The Transformational Leadership Of A Nurse Leader

Leadership development in the nursing profession is important because it directly impacts the care that is delivered to clients. Transactional and Transformational leadership styles are two very different methods of leadership in the nursing profession. This Essay will compare and contrast these two styles and support that transformational leadership style inspires quality care, job satisfaction and improved patient outcomes

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.

In today’s healthcare system, effective leadership is essential to improving and reaching organizational outcomes. A leader is someone with the ability to influence others but, an effective leader uses positive strategies to inspire employees to work towards the same goal. Leadership in nursing requires a constant effort to motivate others to become part of the organizational transformation. This can be achieved using a transformational leadership style with a focus on communication, motivation, and empowerment.

Every day, a set team of nurses and nursing managers set out to ensure the health and well-being of their patients. To achieve this goal, a nurse manager must adhere to a specific style of nursing leadership. There are many different styles of leadership in the healthcare field. Bass and Barnes (1985) stated that the two most common are transformational and transactional (as cited in Frankel, 2008, p.24). This paper will define leadership, the two different styles, how each are executed, as well as pros and cons of each.

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

Transformational leaders are those who praise others for their work and show them how gladly appreciated they are. D.G encourages the health care members on her floor to achieve all their goals while on shift and also reward them for a job well done. She has also built many strong relationships with many nurses and physicians which she is considered highly trustworthy. Her leadership involves promoting group collaboration, nurse empowerment and increasing job satisfaction. A transformational leader displays various components. “Transformational leadership is composed of four main elements: “individualized consideration, intellectual stimulation, inspirational motivation, and idealized influence” (as cited by). D.G meets the needs of the nurses

Leading a health care organization comes with immense responsibility and is not an easy task. Transformational leadership has proven to be an effective leadership style in the nursing profession, demonstrating a clear mission, a commitment to excellence, and the ability to motivate and lead others to higher levels of achievement (Schwartz, Spencer, Wilson, & Wood, 2001). Characteristics and qualities of an effective leader include

The intent of a leader is to implement change, instill inspiration, orchestrate collaboration, and empower their followers to go beyond their limitations. Nurses are leaders who strive to improve the overall quality of patient care by leading those around them to participate in the vision of the corporation. He or she must be fully aware of the organization’s philosophy, clearly state its expectations, and possess the ability to develop well-versed and quality leaders (Tinkham, 2013). Every health care organization possesses a vision, a mission statement, and core values that every member functioning under that union must adhere to. Goals, achievements, and adjustments are essential to ensuring that the vision of the organization is being met and evaluated for positive outcomes. However, getting workers to believe and abide by the vision of the facility calls for effective and stimulating leaders. According to Schwartz, Spencer, Wilson, and Woods (2011), “Success in the workplace often is contingent on a leader’s ability to effect positive change and inspire others to higher levels of achievement” (p. 737).

As a student nurse we are challenged throughout the course of our education to become leaders among our peers, in the workplace, and within the community. According to the Institute of Medicine (2011) leadership skills are learned and mastered over time, and it is important to obtain a basic understanding of these skills beginning in school. Leadership can occur at any level within an organization and can be defined as a person that possesses qualities such as courage, innovation, trust, commitment, teamwork, communication, values relationships, and who engages others to share in their dedication (Porter O-Grady & Malloch, 2016). Leaders and managers differ because managers are usually in an authoritative role and produce orderliness and consistency, while leaders tend to generate change and movement through creativity (Porter O-Grady & Malloch, 2016). A clinical leader identified in the intensive care unit (ICU) at Yuma Regional Medical Center (YRMC) is my preceptor. She was recognized as a nurse leader, because she strives to promote innovative changes on the unit, through knowledge, teamwork, and advocacy. According to Kumar, Kumar, Deshmukh, and Adhish (2015), an effective leader makes an active effort to improve their skills and knowledge, stay current in their field, and promote creativeness and collaboration among their peers.

The success of a leader depends on how that individual persuades others to accept a vision or a goal by using convincing or persuasive communications techniques and how likely individuals will be able to achieve or reach goals. According to an article by Grinspun (2013) the five practices of transformational leaders include, “building relationships and trust, creating an empowering work environment, creating a culture that supports knowledge development and integration, leading and sustaining change, balancing the complexities of the system, managing competing values and priorities” (p. 17). Whether or not transformational leaders use these practices throughout a unit also depends on the support from the organization. Support from the organization influences whether the practices of the leader will succeed includes: making sure that the nurses are valued through their critical role, sufficient supply of resources and financial resources, providing information and decision support, and creating an effective culture and environment (Grinspun, 2013, p. 17). Development of leadership skills may be different for every

1. I think that the patient misunderstood the nurse’s intentions when he was moved from the ICU to the other places in the hospital because there was limited communication letting the know what will be happening. It seems that the patient was not familiar with the hospital, procedures and the people and because of that, the patient felt that all the interventions were to harm him. Even before the surgery, the surgeon visited the patient very quickly and told the patient this was a routine surgery. Although it may be routine, I think that it would be good to educate the patient about what will be occurring in each of the processes. In addition, when the patient was going for exams, the patient had to wonder what exam

The main focus of the theory is motivation, inspiration and empowerment to create changes. It is based on the idea of empowering others to facilitate overall goal. Bennis and Nanus (1985) describe this new leader as a leader who “commits people to action, who converts leaders into leaders, and who converts leaders into agents of change” (p.3).177. According to processes to engage and motivate staff article “Transformational leadership is important for high quality care delivery, and behaviors that nurse leaders inspire, role model and reinforce are instrumental in creating work practice that deliver optimum care”.

Transformational leadership is an emerging type of leadership that is more adaptable the changing environment within healthcare and has the ability to guide and empower staff to embrace the changes (Finkelman, 2012). This type of leadership is especially important today with many nurses felling unsatisfied, or unappreciated. In order to have a successful organization, it must first have the ability to retain nurses through job satisfaction. Transformational leaders have the ability to encourage staff members to embrace the changes to come, by promoting such things as team work, and recognition of hard work done by staff members (Smith, 2011). Having the ability to recognize staffing needs along with the compassion to try and meet those needs while maintaining the functionality of the organization, is the key to future

Without competent leadership change can have negative impact on both the employees and the patients. According to Wright (2010), lack of leadership in change management could lead to adverse outcomes such as resentment, rebellious attitudes, and could end up damaging the same people it intended to make better (p.20). Therefore, experts warned that it is very important to have competent leadership at the helm of change management (p.20). As the focus of providing leadership shifts to nurse administrators who are often in the frontline of change management, nurse administrator should use essential tools such as the American Organization of Nurse Executives (AONE) five domain of competence as a framework in change management.

There are a variety of leadership methods that are influential in the healthcare setting and I will be discussing the leadership methods I have observed that have been effective. These leadership methods include democratic leadership, transformational leadership, adaptive leadership, and shared leadership. I will also briefly explore autocratic leadership and how it was ineffective for the situation at hand. In pursuit of nursing leadership experience in healthcare delivery systems, I am working with the director of quality and risk management for a critical access hospital in Eastern Oregon. Sharing time with my preceptor, I have recognized her application of a variety of leadership skills. She had demonstrated mastery in democratic leadership with an emphasize on transformational skills. Yet, my preceptor has also demonstrated reflexive adaptation in other situations where her initial leadership approach was less efficacious. These experiences have promoted reflection of my own nursing leadership skills, specifically the areas where I may have strengths, but more importantly, where I can grow.