Sample Answer for NURS 6052 Week 4 Discussion 1 Leadership Theories in Practice Included After Question
A walk through the Business section of any bookstore or a quick Internet search on the topic will reveal a seemingly endless supply of writings on leadership. Formal research literature is also teeming with volumes on the subject.
However, your own observation and experiences may suggest these theories are not always so easily found in practice. Not that the potential isn’t there; current evidence suggests that leadership factors such as emotional intelligence and transformational leadership behaviors, for example, can be highly effective for leading nurses and organizations.
Yet, how well are these theories put to practice? In this Discussion, you will examine formal leadership theories. You will compare these theories to behaviors you have observed firsthand and discuss their effectiveness in impacting your organization.
To Prepare:
- Review the Resources and examine the leadership theories and behaviors introduced.
- Identify two to three scholarly resources, in addition to this Module’s readings, that evaluate the impact of leadership behaviors in creating healthy work environments.
- Reflect on the leadership behaviors presented in the three resources that you selected for review.
By Day 3 of Week 4
Post two key insights you had from the scholarly resources you selected. Describe a leader whom you have seen use such behaviors and skills, or a situation where you have seen these behaviors and skills used in practice. Be specific and provide examples. Then, explain to what extent these skills were effective and how their practice impacted the workplace.
By Day 6 of Week 4
Respond to at least two of your colleagues on two different days by explaining how the leadership skills they described may impact your organization or your personal leadership, or by identifying challenges you see in applying the skills described.
A Sample Answer For the Assignment: NURS 6052 Week 4 Discussion 1 Leadership Theories in Practice
Title: NURS 6052 Week 4 Discussion 1 Leadership Theories in Practice
Fascinating leadership is a channel through which health care services and patient requests can be contented with outstanding outcomes. One of the most meaningful developmental powers in transforming healthcare is the shift from executive management to initiative leadership in nursing (Doody & Doody, 2012). The transformational leader will be the strength for expanding holistic view and perspective, engaging and empowering nursing staff at all levels, and expanding utilization of technology in the organization to improve patient care (Huber, 2015). Normally, medical provided and especially nurses have been over-managed, led insufficiently and inadequately, and still, nurses face unprecedented challenges, difficulties, and opportunities. Healthcare organizations continually face changes that require a progressively adaptive and flexible leadership. This sort of versatile authority or adaptive leadership is known as transformational through which conditions of shared obligations and responsibilities that impact better approaches for the growth of the associations is made (Steaban, 2016).
Key Insights from Scholarly Resources
Two insights from scholarly resources are change and implementation. Transformational leaders are individuals who can make a critical change in both followers and the organization with which they are related. They lead changes in mission, strategy, structure, and culture, to some extent through an emphasis on intangible characteristics, for example vision, shared qualities and thoughts, and relationship-building (Doody & Doody, 2012). This is carefully done by the implementation, and they do this by articulating the vision in a reasonable and engaging way, explaining how to attain the visions, acting with confidence and optimistically, expressing trust in the followers, emphasizing values with symbolic actions, leading by example, and empowering followers to achieve the vision (McCaffrey & Reinoso, 2017).
To accomplish this, nurse leaders must possess explicit or specific qualities such as to be able to recognize the importance of rewards, but goes further to satisfy the emotional and intellectual needs of staff. Additionally, they have to be confident and communicate their vision to staff while recognizing organizational limitations. Furthermore, create supportive environments where responsibility is shared and staff feels safe to take risks becoming creative and innovate through idealized influences which builds confidence, admiration, respect and trust (Huber, 2015), giving workers a sense of mission; inspirational motivation encouraging others to achieve the goals and aspirations of the organization while also achieving their own aims; intellectual stimulation encouraging staff innovation, challenging the beliefs of staff, the leader, and service (Huber, 2015).
