some definitions of leadership
There have been many attempts to define leadership. The Concise Oxford Dictionary (1976 sixth edition)1 offers:
‘Cause to go with one.’
In a similar vein Peter Drucker (1996)2 asserts:
‘The only definition of a leader is someone who has followers.’
Maxwell (1998)3 in his book The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership (so no room for argument there then!) insists on the following definition:
‘Leadership is influence – nothing more, nothing less.’
Warren Bennis (2003)4 abandoned any pretence to be concise and defined leadership by articulating some competencies generally held to be needed in a leader:
‘Leadership is a function of knowing yourself, having a vision that is well communicated, building trust among colleagues, and taking effective action to realize your own leadership potential.’
Finally, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester5 adds some moral fibre to the art of leadership which it defines as:
‘The process of influencing the behaviour of other people toward group goals in a way that fully respects their freedom.’
To summarize, the following definition for the leadership of a dental practice is proposed:
‘The ability to continuously define a future practice vision which inspires you and your dental team towards success.’
Why bother? – The importance of leadership in dental practice
There is a difference between leadership and management. The following quote is attributed to Peter Drucker:6
‘Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.’
This seems to sum up the distinction succinctly. Steven Covey (1992)7 adds:
‘Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success. Leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall.’
John P Kotter (1990)8 explains in What Leaders Really Do in the Harvard Business Review on leadership that management is about dealing with the complex business of implementing day-to-day policies and procedures, which are now central to running any business. With so many statutory policies and so much published guidance to comply with in dental practice today, good management is clearly essential. Kotter (1990) describes leadership as a distinctive and complementary system of action to management, which is essentially about coping with change to face the ever more volatile environment in which we practice.8 He asserts:
‘More change always demands more leadership.’
This quote explains why good leadership is now so important in dental practice. Kotter was talking about a fast changing world in 1990. The pace of change has now accelerated, with the dental profession being no exception. Just imagine the typical dental practice of 20 years ago and consider how different it would be from a practice today.
Hence, the use of the phrase ‘continuously define a vision’ in the proposed definition of dental practice leadership in the previous section. Any initial vision which might inspire the team early in the life of the practice will certainly need regular review in such a rapidly changing world. This dynamic aspect to leadership is vital. Leadership is about motivating the dental team to deal positively with the future, in a world where change is accelerating.
What sort of leader do I want to be? – Leadership styles
Many attempts have been made to describe different styles of leadership in the literature. Probably one of the most straightforward of these attempts, which has also stood the test of time, was proposed by Kurt Lewin et al (1939).9 They describe three principal styles of leadership:
Autocratic leaders dictate the future direction to their team. They do not seek input. Communication is a one-way street! Charismatic, well-respected dental leaders can find this a simple, fast and effective style. However, this method ignores the potential of other team members to contribute to the future vision. It is quite probable that frustration (or even revolution!) might be fostered by these autocratic ways.
Democratic leaders have the final say after consulting with team members. This process can enrich the vision by broadening the contribution and this process can motivate the team. However, this method is initially slower than autocratic leadership and it can be uninspiring to some team members if a consensus is not achieved.
Delegative (called Laissez-Faire by Lewin) leaders support their team to define the vision together. For mature and capable team members this can enrich their job satisfaction and motivation. However, this method can lead to a poorly structured and unco-ordinated practice future. It is clearly only appropriate with a fully competent group.
All those years ago, and working with children, Lewin et al found that the Democratic style was the most effective at producing high quality outcomes. With children, the Delegative style was found to be the least effective. Nevertheless, with small organizations like the modern dental practice, which might well be comprised of highly competent and knowledgeable team members, a delegating style for developing the practice vision can inspire the team to success.
Most authorities now seem to agree that the great leaders will vary their style to fit the circumstances. Figure 1 summarizes the key advantages and disadvantages of each of these leadership styles. It is suggested that readers consider which style is best suited to the different circumstances in practice life requiring leadership.
Can I develop my leadership? – The three pillars of leadership
When we think about great leaders, charismatic individuals such as Nelson Mandela, Richard Branson or Winston Churchill often spring to mind. This hard to define innate quality is probably essential if you want to adopt an Autocratic style. The Concise Oxford Dictionary1 defines charisma as:
‘Divinely conferred power or talent; capacity to inspire followers with devotion and enthusiasm.’
The first part of this definition suggests that charisma might be difficult to acquire through personal development! With the other two styles of leadership, although charisma might help, it is certainly not a basic requirement. To quote John P Kotter (1990)8 again:
‘Leadership is not about having charisma or other exotic personality traits. It is not the province of a chosen few.’
Leadership skills can be acquired. Warren Bennis (2003)4 summarizes this as follows:
‘The illusion is obstinate and enduring: a mortal is seemingly anointed by the gods and is stamped with a unique gift that allows him or her to lead others. This person shines irrepressibly, and other mere mortals are compelled to follow. As prevalent as this notion is, it is demonstrably false, and any person who has seriously studied leadership has found that it is not a predetermined affair.’
What do we need to develop in order to become better leaders? If we now re-visit the proposed definition of dental practice leadership:
‘The ability to continuously define a future practice vision which inspires you and your dental team towards success.’
Three pillars of leadership are implied:
Steve Radcliffe (2010)10 in his book Leadership Plain and Simple states:
‘…….there are only three aspects to leading that you've got to grasp….
The three pillars of leadership suggested above (Vision, Motivation and Outcomes) are similar to this leadership model proposed by Radcliffe.
Developing a vision of the practice future is therefore the starting point and key to leadership. We will now take each pillar in turn in the following three articles, starting with Vision and consider how you can develop your leadership.