Leadership and Management in Nursing: Personal Development Plan

This essay reflects on personal learning on leadership and management in nursing and presents a personal development plan focusing on leadership and team working skills. The plan involves specific short and long-term goals and the way they will be achieved. The essay discusses the rationale on how the personal development plan contributes to personal future development as a Nursing Associate.

Running head: NURSING ASSIGNMENT
Nursing assignment
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

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Health care professionals and organisations are required to provide effective, safe and
integrated patient care pathways. It is fundamental for health care professionals to demonstrate
effective leadership and excellent team working skills. It helps to provide high quality person-
centered care and contributes to culture of continuous quality service improvement in the
workplace. Nurses work in range of healthcare settings; therefore, they must lead and work
effectively to ensure positive patient outcomes. The essay is the reflection on the personal
learning on leadership and management. The essay then presents the personal development plan
focusing on the leadership and team working skills. The plan involves specific short and long-
term goals and the way they will be achieved. The essay then discusses the rationale on how the
personal development plan contributes to personal future development as a Nursing Associate.
The rationale is well supported with literature.
There are different ways in which the leadership is defined. In simple words, the
leadership as per my understanding is influencing the followers to accomplish the organisational
goals. I have learned from the module that two types of leadership styles are most appropriate for
nurses. The first one is the transformational leadership. This style of leadership helps to instill
faith and respect in the workplace, innovative care pathways and treat employees as human
beings. The transformational leadership style when deployed in the hospital allows transmission
of ethical principles and values, effective communication of vision, provision of challenging
goals and innovation in problem solving (Brewer et al. 2016). Transformational leadership well
suits the dynamic healthcare setting as it is highly associated with the employee and patient
satisfaction. This leadership helps initiate change using the action learning approach. In this
approach, the leaders use the supportive, directive, and democratic principles. Transformational
leadership facilitates change, by enabling methods that sustain change. Therefore, it gives rise to

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better outcomes for both patients and nurses. I would also like to develop the transformational
approach as it is focused on interpersonal processes between followers and the leaders. As per
my understanding, transformational leadership empowers the nurses. However, Thomas (2015)
asserts that the leaders must balance and the power and authority. The second leadership
appropriate for nurses is the transactional leadership. This leadership focus on providing day-to-
day care and routine transactions such as rewards and punishments. This leadership grounded on
theory of rewards and discipline. This leadership is concerned with the management of
predictability and order and does not guide people strategically to a leadership position. It
focuses more on executing power and authority rather than influence (Alharbi 2017).
I have learned that the nurse leaders must have strong communication, team working, and
management skills. According to Arnold and Boggs (2015), nurse leaders must enhance these
core skills and also cultivate creativity, collaboration, confidence, courage, and competence. I
agree as the health care setting is a continuously changing environment and these skills will help
one to adjust to it proactively. A nurse understanding and caring for the needs of staff can be
cognisant of the factors regulating the work environment. Such an understanding as per Ellis and
Bach (2015) ensures productivity. The learning from the module explains strong leadership is
based on power, influence, and authority. I believe that in today’s competitive environment, it is
necessary to influence others for leading rather than using power and authority. This belief aligns
with the study of Fealy et al. (2015), as it emphasized that influence is the strong pillar of
leadership. By using influence, a leader can motivate, appreciate, persuade, and negotiate with
others depending on the different situation. Using power and authority one cannot be role model
in the care environment, mentor juniors by instruction or establish a caring relationship with
others. However, it is possible by influencing skills. The good leader can use these skills to

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inspire a shared vision, encourage and help others in challenging processes (Mah’d Alloubani et
al. 2014). I agree with this view point because only when my contributions are recognized by my
leader, that I can focus more on team as a whole and it will foster my collaboration.
The concept of leadership and management is different. As per my learning, Management
is directing the people and leading them towards meeting the organisational goals using
appropriate resources. The principle of nurse mangers is to organise the work using scientific
methods and to maintain cooperative and interdependent relationship with fellow nurses
(Thomas 2015). I also believe that the situational leadership is most appropriate for nurse
associates where one can use different leadership theories depending on the scenario (Meredith
2011)
In my journey as nursing student, I have encountered many situations to develop
leadership qualities. Right from the BSN program, completing team projects and coursework, I
have tended to take aggressive leadership roles. There are areas where I have failed to resolve
conflicts with my team members. On several occasions such as seminars and team presentations,
I have been advised by my mentors to develop good management skills. I have engaged in very
few mentoring activities. I believe I have poor understanding of the events that may occur during
practice. It may affect my professionalization of the nursing profession. I am on my way to
developing as transformational leader. In order to fulfill my aspiration as nurse associate, I have
to fulfill my short and long-term goals as a part of professional development plan.
Every nurse aspiring to grow to hierarchical level in her career needs to have a
professional development plan. The aim of the plan is to create the smooth transition from the
present position as a nurse to nursing associate. According to Miraglia and Asselin (2015),

