Leadership in Nursing: Understanding the Situational Leadership Theory

This presentation highlights the importance of leadership in nursing, with a focus on the situational leadership theory. It includes a real-life scenario and key learning points for future nursing professionals.

Leadership in nursing
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

Introduction
 Leadership is the need of the hour in every sector
 Especially, in professional domains involving team environment of working (Davis,
Corless and Nicholas 2018)
 In nursing leadership is crucial to manage the multidisciplinary teams (Démeh and
Rosengren 2015)
 This presentation will highlight leadership in the context of nursing.
Source: Anderson, C. and Archive, A. (2018). Should We Be Developing Leaders, or
Developing Leadership?. [online] ERE Media. Available at: https://www.tlnt.com/should-we-
be-developing-leaders-or-developing-leadership/ [Accessed 16 Dec. 2018].

Leadership scenario
 The leadership scenario corresponds to my
shift night in the elderly ward
 My mentor noticed an elderly to be laying on
the floor
 The vulnerability and possibility of the elderly
to be in pain and suffering moved us, but it
moved the mentor the most
 The leadership scenario chosen reflects on an
incident of fall, which helped me understand
the fundamental need of leadership in nursing
workforce, which is why I have chosen this
scenario for the assignment.
 She quickly slipped into the role of the leader
instead of being shocked or sorry for the
patient and took charge (Hersey 2014)
Source: Casler, K. (2018). Slip and Fall Expert Witness Advises on Wet Floor that
Caused a.... [online] The Expert Institute. Available at:
https://www.theexpertinstitute.com/case-studies/slip-and-fall-expert-witness-
advises-on-wet-floor-that-caused-a-nurse-to-slip-at-work/ [Accessed 16 Dec. 2018].

Leadership scenario continues
 The mentor started delegating different responsibilities such as taking vitals assessment,
assessing for pain or injuries, assuring the patient and asking for help from other wards
 Along with issuing orders and taking the critical decisions, she had been simultaneously
assessing and ensuring the patient
 She soon noticed a bruise on the patient and kept verbally assuring the patient which
calmed the patient.
 The mentor arranged for the patient to be shifted to the bed and care to be initiated
immediately preceded by thorough assessment and examination
 The patient had been given the painkillers and she calmed down soon after
 Completing the responsibilities the mentor also reported the incident and filled the
incident form as well.
 She appeared as the true saviour in the situation and inspired me to become a capable
leader like her (McCleskey 2014).

Leadership theory
 The leadership qualities expressed by
the mentor had been swift, quick and
apt for the situation (Thompson and
Glasø 2015)
 The leadership theory that can be most
related is the situational leadership
theory.
 Situational leadership had been
developed by Kenneth Blenchard and
Paul Hersey (McCleskey 2014).
 This leadership refers to the adjusting of
the leadership style by the leader or
manager of the organization in order to
fit into the situation and address the
need of the hour of the situation
(Vandayani, Kartini and Hilmiana 2015). Source: Situational Leadership® Training & Management
Model by CLS. (2018). SITUATIONAL LEADERSHIP® -
Situational Leadership® Training & Management Model
by CLS. [online] Available at:
https://www.situational.com/the-cls-difference/situational-
leadership-what-we-do/ [Accessed 16 Dec. 2018].

Leadership theory
 My mentor has successfully followed each and every trait of a situational leader as needed while attempting to address the
urgency that we discovered in the elderly ward that night
 Telling and directing is a very important aspect of a situational leader. My mentor swiftly made quick decisions and directed
followers to achieve a set of care goals for the patient
 As argued by Lynch (2015), the proper guidance and directing of the followers by the leader is crucial to the protection of the
patient safety and enhancing patient satisfaction by swift decision making and continual improvement of the quality. Hence,
undoubtedly these attributes helped of our leader to address the crisis we faced effectively/.
 Selling and coaching is also a key trait of a situational leader (Vandayani, Kartini and Hilmiana 2015).
 My mentor was delegating responsibilities before asking whether the staff has any issues and challenges while completing
these responsibilities.
 Participating and supporting are also very important aspects of a situational leader, which arguably helps in improving the team
building and collaboration between the members (Fischer 2016).
 My mentor has been very involved with the patient care along with delegate and responsibilities which not only inspired us to
provide our best efforts but also guided us thoroughly
 Considering the delegation of abilities which is are fundamental state of a situational leader (Huber 2017),
 My mentor had been very efficient and proactive in delegating responsibilities clearly and assertive me for that we have clarity
of the tasks that we need to be performing in that urgent situation which is very important for crisis situations.
 Considering development is very important to organizations or as in this case to address patient safety and welfare issues. My
mentor had been very involved with the entire procedure and she knew exactly the development the level of each employee
and accordingly she delegated the responsibilities (Grossman and Valiga 2016).
 Although, there are certain cons of situational leadership as well, such as lack of long term objectives and lack of flexibility
among the team which can in turn affect the performance of the team as well. Hence, there is need for situational and
transformational leadership both in the nursing care workforce to achieve goals and maintain performance (Fischer 2016).

