Transforming public health specialists into public health leaders – Authors' reply
2013; Elsevier BV; Volume: 381; Issue: 9865 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1016/s0140-6736(13)60246-9
ISSN1474-547X
AutoresMatthew Day, Darren Shickle, Kevin Smith, Ken Zakariasen, Tom Oliver, Jacob Moskol,
Tópico(s)Public Health Policies and Education
ResumoKatarzyna Czabanowska and colleagues are correct in their assertion that public health leadership programmes should be targeted at every level. This point actually aligns well with our conclusions and corresponding figure,1Day M Shickle D Smith K Zakariasen K Oliver T Moskol J Time for heroes: public health leadership in 21st century.Lancet. 2012; 380: 1205-1206Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (13) Google Scholar which recommend targeted programmes to move public health professionals to the next leadership level. However, we went further by arguing that in addition to improving the quality of leadership within public health, we need to expand leadership for public health. These similar conclusions were reached by focusing on what we termed public health “super-heroes”: public health leaders who “paradoxically blend personal humility with professional will and make the right decisions happen”.2Collins J Good to great and the social sectors: a monograph to accompany good to great. Cornerstone/Random House Business Books, London2006Google Scholar In this context, our definition of public health super-heroes differs significantly from the concept of superheroes used in the King's Fund report,3King's FundThe future of leadership and management in the NHS: no more heroes. Kings Fund, London2011http://www.kingsfund.org.uk/publications/future-leadership-and-management-nhsGoogle Scholar which described UK National Health Service management heroes in terms of high-profile figureheads. Indeed such a model was also criticised by Collins,2Collins J Good to great and the social sectors: a monograph to accompany good to great. Cornerstone/Random House Business Books, London2006Google Scholar on whose work our research was based. Indeed, our conclusions align with the new model of leadership proposed by the King's Fund, which is based on “ability to influence”, “working across boundaries”, and, crucially, in “persuading others of the right course of action”.3King's FundThe future of leadership and management in the NHS: no more heroes. Kings Fund, London2011http://www.kingsfund.org.uk/publications/future-leadership-and-management-nhsGoogle Scholar Furthermore, the question underpinning our research was “what are the characteristics of public health super-heroes and how can we use these to better identify and train public health leaders of the future?” We plan to publish the full qualitative results from our study in due course, which will provide greater detail on the in-depth results obtained from our interviews. Identifying the traits of current leaders, and applying the results to inform training, education, and culture change throughout the workforce have been used in both public health leadership research4Zakariasen K Victoroff KZ Leaders and emotional intelligence: a view from those who follow.Health Manage Forum. 2012; 25: 86-90Summary Full Text Full Text PDF Scopus (3) Google Scholar and outside of public health in wider sectors.5Kouzes JM Posner B The leadership challenge. 5th edn. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco2012Google Scholar We declare that we have no conflicts of interest. Transforming public health specialists into public health leadersMatthew Day and colleagues (Oct 6, p 1205)1 suggest recommendations for developing public health leaders. We agree that leadership is a crucial component in public health. However, the proposed focus on super leaders seems outdated in its assumptions. Full-Text PDF Time for heroes: public health leadership in the 21st centuryPublic health leaders have been criticised for their policy stances, relationships with governments, and failure to train the next generation.1 At the same time, there is widespread recognition that the challenges posed by obesity, alcohol, smoking, and climate change require solutions from public health approaches. As part of a project funded by the Worldwide Universities Network, we explored the role of leadership in tackling the public health challenges of the 21st century. Leaders in public health come from not only from within the profession but also, and perhaps more importantly, from outside. Full-Text PDF
Referência(s)