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Despite considerable research there is still no agreement about leadership theory and practice and it remains an elusive concept (Barr and Dowding, 2012, p. 6). Indeed, there is no: "consensus as to its basic meaning, let alone whether it can be taught" (Grint, 2005, p. 14). This makes it problematic in terms of how and when to develop leadership in specific contexts such as healthcare.
However, leadership remains popular with policymakers in healthcare - particularly clinical leadership. One of the main reasons is a perceived link between the latter and attempts to improve the quality of care, and a consequent need for policymakers to ensure that clinicians are involved in leadership (Darzi, 2008). This link has been emphasised recently by various reviews and reports such as Keogh Review, 2013, Berwick report, 2013 and the Public Inquiry into the Mid Staffordshire NHS foundation Trust (Francis, 2013). Less attention has been given to leadership in dentistry compared to the other clinical professions. In fact, it has been argued that little has been done to develop an evidence base for clinical leadership and its impact in dentistry (Walsh et al. , 2015, p. 186).
This paper aims to explore some well-known approaches to leadership and the extent to which they are relevant and appropriate to dentists working in the UK dental sector. First, the policy context is outlined and then a range of different approaches to leadership is explored and applied to this context, with emphasis on those approaches considered of interest to dentistry (although this is necessarily selective given the wide range of approaches available) and finally, the implications are discussed.
Policy context
The policy context consists of the NHS, and private, and corporate dental sectors. Overall, this context has gone from a period of relative stability to one of considerable change (Willcocks, 2015). There are now many challenges facing dentistry including:
[...] ever escalating NHS regulations, possibly reduced NHS dental funding, regulators ([Care Quality Commission] CQC and [General Dental Council] GDC), multiple inspections of practices, tiering leading to deskilling of non- specialists, corporate practices, increased litigation, high patient expectations, and decreasing disease (O'Reilly and Jacobs, 2015, p. 2).
In the private sector, there are significant changes, including an increase in the corporate dentistry sector and growth...