Looking beyond tasks to develop flexible leadership.

There is a determination within health and social care to make leaders and leadership better and more able to face the challenges presented by an ever-changing social, political and organisational landscape. However, this determination is not without difficulties, especially the challenge of changing existing work place culture and climate. This paper reports on the findings of an evaluation of a leadership development programme delivered to senior leaders in health and social care. It uses qualitative data to demonstrate that even in a safe and risk-free environment health and social care leaders approached a hypothetical scenario in a defensive, hierarchical and expert-led manner and only after they were given ‘expert’ permission to change leadership style did they act collectively and seek to adopt a transformational style of leadership.