In this article, we extend the understanding of enabling leadership in complexity leadership theory by showing what enables and stifles organizational adaptability. By drawing on a case study of an organizational change related to competence supply in health and care services, we explore what (enabling) leaders do, in the different (i.e. ideation and scaling) stages of an adaptive process, to engage the two complexity (i.e. the tension and the linking up) dynamics that are essential for nurturing and sustaining adaptive processes in organizations. The results show that, in both stages, the way a complexity challenge is framed can determine the type of process it will trigger: if the challenge is framed as a technical one, while trying to eliminate tensions, the likely response is an order one; if the challenge is framed as a complex one, while trying to sustain tensions, the likely response is an adaptive one. Ideation can be held back by not only ‘external’ pressures but also ‘internally’ perceived scaling barriers. In scaling, dividing the implementation of a solution into phases can ‘buy time’ for the organization to ‘mature’ and, accordingly, to be better prepared for its implementation. Involving operational leadership early in the adaptive process, so that they assume certain ownership, can foster connecting and can contribute to navigating the linking up dynamic and thus reduce the risk of ideas “hitting the brick wall”. The support from managers at the ‘top’ of the system is essential for scaling adaptive processes and thus implementing systems change.

Ingress: Organisationer tycks inte bli mer rustade av att förlita sig enbart på traditionella kursupplägg. Företag som presterar starkt ekonomiskt prioriterar verksamhetsnära insatser där ledarskapet utvecklas i det dagliga arbetet, skriver beslutsfattare från näringsliv och akademi.

I projektet System för ledarskapsutveckling har forskare vid Jönköping University i partnerskap med ett tiotal svenska organisationer och genom en nationell telefonintervju med drygt 1 300 privata och offentliga verksamheter fördjupat kunskapen om hur ledarskapsutveckling organiseras, uppfattas och omsätts i praktiken. Resultatet i denna rapport bygger på ett varierat material i form av dokument, intervjuer och workshops.

Genom projektet har vi fördjupat vår förståelse av att ledarskapsutveckling kräver systematik och integration. Det handlar om att arbeta medvetet och långsiktigt med olika arbetssätt som är kopplade till organisationens syfte, samtidigt som vi reflekterar över de antaganden och idéer som påverkar utformningen. Ett ledarskapsutvecklingssystem omfattar de arbetssätt som främjar utveckling av ledarskap anpassat efter verksamhetens syfte, kontext och föränderliga behov.

I rapporten beskriver sju organisationer sin syn på ledarskap och hur de arbetar för att utveckla detsamma. Genom deras egna ord får vi en inblick i hur ett system för ledarskapsutveckling kan se ut i praktiken. Särskilt markeras att ledarskapsutveckling måste skräddarsys utifrån organisatoriska förutsättningar och individuella behov. De aktiviteter och metoder som används måste kontinuerligt testas, förstärkas eller fasas ut beroende på relevans. Hellre hålla fast vid en genomtänkt metod än att ständigt byta.

Den nationella kartläggningen ger en översikt av vilka aktiviteter som är mest använda och till vem de vänder sig. Fördjupande analyser visar att de organisationer som har starkast finansiella resultat värderar fem verksamhetsnära metoder främst; chefsmöten, gruppreflektioner, utvecklingssamtal, förbättringsarbete och tillfälliga uppdrag.

Slutligen presenterar vi en uppsättning framgångsprinciper, frågor och verktyg för att arbeta mer systematiskt med ledarskapsutveckling. Vår förhoppning är att de ska fungera som en kompass för ett mer nyfiket och reflekterande arbetssätt och öppnar vägen mot en hållbar och framgångsrik ledarskapsutveckling.

In the project System for Leadership Development, researchers at Jönköping University have, in partnership with about a dozen Swedish organizations, deepened their knowledge of how leadership development is organized, perceived and put into practice. This was, among other things, done through national telephone interviews with more than 1,300 private and public organizations. The results presented in this report are based on various empirical sources in the form of documents, interviews and workshops.

Through the project, we have deepened our understanding of the need for leadership development to be systematic and integrated. It is a matter of working deliberately and with a long-term perspective with different practices that are linked to the organization’s purpose, all the while reflecting on the assumptions and ideas that influence the design. A leadership development system encompasses the practices that promote the development of leadership, adapted to the purpose, context and changing needs of the organization.

In this handbook, seven organizations describe their views on leadership and how they work to develop it. Through their own words, we get an insight into what a system for leadership development can look like in practice. In particular, it is emphasized that leadership development must be tailored to organizational conditions and individual needs. The practices and methods that are used must continuously be tested, strengthened or phased out depending on relevance. It is better to stick to a well-thought-out practice than to constantly change.

