The relevance of the LEADS framework during the COVID-19 pandemic

COVID-19 has created a unique context for the practice of leadership in healthcare. Given the significant use of the LEADS in a Caring Environment capabilities framework (LEADS) in Canada’s health system, it is important to document the relevancy of LEADS. The authors reviewed literature, conducted research, and reflected on their own experience to identify leadership practices during the pandemic and related them to LEADS. Findings are presented in three sections: Hindsight (before), Insight (during), and Foresight (post). We profile the issue of improving Long-Term Care to provide an example of how LEADS can be applied in crisis times. Our analysis suggests that while LEADS appears to specify the leadership capabilities needed, it requires adaptation to context. The vision Canada has for healthcare will dictate how LEADS will be used as a guide to leadership practice in the current context or to shape a bolder vision of healthcare’s future.

Medical leadership in the military and NHS: what transferable lessons can be identified?

In this article, I explore the different ways leadership in healthcare is taught and developed by the British Army and National Health Service. What lessons and elements of best practice can be taken from each sector, and does traditional infantry-based leadership advice easily translate to civilian healthcare practice?

Leading in a Pandemic

Covid-19 is exposing the inequities and inefficiencies in leadership, in healthcare, and in access to resources—educational, economic and otherwise—that often necessitate and precipitate unrest and uprisings. These realities are inextricably linked to racism, disproportionalities, and the history of discrimination in this country and across the globe; disproportionalities that intersect with university campus uprisings and the urgent need for anti-oppressive school leaders who center the voices and needs of their students.