Leading with heart: Academic leadership during the COVID-19 crisis

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted every sphere of life. It has brought into sharp focus not only the critical role that leaders have to play in taking charge of their organisations and employees, but the complexity of that leadership role, too. The authors of this paper are both psychologists who occupy leadership positions in a university. The paper briefly explores the evolution of leadership theory, leadership in times of crises, generally, and leadership during the time of COVID-19. In addition, one of the authors offers a personal note on the leadership experience during COVID-19. What became clear during the reflections was that empathy, vulnerability, self-awareness and agility were some of the qualities needed during this crisis. In addition, the psychodynamic concept of containment appears very relevant in managing the affective intensity experienced by staff and students. Leaders were expected to not only fully understand the meaning of empathy and compassion, but to know how to sincerely demonstrate these qualities to staff and students alike

Supporting Clinical leadership through Action: The Nurse Consultant Role.

The aim is to evaluate the effectiveness of an action learning set (ALS) to enhance clinical leadership and extend their scope and confidence more strategically. BACKGROUND: As the most senior clinical role in most healthcare systems, the consultant nurse role is a solitary one. They are required to develop personal resilience, commitment and a belief in their ability to lead, with new consultants needing a strong support network to succeed. DESIGN: Following a two year ALS, four nurse consultants, one therapy consultant, and a university educationalist engaged in a co-operative inquiry approach using four cycles of discussion, reflection, analysis and action over an 18 month period from March 2015 - July 2016, to learn how to change and enhance their working practices. Data were analysed thematically. FINDINGS: Four themes emerged where the ALS 1) offered structure and support 2) enabled a wider influence 3) empowered them to lead. The co-operative inquiry helped them realise how much they had gained from their collective learning and they felt empowered to lead. CONCLUSION: Their motivation to 'make a difference' remains palpable. The outcomes of the co-operative inquiry included an enhanced understanding of the importance of openness and trust and a willingness to share and learn from each other in a respectful and confidential environment with a receptiveness to change. Self leadership has clearly been accepted and embraced and their collaboration has improved communication across the organisation, enhanced their strategic leadership capability and given confidence to disseminate externally. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: The ALS offered structure to support these clinical leaders to keep them focused across the breadth of their role. Additionally, peer review with external facilitation has enabled these clinical leaders to gain a wider influence and empowered them to lead. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

Qualitative theory testing as mixed-method research

While the concept of mixed-methods research is more usually associated with combining quantitative and qualitative approaches, this paper outlines a study that mixed methods by undertaking qualitative theory testing and derivation when examining the relationship between health promotion theory and hospital nursing practice. Thus, it is concerned with relating the metatheoretical aspects of the debate and not with the pragmatic aspects of the research and concomitant methods. A deductive–inductive–deductive design, based on the theory–research–theory strategy of Meleis (1985), tested, revised and developed for nursing established health promotion theory using theory-testing criteria. To complement the methodological mix, the study also used the theory (i.e. a health-promotion taxonomy) as a framework to contextualise the findings rather than generate theory in the way associated with interpretative inquiry. While inconsistent with the traditional view linking theory testing with quantitative, objective epistemology, the process enabled a theoretically robust health-promotion taxonomy to be synthesised and advanced for use in nursing in relation to a paradigm of social thought