Clinical leadership

Clinical leadership involves a number of skills which when combined in various combinations enable individuals to lead clinical decision making and opinion, clinical teams and clinical policy development.

Clinical leadership skills to some degree reflect leadership criteria in other walks of life but also involve particular knowledge, skills and behaviour attained through professional training, continuing professional development and on the job experience.

Historical view
In the early years of the profession clinical leadership was provided by the medical profession. However as we developed our own professional autonomy psychologists turned increasingly to their own structures for leadership while in recent years the development of a greater emphasis on multidisciplinary teamwork has led to a mixed economy of leadership within which psychologists have had to play their part.