ABSTRACT
The agreement of all parties to a statement of common aim and direction is the outward visible sign of an organisation handling the task of establishing an articulated and agreed common philosophy and value base. One way of checking whether all agree on values and philosophies is by putting each partner's and, where appropriate, each practice member's personal motivations and goals on the table, and talking through the differences and similarities revealed. The delivery of a common philosophy and direction, and the exercise of power within an organisation such as a primary care group (PCG) or a general practice, may be directly related to the exercise of leadership within that organisation. Within practice organisations, however, and the new groupings of practices as PCGs, LHGs and LHCs, the role of leadership remains as crucial and little understood as it has been over the past 18 years.
