Nursing Leadership Blog

Gage Reichert

Nursing leadership is an important and enormous topic and its meaning varies from nurse to nurse.  Being an effective nurse leader means being able to bring out the best in all those around you.  Leaders carry themselves in a manner worthy of being emulated and all those in their vicinity push themselves to match the characteristics of that leader.  A nursing leader uses their confidence and charisma to educate and effect their coworkers and patients. All nurses may have to take on a leadership role at different times.  Nurses must be effective leaders to lead their patients to a better level of personal mental and physical health.  Some positions, such as managers and charge nurses, may have to take on this leadership role to a higher degree.  After diving into the module 1 readings, I found my view of leadership and management differed from this information in some ways.  I found that our definition of leadership in the nursing role has changed over history to encompass more of the practical uses of the term.  In 1978, McGregor Burns altered the view of leadership to focus on transforming those being lead into more capable individuals. (Fitzpatrick & Glazer, 2012) I like this view as the leader’s transformational effect on those following is of utmost importance.  Transformational leaders are not only fixated on changing other people but also changing the organizational culture of the workplace itself.  A leader’s effect on the culture in which the employees interact is a point I had not thought about.  A change in workplace culture can create a system in which employees can more easily do the right thing.  The reading lined out several characteristics a transformational leader should display.  I learned a few characteristics I had not considered before such as risk taking and flexibility.  An important distinction is that a leader is not always someone in a position of power.  Every person possesses the ability to become an effective leader.  My definition also did not fully appreciate the difference between management and leadership outlined in the reading.

I have had the opportunity to observe many different leadership characteristics and roles in my time as a nurse.  I have also had the opportunity to be a competent leader for my coworkers and my patients.  Competence is the first distinguishing feature of any effective leader in my nursing experience.  A leader must possess the knowledge and skills necessary to be a competent nurse before even considering leading others.  Leaders should drive others to act correctly by acting correctly themselves.  Competence as a nurse leads to the ability to properly educate.  Education is one of the many responsibilities of a nurse leader.  Social skills are another important trait the nurse leaders in my life have all had.  Leaders have the duty to connect and communicate with large groups of people.  Public speaking and other skills of social deftness are key to interacting with and pushing people to be better versions of themselves.  Once you acquire the appropriate nursing knowledge and skill and have the social ability to interact with others, you must have the confidence to act ethically in all situations.  Leaders have a special moral responsibility in their role.  All the nurse leaders I have witnessed had a special devotion to acting empathetically and truthfully in their practice.  Ethical actions by nurse leaders will develop the trust and relationships required to effectively motivate and change coworkers and patients.  The last trait shared by all the powerful nursing leaders I have encountered is organization skills.  A clean office and organized day is paramount to being an influential nurse in charge of others.  Any of these behaviors can be modified to make for a more effective leadership strategy.  How effective you are as a leader is wholly dependent on the audience which you are attempting to lead.  Leadership behaviors may need to be modified to properly lead depending on the demographics of the audience.  A high school teacher, for example, may have to modify some skills to successfully reach and inspire his student base because of the age of those he is trying to lead.  A good leader is fully aware of the type of nurses they are trying to lead and can modify the type of leadership needed.

Source

Glazer, G., & Fitzpatrick, J. J. (2012). Nursing leadership from the outside in. New York: Springe