Nursing Leadership
- Leadership is an act of leading an organization or a group of people.
- There are different types of models guiding nursing management, which are:
- Behavioral theory;
- Great man theory;
- Situational and contingency leadership theory;
- Interactional leadership theories;
- Transactional and transformational leadership.
- Florence Nightingale was a noble leader worth emulation.
There are different types of models guiding nursing leadership, the Great man Theory states that leadership is dependent on the personality traits (Xu, 2017).
Behavioral theory provides importance of a leadership style rather than personal traits (Harrison, 2018).
In situational and contingency leadership theories, the styles of leadership vary according to an individual or situation.
Interactional theories are based on the fact that a supervisor behavior is determined by the relationship between the specific situation and leadership personalities (Harrison, 2018).
Noble managers such as Florence Nightingale demonstrated effective communication, fairness, creativity, dependability, and effective group identification and teamwork.
Leadership Theories
- Behavioral theory classified leadership according to behavior and actions into three, which are democratic, authorization, and laissez-faire (Harrison, 2018).
- Contingency theory focusses on context.
- This training is for graduates hired in the private hospital ward.
- The newly employed nurses are encouraged to learn transformational leadership.
Behavioral theory conceptualizes leadership according to actions, it categorizes managers into groups based on behavior. In the authorization type, a leader takes full control, while in democratic way a team approach is undertaken. In Laissez-faire the leader takes no approach (Harrison, 2018).
Focus of the training is on transformational leadership because it inspires employees to produce better nursing outcomes.
This training advocates for transformational leadership because it aids in achieving unity and it motivates staff to achieve better outcome.
Importance of the Leadership Training
- It promotes cohesiveness between nurse leaders and their subordinates.
- It prepares leaders to cope with challenges (Bass & Bass, 2009).
- It promotes shared governance.
- It prepares nurses to take leadership positions and research which influences healthcare policies.
- It empowers and encourages subordinate staff.
Formal and leadership development trainings are used to prepare nurse leaders to cope with health care challenges. These programs also increase awareness, promote leadership and nursing leadership research (Silva et al., 2017).
Additionally, transformational leadership fosters existence of strong partnerships between nursing staff and leaders, which consequently, promote shared governance, which is demonstrated by participation of healthcare workers on council activities and policy making. These collaborations also empower subordinate staffs and advance job satisfaction.
Role Model
- Florence Nightingale transformed nursing practice.
- She practised transformational leadership.
- The leader encouraged her co-workers to take leadership positions that influence nursing care (Royal College of nursing, 2015).
- Florence was a moral leader because she advocated for equity in delivery of healthcare.
- One can become like Florence by undertaking valid, reliable, and robust curative research that influences nursing care positively.
Florence was a respectable leader because she yearned to improve quality of care for people regardless of their economic status.
Nightingale pioneered and practiced transformational leadership by motivating employees to improve quality of care.
She also motivated other nurses to be proactive in improving accessibility to care by influencing policy making and in undertaking research to be used in evidence based care.
Transformational Leadership
- Transformational leadership is focused on leaders rather the followers relative to transactional style.
- It involves inspiring.
- Transformational managers encourage shared decision making process.
- This type of leadership benefits and encourages all the staff.
The transformational leadership emphasizes on the leaders ability to motivate subordinate staff to achieve the company’s goal.
The success of transformational leadership is dependent on the interrelationship between the manager and the followers. It involves intellectual inspiration and development, and subordinates motivation towards professional growth (Galleta et al., 2015). The objectives and visions are either coproduced or members of team may work autonomously to make a decision.
The Role of Organization in Leadership
- Organization culture may promote transformational leadership.
- The mission, goals, values statement, and visions provide a framework, which establishes a culture to guide the leaders in management.
- This type of leadership style enables employees to become motivated and engaged. It also boosts their confidence.
- Training increases the number of highly skilled employees.
Organization culture reflects the tradition and norms of a company, it has significant impacts on growth and development of employees in their careers (Silva et al. 2017).
A firm that gives employees a chance to participate in decision making process promotes transformational type of leadership.
Institutions with leadership program for all employees have a sufficient pool of high performers and potential leaders because the required skills are honed during trainings.
Empirical Research
- According to Wong (2015), transformational leadership in nursing lowers the rate of patients mortality.
