Nursing Leadership Qualities

A leader is defined as ‘a person that holds a dominant or superior position within its field, and is able exercise a high degree of control or influence over others’. But how does one establish the dominance or the influence over others? There are numerous quotes and advice about the attributes of a leader – ‘a leader is one who demonstrates what’s possible’(M. Yarnell); ‘a true leader is someone is humble enough to admit their own mistakes’, ‘leader knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way’(J. C. Maxwell). But the exact make-up of a leader has yet to be established, giving insight into the innate complexity of such an individual.

Nursing leaders are seen with many traits within one individual. A few important characteristics are the leadership skills that the individual can provide, ethics and legal issues that the leader can manage, and patient advocacy to care for another human being. These traits are the building blocks of a nurse leader in hospitals or any healthcare facilities.

It is very commonly stated that there are two types of people in this world: leaders and followers. A leader is someone who is brave, or good at divulging the bravery of others. A leader is someone who is relaxed, or able to bring serenity into a time of chaos. Most importantly, a leader is persuasive and able to provide people with the direction needed to achieve the task at hand. Unfortunately, these are not qualities that one can simply decide to possess. People are not followers simply because they choose to be, but because they do not have what it takes to be anything more. Although many people will try to rise above and lead others, there are only a select few that will succeed.

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.

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.

To be a leader, you not only need followers but also have to have something to follow.

Having the ability to leader determines a person’s level of effectiveness of leadership. In order to be an efficient and effective nurse, they need to be an effective leader as the patients; organization and their peers are depending on them to influence others. A true leader never stops from learning and growing as leadership develops daily. There is an old saying, ‘who we are is who we attract’, and the writer does believe in this statement, it can be old however; it is still relevant and applicable for today’s leaders. To be a leader is not an easy task and to be a good leader, nurses need to start to lead and should never stop learning how to lead others (Dwyer, 2011).

In today’s ever-changing health care system, nurse leaders must possess key traits and skills that are needed to achieve goals, as well as face the multiple challenges across the different health care settings. Leaders take initiative, inspire followers with a vision, facilitate change and help with the development of coping mechanisms (Borkowski, 2016). Additionally, leaders are known to provide direction, empower subordinates and promote team work collaboration. The purpose of this paper is to reflect on my vision of a nurse leader by identifying three attributes that I consider essential in becoming a highly effective nursing leader. In my opinion, a nurse leader must have a drive for improvement, have the ability to communicate effectively

The role of a nurse leader is invaluable to the performance and ultimate success of an entire nursing team whose goal is to provide excellent patient care. There are a few key characteristics that define a nursing leader. The first characteristic is one who communicates effectively and is accountable on all levels, from the patient and their family to the interdisciplinary members and senior staff. Effective communication and accountability are characteristics of an individual who

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.

Leaders need followers, and followers need leaders. While leadership is sometimes viewed as elitist because of the power and importance often ascribed to leaders (and the realities from different walks of life seem to confirm this- in the UK 75 per cent of senior judges, 59 per cent of the Cabinet, 44 per cent of public body chairs, 38 per cent of members of the House of Lords attended Oxbridge - compared to less than 1 per cent of the public as a whole ), in fact the leader-follower relationship are two sides of the same coin.

These visiting nurses truly demonstrated all of the key leadership traits as described by Yoder-Wise (2015) by “articulating a vision for the desired future state; seeing possibilities in this midst of challenging, often complex, uncharted,

In nearly all the activities we engage in, and the organizations we are incorporated to there are leaders whether at the top most level or the junior levels. The prime purpose of their existence is to offer guidance and control over certain things. However, it has been argued that not everyone can become a leader. This is because there are certain traits believed to be existent in someone that makes them qualify for the leadership post. Some have however disagreed with this concept saying that anyone suits to become a leader if though they are given the platform.

Leaders are well-defined as somebody who leads a peoples, a person who guides peoples towards certain goals. Yet, Leaders are not always just about leading somebody. Leaders are someone who inspired us, someone we look up to, and someone who can turn ordinary things into something astonishing. In order to be able to persuade others to follow a course of action, a leader must have personal integrity. The person who cannot be trusted, cannot lead, the people will not be guided by someone in whom they don’t believe.