There is common presumption that successful leadership is about the leader alone, and that organisational success is reflective of the quality of leadership. In contrast, the importance of followership in organisations and teams – including surgical teams – is often overlooked.
This presentation discusses the domains, types, roles and characteristics of followership, and their importance in enabling teams and their leaders to be effective. It also highlights that the skills and behaviours of followership help prepare an individual to be a leader and to be able to switch roles between leader and follower when required.
Professor Christine Kilpatrick AO commenced as Chief Executive, Melbourne Health in May 2017. Previous appointments include Chief Executive, the Royal Children’s Hospital from 2008–2017, Executive Director Medical Services, Melbourne Health and Executive Director Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne Health 2004–2008. Prior to these appointments she was a neurologist, specialising in epilepsy.
Christine is a member of several boards including Orygen, National Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute (WEHI) and the VCCC Alliance. She was awarded a Centenary medal in 2003, in 2014 was included in the Victorian Honour Roll of Women, in 2017 was a recipient of the Inaugural Distinguished Fellow’s Award, Royal Australasian College of Medical Administrators and in 2018 inducted in the top 50 Public Sector Women.
Professor Kilpatrick has been a VCCC Alliance Board Director from 1 July 2010 through to 20 April 2017 and again from 1 May 2017.
Professor Spencer Beasley is a Professor of Paediatric Surgery and the Clinical Director of the Department of Paediatric Surgery, Christchurch Hospital and Clinical Lead, department of Paediatric Surgery, Wellington Hospital. Until 1996, he was a consultant paediatric surgeon and paediatric urologist at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne and Senior lecturer at Melbourne University.
He was a founding member of the Child Cancer and the Developmental Genetics Research Group and was a board member of the Rainbow Children’s Trust. He is a current trustee of the Children’s Cancer Research Trust (Canterbury). He has developed a regional service for paediatric surgery throughout the South Island, providing outreach regular clinics and operating sessions in every South Island public hospital and 5 hospitals in the North Island. He is a member of the Te Whatu Ora (Health New Zealand) taskforce for paediatric surgery.
His clinical research has involved development of measures of outcome in paediatric surgery, gender equity, and the effect of configuration of surgical services on clinical outcomes.
Professor David Watters is the Director of Surgery at SaferCare Victoria. He is committed to improving perioperative care before, during and after surgery and working with all the disciplines involved across the whole patient journey.
Professor Watters is a past president of RACS (2015-2016). Since 2000, he has been a Professor of Surgery for both Barwon Health (University Hospital Geelong), and the University of Melbourne (2000-2010), and then Deakin University from 2011 onwards. He is a general surgeon with interests in general, colorectal and endocrine surgery and is actively engaged in advocating for global surgery, having spent almost 20 years in developing countries including Papua New Guinea (Professor of Surgery 1992-2000), Hong Kong (1991), Zambia (1985-90) and South Africa (1982-84).
His research interests include surgical audit and performance, surgical outcomes, perioperative mortality, surgical history and global health.
