Nursing Leadership: An Interview and Analysis of Leadership Styles

This report delves into the multifaceted realm of nursing leadership, emphasizing its critical role in healthcare. It begins by defining leadership and its significance in the nursing profession, highlighting the importance of nurses as frontline caregivers and patient advocates. The report underscores the need for visionary nursing leaders across all disciplines and explores the impact of nursing leadership on healthcare policies, staff retention, and conflict resolution. The core of the report presents an interview conducted with two Certified Legal Nurse Consultants (CLNCs) with over 15 years of experience, exploring their individual characteristics, leadership styles, and challenges faced throughout their careers. The report then examines various leadership styles, including autocratic, transactional, transformational, laissez-faire, congruent, and aesthetic leadership. The analysis of the interview responses provides insights into the leadership styles adopted by the CLNCs, with one identifying as a transformational leader and the other as a transactional leader. The report emphasizes the importance of effective collaboration, inspiring subordinates, and the impact of different leadership approaches on healthcare outcomes. This report highlights the significance of leadership in nursing and its impact on patient care and healthcare systems.

Running head: ASSIGNMENT 1
Interview and Essay
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1ASSIGNMENT 1
Leadership refers to the ability of a particular individual or organization to set and
accomplish intended goals and vision, take decisive and swift action, and outperform
competition from others. This acts as a source of inspiration and morale boost for enhancing the
performance. In other words, a leader works towards motivating and inspiring all people to
engage in a vision, manages delivery of that vision, and builds and coaches a team that is
effective in accomplishing the goal or vision. Nurses are the foot soldiers for all forms of patient
care. They act as the frontline of patient safety and are involved in caring and advocating for
patients. regardless of their cultural or ethnic backgrounds (Wong, Cummings and Ducharme
2013). In addition to ensuring delivery of optimal healthcare services to all patients, nursing also
requires demonstration of proper leadership capabilities. The nursing profession most often
requires the professionals to display a submissive attitude. I hold the personal view that nursing
is a kind of a political act, in addition to being a practice discipline. Nursing leadership hence
involves several aspects that are focused on decision making, critical thinking, patient advocacy
and action.
Therefore, nursing leadership is imperative for the immediate lives of nurses and creates
a significant impact on the existing healthcare system (Doody and Doody 2012). Hence, the
healthcare systems are in need of a steady supply of energetic and visionary nursing leaders
across all disciplines, who are courageous, credible, inspiring and visible to others. Nursing
leaders are also expected to hold authority and have access to modern resources that will support
their professional and innovative practice. Thus, it can be stated that I strongly believe that
clinical or nursing leadership is not an act for healthcare professionals who are submissive and
subservient. It is rather a part of the dynamic profession of nursing that requires confident staff at
all levels.

2ASSIGNMENT 1
Leadership is an essential aspect in the healthcare setting that can be attributed to the fact
that there are plethoras of issues that are faced by the local or national healthcare organizations.
Management of these issues require demonstration of adequate skills related to leadership, pre-
cognition and management of the care provided to patients (Gottlieb, Gottlieb and Shamian
2012). Nursing leadership is generally considered an essential force that shapes or governs the
formulation of healthcare policies and legislations, similar to other countries. Furthermore,
evidences from several studies also indicate that nursing or clinical leadership is crucial for
maintaining nursing workforce, staff retention and avoiding conflicts.
Therefore, nursing leadership requires that all nurses are well aware of their roles and
responsibilities at the beginning of their nursing graduate program and are able to continue with
their duties throughout their career. Nursing leadership is of utmost importance in helping nurses
to lift their professional practice. This enables them to consider their profession not only as a
series of scientific caring practice that is able to change the overall health and wellbeing of
individuals, but also as a lifelong commitment towards political actions that bring about a change
in the healthcare system (MacPhee et al. 2012).
An interview was conducted with two Certified Legal Nurse Consultants (CLNCs) who
have been part of this profession for more than 15 years. The interview was conducted on a face-
to-face basis and involved direct interaction that helped in gaining a sound understanding of the
individual characteristics and leadership styles that the two CLNCs displayed during their career.
The interview also helped in understanding about the different challenges faced by them during
the course of their career. Thus, it can be stated that conduction of the interview was a
worthwhile experience as it facilitated gaining knowledge on the visions and goals of a
healthcare organization and the different approaches that are adopted by nursing professionals to

