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Introduction
Effective clinical leadership at all levels of care is required to improve the delivery of healthcare services, enhance clinical teamwork and to improve safety. It is also needed to promote innovation and to produce desired leadership outcomes (Snodgrass et al., 2008; Wylie and Gallagher, 2009; Leonard and Frankel, 2010b). Leadership is an essential requirement for high-quality healthcare and is necessary for healthcare systems to manage the increasing complexities faced by healthcare services and to sustain change (West et al., 2015).
Enhanced clinical teamwork and clinical outcomes can arise from effective leadership (McAlearney, 2008). Clear leadership roles within healthcare teams are reportedly associated with aligned team objectives, better support for innovation, higher participation and a greater commitment to excellence (West et al., 2003). Strong leadership can lead to improved clinical care, better clinical practice, enhanced conflict management and shared governance (West, 2012; Cummings et al., 2010; Wong and Giallonardo, 2013).
The need for improved effectiveness and enhanced employee performance and productivity has led to extensive research on leadership styles and the outcome of leadership within healthcare organizations (West et al., 2015; Health Workforce Australia, 2012). Despite this need, leadership and leadership development of allied health professionals (AHPs) in Australia remains an area of limited investigation (Bradd et al., 2017; Brand et al., 2012; Cummings et al., 2010; Joubert et al., 2016).
AHPs are healthcare professionals who apply their knowledge and skills to maximize and improve a client’s functioning in physical, psychological, sensory and social arenas (Lowe et al., 2007; Wagner et al., 2008). They are tertiary qualified, have a range of specific skills and competencies and play an important role in clinical healthcare delivery across the continuum of healthcare (Mueller and Neads, 2005; Wylie and Gallagher, 2009).
The study was undertaken in South Eastern Sydney Local Health District (SESLHD) which is a large publicly-funded healthcare organization that services a population of almost 900,000 people in the Sydney metropolitan area of New South Wales (NSW), Australia (SESLHD, 2012). AHP disciplines employed by SESLHD include counseling, dietetics and nutrition, exercise physiology, genetic counseling, occupational therapy, orthoptics, pharmacy, physiotherapy, podiatry, psychology, social work and speech pathology. Although typically considered AHPs, the medical radiation science disciplines of diagnostic...