-Source: Healthcare Leadership Alliance Competency Directory  

Diana: To be a good leader one must possess the ability to be innovative. Being able to bring new ideas into a changing field is very important in healthcare. A leader must be able to develop creative solutions to problems, issues, and situations that can arise.

-Source: "New Leadership for Today's Health Care Professionals"

Meredith: Accountability, Communication, and Initiative are important competencies in the Health Care Industry. When directly and indirectly dealing with people's lives and caring for them, it's necessary to make sure your employees are following protocols and giving proper care. Staying in contact with those administering care is essential to content patients and families.

Chris: Three key competencies an effective leader should posses include: Achievement orientation, Innovative thinking, and strategic orientation. These competencies are all things that should be possessed by leaders that are higher up within the organization. By being well oriented with an organizations strategies and it will be easier for a leader to apply innovate

Megan: The competencies listed will help executives lead by providing a good foundation to lead and direct their facility down a path to success. The competencies will gain leaders networking opportunities, the ability to direct attention, the ability to make informed decisions, and the ability to generate creative ideas.

Diana: Having an innovative thinking skill as a leader will make the workplace environment one of vision and bright ideas. If a leader displays creative thinking they will be setting the example of innovation to employees around them.

Meredith: Communication and Initiatve will make sure things are getting accomplished correctly and in a timely manor.

Chris: Possessing the competencies of Achievement orientation, strategic orientation, and innovative thinking when combined can go a long way in regards to farther improving an organization as a whole. When a leader is well oriented in regards to achievements they would like to see accomplished as well as what the organization's strategies are as a whole, it will be much easier to apply innovative thinking and provide critical insight that can be used to farther improve an organization's achievements and modify/improve an organization's strategies.

Megan: When leaders lack one particular competency, innovative thinking, in the rapidly changing world of healthcare, an organization can become underprepared quite easily. Innovative systems, tools, and thinking are important for the future of healthcare. Also, a lack of professionalism and relationship management can contribute to a communication breakdown in the facility, causing other dangerous issues.

-Source: Center for Creative Leadership, "Innovation Leadership: How to use innovation to lead effectively, work collaboratively, and drive results"     

Chris: When a leader lacks a competency such as innovative thinking, they are much less likely to  be able to provide fresh ideas that may not have been thought of otherwise. This is especially important when, for example: an organization is attempting to implement a new idea that hasn't really been implemented into any other similar organizations. Without a leader that doesn't possess innovative thinking policies in the past that have been implemented due to this competency such as efforts to improve handwashing percentages and in turn lower Hospital Aquired Infections may never have come about or been implemented with success.

Diana: When a leader lacks innovative thinking they will probably also lack vision. Being able to come up with new strategies and ideas helps a organization thrive. If a leader does not display any innovative thinking it may also restrict employees creative thinking.

-Source 12 ways to spot ineffective leadership

-Source: "New Leadership for Today's Health Care Professionals"

Diana: To fix this leaders could encourage employees to brainstorm new ideas through seminars. Also, a leader could provide employees the opportunity to shadow, this will allow the employee with high potential to thrive in the workplace.

-Source: "New Leadership for Today's Health Care Professionals"

Meredith: Seminars can be helpful for leaders, especially those not the clinical floor, so they are more knowledgeable of what physicians and nurses daily duties and can better understand how to lead the organization as a whole.

Chris: When it comes to improving innovative thinking it's not always going to be cut and dry. This requires leaders to think outside of the box and some may just never be that good at it. Leaders could try being more open to suggestions from their subordinates as this could provide a fresh perspective and get leaders to think about a problem in a way that they wouldn't have originally thought of. However, it's still important to realize that you are a leader for a reason and many suggestions should be taken with a grain of salt as many people at the lower levels of an organization don't always have as good of a grasp at the big picture and may not realize that one solution might fix the problem at hand but at the same time it could also cause problems elsewhere in the organization. Attending creative thinking workshops would also be another way to improve innovative thinking to try and come up with a new process or solution to a problem that has never been tested or done before.