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Introduction
Authentic leadership became a mainstream topic after Bill George’s published his work Authentic Leadership back in 2003. Despite this considerable existence authentic leadership is still in development as a style of leadership. Scholars are only starting to find common ground. As such, there are still a number of different opinions on what authentic leadership really means. A widely accepted definition of authentic leadership touts it as a style of leadership in which the leader is their true self while making room for others too. Ethics and common sense are also part of this style of leadership. Authentic leadership is especially important in healthcare because of the high stakes involved. This discussion synthesizes literature about authentic leadership with a focus this sector. The discussion features research into this style of leadership, its benefits, and its relationship with various outcomes.
Synthesis of the Evidence
The healthcare sector is defined by different styles of leadership. Harris and Mayo (2018) assessed and critiqued the existing styles, citing the importance of good leadership on the outcomes of patients and staff. The team used a case study to evaluate different leadership styles as they were exercised by a charge nurse and student nurse in a clinical scenario. The researchers evaluated engaging leadership, authentic leadership and transformational leadership and determined that the best leadership style is one that has ethical integrity, encourages excellence, enhances patient-centered care, and encourages innovation. While all models contributed some elements that contributed to this form of leadership, all fell under the umbrella of authentic leadership. With, that this mode of leadership is harder to implement because it is abstract. Raso (2019) explored authentic leadership including its impact and what makes an authentic leader. The author states that an authentic leader has some key characteristics including integrity, trust and honesty. The researcher adds that authentic leadership is a relational leadership style rooted in positive psychology and that this style of leadership is one of the most-applicable and needed styles in today’s complex healthcare settings.
Saxe-Braithwaite and Gautreau (2020) define authentic leadership as a pattern of leadership behaviors imbued with self-awareness, balanced processing of information, internalized moral perspective, and relational transparency. The researchers also researched this style in senior leaders of healthcare organizations and looked to see how they perceived it. The team determined that healthcare leaders rated themselves more highly than their objective results in terms of employee reports indicated. With that, after a 24-hour course on authentic leadership, these leaders saw it as a definite way of transforming the workplace environment. Couris (2020) looks at the most important characteristic of authentic leadership that will help healthcare leaders navigate the health crisis wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic. The author cites authenticity and vulnerability as elements at the core of human connection. With that, vulnerability enhances the connection further as it involves exposing fears and weaknesses, elements all human can relate with. Thus, this article identifies vulnerability as the most important elements of authentic leadership in navigating a health crisis.
Researchers have also explored how healthcare settings are affected by authentic leadership. Alilyyani et al. (2018) looked into the antecedents and results of authentic leadership in healthcare and how this style of leadership affects the outcomes of both healthcare staff and patients. The team conducted a systematic review of quantitative research featuring articles from different databases and that looked into the roots, mediators, and outcomes of this style of leadership. After assessing and analyzing the research, the team determined that authentic leadership was directly associated with patient outcomes and the performance, health and well-being, job satisfaction, work environment, and psychological state of healthcare staff. Malila et al. (2017) conducted similar research in their review of studies on authentic leadership in healthcare settings. The researches define authentic leadership as a transparent, ethical, and non-authoritarian behavior pattern. The team conducted a thematic analysis together with their review of research articles in different academic databases. The findings showed that authentic leadership is directly associated with the conditions of the work environment, the quality of care patients receive, staff well-being at work, and the promotion of this style of leadership.
Psychological factors are crucial in the development and attainment of leadership skills. To this end, Jaworski et al. (2022) looked into the role of perfectionism as a mediator between self-efficacy and the development of authentic leadership skills by nursing students. The team conducted a cross-sectional study involving 615 participants and found a positive relationship between the level of perfectionism and the level of authentic leadership. The team also found the relationship persisted without a mediating factor. Thus personality traits play an important role in developing the authentic leadership skills of nursing students. These findings can be reasonably generalized to other healthcare professionals. Johnson (2019) explored authentic leadership theory and looked into its philosophic foundations in a nuclear medicine context. The researcher also looked into the characteristics of an authentic leader. The study yielded the results that authentic leadership is rooted in humanism and can be used with other styles of leadership. In addition, the researcher reports a positive relationship between authentic leadership and improved knowledge sharing, collaboration, motivation, job satisfaction, and patient care. This study speaks to the applicability of authentic leadership in various fields of health care.
Patient outcomes are some of the most important results in healthcare. Washburn (2017) looked into patient satisfaction in the context of nurse engagement and an authentic style of leadership. The team sampled 369 acute care registered nurses and took the four constructs of authentic leadership theory (internalized moral perspective, relational transparency, balanced information processing, and self-awareness) as the independent variables. The team also took nurse engagement as the independent variable. Using multiple linear regression analysis, the researchers determined that authentic leadership led to higher nurse engagement, which translated to improved patient outcomes. The retention of skilled and talented employees is key to the performance of healthcare institutions. These institutions understand that employee development plays an important role in retaining these employees by means of promotion. Perez (2021) looked into the leadership styles that can be adopted by employees transitioning into leadership roles and determined that authentic leadership styles were associated with higher retention rates and job satisfaction and commitment. Thus, training employees on authentic leadership is associated with higher rates of retention and other desirable outcomes.
Conclusion
Authentic leadership is a new theory that is still under development as shown by the difference in the opinions of most researchers. This discussion has presented a synthesis of the common grounds scholars on this topic have. Most scholars agree that authentic leadership as a pattern of leadership behaviors imbued with self-awareness balanced processing of information, internalized moral perspective, and relational transparency. Scholars also agree that this style of leadership avails many benefits to healthcare settings including better quality of patient care, increased staff job satisfaction, collaboration, motivation, engagement, and psychological state.
References
Alilyyani, B., Wong, C. A., & Cummings, G. (2018). Antecedents, mediators, and outcomes of authentic leadership in healthcare: A systematic review. International journal of nursing studies, 83, 34-64.
Couris, J. D. (2020). Vulnerability: The secret to authentic leadership through the pandemic. Journal of Healthcare Management, 65(4), 248-251.
Harris, J., & Mayo, P. (2018). Taking a case study approach to assessing alternative leadership models in health care. British Journal of Nursing, 27(11), 608-613.
Jaworski, M., Panczyk, M., Leńczuk-Gruba, A., Nowacka, A., & Gotlib, J. (2022). The Trend of Authentic Leadership Skills in Nursing Education: The Key Role of Perfectionism and Self-Efficacy. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(4), 1989.
Johnson, S. L. (2019). Authentic leadership theory and practical applications in nuclear medicine. Journal of nuclear medicine technology, 47(3), 181-188.
Malila, N., Lunkka, N., & Suhonen, M. (2017). Authentic leadership in healthcare: a scoping review. Leadership in Health Services.
Perez, J. (2021). Leadership in healthcare: transitioning from clinical professional to healthcare leader. Journal of Healthcare Management, 66(4), 280-302.
Raso, R. (2019). Be you! Authentic leadership. Nursing Management, 50(5), 18-25.
Saxe-Braithwaite, M., & Gautreau, S. (2020, May). Authentic leadership in healthcare organizations: a study of 14 chief executive officers and 70 direct reports. In Healthcare Management Forum (Vol. 33, No. 3, pp. 140-144). Sage CA: Los Angeles, CA: SAGE Publications.
Washburn, K. D. (2017). Effects of Authentic Leadership Style and Nurse Engagement on Patient Satisfaction (Doctoral dissertation, Walden University).
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