The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine how clinical team leadership can facilitate a collaborative team and, in doing so, drive change in a health service.
Ethnographic field work was conducted with a clinical team, comprised of 13 health professionals, in community health, in Sydney Australia. Utilising semi‐structured interviews, data were collected and then analysed using Goleman's leadership typology as an analytic lens.
Leadership can facilitate a team to realise high levels of collaboration, trust and respect. This creates an environment in which collective learning and increased responsibility thrives. Together, these elements enable front‐line staff to take ownership of their services, to integrate the organising and delivery of services, and, in doing so, improve health care practice.
The leadership empirically observed here confirms qualities, behaviours and approaches that have been argued as important in the literature.
For health professionals in a clinical team leadership role Goleman's typology can be instructive. Many leaders in complex health care organisations are engaged in, and needing to respond to, unfolding situations to ensure positive improvement. At such times the typology offers a range of leadership styles to draw upon.
The application of the typology to health care clinical team leadership is a new development.
