Improving Person-Centred Leadership: A Qualitative Study of Ward Managers' Experiences During the COVID-19 Crisis.

When the experience of ward managers results in them being unable to lead authentically and competently in a crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic, lack of engagement can occur, with serious consequences for patients, staff and the ward managers themselves. Traditional organizational cultures that are hierarchical and controlling needs to be challenged and reoriented towards collaborative, inclusive and participative practices of engagement and involvement. Leadership development must be an established and integrated component of organizations, so that ward managers are able to sustain person-centred ways of being and doing in times of crisis.