Introduction
Leadership style is also an important element of the nursing practice as these professionals have to be advocates for themselves and their patients and lead a change within healthcare. I personally have met several well-accomplished nurse leaders at my previous job. One of them, Jane, was working in the ICU department and was a real-life example of a transformational leader. She was an advocate for change, as she offered several adjustments to the procedures while also encouraging the staff to implement these changes.
Discussion
The clear majority of the healthcare workforce is made up of nurses, and nursing leadership is one of the most crucial components in encouraging and motivating them to practice at the highest level of their licensing. A nurse leader is defined as “a nurse who is interested in excelling in a career path, a leader within a healthcare organization who represents the interests of the nursing profession, a seasoned nurse or healthcare administrator interested in refining skills to differentiate them from the competition or to advance to the next level of leadership” by the American Nurses Association Leadership Institute (2022., para. 2). Jane is a great example of a nurse leader because she had exceptional knowledge and experience of the nursing profession, and she was always ready to support a change initiative and help out her fellow staff.
Jane used a transformational leadership approach, which affects both social systems and individual behavior. In its optimal state, it brings about significant and constructive change in the followers with the ultimate objective of transforming followers into leaders. When practiced in its purest form, transformational leadership improves followers’ motivation, morale, and output via a number of processes (Huber, 2021).
Conclusion
Jane practiced transformational leadership by encouraging us to take greater ownership of their work, challenging them to do so, and understanding the strengths and weaknesses of followers so the leader can assign followers tasks that maximize their performance. Connecting the followers’ sense of identity and self to the organization’s mission and collective identity is another.
References
American Nurses Association Leadership Institute. (2022). ANA leadership & governance. Web.
Huber, E. (2021). Leadership and nursing care management. Binder Ready.