Practical Experience with Leadership Skills
The leader at my place of work would consistently find thoughtful solutions to handle day-to-day events for the achievement and satisfaction of patients, nurses, and creating a safe and comfortable work environment. As a leader she wants the staff to perform well at work with outstanding patient and family satisfaction by identifying solutions that allows everyone to be a winner which significantly highlights the essence of leadership. She involves everyone in teamwork and cooperation with management, for example; there is a rapid response team on each shift responsible to sprint into action if there is code or patient crashing. There is an alarm fatigue team that is responsible for any alarm that goes off and other teams in which members are responsible. The leader most often does the best to avoid staffing shortage and nurse burnout by providing flexible self-staffing schedule with open overtime self-scheduling and providing the organization with adequate supplies and equipment. There is always room to learn new things, she creates opportunities for each and everyone willing to go to nursing conferences and learn new and updated information, practices and share their knowledge; approve tuition to advance education and encourage nurses to speak up when they encounter inappropriate experiences or what they do not completely understand. The leader keeps her eyes and ears more open and takes more time to listen to staff, frequently asking nurses how things are going and if assistance with the patient is needed should feel free and approach her for assistance which has been seen done on multiple occasions. She acknowledges the work nurses do and as a great transformational leader applying a motivational, coaching, and inspirational style of leadership.
Effectiveness of Leadership Skills and its Impact on Work Place
Leadership skills are viewed as a central component for a well-coordinated and integrated provision of care, both from the patients and healthcare professionals. The leadership skills at my organization have continuously led to the organizational optimal performance. It is ensuring a high-quality care system that has consistently provided safe and efficient care including efficient system integrity, performance, and timely care delivery. This has had an indirect impact on reducing death rates, by inspiring, retaining, and supporting staff. In addition, it has improved the quality of healthcare services such as moderate-severe pain, physical restraint use, high-risk residents having pressure ulcers, catheter-associated urinary tract infection, central line-associated bloodstream infection, and a short stay in the hospital. Effective leadership has above all led to higher levels of job satisfaction, higher productivity, nursing retention, patient safety, and overall safety climate, and positive health outcomes.
To conclusion, transformational leadership is supported as leaders have the power to produce future generations of successful leaders who have the proficiency to create effective solutions to some of the profession’s most crucial issues. Adjusting complex request in unstable environments is at the heart of formulating healthier healthcare organizations that provide the quality of care that clients, families, and communities deserve (Marshall & Broome, 2017). Leaders need to be knowledgeable and competent in strategic planning, so their efforts may be received and acknowledged at all levels and most especially at senior levels (McCaffrey & Reinoso, 2017).
Doody, O., & Doody, C. M. (2012). Transformational leadership in nursing
Huber, E. (2015). Ellen Hudson: a transformational leader. Kentucky Nurse, 63(2), 13–14
Marshall, E., & Broome, M. (2017). Transformational leadership in nursing: From expert
clinical to influential leader (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Springer.
McCaffrey, R., & Reinoso, H. (2017). Transformational Leadership: A Model for Advanced
Practice Holistic Nurses. Journal Of Holistic Nursing: Official Journal Of The American
Holistic Nurses’ Association, 35(4), 397
Steaban, R. L. (2016). Health Care Reform, Care Coordination, and Transformational
Leadership. Nursing Administration Quarterly, 40(2), 153–163.
A Sample Answer 2 For the Assignment: NURS 6052 Week 4 Discussion 1 Leadership Theories in Practice
Title: NURS 6052 Week 4 Discussion 1 Leadership Theories in Practice
The two key insights I received from my two articles are first, the nursing shortage could be greatly decreased if management aimed to improve the practice environment and schedule flexibility through a promising approach towards increased retention of registered nurses. (Leineweber et. al, 2016). The second key insight is that there is a “direct correlation between nurse-to-patient ratios and patient outcomes due to increased workload and stress, and the risk of burnout for nurses.” (Phillips et al, 2021). The high-intensity nature of nurses’ work means that nurses themselves are at risk of committing errors while providing routine care”.
Skills demonstrated
One of the mangers in my organization fought hard to make self-scheduling was actual self-scheduling, but the nurses would not balance the schedule so the manager would have to step in and move nurses around. Flexibility and the autonomy of self-scheduling boost employee morale, but if it is not balanced and equal on all the days, how is this exhibiting respect for the nurses and fair for patients? (Wynendaele, 2021).
