Combining Nurse Leader With Advocacy: Self Assessment

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.

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.

No matter how great a nurse leader may be, every nurse leader has their strengths and weaknesses. My strengths include being compassionate, humble, and resilient. Whereas my biggest weakness as a leader is not having the appropriate skills to influence others to see things my way.

In healthcare it is very important to have strong leaders, especially in the nursing profession. A nurse leader typically uses several styles of leadership depending on the situation presented; this is known as situational leadership. It is important that the professional nurse choose the right style of leadership for any given situation to ensure their employees are performing at their highest potential. Depending on which leadership style a nurse leader uses, it can affect staff retention and the morale of the employees as well as nurse job satisfaction (Azaare & Gross, 2011.) “Nursing leaders have the responsibility to create and maintain a work environment which not only promotes positive patient outcomes but also

amework of Nurse Manager leadership encompassing key competencies in leadership, professionalism, communication and relationship management, business skills and principles, and knowledge of the health care

Once these qualities are achieved that organization’s outcomes are superior. The intended audience is for nurse managers and those in leadership positions to help them identify their particular skill set and enhance their management qualities for most effective outcomes. This article is relevant because it allows for accurate public perceptions of people’s skill sets as leaders in nursing. The strength of the article is the clear and concise language used as well as the incorporation of figure 1 chart. The chart allows the reader to differentiate between the styles of leading and it’s effect on organizational outcomes.

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.

Nurse leaders are faced with issues or problems on a daily basis that are often expected and sometimes unexpected. It “comes with the territory” so to speak. If there were no issues to solve or hurdles to overcome the necessity of designating a leader would not seem quite as important. Nurse leaders can tackle issues that occur in their work environment using nursing theory to guide them. Nursing theory provides a framework that nurse leaders can use to implement interventions or changes to positively impact the staff they lead. This framework of the theory will set the standards for achieving the desired outcomes and is based on knowledge that is gleaned from practice and/or research.

Leadership may mean different things to different people, the consensus opinion of experts in this field is that leadership is using power to direct and influence activities of people to achieve set goals or targets. Nursing leadership is all about every nurse providing, facilitating and promoting the best healthcare services to client and to the public. Leadership is a shared responsibility. (CNO 2012). The nursing profession need leaders that can build the capacity of nurses through mentoring, coaching, supporting, developing the expertise and management skills of nurses to make a difference to the quality of patient care at all levels of the profession ( McIntyre & McDonald, 2014 ). At the core of every leadership either political or managerial is power and how the leader uses it. While it is practically impossible to lead without power, how the nurse leader uses this power not only determine the leadership style but also the results or outcomes of what is achieved through the process.

Leadership does not always come with a title or prestige. Every nurse has within themselves qualities that make them a great leader. Leadership by definition, “is a combination of intrinsic personality traits, learned leadership skills, and characteristics of the situation (Cherry& Jacob (2013 p. 335). A leader is one who has the capacity and skills to direct or encourage others in efforts to achieve an outcome. I recently completed a self-assessment on my perceived leadership abilities. The survey was called the Nurse Manager Skills Inventory (Nurse Manager Leadership Partnership, 2008). It consists of four content areas of which I will address and identify my strengths and weaknesses.

With the self-evaluation of the personal and professional accountability section of the “Nurse Manager Skills Inventory tool, Seema find her goal to focus on becoming a skillful with personal growth and development. The main concentration point includes, “action plans and annual self-assessments, career planning, continuing education, and education advancement” (AACN, 2008). Without education, nobody can become a successful leader. Seema can,t see herself being a successful leader without knowledge and better education. Seema obtaining BSN degree for her future goal to get MSN degree program and want to leadership position to develop a vital element of her career plans. Her achievement, education is action learning” to problem-solve and for

I learned the importance of becoming a true leader in nursing from the nursing leadership and management course. I become a lot of my weakness thanks to the knowledge I gained from the Nursing Leadership and Management class. A nurse leader uses interpersonal skills to influence others to accomplish a specific goal. The leader creates connections among the members of an organization to promote high levels of performance and quality outcomes. (Maryol, 2017). The class helped me defined my leadership style which is a combination of authoritative and democratic. It also helped me understand the importance of developing good coaching skills. After all, The goal of coaching is to eliminate or improve performance problems. (Maryol,

Nurse practitioners (NP) are advanced practice registered nurses (APRN) who are educated and trained to provide health promotion and maintenance through the diagnosis and treatment of acute illness and chronic condition. As a future NP, the author of this paper describes her philosophy of leadership, the leadership style which best fits on her abilities, leadership theory appropriate for her role in Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) and how she envision her leadership evolving the next five years.

In nursing, we grow every day; learning to be a strong professional takes many skills. Some people are born with, and some acquired through practice and research. It is important in being a good democratic leader to establish rules effectively with peers and subordinates. Leadership involves action, creativity, motivation, and visioning. It is viewing the possibilities and motivating others to make things happen (Kearney-Nunnery, 2016). Evidence based practice is a must to have a successful and a safe practice in your work environment, whether it is a hospital or nursing home. Leadership and evidence based practice are two parts of the coin that are very important in being a nurse leader. Leadership is a critical part of the organization to apply evidence based practice. This paper identifies and defines these important nursing traits and discusses the traits that are significant to being proficient in these skills.

Before I started this leadership/management coarse I had no idea what qualities a good leader manager needs to hold. I had no idea a registered nurse was considered a leader/manager. Now that I have reviewed all the chapters in the Leadership Roles and Management Functions in Nursing (Marquis & Huston, 2015) I have a full understanding of how important leadership/management functions play in a nurse’s career. Chapters 12-25 describe roles and functions that are needed for a nurse to become a successful leader/manager. These chapters discussed the roles and functioning of organizing, staffing, directing, and controlling.