Transformational Leadership Within A Health Care Setting

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.

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:

My nursing leadership philosophy is based on transformational leadership to which I ascribe. Transformational nurse leaders have a vested interest in the success of those they lead and their organization’s vision. They are visionaries in the pursuit of cutting-edge ways of completing the tasks and goals of the team and organization. They are able to inspire, encourage, open to mentorship, see the potential in those they lead while challenging them, and knowing their strengths and weaknesses. I am cognizant of my own limitations, strengths and weaknesses, acknowledge my mistakes and open to change.

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 type of leadership theory the chief of nursing facilitates is transformational leadership. In the transformational leadership, “the leaders and followers raise one another to higher level of motivation and morality” (Grossman & Valiga, 2009, p. 73). After the training was completed, we felt comfortable and equipped to responding to an emergency in a war zone.

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).

Throughout the nursing industry, both managers and bedside nurses utilize their strengths and skills as transformational leaders to develop a strong sense of camaraderie that bases its success through teamwork and development of personal attributes. As the role of the nursing manager, individuals must inspire their employees to share the same vision as they do on behalf of the organizational goals. Givens (2008) explains how transformational leadership is shown when leaders encourage followers to think outside of the box, thus motivating them to perform at higher levels by becoming more involved in their work and developing a sense of commitment to the organization (p. 11). This not only pertains to the nurse manager but to lower level employees as well. Even though lower level employees, such as a certified nursing assistant, do not own a title that gives them authority, each employee can still practice leadership skills

A transformational leadership style along with good communication skills can be used to manage the multiples issues Hartland Memorial faces. “Transformational leadership involves anticipating future trends, inspiring followers to understand and embrace a new vision of possibilities, developing others to be leaders, and reward learners” (Hellriegal & Slocum, 2009, p. 301). Elizabeth and her associates should have the necessary qualities of a transformational leader; integrity, accountability, and motivation, so the staff can identify with them. The nurse manager could give nurses opportunities to demonstrate and experience leadership in their profession on a regular basis. Effective leadership is critical in delivering high quality care; equally

This paper summarizes the article written by Cam Caldwell, Rolf D. Dixon, Larry A. Floyd, Joe Chaudoin, Johnathan Post, and Gaynor Cheokas regarding the need for a new type of leadership in today’s social work environment, defined as Transformative leadership. The article itself varies in the definition, however in a broad sense Transformative leadership is maintaining good moral standing and sound business ethics among employees and individuals inside and outside the workplace. However, in order to reach this theoretical level of business related moral and ethical leadership known as

The focus on transformational (and transactional) leadership was also identified in a systematic review performed by Gilmartin and D’Aunno (2007) examining health care leadership research from 1989 to 2005. They concluded that studies in health care provide strong support for transformational leadership theory and identified links with staff satisfaction, unit or team performance, organisational climate and turnover intentions. They suggest these effects are stronger when assessed among more junior than senior staff. Positive effects of transformational leadership have also been demonstrated in relation to work-life balance, staff well-being, positive nursing outcomes, patient safety, openness about errors, and patient and staff satisfaction

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.