The national survey provides an overview of the practices most used and which target groups they are aimed at. In-depth analyses show that the organizations with the strongest financial results primarily prioritize five practices close to daily operations: leadership forums, performance and developmental reviews, improvement work, group reflections and temporary assignments.

Finally, we present a set of success principles, questions, and tools for working more systematically with leadership development. Our hope is that they will serve as a compass for a more curious and reflective way of working and that they will open the way towards sustainable and successful leadership development.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to map which instruments are currently being used to measure disordered eating in adolescent boys as part of a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis.

METHOD: Utilizing the PRISMA review protocol, 174 journal articles were reviewed.

RESULTS: Sixty-seven articles used versions of the Eating Attitudes Test to measure adolescent boys' disordered eating, 32 used versions of the Eating Disorder Examination-Questionnaire, 30 used versions of the Eating Disorder Inventory, 25 used SCOFF, and 10 used the Drive for Muscularity Scale. A plethora of other instruments for measuring disordered eating were utilized as well.

CONCLUSION: Studying adolescent boys' disordered eating by using instruments primarily developed and validated for girls may provide unreliable estimates of the numbers of boys who suffer from disordered eating, which would preclude early intervention. One strength of the reviewed studies was that several used multiple measurements to validate their results. One of the weaknesses was the lack of distinguishing genders among certain groups, such as athletes or patients. Among the opportunities identified was the possibility of expanding on research on the association between puberty and disordered eating, with sports and parents potentially acting as buffers against the onset of disordered eating. A clear threat to research on disordered eating among adolescent boys was the (in)accuracy of the measurements.

Background

Health care services are increasingly delivered by ethnically diverse teams. Understanding how these teams function and should be managed to improve clinical performance is critical to improving the quality and safety of care.

Purpose

The aim of this study was to identify configurations of conditions that enable ethnically diverse health care teams to improve their clinical performance.

Methodology/Approach

This study uses video data from 59 simulations collected at a simulation center in southern Sweden in October 2022 and December 2023, supplemented by survey data. The simulations include 28 observations of CEPS (Concept for Patient Simulation) and 31 observations of PROBE (Practical Obstetric Team-Training). Fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis was used to explore combinations of conditions that lead to high performance.

Results

A laissez-faire leadership style does not enable high performance in either ethnically homogeneous or heterogeneous teams. Ethnically diverse health care teams excel with shared leadership, especially when these teams are larger and less experienced. In addition, small and experienced teams perform well with shared leadership, regardless of ethnic diversity. Autocratic leadership is ineffective in ethnically diverse teams and effective only in small, ethnically homogeneous teams.

Practice Implications

The study highlights the importance of active leadership for optimal performance in health care teams, regardless of ethnic diversity. These findings provide valuable guidance for managers and practitioners responsible for staffing or leading diverse teams in hospitals.

A leadership development system (LDS) encompasses all methods and practices used in an organisation to train and develop effective leadership. However, the underlying assumptions upon which such a system is based are often overlooked, and the workplace as a learning site is generally under-investigated, which may cause an unreflected LDS. Using a social representations theory approach, this study explores such underlying assumptions, i.e. social representations of leadership and leadership development, among 19 employees of an organisation with a non-hierarchical business structure. To collect data, the free association method was used to reveal underlying social representations shaping the company’s current LDS. Through a transdisciplinary framing and customised design of work-integrated learning (WIL) among the employees (N = 57), the study also develops an exploratory model for facilitating the development of a deliberate LDS. The results show that uncovering social representations supports professional learning in work, which helps create an LDS that is based on articulated awareness. The study further shows that the process of uncovering hidden values, ideas, and perspectives can support a context-relevant and customised WIL curriculum for professional learning and cultivate a deliberate and purposeful approach to leadership development.

In the leadership development literature, there is a strong consensus for the value of taking a tailored approach to leadership development. Yet, the literature is surprisingly silent about what such tailoring actually involves. We review the leadership development literature through a didactical lens and develop a process model of didactic tailoring and leadership development. Our emerging conceptual model subsume the existent but oftentimes scattered research into the tailoring of leadership development programs into an overarching organizing framework. Our model helps identify the underlying processes involved in didactic tailoring of leadership development programs. It also articulate how these processes combine to predict leadership development. Finally, we outline a step-by-step guide informing how to conduct didactic tailoring. Our theoretical model provides valuable guidance for scholars and practitioners interested in designing, executing, evaluating, reporting, and reviewing leadership development programs.

Ingress: Hur kan man säkra kvaliteten och arbetsmiljön i multiprofessionella vårdteams som präglas av mångkultur? Det har en forskargrupp från högskolan i Jönköping tittat närmare på.