In the first week, after taking a leadership quality self-assessment test, I was able to assess my leadership capabilities as being on the road of turning into a great leader with the exception of some areas where I did not attained the maximum score. My strongest points included positivity and being a visionary. Positivity gives me the capability to initiate changes that are needed to surpass work-related challenges such as uplifting staff morale, and when it comes to envisioning the future, I am capable of delivering inspiration to all nurses around me to create an image of a better time to come.
Having self-confidence is also one of my beneficial features, since it provides me the adequacy to establish and master skills in the hospital setting that can heighten the quality of care that I provide and achieve greater outcomes. Another is exhibiting emotional intelligence, wherein I have the ability to distinguish surrounding emotions in the work setting and handle them to foster harmonious relationships among the staff.
However, I still need to execute further endeavors to encourage them to agree with the goals and objectives, such as to foster teamwork between physicians and nurses to deliver optimum level of patient care. One way of promoting such aim is through role-modeling, wherein I can offer mentorship to student and entry-level nurses in order to influence them to envision a better future for the professional workforce. Provision of support and stimulation towards my subordinates was rated averagely. Hence, I provide them more encouragement to dwell with the challenges in order to improve their skills. In managing the performance of my subordinates, I was characterized as being an average leader.
In the past five weeks, I have been able to acknowledge the importance if the leadership qualities that I have exhibited. Personally, it is in my principle to engage in transformational leadership style since it is deemed as an effective leadership style in managing subordinates. Transformational leadership is founded on the capability of the leader to influence followers through theirpersonality, intellectual motivation, and individualsensitivity. Transformational leaders improve morale, motivation, and execution by generating a sense of self and identity. Such leaders provide a role model that encourages, attracts, and challenges their groups to take betterpossession for their work (Team FME, 2013).
In the application of transformational leadership, it is initiated by a development of a vision that will motivate the subordinates and then followed by making the followers accept the vision (IAAP, 2009). Therefore, in a collaborative effort with the nurse around me, we have come up with the vision of becoming the ideal nursing workforce of the future. This is in order to motivate them towards the delivery of quality care. Moreover, following the establishment of a vision, I have put a lot of effort in becoming a role model by adhering to the standards and protocols, thereby influencing the others to do the same.
An area of improvement that I have acquired during the assessment conducted in the first week is the management of the performance of my subordinates. Over the recent weeks, I have realized that it is also important to incorporate other leadership styles. Hence, I have also managed to practice being a transactional leader. Transactional leadership entails development of ‘transactions’ between the members of the team and the leader. It works through the provision of a reward and punishment system, wherein subordinates are rewarded when performing based on set criteria or sanctioned when their performance is below the standard (Team FME, 2013). With this, I was able to a reward and punishment system in order to manage the performance of the nurses, concurrent with the standards of the institution.
These two styles of leadership are deemed to be effective, as evidenced by some studies. Cummings et al. (2010) concluded in their study that leadership that is centered in task completion only is not enough to attain prime results for the nursing staff, the application of transformational and relational leadership are required. A similar study of Al-Hussami (2008) revealed that support from the organization, transactional and transformational leadership has a strong relationship with nurses’ job satisfaction and commitment.
Leadership styles have gone through an array of modifications over the changing time. Studies have shown that there is no one best leadership style, but it differs depending on the situation. In order to maintain or redefine the leadership style according to the needs of the situations, a leader must take on the following processes: (1) assess leadership competenciesto recognize strengths and performance weaknesses; (2) deliver developing challenges to strengthen the weaknesses; and (3) acquire support for growth and development (Lall and Zaidi, 2008).
A study of recommended that in order for the organizations to promote innovation, leaders must modify their leadership practices to hone the culture of the organization. Leaders must be able to pattern the leadership style in order to influence the organizational culture through processes that include: (1) working on the principles and experiences of the subordinates; (2) working on the values and beliefs of the leaders; and (3) working on the organizational practices (Jaskyte, 2004).
References
Al-Hussami, M. (2008). A study of nurses’ job satisfaction: the relationship to organizational commitment, perceived organizational support, transactional leadership, transformational leadership, and level of education. European Journal of Scientific Research 22(2), 286- 295.
Cummings, G.C. et al. (2010). Leadership styles and outcome patterns for the nursing workforce and work environment: A systematic review. International Journal of Nursing Studies 47(3), 36-38. doi: 10.1016/jijnurstu.2009.08.0069.
IAAP. (2009). Leadership Theories and Styles. Retrieved from https://www.etsu.edu/ahsc/documents/Leadership_Theories.pdf
Jaskyte, K. (2004). Transformational Leadership, Organizational Culture, and Innovativeness in Nonprofit Organizations. Nonprofit Management & Leadership 15(2), 153-168.
Lall, M., & Zaidi, S.Q. (2008). Human Resource Management. New Delhi: Excel Books
Team FME. (2013). Team Leadership Styles: Leadership Skills. Retrieved from http://www.free- management-ebooks.com/dldebk-pdf/fme-team-leadership.pdf
