Seeing with Two Eyes: Indigenous Leadership and the LEADS Framework

Current evidence suggests that building transformational leadership capacity is a precursor for the transformational changes required to deliver on the sacred obligations of the Government of Canada to First Nations. As health systems across Canada seek to make transformational challenges to achieve better health outcomes for Indigenous peoples, we would agree that leadership capacity is of paramount importance. This chapter is intended to complement other perspectives on health leadership provided in this book. It will: (1) identify why Indigenous health leadership differs from leadership in non-Indigenous health; (2) provide context to health leaders who excel in other areas of transformational change struggle in Indigenous health systems; and (3) highlight how three aspects of the LEADS framework (Lead self, Engage others, and Develop coalitions) provide a roadmap to critically assess and predict health leaders’ success to affect organizational change in Indigenous health.