The UK healthcare system has a distinguished international reputation for standards. There is a need to replicate this for leadership and management given that research evidence clearly demonstrates a positive link between clinical leadership, better patient outcomes and organisational performance.
The values and behaviours articulated in FMLM leadership standards underpin the principles of the General Medical Council’s (GMC’s) Good Medical Practice and the guidance in Leadership and Management for all doctors, and now clinicians and healthcare leaders. They are relevant and apply equally for all medical and dental professionals across the UK, as well as being widely adopted for clinical and non-clinical staff. Moreover, they form a basis for organisations to support clinicians in management and leadership positions for the benefit of the organisation and to demonstrate effective leadership to address the requirements of organisational regulators.
The third edition (2021) links the Standards with FMLM Fellowship, which was introduced in 2016 for those who demonstrate high levels of leadership competence. Fellowship recognises the leadership of doctors in training, as well as other professionals at early and mid career stages, and offers this important group the opportunity to benchmark their leadership and management skills against set standards.
Behaviours
The ‘how’ and ‘what’ of medical leadership are set out across the pages below, expressed as core values and behaviours which can be observed, measured and developed. The Standards are designed to be applicable to all medical professionals in all domains. They are intentionally aspirational and provide a realistic benchmark to evaluate knowledge, skills, behaviour and experience in leadership and management. They provide valuable guidance for the individual, team, organisation and system in which they work and form the basis for awarding FMLM Fellowship, which underpins good medical practice in leadership and management.
The level of experience, responsibility and outputs in these four behavioural domains are used to assess and award the appropriate level of Fellowship.
Click on each for more information on how a manager or leader meets the standards in each of the domains:
Self
Clinicians should endeavour to know and understand themselves, their impact on others and be constantly striving to improve.
Team Player/Team Leader
The effective clinical leader has a sophisticated knowledge of establishing and leading teams and how to get the best out of them.
Organisational Responsibility
The effective manager or leader understands and contributes positively to the strategic direction and operational delivery of the organisation in which they work.
System Leadership
The importance of integrated care has been emphasised in all healthcare systems across the UK.
- What is a standard?
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FMLM follows the definition of standards used by the Safe Effective Quality Occupational Health Service (SEQOHS): “A standard is something considered by an authority or by general consensus as a basis of comparison in measuring or judging adequacy or quality.”
- Who do the Standards apply to?
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The current FMLM Standards were initially designed specifically for medical and dental professionals working in the UK, from all specialties, career stages and sectors including NHS, government, charities, private and independent companies, insurers, occupational health, pharmaceutical industry, technology sector, armed forces, education, academia, providers, policy-makers and purchasers of care. The Standards apply as a set of values and behaviours for all clinically qualified individuals with management and leadership responsibilities that impact directly or indirectly on health or healthcare. Doctor, medically qualified, medical professional and any similar references apply equally to dental and clinical professionals in the context of this standard.
- How can the standards be used?
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The Standards are a series of competency-based attributes that if followed will enable an individual to perform more effectively as a clinical leader and/ or manager, and will have a positive impact on the individual, on the organisation for which they work, and for patients, carers and populations. The Standards also provide the framework against which the objectives of leadership development programmes are assessed for FMLM Accreditation.
- How have the Standards developed?
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The FMLM Standards are derived from, and build upon, earlier work including the GMC’s guidance, Leadership and Management for all doctors, UK national leadership frameworks and models, and research on medical leadership, management and engagement. This edition of the Standards has also been informed by further formal and informal discussions with a broad range of stakeholders, as well as changes in practice and learning since the first edition.
FMLM believes an effective medical leader is defined by how and what they do, underpinned by why they do it. The ‘why’ is guided by the values espoused in The Seven Principles of Public Life and the General Medical Practice's Good Medical Practice (GMC's).