Leadership in Veterinary Medicine. Clive Elwood
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may feel deserve inclusion and emphasis. That is well and good; if it stimulates debate and discussion and further reading that will be pleasing and, if there is any stimulation of further research on leadership in veterinary medicine, so much the better.
There is a separate argument that making a study of leadership entirely based around published numerical data (‘evidence‐based’) fails to emphasise that it is a socially constructed individualistic phenomenon, the richness and variety of which is lost if it is broken into numbers and data points. We must be prepared to use and draw from other approaches, such as the use of personal narrative, as required to help us construct a rich understanding of what leadership means for veterinary medicine. With this in mind, I have tried to take a balanced approach as I write, emphasising what is known/understood (cognition), behavioural approaches to leadership, and also considering the unconscious; what might be out of day‐to‐day awareness. Throughout the book I have placed vignettes to illustrate particular points and these are deliberately designed to emphasise emotional responses to the subject matter, and to illustrate the importance of ‘leadership’ as an individual experience, co‐created with others.
1.4 Who Is the Book for?
Leadership is a professional function, and understanding the concepts of leadership‐followership should be of benefit to any professional. As such, leadership is one of the many nontechnical skills that is learned (intentionally or otherwise), alongside technical development from first‐year undergraduate to experienced professional. This book is a combination of both the practical and theoretical, acting as both an introduction to the concepts and challenges of leadership, with an obvious emphasis on the veterinary context, as a source of scenarios to provoke reflection and discussion, as a single‐point of reference to the (sparse) veterinary literature and as a pointer to the wider subject of leadership. It can act as a supporting text for those undertaking leadership learning journeys, as a primer on the subject for those contemplating a leadership role, and as a source of support for those in post who are facing the day‐to‐day challenge of leadership in veterinary medicine.
Ultimately, I have written the book I would have wanted to read many years ago.
1.5 How to Use This Book
The book is divided into two parts:
Part One covers major areas of veterinary leadership. It is discursive and aims to distil and make relevant information accessible. Each chapter is subdivided into subject areas and supported by tables, figures, vignettes, references, and further reading as appropriate.
Part Two includes a number of leadership challenges, designed to cover a range of situations where veterinary professionals may need to show leadership, and aimed at encouraging deeper engagement with, and holistic integration of, the material presented in Part One. These scenarios can be used as you see fit; for your own reflection, in discussion with others or to stimulate learning in any other way.
1.6 What Is ‘Good Enough’?
If you are still wondering why we need to think more about leadership in veterinary medicine, perhaps it is helpful to reflect on what ‘bad’ leadership looks and feels like. It is likely that everyone has been on the receiving end of leadership behaviours and actions that have left them feeling angry, frustrated, cynical, and de‐motivated. The veterinary professions are rife with such tales and have been for as long as I have been a student of veterinary medicine and, I am sure, a long time before that. On the other hand, ‘good enough’ leadership, in the everyday, often goes unnoticed and unrecognised. Let's help bring leadership forward as an essential part of professional life; worth studying, understanding, practising, and improving.
Questions
1 Look around you at the ‘not good enough’ and the ‘good‐enough’ leadership. How would you like people to experience your leadership?
2 What does ‘leadership’ mean to you? How do you feel about leadership as a discipline? Why might that be?
3 Think about your leadership challenges. What do you hope to take away from this book that will help you?
Further Reading
1 West, M., Armit, K., Loewenthal, L. et al. (2015). Leadership and Leadership Development in Health Care: The Evidence Base. London: The Kings Fund.
References
1 de Haan, E. and Kasozi, A. (2014). The Leadership Shadow: How to Recognize and Avoid Derailment, Overdrive and Hubris. London: KoganPage.
2 Jena, A.B., Rotenstein, L.S., and Sadun, R. (2018). Why doctors need leadership training. Harvard Business School Cases: 1–6.
3 Kotter, J.P. (1990). What leaders really do. Harvard Business Review 37 (3): 18–28. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315250601‐2.
4 West, M., Armit, K., Loewenthal, L. et al. (2015). Leadership and Leadership Development in Health Care: The Evidence Base. London: The Kings Fund.
5 Yukl, G. (2013). Leadership in Organisations, 8e. England: Pearson Education Limited.
6 Zipperer, L.A. (2014). Patient Safety : Perspectives on Evidence, Information and Knowledge Transfer. Farnham, Surrey, England: Routledge.
2 Veterinary Leadership in Context
In this chapter we will explore:
The history and purpose of the veterinary professions
Their place in society and the needs they serve as society changes
The complexities and paradoxes that result
How veterinary professionals might resolve these conflicts through their professional identities
The current status, and future needs, of leadership in the veterinary context
2.1 Introduction
‘There are these two young fish swimming along and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says “Morning, boys. How's the water?” And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes, “What the hell is water?”’
David Foster Wallace
How many times have you been with a group of colleagues at the dinner table discussing the joys of a nice juicy cat bite abscess, only to realise the unfortunate lay person among you has dropped their knife and fork and turned an unpleasant shade of green…? [Insert alternative personal anecdote here.] There is a context to our work as veterinary professionals that we, inevitably, take for granted and that may even be out of our consciousness, at least on a day‐to‐day basis.
Whilst organisations may have publicly stated ideas about what they are for and ‘what they do’, there also levels of ‘what we really believe we are doing’ and ‘what is actually going on’ (Stokes, J. in Obholzer and Roberts 1994). The concept of ‘what is actually going on’ is encapsulated in the exploration of the hidden curriculum in veterinary teaching institutions and the enculturation of veterinary students as they develop into professionals (Mossop et al. 2013; Roder and May 2017).
In this chapter, I will explore the veterinary context, with some of its contradictions and paradoxes, and think about where leadership fits into the picture.
2.2