Transformational Leadership : The Nursing Profession

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.

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

Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, 27 (7), 389-397. Doi: 10.1002/2327-6924.12165. Marshall, E. (2011). Transformational leadership in nursing:

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

Leadership traits associated with nurse executives are honesty, credibility, supportiveness, visibility, and flexibility. Nurse executives analyze nursing functions and empower nurses through participatory decision making, shared governance, and employee involvement. Nurse executives share the vision and goals of the hospital and promote application of a nursing theory into the nursing care delivery system. They anticipate the future of health care and nursing and serve as monitor, role model, and preceptor to lower level management (Upeniecks, 2003). Nurse executives in the Magnet program are required to have advance practice degrees with certification in their specialty (ANCC). Understanding evidence-based management and enabling the use of evidence-based knowledge provides the nurse executive with the tools to improve patient outcomes. The transformational leader will remove barriers to improvement and encourage outcome based thinking. While nurse leaders are charged with questioning the status quo, nurse managers in the transformational approach to leadership are charged with maintaining the status quo.

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

Transformational leadership in nursing is positively related to job satisfaction, decreased burnout, and overall staff well-being, and nurse retention (Weberg, 2010) 2. Transformational leaders who inspire, stimulate intellect, have charisma and provide individual consideration have a positive impact on nurse retention (Huber, 2014) 3. Transformational leadership can inspire nurses to attain higher levels of education, including the BSN. B. Organizational culture change related to nursing retention and increasing the educational level of the RN can be accomplished by using Innovation Theory.

Transformational leaders need to be able to change as the environment changes, thus making choices during given circumstances, and stick to the principle that governs growth and prosperity in both people and organization. A nurse needs to be able to change as their work environment changes since no two patients will need the same care, thus adapt and respond to force of change (Govier, 2009). The article provides us with an example from the healthcare setting as it explains the essence of transformational leadership. Lastly, the article highlights an important issue in the healthcare industry is to be able to adapt and change under pressure and make the right choice using principles that improve performance and productivity (Govier, 2009). The article did not address any negative issue transformational leaders faces in the healthcare industry. Thus, the article weakness lies in not address how a transformational leader can overcome barriers if such exist. The article did not address any correlation transformational leader have with another leadership

As my career advances, I have selected my preferred style of leadership. Transformational leadership suits my moral upbringing and rationalization the best. I prefer to set the example for my peers as to what is expected from all nurses instead of demanding duties to be completed. Thus, the staff can see that is not just them that have to accomplish excellent patient care and do all the hard work. Nursing is a team aspect and I am more than happy to demonstrate that everyone here must give hundred percent to their role in patient care. By setting the example, I am aware directly and immediately of the limitations of the staff, as well as, know what areas need to be improve at work. I desire for the nursing staff to believe in the mission and

Leadership styles can greatly affect the success of a department and organization. This success leads to improved employee satisfaction and better patient outcomes. There are different leadership styles present in the nursing profession and they have changed and evolved over the years. Transformational leadership has been shown to increase employee satisfaction, engage staff members, and increase commitment to organization (Schwartz, Spencer, Wilson, & Wood, 2011). Studies have shown that there is a positive relationship between transformational leadership and improved patient outcomes (Wong & Cummings, 2007). Individualized consideration, intellectual stimulation,

The current changes in health care are causing a continual transformation of the practice environment that requires concomitant modifications in policies, competencies and leadership behaviors. This nursing symposium will present a broad overview of some relevant and advanced topics in nursing practice, research and leadership. The leadership session will introduce the shared governance and transformational leadership as a set of actions and behaviors to be able to apply those new leadership skills. The presenter is aiming to increase awareness of transformational leadership as an effective and active leadership style among nurse managers. Additionally, the expectations from the leadership session is to present an overview about different tools

Healthcare professionals work together to develop interdisciplinary care for patients. The director oversees the management of the case managers and in turn, the case managers supervise the work of both licensed and vocational nurses and aids. Leadership style is associated with reduced levels of occupational stress (Clegg, A., 2001). Furthermore, transformational leadership has been proven to provide “several positive organizational outcomes in nursing (job satisfaction, productivity, etc.) and has already been positively linked to safety performance “(Lievens, I., Vlerick, P. ,2014). Transformational Leadership, according to the American Association

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”.

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.