3ASSIGNMENT 1
achieve that goal. Both the interviews began with questions that made the respondents talk about
the beginning of their profession, what made them pursue nursing and their career advancement
with regards to their higher education.
The nursing profession primarily focuses on caring for families, individuals, and
communities that helps the latter maintain or attain optimal health and improved quality of life.
Nurses are differentiated from other healthcare professionals by the approaches they adopt
towards caring for their patients. The scope of nursing practice has evolved since the traditional
times. This has resulted in shaping the public image of nurses over the years. Post the world war
time, nursing education has also undergone huge diversification towards specialized and
advanced credentials, which in turn resulted in bringing about changes in their traditional roles
(Mannix, Wilkes and Daly 2013). Furthermore, nursing professionals are also required to foster
an effective collaboration with other healthcare professionals, such as, physicians, occupational
therapists, and also need to initiate effective conversation with the patient and their family
members. In most countries, nurses are required to diagnose health abnormalities and prescribe
appropriate pharmacological or non-pharmacological interventions for the same. Moreover,
nurses also help in coordinating patient care, while working in the multidisciplinary team
(Ceravolo et al. 2012). Thus, it can be stated that nursing is a holistic profession and is regarded
crucial in the healthcare scenario owing to its role in managing fiscal constraints and reducing
the workload that occurs due to staff shortage (Dignam et al. 2012).
Nursing leadership is an essential determinant of the vibrant professional work
undertaken by all nurses in the healthcare system. Demonstration of this leadership is imperative
for supporting high-quality professional practice and also assists all nurses to feel respected, safe
and valued. It also develops a sense of human caring among the professionals. Appropriate

4ASSIGNMENT 1
leadership styles create a sense of ethical obligation when there is lack of adequate resource.
Nursing leaders are also involved in informing the employers about potential threats that affect
patient safety.
Leader A- I spent my childhood with my grandparents and was extremely close to them. I
loved caring for them, used to monitor if they took regular medicine, and had proper food intake.
Gradually, I developed an interest in making a difference in the lives of all people. I wanted to
pursue a career that would bring cheer and hope in their lives. Although I was aware of the fact
that nursing is a challenging profession and a nurse is responsible and answerable for all her
actions taken to improve the health outcome of distressed people, I decided to join it. By far the
experience has been highly rewarding. Although there are several instances that create
challenges in our practice, I am extremely satisfied with my work experience.
Leader B- I was around 8 years of age when my father had suffered a heart attack and
had been admitted to the district hospital for his treatment. It was a tough time as we all were
extremely distressed and worried of his health. Although the physician offered excellent
treatment services to my father, the nurse-in-charge took all possible efforts to administer proper
medications, feed him, and assist him during walking. I was highly impressed of the care that she
took for her patient. During my growing years I eventually understood the importance of nurses
for all patients and wanted to repay the kindness that was shown towards my father. This made
me join this profession. I have thoroughly enjoyed my work over the years. Most often I have
successfully developed a good rapport with my clients, which in turn has helped me improve my
practice.

5ASSIGNMENT 1
There are ranges of leadership styles, demonstrated by nursing professionals. The
personal style of leadership is found to create significant impacts on the operations of the
healthcare facility and has far-reaching implications. The autocratic style of leadership is found
to involve a nurse manager or a leader who is responsible for making pertinent healthcare
decisions, giving specific orders, and issuing a plethora of directives towards subordinate
employees who are expected to obey the commands of the nurses, under the leader’s watchful
supervision. Autocratic nursing leaders are also found to strongly discourage their subordinates
from questioning the reliability and relevance of the directives (Galuska 2012).
Leader A- I believe that nursing leaders are expected to form an effective collaboration
with all healthcare professionals and their subordinates for achieving the directed vision of the
healthcare organization. A nursing leader should also be able to inspire the subordinates to take
all possible efforts for improving patient outcomes and should also be trusted by all.
Leader B- I strongly believe that all nursing or clinical leaders should encourage their
workers by rewarding them when the latter demonstrates a good nursing practice. However, it is
also essential to point out the mistakes performed by the subordinates. Punishments also form an
essential discipline of nursing leadership.
Transactional leadership encompasses the method of leading through implementation of
routine transactions, in the form of punishments or rewards, when a task gets completed. It is
focused on transactions that occur between the managers, nurses and subordinate staff due to its
foundation on the theory that discipline and rewards are crucial for motivating workers. A
transactional leader fails to look into the future while managing a particular organization
(Chaudhry and Javed 2012).

