A case study was presented, titled “The new manager needs a coach,” describing a nurse, Flora Fauna, who was recently promoted to a leadership position and her difficulties with communication. Although the text does not offer a full description of her approach, it is sufficient to identify the leadership style and examine it, as well as make inferences about the situation. This paper will discuss and analyze the case study, the leadership style described within, as well as the leader’s communication skills, and apply the scholar-practitioner model to the situation.
Leadership Style
Flora is described in one meeting where she demonstrates her leadership style, and later in her interactions with a coach, showing her desired outcome. She asks her subordinates for requests and suggestions, implying an inclination towards a democratic or participatory approach, which heavily relies on such feedback, but leaves the final decision to her subordinates (Buchbinder, 2013; Kibbe, 2019). Furthermore, her discussion with the leadership coach shows that she places significant emphasis on listening to employees. Since this style centers on communication and ensuring input from a diverse set of specialists, it is conducive to fostering relationships, including interdisciplinary ones.
Communication
Flora communicated poorly in her first meeting, unduly stressing, and possibly offending her staff members, ultimately undermining her authority and trustworthiness as a leader. The primary reason for Flora’s mishandling of the first meeting is, most likely, inexperience. Although she made a strong decision to ask her subordinates for input, she failed to identify the issues being discussed, or inform them ahead of time that such a discussion is planned. Therefore, insufficient preparation and research was the most significant contributing factor in the situation. As a result, no problems were identified, and no feasible solution was proposed.
While the problem is not discussed in the case study, one can infer from the team’s suggestion to hire another nurse that they perceive their workload as excessive. This indicates that there may be a need for optimization of the workflow that would reduce redundancy and inefficiency. These issues may be challenging to identify and address by examination alone. Therefore, communicating with the practitioner is crucial in localizing the problem. Furthermore, once it is defined, he or she may propose a solution based on experience; establishing trust between subordinate and leader is crucial for this.
Based on the limited example, issues of ethical practice were not discussed. Flora attempted to foster diversity and inclusion by asking her subordinates for their opinions and suggestions. However, she failed to develop their feedback and identify problems the team faces and, as a consequence, received very homogeneous responses of limited practical value. Her later one-on-one meetings show a desire to develop in this area and acquire relevant communication skills.
As can be inferred from her supervisor’s comment, good scores in teamwork and coursework for a Master’s degree in administration does not necessarily correspond to having the required leadership and communication skills. Based on this encounter, one can recommend the leader to ensure that her subordinates know when feedback is required. Furthermore, they should adopt a more proactive role in identifying specific issues to be addressed and presenting them as concrete questions that allow for detailed suggestions. Overall, the desire to communicate and involve team members is Flora’s greatest strength; developing the skills to facilitate communication is an evident area for growth.
Overall, Flora has a reasonable chance of becoming a strong leader with experience. Her core understanding of the participatory style is evident from the case study. The survey she undertook shows her emotional intelligence, which is vital for leadership in general, to be slightly below normal (Buchbinder, 2013). However, current studies show that it can be trained (Mattingly & Kraiger 2018). Therefore, if her training is successful, one can expect the new leader to become a confident facilitator of communications and good relationships inside and outside her community.
The Scholar-Practitioner Model: A Possible Solution
The scholar-practitioner model describes an approach to learning and professional activity that incorporates more practical and experiential learning than the more traditional methods. In Charles McClintock’s words, it “expresses an ideal of professional excellence grounded in theory and research, informed by experiential knowledge, and motivated by personal values, political commitments, and ethical conduct” (as cited in Suss, 2015, p. 50).
Flora’s case is an example of the shortcomings in traditional training methods this model seeks to overcome. While, in theory, her actions were motivated by ethical conduct, her lack of experiential knowledge caused her initial failure in her responsibilities as a leader. Communication and leadership are topics with enough research available to inform a theoretical understanding of effective methods and practices. Furthermore, the scholar-practitioner model focuses on the acquisition of practical experience during training. One might expect Flora to have undergone some practicum in these areas, and therefore handled her first team meeting more competently.
Conclusion
In the case study, Flora Fauna demonstrated the participatory or democratic style of leadership a strong approach that facilitates communication between team members. However, owing to her inexperience, she failed to prepare for her first team meeting, and, as a result, undermined her authority as a leader. Nonetheless, her commitment to listening to her subordinates in identifying issues and proposing solutions shows a potential area for growth. The scholar-practitioner model is useful in the described situation, as it may have prevented the failure on the first meeting.
References
Buchbinder, S. B., Shanks, N. H., & Buchbinder, D. (2014). Cases in health care management. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett learning.
Kibbe, M. R. (2019). Leadership theories and styles. In M. Kibbe, H. Chen (Eds.) Success in academic surgery: Leadership in surgery (pp. 27–36). New York, NY: Springer.
Mattingly, V., & Kraiger, K. (2018). Can emotional intelligence be trained? A meta-analytical investigation. Human Resource Management Review, 29(2), 140-155.
Suss, D. (2015). T4MAP™: A scholar-practitioner model for performance improvement. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 27(4), 49–75.