The foundation of your leadership is the person you are. The Lead Self domain of LEADS is comprised of four capabilities. Self-motivated leaders are self aware, manage themselves, demonstrate character, and develop themselves. The evidence base—updated from 2014—for each of these four capabilities is provided. Stories and vignettes that highlight how the capabilities have been put into practice are also provided. Learning moments provide the reader with the opportunity to reflect on their own leadership practices, and to grow their own personal leadership capacity. A self-assessment—at the informal, front-line, mid-manager, senior and executive leadership contexts is provided.

The Engage Others domain of LEADS relates to building interpersonal relationships with the people with whom you interact with on a regular basis. Engaging leaders: foster the development of others, contribute to the creation of healthy organizations, communicate effectively, and build teams. The evidence base—updated from 2014—for each of the four capabilities is provided. Part of that evidence base shows the fundamental importance of diversity and inclusion in organizations and how your leadership must facilitate that goal. Stories, vignettes, and learning are also provided. A self-assessment—at the informal, front-line, mid-manager, senior and executive leadership contexts is provided.

The Achieve Results domain of LEADS shows how the skills of organizational management can be used to facilitate effective leadership. Applied in a continuous improvement approach, the four capabilities of Set direction, Strategically align decisions with vision, values and evidence, Take action to implement decisions, and Assess and evaluate, can be employed by the leader to generate meaningful organizational or system results. The evidence base—updated from 2014—for each of the four capabilities is provided. Stories, vignettes, and learning moments are also provided. A self-assessment—at the informal, front-line, mid-manager, senior and executive leadership contexts is provided.

Collaborative leaders: Purposefully build partnerships and networks to achieve results, Demonstrate a commitment to customers and service, Mobilize knowledge, and Navigate sociopolitical environments effectively. Building on numerous examples of effective coalitions, drawn from both the C-suite and front-line clinical environment, each of the four capabilities of Develop Coalitions is described. The evidence base—updated from 2014—for each of the four capabilities is provided. Stories, vignettes, and learning moments are also provided. A self-assessment—at the informal, front-line, mid-manager, senior and executive leadership contexts is provided.

LEADS is a systems-thinking based model of effective leadership. In this chapter we explore how various forms of systems create the leadership capabilities required to transform large organizations into their desired future state. Successful leaders: Demonstrate systems/critical thinking, Encourage and support innovation, Orient themselves strategically to the future, and Champion and orchestrate change. Examples are drawn from Canada, New Zealand, and Australia to highlight how these capabilities are put into practice. The evidence base—updated from 2014—for each of the four capabilities is provided. Learning moments and a self-assessment—at the informal, front-line, mid-manager, senior and executive leadership contexts are also featured.

LEADS is more than a list of things good leaders do in their day to day work. It also can be used as a disciplined approach to create change in organizations or systems. Building on Chapter 9, this chapter further explains some of the key concepts inherent in leading change (as opposed to managing change) and presents three different case studies of how a holistic LEADS-based approach to change has been put to work. Stories, vignettes, and learning moments are also provided.

This chapter outlines how the Canadian College of Health Leaders and the Canadian Health Leadership Network are working together to facilitate and support a national approach to health leadership development in Canada, using LEADS as the foundation for that work. It also summarizes efforts being undertaken in other national jurisdictions–NHS England, NHS Scotland, Australia, and New Zealand—to grow leadership capacity in those health systems. Lessons learned from exploring those systems, and proposed next steps for the LEADS-based efforts in Canada, are outlined.

This chapter focuses on how the LEADS in Caring Environment Leadership Framework (LEADS) has been put to work in leadership and leadership development in Canadian and Australian health regions. The authors reviewed academic and grey literature on regionalization and spoke with health organization leaders in both countries. Case studies of leadership development efforts in three jurisdictions—Alberta and Saskatchewan in Canada and New South Wales in Australia—are included. Based on their review of the literature and their real-life case studies, an approach to building leadership talent management in large regions is proposed.

Since 2014, when the first edition of this book was published, the field of patient and family engagement has grown tremendously. Effective leadership requires a deep connection to the people that you work with and the people you serve. LEADS can guide health system leaders at all levels on how to connect, partner and co-design with patients, families, and citizens. In this chapter a senior leader in people-centered care within the Saskatchewan Health Authority is joined by two patient/citizen leaders who discuss how to bring people centred leadership to life, using the LEADS in a Caring Environment capabilities framework.

This chapter is intended to complement other perspectives on health leadership provided in this book. It provides context to health leaders who excel in other areas of transformational leadership, but struggle in Indigenous health systems, highlights how three aspects of the LEADS framework (Lead Self, Engage Others, and Develop Coalitions) provide a roadmap to critically assess and predict health leaders’ success to affect organizational change in Indigenous health, and shows how the LEADS framework, if seen through the lens of Indigenous culture, can guide non-Indigenous health leaders to work better with Indigenous leaders and their communities.

This chapter describes how LEADS can serve as an antidote to some of the leadership challenges health professionals experience—including fragmented health care systems, limited engagement and burnout among staff, diversity and equity issues and demand for high quality leadership practice. It provides numerous examples of how LEADS is put to work in both the physician profession and the nursing profession, within Canada and abroad.

The final chapter of Bringing Leadership to Life in Health 2020 highlights five key lessons. They are: LEADS works, caring leadership is gaining ascendancy in modern health systems, context shapes leadership, the speed of change demands a culture of leadership, and it’s time to professionalize health leadership. Given the broad-based acceptance of LEADS and the increased attention being given to embedding LEADS in professional curriculum and credentialing, there is now a clear line of sight to the professionalization of health leadership in Canada.