I’ve been a nurse for a little over twenty-five years and am currently pursuing my Masters of Science in Nursing (MSN) with a leadership track. In this interview, I will be trying to tease out how you view the differences between management and leadership, and how you feel you achieved moving from one side of the coin to the other.
Karen is a graduate of University of Massachusetts with Bachelors of Science in Nursing 1991, a graduate of University of Massachusetts with Masters of Science: Acute Care/Critical Care Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS) 2011, and is enrolled at University of Massachusetts Doctorate of Nursing Practice (DNP) anticipated graduation 5/19. After graduating with her CNS degree, Karen had an educator position at a community hospital, then transitioned to an academic hospital, as the clinical educator in the ED. Karen attends leadership forums and is currently attending the leadership academy offered at her institution. The DNP program she is enrolled
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.
Susan has an bachelors degree in nursing and masters degree in business. In 1977, she was a nurse and wanted to move into a leadership role. She has had the honor of working at other hospitals as a vice president of nursing. However, she reports that when she started her career in leadership she was mainly in a male dominant field. She has been with the Hillman Cancer center for 4 years as the Senior Director. Her job is mainly about business aspects and not nursing, however she feels that her nursing degree helps her in her role. Her main duty is oversight of the Hillman Cancer Center. This includes the leadership of social workers, nutritionist, nurses, medical assistants within the
Without good communication between the manager and leaders and staff nurses there wouldn’t be good outcomes in the end. The importance of leadership emerges from its role of creating and shaping organizational culture and setting a progressive direction for the organization. Without this there is no role for management, no cause for it to exist. Leadership creates a context for the management to exist (Leadership vs. Managment).
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
In today’s rapid changing world, leaders are very pertinent, especially in the field of nursing. Good nursing leaders have the ability to provide direction, facilitate structure to reach goals, and cohesiveness throughout team members. Leader by definition is “someone who uses interpersonal skills to influence others to accomplish specific goals” (Sullivan & Decker, 2009, p. 329). On the other hand a manager is different. Their goal is geared toward being responsible and accountable for the goals of the organization. Below is the summary of an interview with L.A. Patient Care Manager of Endoscopy/ Special
Leadership and management are essential to any health care organization, balancing patient care, employees, physicians, and the organization. Nursing is founded on interpersonal relationships. As a people-oriented profession, nursing leadership styles are influenced by humanism. The mission, attitude, and behaviors of a health care organization begins with its leadership, which creates the direction and purpose of the organization. The purpose of this paper is to differentiate between leadership and management, describe views of leadership, and explain the
Not all nurses go into the profession with leadership ideas. The nursing profession must produce leaders throughout the health care system. Leaders must function as workers, and administrators with leadership qualities, while still meeting their budgets and running effective units with high functioning and happy staff members. They need to trouble shoot necessary and work with the medical faculty while pleasing their staff and the administers.
The Philosophy of Leadership and Management An article from the American Sentinel (2014) states that, “the terms leader and manager are too often used interchangeably, but most of us understand instinctively that they are not the same thing”. Not all nurse managers are good leaders, and those who have great leadership skills may not be good managers. Nurse managers and nurse leaders have different roles throughout the health care organizations. Leadership is defined as “the use of individual traits and abilities, in relationship with others, and the ability to (often rapidly) interpret the environment/context where a situation is emerging, and enter that situation in the absence of a script or defined plan that could have been projected”
The four major components of nursing leadership are decision-making ability, influencing and directing others, facilitating process and relationship building (Paul, Day, & Williams, 2016).Very closely associated with leadership is the concept of management and though many people use the two terms interchangeably, it’s very important to know that leading is one of the key functions of management; the others are planning, organizing and controlling activities to pursue
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.
Leadership is a difficult word to define and according to the Miriam-Webster Dictionary leadership is the “office or position of a leader” (Miriam-Webster, 2010). This definition is definitely not one that I would ascribe to when discussing leadership. My definition of leadership is “the ability someone has to motivate and empower others to achieve a goal.” Some may add to this definition, others may discard it altogether and have a completely different definition. In the end, leadership takes on many different forms depending on who is doing the defining and we end up asking ourselves, what is leadership and why do we care?
Management and leadership skills in nursing and other healthcare professions are becoming a more and more widely spoken of subject, as they are essential skills for everyday practice in delivering care (Gopee and Galloway, 2009). Effective management requires the nurse to be able to draw on evidence based knowledge and experience to develop the ability to manage competently during practice. Skills without knowledge, appropriate attitude and understanding will not equate to competency (Watson, 2002).
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.