Passive Leadership in Optometry

Leadership is necessary in Optometry as it pertains to both practice management and regulatory within the national health system. The primary role of leadership in such a complex environment is to increase efficiency in the service of eye care and make it affordable, of better quality, and effective.

The most common types of leadership we find in Optometry and healthcare include transformative, participative, transactional, autocratic, laissez-faire, etc. In most types of leadership, there is an active impact from the boss on the employees. Many employees emphasized the role their boss played in shaping and developing their skills. However, this is less the case in laissez-faire and passive leadership. Moreover, scholars argue that passive leadership can negatively affect both employees and the organization.

Passive leadership consists of combining both passive management by exception and laissez-faire leadership. Passive management by exception is when leaders avoid action until problems and missteps can no longer be ignored. Laissez-faire is characterized by the total absence of leadership. Studies revealed that passive leaders avoid engaging with their employees and become less effective because they fail to make decisions in the absence of response and feedback from subordinates. On the other hand, employees under passive leadership built a perception that their organization undermines their well-being and does not have the necessary support and encouragement to succeed.

It is very important to provide team members total autonomy, however, no one should ignore the fact that team members expect leaders to give them directions, solve problems, proving authority, and make decisions.

Sometimes Optometrists and other healthcare providers are overtaken by their clinical duties that they don’t realize their leadership has become passive. Therefore, some indicators should reflect this situation. Those red flags include not receiving feedback from team members, not being able to identify poor performers on daily basis and not having to step in to help, no teams problems being reported, and no conflict resolution and decisions.