The Canadian Health Challenge

The Canadian health system is facing challenges it has never faced before.  The shifting needs of an aging population, the challenge of chronic disease management, obesity and other population health concerns, funding shortfalls, advances in medical and information technologies,  and a host of other forces have all put stresses on the Canadian health system. These stresses  are making it clear that  we must introduce significant changes in how health services are organized and delivered.  To address them will require sophisticated and modern leadership, aimed at creating highly functioning, efficient, and effective health organizations, and a more integrated and coherent health system.

The Health System's Leadership Challenge

The number of formal leaders in the Canadian health system is significant. A conservative estimate is that there are over 80,000 individuals in formal health management roles in Canada – from team leader to chief executives.  But the demographic profile is similar to the general population and there is an urgent need to address the quantitative as well as the qualitative challenges.

Little has been done to develop  succession plans to effectively fill the gap.   The leadersforlife initiative responds to this challenge by  offering strategies to increase the overall number of leaders in the system, as well as enhance the quality of  leadership those people will bring to their work.

All this only speaks to formal leaders. If you  consider that employees of all kinds may wish to play a role in leading the change, then the need for effective leadership in healthcare is very great indeed.  leadersforlife is built on the premise that constructing an organizational and systemic culture of leadership is one of the key strategies to bring about the kind of transformation that the health system requires.