This same nurse manager would also take the charge nurse assignment when the floor was short, she came in to work in the middle of the night if a lot of patients were admitted and would do her best to make sure the nurses and technicians were happy. When the stresses of the job or patients was too much, she would step in and resolves a lot of issues. As nurses we deal with stress from the other medical professionals, family members, and the patients, and our reaction level to the stress is low most of the time. But as time goes on, nurses burn out and zone out, therefore causing decreased patient outcomes. (Keykaleh, et al, 2018).
Impact on the workplace
Because of theses skills exhibited by this nurse manger, it showed the entire staff that she cared, could do our job, would step in when she was needed, and in turn, the nurses and techs would come in on their days off and work late. Her appreciation for the staff empowered them to go above and beyond and it empowered her to do more for her staff. When she left, the staff turnovers started back up again and patient care was greatly affected.
References
Leineweber, Chungkham, H, Lindqvist, R, Westerlund, J, Runesdotter, S, Alenius, R, Tishelman, C. (2016). Nurses’ practice environment and satisfaction with schedule flexibility is related to intention to leave due to dissatisfaction: A multi-country, multilevel study, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2016.02.003.Links to an external site.
Keykaleh M, Safarpour H, Yousefian S, Faghisolouk F, Mohammadi E, Ghomian Z. (2018). The Relationship between Nurse’s Job Stress and Patient Safety. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6290432/Links to an external site.
Phillips, J, Malliaris, A, Bakerjian, D. (2021). Nursing and Patient Safety. https://psnet.ahrq.gov/primer/nursing-and-patient-safetyLinks to an external site.
Wynendaele H, Gemmel P, Pattyn E, Myny D, Trybou J. (2021). Systematic review: What is the impact of self-scheduling on the patient, nurse and organization? J Adv Nurs. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33016472/Links to an external site.
A Sample Answer 3 For the Assignment: NURS 6052 Week 4 Discussion 1 Leadership Theories in Practice
Title: NURS 6052 Week 4 Discussion 1 Leadership Theories in Practice
Bowie et al (2022) stated that to attract the nursing workforce, healthcare organizations must offer flexible schedules. Health care management can strategize to reduce burnout and high turnover which eventually leads to nursing shortages. Flexible scheduling as you indicated in your post is one way that can empower nurses to pick shifts that fit their schedules and be committed to their choice. Flexible schedule can also prevent burnout and help nurses to feel rested, respected, and satisfied at work. To create flexible schedules, most healthcare workers are using alternative scheduling which can mean staggered start times, shorter shifts and or days, and abbreviated work weeks allowing nurses to pick their shifts. For example, one of my former facility have nurses scheduled for 3-12 hour shift and off till the next week; or work 4-10 hour shift, or for those nurses who wants to work shorter shifts on more days per week.
There is also the idea of a float pool that is an alternative for nurses who does not want to be committed to one unit and enjoy flexibility and unpredictabily. Float pool staff lessen load on permanent staff.
Flexible scheduling is said to help attract and retain nurses. In Consult QD (2023), Cleveland clinic is said to have “expanded its flexible scheduling options to help recruit talented caregivers”.
Reference
Cleveland Clinic ConsultQD (Mar 10, 2023). Flexible Scheduling Helps Attract and Retain Nurses. Retrieved from https://consultqd.clevelandclinic.org/flexible-scheduling-helps-attract-and-retain-nurses/
Danielle Bowie DNP, RN, NE-BC, Kristin Shelley DNP, RN, NE-BC, Katie Weigel BSHCA, Tiffany Scherzinger MSN, RN, CNML, ONC (2022). How to Build a Flexible Nursing Workforce Program: Making the Dream a Reality. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1541461222000684#section-cited-byLinks to an external site..
A Sample Answer 4 For the Assignment: NURS 6052 Week 4 Discussion 1 Leadership Theories in Practice
Title: NURS 6052 Week 4 Discussion 1 Leadership Theories in Practice
Introduction
This week, we’re talking about leadership ideas, practices, and our personal experiences. The first rule that caught my attention is the need for leaders to be rooted in some code of ethics or fundamental principles that direct people’s activities and behaviors. There is no meaningful leadership if leaders do not uphold the trust or best interests of those they serve, regardless of how clever the strategy or how effective the activities may be (Broome & Marshall, 2021). Because nursing is a challenging field, great leadership is needed to properly manage and direct the workforce.