- Transactional leadership increases patients’ satisfaction (Northouse, 2018).
- Nursing leadership impacts patient experience and outcomes, nurse retention, and satisfaction (Silva et al. 2017).
- According to Cowden and Cummings (2015), a high correlation between intent to stay (ITS) and transformational leadership exist.
- A study conducted by Hayward et al. (2016) showed that nurse turnover is influenced by poor leadership, and work environment.
Transformational leaders cultivate and promote values of safety and climate in the workplace, which encourages nurse retention and boosts job satisfaction rates. There is a significant correlation between transformational leadership and nurses intent to stay (Cowden and Cummings, 2015).
Nursing leadership Regulation
- National Health Service (NHS) organization regulates all forms of leadership (Royal College of nursing, 2015).
- It facilitates shared governance.
- It is also responsible for maintaining quality of health care, clinical governance, and creating an environment where excellence flourishes.
- The NHS promotes effective leadership.
The National Health Service (NHS) organizations’ facilitates growth of multi-professional care because it enables employees to work together as a team by regulating leadership. It also promotes shared governance and increases job satisfaction, motivation, staff contribution, and morale of nurses (Royal College of nursing, 2015).
The NHS and healthcare facilities in the UK provide a shared form of governance, which utilizes decentralized form of management. It is also responsible for maintenance of quality of health care, clinical governance, and creating an environment where excellence flourishes.
The NHS promotes effective leadership, which empowers all staff and enables them to be part of decision making processes.
Effective Nursing Leadership Tips
- The leader should also act as a mentor by being a role model to team members.
- Showing empathy by being respectful and less judgmental to all workers.
- Listening keenly (Clausen et al. 2017).
- Supporting staff by creating a good working environment and helping them to obtain new skills.
- Learn to inspire and encourage others.
A leader should learn to encourage and inspire others, especially fellow coworkers when dealing with burnout, absenteeism, and lowering tensions between individuals of the same team (Clausen et al. 2017). Role modelling enables staff to absorb important qualities effectively. The employees should express empathy and understanding to patients to provide excellent care. Listening keenly to workers by focusing on the person talking helps in building trust (Clausen et al. 2017).
Recommendations
- It is critical for an organization leaders to develop proactive workforce that reflects diversity and development of better health care.
- Effective leadership plays a significant role in improvements of healthcare delivery.
- In private hospitals ward nurses are encouraged to improve care outcomes by working as a team.
- Thus, applying transformational leadership should be adopted by all the managers in the hospital.
Transformational theory improves emotional intelligence of nurses by influencing key determinants of intent to stay. This style also has indirect positive impact on administrative commitment, job stress, and satisfaction. Thus, all staff in a private hospital ward are encouraged to adopt this type of leadership in their career.
References
- Bass, B. M. & Bass, R. (2009) The Bass handbook of leadership: theory, research, and managerial applications. Simon and Schuster.
- Clausen, C., Cummins, K. and Dionne, K. (2017) Educational interventions to enhance competencies for interprofessional collaboration among nurse and physician managers: an integrative review. Journal of Interprofessional Care, 31(6), pp. 685-695.
- Galleta, M. et al. (2015) The roles of unit leadership and nurse-physician collaboration on nursing turnover intention. Journal of Advanced Nursing; 69(8), pp. 1771-1784.
- Harrison, C. (2018) Leadership research and theory. In Leadership Theory and Research (pp. 15-32). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
- Hayward, D. et al. (2016) A qualitative study of experienced nurses’ voluntary turnover: learning from their perspectives. Journal of Clinical Nursing; 25(9), pp. 1336-1345.
- Northouse, P.G. (2018) Leadership: theory and practice. Sage publications.
- Royal College of nursing (2015) The Magnet Recognition Programmed: A discussion of its development, success and challenges for adoption in the UK. RCN Policy and International Department Discussion.
- Silva, V.L.D.S. et al. (2017) Leadership practices in hospital nursing: a self of manager nurses. Revista da Escola de Enfermagem da USP, 51.
- Wong, C. (2015) Connecting nursing leadership and patient outcomes: state of the science. Journal of Nursing Management, 23(3), pp. 275-278.
- Xu, J.H. (2017) Leadership theory in clinical practice. Chinese Nursing Research, 4(4), pp. 155-157.