Key Learning 1 – Transformational Leadership
A relationship-focused approach to leadership, otherwise called transformational leadership, can have a significant positive impact on nurses’ performance and overall healthcare outcomes. According to Cummings et al., (2009), two main types of leadership – transformational and transactional – have their benefits in workplaces. However, nursing is a profession where motivation, intellectual stimulation, and empathy are essential for every employee’s job satisfaction. The authors find that transformational leadership provides nurses with higher possibilities for personal improvement and professional growth which leads to increased levels of job satisfaction, retention, and organizational commitment (Cummings et al., 2009). This key learning is significant because it allows one to determine which path to leadership may be more beneficial in nursing for the leader and his or her coworkers.
Nursing leaders should strive to follow the relationship-focused theory and learn not only how to achieve particular aims and finish work-related tasks, but also how to create and maintain meaningful relationships and understand the emotional needs of all employees. Thus, a SMART goal connected with this key learning should also be linked to the ideas of transformational leadership. My SMART goal is to identify my traits and behaviors that could benefit my role as a transformational leader. The process of self-reflection can be done quickly and help me assess my strengths and weaknesses that can be improved to become a better leader.
Key Learning 2 – Personal Improvement
Nurses should be empowered by their leaders both professionally and mentally to become fulfilled in their position. Nursing leaders need to remember that access to empowering resources does not guarantee nurses’ job satisfaction and personal improvement (Laschinger, Finegan, & Wilk, 2009). Nurses should realize their potential for professional growth and use the given resources with this ideology in mind. This learning is important because it provides nursing leaders with a better understanding of empowerment approaches and teaches them to find a balance between different strategies. For example, nurses should receive more access to education as a structural empowerment tactic and also be sure that their training is deserved and will be welcomed in their workplace (Laschinger et al., 2009). Here, different types of empowerment help nurses to feel more valued by creating a stronger bond between them and their place of work and improving their performance.
In this case, a SMART goal is to analyze leader-employee interactions and find relational weaknesses in my workplace to create and propose a system for the environment’s improvement. These weaknesses can be identified by observation and communication with employees and systematized to find the main flaws in nurses’ interactions. In the end, the proposed system may include the specific needs of nurses and paths to improve their current issues.
Key Learning 3 – Knowledge, Skills, and Attitudes (KSAs)
Collaboration and effectiveness of teams depend on members’ “knowledge, skills, and attitudes (KSAs)” and can be improved by working on these individual elements (Baker, Day, & Salas, 2006, p. 1578). This key learning shows that nurse leaders can identify specific KSAs of group members to create productive teams and improve teamwork in the establishment. Thus, knowledge about such KSAs as team leadership, adaptability, communication, backup behavior, shared mentality, and mutual trust can help nursing leaders to analyze their employees’ abilities to work together (Baker et al., 2006). The opportunity to improve these aspects of each worker’s personality can be available only to those leaders that can easily recognize them. Therefore, the importance of this learning is rather high.
A SMART goal that can be formulated based on this key learning is to find specific examples of the ways to address and improve all KSAs that exist in my workplace. A better understanding of the employees’ qualifications and the strategies to assess them can help a nursing leader to become more successful in creating effective teams and finding problems within the group. Thus, a nursing leader who knows specific methods of approaching each KSA can manage a very reliable unit.
Key Learning 4 – Environment
Nurses’ engagement in organizational processes and their mental well-being are directly connected to the environment in which they work. According to the findings of Leiter and Laschinger (2006), burnout can occur in medical establishments that fail to provide nurses with adequate working conditions and do not have a caring and empowering leadership. Therefore, the performance of nurses and their job satisfaction can be linked to the workplace and its characteristics. Nursing leaders need to understand this connection to improve their workplace and support nurses through advocacy and stronger relationships. By ensuring that nurses realize their value and responsibilities, nursing leaders can positively impact workers’ satisfaction and performance. The factors that influence the environment may include staffing levels, policy implementation, use of the nursing model of care, and interprofessional relationships (Leiter & Laschinger, 2006).
Here, a SMART goal can be to develop and introduce a new policy to my workplace to increase my participation in advocacy for nurses and support the establishment’s improvement. This policy can be based on elements that may be lacking in my workplace in comparison to the guidelines for Magnet hospitals. While this policy may be small, it can significantly improve nurses’ job satisfaction.
References
Baker, D. P., Day, R., & Salas, E. (2006). Teamwork as an essential component of high-reliability organizations. Health Services Research, 41(4, Pt.2), 1576-1598.
Cummings, G. G., MacGregor, T., Davey, M., Lee, H., Wong, C. A., Lo, E.,… Stafford, E. (2009). Leadership styles and outcome patterns for the nursing workforce and work environment: A systematic review. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 47 (3), 363-385.
Laschinger, H. K. S., Finegan, J., & Wilk, P. (2009). Context matters: The impact of unit leadership and empowerment on nurses’ organizational commitment. Journal of Nursing Administration, 39(5), 228-235.
Leiter, M. P., & Laschinger, H. K. S. (2006). Relationships of work and practice environment to professional burnout: Testing a causal model. Nursing Research, 55(2), 137-146.