It is easy to get confused about all the leadership books out there. However, I am still amazed that I seem to learn something new from most of these books and articles. Each thing that I read seems to add another layer to my overall view to the importance of leadership and to my own skill as a leader. In the article “Public health leadership development 2010: A seamless approach for the future” (Leadership in Public Health, 8, 1-2, 2008,2-4), I began to explore this issue of the many approaches to leadership development. Utilizing the concept of ecological leadership, I looked at a number of leadership approaches as subsets of an ecological approach to leadership. Ecological leaders are committed to the development of their personal talents, leadership skills and competencies throughout their professional careers while at the same time being committed to the appropriate application of these skills in their communities’ changing health care priorities. The table below, which is an expansion of the leadership skills addressed in the original paper, is a beginning of an exploration of the leadership subsets that we will need to address involving emerging public health issues over the next several years.
Table- ECOLOGICAL LEADERSHIP SUBSETS AND LEADERSHIP SKILL AREAS
Leadership Subsets Skill Areas
| Managerial Leadership | Hierarchical Structures
Matrix Structures Portfolio Management Coaching, mentoring Developing Others Team-Building Mission/Vision Problem-Solving Decision Making Reengineering/Reinvention |
| Transactional Leadership | Collaboration
Coalition and Partnership Development Communication Skills Assessing the Environment Creating Clarity Sharing Power and Influence Building Trust Developing People for Teamwork Self-Reflection |
| Systems Leadership | Systems Thinking
Analyzing Archetypes Adaptive Change Continuous Quality Improvement Complexity Analysis Learning Organization Scenario-Building Theory U Presencing(Senge) |
| Crisis Leadership | Emergency preparedness and Response
Types of Crisis Community Readiness Family Safety Resilience Emergency Recovery Strategies Mitigation Public Health Law and Ethics Risk and Crisis Communication Tipping Point Awareness Forensic Epidemiology Pandemic Influenza Planning Consequence Management After Action Planning Change Strategies Community-Building |
| Meta-Leadership | Connectivity
Leading Across Silos Transdisciplinary Skills Values Integration Goals Alignment Conflict Management Multi-dimensional Problem Solving |
| Strategic Leadership | Strategic Planning
Stakeholder Analysis Negotiation Policy Analysis Futures Orientation Analytical Skills Innovative Orientation Headroom Strategies(McGuire and Rhodes) |
| Synergistic Leadership | Social Network Perspectives
Partner Diversification Web 2.0 Systems Transformation Adaptive Leadership Sector Integration to Increase Value The Leadership Guide(Collaborative Learning) Cultural Change Agent Thinking Skills(DeBono) |
| Transformational Leadership | Paradigm Busting
Policy Innovation Resistance to the Status Quo Strong Communications Skills Kotter Change Models |
| Global Health Leadership | Globalization
Comprehensive Surveillance Strategies Multi-Cultural Communication International Health Law |
This table is only meant to be a beginning of a discussion on the skills ties to a given leadership subset. The leader of the future will need to integrate and work from a number of skill orientations to effectively address the unexpected events that will guide our public health and human services future. Skill development is cumulative and interactive.
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Rowitz On Leadership 