Reflection On Nursing Leadership

This paper aims to address and discuss about the leadership and management of the nurse leader interviewed. This experience was a great opportunity to witness first hand how a nurse leader cultivate and manage their staffs in real life setting. Moreover, it provides a great access to gain insight and knowledge about nurse leaders’ vital responsibilities and role diversities in the organizations they work with. Nurse leaders pay more specific and close attention in handling the staffs and most importantly, patient care.

Nursing guidance is a complex but essential part of the nursing workforce. Guidance can come in the form of management and in the form of leadership. The two terms are often used interchangeably, but do not always mean the same thing. The nurse manager is often someone who has authority from the facility to be in management. The nursing leader may not have authority over other nurses, but may be a strong guide in the workplace for other nurses and nursing staff. Nursing as a profession is ever-changing and increasingly challenging. Nurse managers are tasked with an enormous variety of functions in their respective workplaces, budgeting, scheduling, hiring, disciplinary actions, implementing facility policies and procedures, and the

Observing and analyzing my leader opened my eyes to the amount of responsibility and knowledge one needs to be a great leader. These responsibilities that were witnessed during the shadowing project included aspects of role modeling, mentoring and educating fellow staff and colleagues alike. My leader possessed a well-rounded amount of experience, skills and knowledge about nursing and her management role. All of these aspects we observed and I feel my leader is not only strong nurse, manger and mentor; all these aspects contribute to making her a fine and valuable assets to our organization.

Leadership is encountered in every occupation and in everyday life. In nursing, leadership is not only prevalent; it is crucial to patient care and employee satisfaction. The nurse leader that was interviewed was a nurse at the Newport Hospital in Newport, Washington. This is a small hospital in a rural community. She is a charge nurse in the acute care unit, as well as in charge of leading infection control in the hospital. With these roles comes a lot of responsibility, and tasks that must be completed in a timely manner to create a workflow for the rest of the staff. There is a lot of juggling and balancing everything that is included in all of those positions.

The aim of this essay is to identify a significant event from the authors clinical

There are many skills, traits, and behaviors one must possess in order to be an effective leader. The American Organization of Nurse Executives (AONE) has compiled a list of competencies and skills that nurse leaders should be proficient in. The five competency domains identified by AONE (2011) are “communication and relationship building, knowledge of health care environment, leadership skills, professionalism, and business skills” (p. 3). The competency domain I believe is essential for one to possess in order to be an effective executive nurse leader is communication and relationship building. The competencies AONE (2011) listed under the domain communication and relationship building are “effective communication, relationship management, influence of behavior, ability to work with diversity, shared decision-making, community involvement, medical staff relationship, and academic relationships” (p.3). I will discuss how Tom (nurse manager of a psychiatric unit) did not meet these specific characteristics under that domain.

Every day, a set team of nurses and nursing managers set out to ensure the health and well-being of their patients. To achieve this goal, a nurse manager must adhere to a specific style of nursing leadership. There are many different styles of leadership in the healthcare field. Bass and Barnes (1985) stated that the two most common are transformational and transactional (as cited in Frankel, 2008, p.24). This paper will define leadership, the two different styles, how each are executed, as well as pros and cons of each.

In the increasingly complex, ever changing environment of today’s healthcare, effective leaders are essential to help drive positive change resulting in increased access to care with positive outcomes for as many as possible. In its 2010 report, The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) recognized that nurses are well positioned to play a key role in the transformation of our healthcare system in the United States (U.S.) (Institute of Medicine [IOM], 2010). In The Essentials of Doctoral Education for Advanced Nursing Practice, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) specifically identifies organizational and systems leadership as a core competency for advanced

Leadership at times can be a complex topic to delve into and may appear to be a simple and graspable concept for a certain few. Leadership skills are not simply acquired through position, seniority, pay scale, or the amount of titles an individual holds but is a characteristic acquired or is an innate trait for the fortunate few who possess it. Leadership can be misconstrued with management; a manager “manages” the daily operations of a company’s work while a leader envisions, influences, and empowers the individuals around them.

Becoming a transformational leader can occur either because the leader has a model or mentor that is a transformational leader, because he/she is a born transformational leader, or through reflection. Senge (1990) wrote that “Learning through reflection is about finding the creative tension...between an understanding of current reality and a vision of desirable practice” (as cited in Johns, 2004, p. 24). In addition, Schuster (1994) noted that one who desires to become a transformational leader can cultivate certain qualities that are characteristic of such a leader: a stimulating vision for the organization, honesty, empathy, authenticity, the ability to defer self-interest to ensure that others are recognized, a holistic concern for the organization, the ability to share power with others, and the ability to develop others (as cited in Johns, 2004, p. 25). The transformational leader is also an effective communicator who persists during hard times and still has the courage to continue to move ahead even when fatigued and encountering difficulties (Schuster, 1994, as cited in Johns, 2004, p. 25).

Bass, B. M. (1990, Winter). From transactional to transformational leadership: Learning to share the vision. Organizational Dynamics, pp. 19-31.

There are many components to being a leader; a strong leader has to be able to clearly communicate, to intensely inspire others to collaborate in bringing the vision to fruition. James MacGregor Burns a leadership expert introduced the transformational leadership concept he suggested that “the transforming leader as one with the ability to create visions and employ charismatic behaviors, they are purposeful and seek to understand the motivation and needs of their followers (Crowell, 2016). Not only does a transformational leader have the ability to empower and motivate others “transformational leadership emphasizes the importance of interpersonal relationships, and the goal is to generate employee’s commitment to the vision or ideal rather than to themselves” (Sullivan & Decker, 2009). According to Smith, (2011) the ultimate goal of transformational leadership is the leader and the follower to discover meaning and purpose in relation to their work, in addition to growth and maturity. There are four I's of transformational leadership " individualized influence, inspirational motivation, individualized consideration, and intellectual stimulation" (Riggio, 2014). The transformational leader causes changes in both the system and the individual. Creating positive and valuable changes in the followers with the result creating followers who will

There are many models of leadership that exist across a range of fields (e.g. social work, education, psychology, business, etc.). The ability to transform an organization successfully requires a different set of attitudes and skills. Transformational leadership is an approach where a leader utilizes inspiration, charisma, individualized attention, and intellectual stimulation with their employees (Iachini, Cross, & Freedman, 2015, p. 651). Transformational leadership helps to clarify organizational vision, inspires employees to attain objectives, empowers employees, encourages employees to take risks, and advocates the seeking of alternative solutions to challenges in the workplace (Transformational Leadership, 2015). It allows the leader to engage and motivate each follower identify with the organization’s values and goals.

In retrospect, what I learned in collaborative healthcare will be a solid foundation on which I will build my nursing leadership. To render care to the sick irrespective of their values, preferences, age, socioeconomic status, culture respect and dignity, demonstrate that the nurse leader is exhibiting compassion, ethics and knowledge. These aquacades must be continuously incorporated and utilized with professional clinical judgement and evidenced-based knowledge to yield the best patient outcomes (Finkelman, 2012).

3). In this relationship, each must work through phases including conflict resolution and negotiation as part of the process. Transformational theory further explains leadership must include exhibiting a degree of emotional intelligence. This occurs when perceiving how others feel, understanding how the feelings lead to thinking, understanding the emotions, and managing emotions internally. In respects to this theory, emotional intelligence enhances this bi-directional relationship between the leader and the followers (Spears, 2002).