Efficiency in Clinical Settings

Running head:TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP: EFFICIENCY IN CLINICAL
SETTINGS
Transformational Leadership: Efficiency in Clinical Settings
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TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP: EFFICIENCY IN CLINICAL SETTINGS1
With an exponentially increasing global population, the need for rapid and effective
healthcare is rising. An experienced and insightful leader is indispensable to provide optimal
care to patients. In this chaotic age, the need for a good leader is undeniable in the medical
field. Since it is nurses who work most closely with patients, it goes without saying that they
make the best candidates to lead other nurses as well as carers. It is safe to say that each
individual has a personalized leadership style that differs according to expertise, age, culture,
and personality. Not every expert nurse is qualified to lead a team (Scully, 2015). Throughout
ages, the manner of leadership has evolved. Transformational leadership is a style of
leadership that has been applied in nursing time and time again with a significant success
rate. This essay aims to shed light on the concept of transformational leadership and elaborate
on the application of this method of leadership in a healthcare scenario, specifically in
nursing, to provide personalized care and treatment to every patient professionally and
efficiently.
Transformational leadership is a leadership approach that is based on the mutual
respect and work of the leader and the team to achieve a more than satisfactory result in terms
of the targets and aims of the organization (Krepia et al., 2018). Hence, the success of this
approach is based on the relation between the leader and their team (Boamah et al., 2018).
This idea was introduced by James McGregor Burns, who explained the idea of a leader who
actively acts as a role model for their team, inspiring and indulging them to do more than
what is expected of them in an organization formally. His thesis paved the way for one of the
most researched and practically applied leadership ideas of all time (Siangchokyoo, Klinger,
& Campion, 2019). This model of leadership consists of four major concepts. They include-
Idealized Influence, where the leading figure is presented as an exceptional role model for the
team; Inspirational Motivation, where the leader conveys their vision and desired outcome to
the team in order to inspire them and work towards the goal; Intellectual Simulation, which

TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP: EFFICIENCY IN CLINICAL SETTINGS2
signifies the leader’s actions towards the follower’s opinions and ideas and their
considerations towards implementing and incorporating these ideas. Finally, the last idea is
that of Individualized Consideration, where the leader takes into consideration each of their
followers individually and help them with their respective strengths and weaknesses in order
to achieve the desired end result (Boamah et al., 2018).
In the field of nursing, the guidance of an able leader is of utmost importance as it is a
very demanding and sensitive profession. Nurses are often obligated to take up leadership
roles in various scenarios (Echevarria, Patterson & Krouse, 2017) From providing
personalized patient care and treatment to delegating tasks to a team, from participating in
clinical procedures to supervising trainees and novice nurses to handle the treatment, a
nursing leader has a vast number of significant responsibilities. Transformational leadership
is a method that promises better patient outcomes and personalized care while reducing the
waste of resources and reducing stress on healthcare professionals. It is also important in
academic nursing (Giddens, 2018) The application of this concept in a practical setting has
shown an improvement in overall performance amongst nurses (Fischer, 2016). The
effectiveness of transformational leadership practice can be explained by exemplifying three
different nursing roles such as bedside nurse, public health nurse, and chief nursing officer.
Among the different clinical staff, the bedside registered nurses are responsible for
closely working with and overseeing patient health. They often lead other nurses in taking
optimal care of the patient as well. This demands their leadership style to be more informal
and communicative, both with the patients and the nurses they supervise. Amongst the many
responsibilities, a key role in their leadership is to inspire other nurses and provide a healthy
and open work environment. Transformational leadership has been recommended for such a
role. The key has mutual respect, encourage personal opinions and reflections, dividing and
delegating tasks on the basis of what would be optimal for both the patient and the staff. This