Re-Designing the Leadership Development of Academic Healthcare Leaders in a Higher Education Context

Purpose: Universities are in a highly competitive environment needing strong academic leadership.  Changes in technology, student demographics, funding or government regulations will affect higher education instiutions, and the need for certain leadership skills and traits will endure (Kelly,2015). However, academic leaders are appointed in positions from previous acting as only academics that could pose challenges.  The need for a more proactive approach is needed to identifying leadership competencies and developing leadership throughout universities. It is also known that new models of leadership are needed for the higher education sector.  Heads as senior academics should work closely with their deans to establish powerful partnerships that can bring change in universities (Brown & Denton, 2009). This study investigated the experiences of academic leaders on being appointed as heads of departments in a higher education context.

Methods: A qualitative descriptive design was followed. Twelve unstructured individual interviews were conducted with heads of departments and a dean and two vice deans in one of the 5 faculties of a higher education institution, the Faculty of Community and Health Sciences. These heads were from the departments of physiotherapy, nursing, sociology, natural medicine, psychology, human ecology, sport and recreation. The participants were 5% male and 95% females. Interviews were conducted over a period of one month. Open coding was conducted and two themes emerged which focused on the varied skills needed for academic leadership positions and how leadership skills should be developed among senior academics.

Results: The findings indicated that development of senior academics in leadership should be undertaken by a knowledgeable professional in formal or informal settings, that encourage mentorship and more regular group meetings, while addressing the core role of a leader appose to that of a manager. A academic leader should be developed through a structured process for a new position, thus a need for a formal academic leadership development programmes. For this certain resources for leadership  development and a focus on incorporating steps of establishing a partnership agreement should be identified. It was found that leaders should for example collaborate through interdisciplinary events. Implications of these findings for a faculty of health sciences and suggestions for leadership succession in future are also discussed.

Conclusion: Effective leadership development can build the skills needed to lead other people, in departments and higher education organizations more successfully. Leaders need to update their skills continually.