Nurses need to work in a healthy and fun atmosphere, empowering, and safe to provide safe and effective patient care. Nursing staff health is impacted by leadership practices in the workplace. The two primary conclusions I derived from the research were that leaders are crucial in creating work environments that influence the experiences of the participants and consequent results in terms of their employment and wellness. A proactive and authentic leader creates a comfortable workplace where employees feel more confident because of their honesty, behavioral integrity, and empathy for others (Alemiga & Kamya, 2018).
Effective leadership techniques lessen the possibility of burnout, unhappiness, and the intention to leave an organization. Mudallal et al. (2017) assert that leadership approaches empower nurses to take responsibility for their work by utilizing their skills, dispositions, and expertise can improve patient quality of care as well as loyalty, and job satisfaction. Uplifting behaviors, such as teaching and exhibiting compassion and empathy, lessen nurses’ emotions of dissociation and mental fatigue by fostering good leadership qualities in the organization. Leadership styles, especially transformational leadership styles, foster an environment where nurses are empowered and committed to their profession. Leadership behaviors have the power to empower people to bring about change and help employees reach their potential. Mudallal et al. (2017) claim that by encouraging teamwork, involving workers in decision-making, and creating drive, leaders can increase employee satisfaction and have an influence on the effectiveness of the work-life balance. For example, a transformative leader inspires colleagues to maintain commitment and loyalty to the organization’s shared mission. A transformative leader uses counseling and leadership to assist staff members in overcoming both professional and personal challenges.
Witnessed Use of Leadership Behaviors and Skills
The instance when I witnessed the utilization of leadership traits and abilities that foster a positive work environment was when a cardiac unit nurse manager addressed a nurse who frequently slept at work. The nurse was convinced to take her job more seriously after speaking with the nurse manager. Throughout the conversation, the management did not scold the nurse; instead, she assured her of her trust and respect while warning her that, she should realize she was shirking her responsibilities, which might have an adverse effect on patient outcomes.
Effective Skills and How Their Practice Impacted the Workplace
To understand her motivations and ideas, the manager carefully listened. The nurse’s improved devotion to the unit was encouraged and supported by the boss. The nurse increased her performance, became more dedicated to her profession, stopped napping throughout her shift, and was able to meet the organization’s objectives. The nurse manager’s leadership abilities, in this case, were quite successful in helping the nurse see her error and improve both herself and her conduct. The nurse was motivated by the leader’s openness and capacity for active listening, which had a significant influence on her desire to alter her conduct. The leader developed trust with the nurse by listening to her desires and concerns without passing judgment on her. By being honest, fair, and upfront with the employee and encouraging her to decide on modifying her behavior on her own, the leader built a relationship of trust with the nurse. Instead of punishing the nurse for making a mistake, the nurse was encouraged to participate in the organization’s vision thanks to the leader’s good workplace culture. The skills promoted a workplace culture where the nurse felt valuable and relevant, which increased her enjoyment and loyalty to her profession.
Conclusion
Different leadership philosophies exist. However, transformational leadership is a type of leadership that is frequently observed in the healthcare industry. It is characterized by the ability to motivate staff members by building relationships with them and inspiring respect, loyalty, and confidence via a shared goal (Phillips et al., 2021).
References
Alemiga, J., & Kamya, R. M. (2018). Authenticity in Authentic Leadership of Higher Education Institutions in Uganda. Ugandan Journal of Management and Public Policy Studies, 15(1), 109-122.
Broome, M., & Marshall, E. S. (2021). Transformational leadership in nursing: From expert clinician to influential leader. springer publishing company.
Mudallal, R. H., Othman, W. A. M., & Al Hassan, N. F. (2017). Nurses’ burnout: the influence of leader empowering behaviors, work conditions, and demographic traits. INQUIRY: The Journal of Health Care Organization, Provision, and Financing, 54, 0046958017724944.
Phillips, N., Hughes, L., Vindrola-Padros, C., Petrella, A., Fern, L. A., Panel-Coates, F., & Taylor, R. M. (2021). The impact of leadership on the nursing workforce during the COVID-10 pandemic. medRxiv, 2021-05.
Suratno, K. (2018). The relationship between transformational leadership and quality of nursing work life in hospital. International Journal of Caring Sciences, 11(3), 1416-1422.