Key learning points
 Situational leadership is segregated into four elements of leadership
qualities; directing, coaching, supporting, and delegating (Vandayani,
Kartini and Hilmiana 2015).
 My mentor had been successful in completing each of which effectively
 The need of the hour was identified swiftly and the mentor took
immediate actions to ensure prioritizing the care
 Along with that, she had been mindful while leading to keep one staff
attending to the rest of the patient woes of the ward (Hersey 2014).
 Hence, the sense of responsibility and critical decision making in a crisis
situation is inspiring and commendable

Key learning points
 In the care situations, motivating the employees and is also very important aspect of leadership
 It helps the staff to be able to provide adequate services in spite of the physical and emotional
exhaustion that they encounter.
 My mentor had focused entirely on slipping into the role of a assertive and potential situational
leader, which is commendable.
 She has not been very compassionate or empathetic to either the patient or the staff.
 Along with situational leadership, there is need for compassionate transformational leadership
qualities in nursing leaders.
 This has helped me understand the need for situational leadership qualities in any nursing
professional and be able to incorporate different applicable leadership traits in different critical
situations.
 In future, I would be enrolling in different training and skill enhancement programs to hone my
leadership skills further and become an apt leader in my future practice.

Conclusion
 For crisis situations, leadership provides the best leadership model of
Framework.
 It can help the individual providing leadership to address the differential
need of the crisis situation effectively.
 In the field of Healthcare compassion and empathy are a very important
aspect even in leadership
 The solution can be aesthetic leadership combining the pros of
transformational leadership and situational leadership blended together
(Mannix, Wilkes and Daly 2015).
 I would like to incorporate both situational and transformational leadership
so that I can offer compassion and empathy when providing care to the
patients along with assertive leadership

References
 Davis, S.M., Corless, I. and Nicholas, P., 2018. The critical need for global nursing leadership. DNP Education, Practice, and Policy: Redesigning Advanced Practice for the 21st Century, p.331.
 Démeh, W. and Rosengren, K., 2015. The visualisation of clinical leadership in the content of nursing education—a qualitative study of nursing students' experiences. Nurse education today, 35(7),
pp.888-893.
 Grossman, S. and Valiga, T.M., 2016. The new leadership challenge: Creating the future of nursing. FA Davis.
 Hersey, P., 2014. The Hersey and Blanchard situational leadership theory. Retrieved from www. leadership-central. com/situational-leadership-theory. html on May, 19, p.2014.
 Huber, D., 2017. Leadership and Nursing Care Management-E-Book. Elsevier Health Sciences.
 Fischer, S.A., 2016. Transformational leadership in nursing: a concept analysis. Journal of advanced nursing, 72(11), pp.2644-2653
 Mannix, J., Wilkes, L. and Daly, J., 2015. Aesthetic leadership: its place in the clinical nursing world. Issues in mental health nursing, 36(5), pp.357-361.
 McCleskey, J.A., 2014. Situational, transformational, and transactional leadership and leadership development. Journal of Business Studies Quarterly, 5(4), p.117.
 Lynch, B., 2015. Partnering for performance in situational leadership: a person-centred leadership approach. International Practice Development Journal, 5.
 Thompson, G. and Glasø, L., 2015. Situational leadership theory: a test from three perspectives. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 36(5), pp.527-544.
 Vandayani, P., Kartini, D. and Hilmiana, Y.A., 2015. The impact of national culture on effectiveness of situational leadership Hersey-Blanchard. DEVELOPMENT, 1, p.S4.