Do you stand out from the crowd?

Previous articles in this series explored the differences between management and leadership; different styles of leadership, and gave you some ideas on how to improve and develop your own leadership style. This article focuses specifically on the leadership skills and qualities that are required by the clinically based dental nurse. Leadership skills are required at all levels of an organisation. In a practice-based profession such as dental nursing, where people are working together with tight time schedules and important patient safety considerations, then leadership at the ‘hands on’ clinical level is vitally important. Take a few minutes to reflect upon the various dental practices that you have worked in; think about those who worked efficiently where job satisfaction was high and patient care was excellent. I hope you can recall at least one area that you have worked in that meets these criteria. If you can then think about who was leading that team and how they did it. If you have never worked in a ‘gold standard’ practice that meets those criteria, then think about a ‘bronze standard’ and reflect on why it was like that and who was leading that team. I'm currently undertaking a research project examining leadership in a large organisation looking specifically at the clinical leadership level. These are leaders who run a team of 10 people and work as part of that team delivering the service they offer. Although these are not health care workers it is a very people centred service and lives depend on the efficient running of the team. The areas identified below are some of the very practical and real qualities that they expect of leaders at this level, see how they compare with the leadership qualities you identified.