The health care needs of the population and health system are changing rapidly, with increasing demands for innovative and flexible leadership and management by all health professionals. In New Zealand this became very evident in 2022 with the restructure of the health system and the implementation of the Pae Ora Act/Health Futures (2022). Te Pae Tata Interim New Health Plan was released on the 28.10.22.
The School of Nursing Leadership and Management programmes assist participants to develop both their management and leadership skills, so that they can increase their effectiveness in improving service development and delivery. A combination of effective leadership and effective management capability is not only critical for health professionals, but can be developed at all levels of an organisation as part of an ongoing learning process.
The root definition of leadership (the Oxford English Dictionary) is “to guide with reference to action or opinion, to bring by persuasion ....to or into a condition, to conduct by argument or representation to a conclusion, to induce to do something.” That is, leading is about getting things done. Therefore the emphasis in the Nursing School programmes is on “doing leading”, which we refer to as ‘leaderful practice’ (Raelin 2011), and on understanding the actions that need to be taken by a person in a leading role, and the actions that followers also need to take if they are to be led. There is also an emphasis on combining “doing leading” with “doing managing”, in recognition that these two processes are complementary and must be mutually reinforcing if we are to have productive and healthy health professionals and organisations. We consider leadership and management at three levels, me, we, and us, that is at the individual, team and organisation levels. Fundamental to all learning in this course is critical reflection and demonstrating understanding of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, applying knowledge with action to achieve equitable care and outcomes for Māori.