Background. Leadership competences play an important role for the success of effective leadership. The purpose of this study was to examine leadership competences of managers in the healthcare sector in Slovenia. Methods. Data were collected in 2008. The research included 265 employees in healthcare and 267 business managers. Respondents assessed their level of 16 leadership relevant competences on a 7-point Likert-type scale. Results. Test of differences between competences and leader position of health care professionals yielded statistically significant differences between leader and non-leader positions. Leaders gave strongest emphasis to interpersonal and informational competences, while regarding decision making competences, the differences between leaders and other employees are not that significant. When comparing competences of healthcare managers with those of business managers, results show that healthcare managers tend to give weaker emphasis to competences related to all three managerial roles than business managers. Conclusions. The study showed that in Slovenian health care, leaders distinguish themselves from other employees in some leadership competences. In addition, all three dimensions of leadership competences significantly distinguished the group of healthcare managers from the business managers, which indicates a serious lag in leadership competences among leaders in Slovenian healthcare Izhodišča. Vodstvene kompetence igrajo pomembno vlogo pri zagotavljanju uspešnega vodenja. Namen obstoječe raziskave je bil preučiti vodstvene kompetence menedžerjev v slovenskem zdravstvu. Metode. Podatki so bili zbrani leta 2008. V raziskavo je bilo vključenih 265 zaposlenih v zdravstvu in 267 poslovnih menedžerjev. Anketiranci so ocenili svoja raven po 16 različnih vodstvenih kompetencah na 7-stopenjski Likertovi lestvici. Rezultati. Test razlik med kompetencami in vodstvenim položajem zaposlenih v zdravstvu je pokazal na statistično značilne razlike med vodji in drugimi zaposlenimi. Vodje so bolj poudarili medosebne in informacijske kompetence, medtem ko so razlike med vodji in drugimi zaposlenimi pri odločevalskih kompetencah manj izražene. Primerjava med kompetencami menedžerjev v zdravstvu in poslovnih menedžerjev je pokazala, da imajo menedžerji v zdravstvu manj poudarjene kompetence na vseh treh menedžerskih vlogah. Zaključki. Raziskava je pokazala, da se vodje v slovenskem zdravstvu od drugih zaposlenih razlikujejo po nekaterih vodstvenih kompetencah. Menedžerji v zdravstvu pa se od poslovnih menedžerjev razlikujejo po vseh treh dimenzijah vodstvenih kompetenc, kar kaže na resno zaostajanje vodstvenih kompetenc menedžerjev v slovenskem zdravstvu