Mindi McKenna and Perry Pugno (2006) believe that the current problems in American health care require that physicians step forward more often in a leadership role. They offer two recommendations that provide a foundation for the book they have written about physician leadership (McKenna and Pugno, 2006, pg. 1):
“Regardless of the motivation behind this growing demand for physician leadership, two things are certain. First, physicians are being called upon to help lead significant ‘transformational improvements in healthcare, and are being called to do so more urgently than at any previous point in history. Second, until physicians are able to lead others, they will be unable to bring about significant improvements in healthcare.”
What then is the best way for physicians to provide this leadership? In the first essay I have offered in this series, I propose (along with McKinna and Pugno) that there are actually three fundamental styles of leadership that might be appropriate for physicians to embrace—as presented in the DISC model of leadership (DISC, 2024), in my own Leadership Spectrum model (Bergquist, Sandstrom and Mura, 2024), and as described by multiple physician leaders who are quoted in McKenna and Pugno’s book.
In this second essay, I move beyond the three fundamental leadership styles to consider ways in which these styles might be blended. I also introduce the fourth (compliance) DISC style and consider ways in which it relates to and provides a broader perspective on the Rainbow style of leadership (which blends all three fundamental styles in the Leadership Spectrum model). I first consider this interplay between Compliance and the Rainbow.
The Rainbow Leader of Compliance
The fourth style identified in the DISC model requires highly disciplined performance on behalf of an agreed upon way of operating an organization. Emphasis is placed in the Compliance model of leadership on adherence to a high standard of performance. A regular routine should be established and followed under the leadership of someone who is oriented toward compliance. The question becomes: is there a comparable style to be found in the Leadership Spectrum model? I would say that there is compatibility; however, it comes in the blending of several different styles and in the founding of a compliance model of leadership on skillful navigation of intricate team dynamics.
