“An expression commonly used in Japanese companies is, Total Quality begins with education and ends with education. Any organization hoping for long-term success must adhere to this philosophy, educating and re-educating everyone from the corporate officers and top executives down to hourly employees. These efforts will reap rewards when every employee- alone or with others- is busy studying and improving some part of the organization” (Scholtes, P.R. 1988).

In summary, as a healthcare quality professional, if you want to improve the way you lead, it is important to understand the concepts and ideas behind great leadership and push yourself to improve your own leadership abilities. One way to do this is by learning about the theories and ideas behind great leadership. By empowering yourself first through knowledge, then through role modeling, it will help you empower others so that the organizational goals can be met.

Leaders develop the structure of their practice and interpret their role to others. A leader should initiate actions of many different kinds including planning and organizing work, guiding and evaluating others, calling meetings, mobilizing support systems, risk taking, and confrontation. The leader should use the basic skills of problem solving, critical thinking, and communication to carry out performance improvement effectively. Teamwork and group development are very important in performance improvement. Tuckman and Jensen identified five stages of group development. Each stage has a characteristic emotional climate, group behaviors, and specific tasks. These include forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning. The role of the leader is very important to group dynamics. Different leader actions are appropriate for each of these stages (Tappen R.M.1986).

Leadership actions should vary depending on the phase of group