Physician Understanding of and Beliefs About Leadership

Abstract

SUMMARYGoal:Little is known about how physicians conceptualize leadership, what factors influence that conceptualization, and how their conceptualization may impact willingness to lead. We sought to explore how physicians conceptualize leadership.Methods:We conducted an exploratory study of data from a convenience sample of physicians across the United States using an anonymous, 54-item, online survey. We devised a novel leadership resonance score (LRS) to distinguish between leadership and management based on published definitions and prior pilot work. The activities fit on a spectrum from purely leadership actions to purely management actions, and we assigned a numeric value to each activity, allowing for quantification of a respondent’s conceptualization of leadership as either more managing or more leading.Principal Findings:There were 206 respondents (57% male; median age of 43 years [interquartile ranges, IQR: 32, 72]) who completed the survey. Respondents viewed leadership abilities to be highly important for physicians, with a median importance score of 80 (range 0–100, IQR: 50, 100). LRS indicated most physicians conflate leadership and management. Compared to other physicians, respondents assessed their own preparedness for leadership highly (median preparedness score: 70, IQR: 2, 100). Respondents’ assessment of their preparedness for leadership was associated with age (Spearman’s rho = 0.24, p < .001). LRS was not associated with preparedness for leadership (Spearman’s rho = 0.12, p = .08). “Aversion to politics” was the most common barrier to interest in leadership (45%, 93/206), with “loss of personal time” being second (30%, 62/206).Applications to Practice:Our data demonstrate physicians misunderstand the differences between leadership and management. We surmise that if an accurate conceptualization of leadership by physicians is associated with increased willingness to lead, then educational activities designed to improve physicians’ understanding of leadership could be beneficial in increasing physicians’ willingness to take on leadership positions. An increased willingness by physicians to take on leadership roles would ultimately have a positive impact not only on individual patient care, but also on the healthcare system as a whole.

The Leadership/Management Concept Scale: differentiating between actions constituting leadership and management

“…Respondents were asked to order a series of actions determined a priori, based on prior research to represent a spectrum from leadership to management and hence were provided a limited set of action options. In addition, there are many likely differences between the sample population used by Collins et al (2022) to develop the LMCS (i.e., physicians) and the characteristics of the experts/ scholars in the current study. The latter may hold different concepts as important to leadership and management that were not captured in the original LMCS actions.…”

“…Their sample involved 206 physicians across the United States. On the LMCS participants ordered numerically from 1 (most purely management) to 11 (most purely leadership) the set of eleven actions previously identified by Collins et al . (2022), as shown in Table 3.…”

“…In their discussion of five perspectives on the relationship between leadership and management, Simonet and Tett (2013, p. 200) described “bipolarity” as a model in which “leadership and management are depicted as essentially two endpoints on a single continuum.” Notably, however, they described only two distinctly different concepts, one leadership and one management, with no intervening continuum of overlapping competencies between the two. Conversely, Collins et al . (2022)described and investigated the idea of a spectrum of actions ranging from purely management on one end of the continuum to purely leadership on the other.…”

“…Notably, however, they described only two distinctly different concepts, one leadership and one management, with no intervening continuum of overlapping competencies between the two. Conversely, Collins et al (2022) described and investigated the idea of a spectrum of actions ranging from purely management on one end of the continuum to purely leadership on the other. Respondents in that study comingled leadership and management, and how they conceptualized management was found to be associated with the extent they felt prepared to take on a leadership role.…”

“…The LMCS was built upon the research framework of Collins et al (2022). They devised a 54item survey based on published definitions of management and leadership.…”