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professional development plan ensures the nurses to deliver high quality and standard services
considering the ethical and the professional standards.
Goals Action plan Rationale Evaluation
Short-term goals
1.Pursue my
nursing degree and
prepare for higher
degrees
Give sincere
efforts in
achieving high
destination and
develop in-depth
knowledge to
successfully
complete advance
nurse degree
To gain in-depth
theoretical
knowledge of the
subject
Positive feedback
from mentors
High score in
assignments and
online exams
2.Develop
personality to be
active member in
nursing- to be,
patient, self-
confident,
vigilant, competent
and attentive
Participate in
volunteering
activity in my
community- join
organisation that
deals with dying
and destitute
people
Give sincere
efforts during
Opportunity to
display leadership
skills such as
adaptability and
judgment in the
provision of care
Opportunity to
manage challenge
and change while
Confident in
managing
professional
challenges
High score in
online personality
Increase in
collaborative
approach, team

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clinical
placements- try for
medical-surgical
floor
Engage in CPD
hours
developing clinical
skills
working skills,
3.Reflective
practice
Perform self-
reflection using
Gibb's model and
others
Understand
personality
dynamics
Changes in
strength and
weakness
Long-term goals

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1.Implement
evidence-based
practice and
transformational
leadership skills
Engage in
research,
implement the
evidence-based
options in care
process and record
the outcomes
Guide juniors,
mentor them in
learning nursing
theories and ethics
To make effective
clinical judgment
Role modeling
behavior and
inspire juniors to
influence and lead
them
Improvement in
patient outcomes
Able to motivate,
empower and
influence others
2. Able to work
independently in
family health care
and in emergency
room
Attend seminars
and workshops for
lobbying
Gain advance
nurse degree
To become
competent leader
and manger
Gain competence,
to lead others in
change
To fulfill my short term goals of pursuing nursing degrees, I have to gain high distinction
in very assignments and presentations. It will help gain strong theoretical knowledge.. In future,
my knowledge will help me to work by the scope of practice and processional standards.
Another short-term goal is to develop strong influencing nursing personality. I need to grab

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opportunities of displaying leadership skills. According to Coventry et al. (2015) participating in
volunteering activities or CPD hours enhances professional skills such as good communication,
team spirit, working on ongoing projects, set up meetings. It is the good way to build leadership
experiences. I hope this process may help me gain transformational leadership skills. It is the
opportunity to progress from student to a more professional position. According to Husebø et al.
(2015), it is the gateway to deepen knowledge regarding planning, leading and implementing
educational knowledge. Engaging in self-reflection will help understand how strengths act as
contributor, irrespective of position. Reflection will help realise the weakness and understand
personality dynamics.
My long-term goal is to develop competence in implementing the evidence-based
practice. Engaging in research will enhance the critical thinking skills and spearhead the change
from experienced based to evidence-based activities. It will help develop transformational skills
as one can think innovative ideas to improve patient outcomes. Evidence-based practice will help
develop into nurse leader as one equips themselves with skills and attitude necessary for change
in practice (Barker and Ortega 2016). Being the source of inspiration and role model for juniors
is the way to future nurse leader (Gopee 2015). I believe it will give me the power to develop the
transformational skills. In this process, I will develop effective communication skills, integrity,
resolve conflicts, delegate and emotionally tune with other team members. Other long-term goal
is to purse the advance nurse degree. I believe it will help me become the full partner in care
provision. An advanced degree will foster deeper understanding of patient's health and illness. I
will be able to better manage care as a member of interdisciplinary team by developing skills to
work independently in emergency and family health care setting (Schultz and Götz 2016).

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References
Alharbi, A.Y., 2017. LEADERSHIP STYLES OF NURSE MANAGERS AND THEIR
EFFECTS ON NURSE AND ORGANISATIONAL PERFORMANCE, ISSUES, AND
PROBLEMS.
Arnold, E.C. and Boggs, K.U., 2015. Interpersonal Relationships-E-Book: Professional
Communication Skills for Nurses. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Barker, J. and Ortega, M., 2016. Finding the evidence. Evidence-based Practice for Nurses and
Healthcare Professionals, p.60.
Brewer, C.S., Kovner, C.T., Djukic, M., Fatehi, F., Greene, W., Chacko, T.P. and Yang, Y.,
2016. Impact of transformational leadership on nurse work outcomes. Journal of advanced
nursing, 72(11), pp.2879-2893.
Coventry, T.H., Maslin‐Prothero, S.E. and Smith, G., 2015. Organizational impact of nurse
supply and workload on nurses continuing professional development opportunities: an
integrative review. Journal of advanced nursing, 71(12), pp.2715-2727.
Ellis, P. and Bach, S., 2015. Leadership, management and team working in nursing. Learning
Matters.
Fealy, G., McNamara, M. and Casey, M., 2015. Leading contemporary approaches to nursing
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Gopee, N., 2015. Mentoring and supervision in healthcare. Sage.

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Husebø, S.E., O'Regan, S. and Nestel, D., 2015. Reflective practice and its role in
simulation. Clinical Simulation in Nursing, 11(8), pp.368-375.
Mah’d Alloubani, A., Almatari, M. and Almukhtar, M.M., 2014. EFFECTS OF LEADERSHIP
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