6ASSIGNMENT 1
Transformational leadership illustrates the importance of encouraging all staff for
performing their best through sheer influence of the optimistic personality of a nursing leader.
The leadership style often operates on the notion that positive, rather than negative incentives
boost the morale of all employees and helps them receive motivation (Hutchinson and Jackson
2013). Transformational nursing leaders encourage creativity, team building, and innovation for
transforming the staff and accomplishing the intended objectives.
The Laissez-Faire leadership style allows all employees the freedom to work with little or
no guidance from their superiors. Such nursing leaders are found to give minimal directions and
always permit their subordinates to have virtually unlimited leeway. Authority is invested upon
all employees and they are held responsible for their decisions (Eneh et al. 2012). This leadership
style results in a slow rate of change in practice and quality of care service. Nearly retiring or
new and experienced leaders are found to adopt this leadership style.
Research studies state that congruent leadership is based on the beliefs, values and
principles of a leader and explains the position of the leader. Congruent leaders believe in
inspiration, have god interpersonal skills and bring about effective transformation. There is lack
of hierarchical position in this leadership (Makaroff et al. 2014). Aesthetic leadership
encompasses leaders who encourage their subordinates to exemplify and share an aesthetic
vision that helps in establishing a harmonious and calm environment at the workplace.
Leader A- My experience so far helps me understand that I possess the transformational
leadership style. I believe that I have committed myself to my profession and have never focused
on power control for motivating my subordinates and co-workers. I have never intentionally
repressed them. Most often I have tried to develop an understanding and a good rapport with my

7ASSIGNMENT 1
subordinates for delivering optimal healthcare services to all clients, and have been successful in
doing so.
Leader B- I sincerely believe that I am a transactional leader. Over the years, I have
promoted compliance by my subordinates and followers through both punishments and rewards.
I have always focused on paying attention to the work of all colleagues and subordinates for
finding their good performance, as well as faults, with the aim of improving patient experience,
and avoiding conflicts.
An analysis of Leader A’s response suggests that she has been successful in developing
her leadership style through her experience. She primarily focuses on developing an efficient
collaboration with her team members and does not have an authoritarian approach. Her response
suggested that she works with her subordinates for identifying the areas that need a change and
focuses on creating a vision that will inspire her co-workers (McCleskey 2014). She acts as a
role model for the subordinates and inspires them for raising their interest in the nursing
profession (Ross et al. 2014). This also enables her to identify the individual strength and
weakness of her followers.
Leader B’s response indicates that she believes in supervising her followers and giving
feedbacks about their performance by either punishing them for a wrong practice or giving them
rewards as a token of appreciation when they demonstrate good nursing practice. Thus, Leader B
sets certain goals for her team and articulates explicit agreements regarding her expectations
from the team members. She also creates provisions for making the workers know how they will
be praised for their commitment and effort towards accomplishing the goals (Scott and Miles
2013).

8ASSIGNMENT 1
Several research evidences can support the leadership attributes in both. While leader A
believes in empowering her team members by assisting them to develop into successful
professionals and emphasizes on the work quality of the entire tram work, leader B uses her
managerial qualities by relying on punishments and rewards for achieving optimal job
performance from individual subordinates. It is therefore quite evident that leader B does not
believe in collaboration or improvement of the entire team (Remus and Kennedy 2012). She
rather focuses on individual performance that will help each team member realize his or her
potential.
During the interview the CLNCs were also asked about their preferences for
transformational and transactional leadership.
Leader A- I think transformational leadership is crucial in clinical practice as delivering
optimal healthcare services to a particular patient does not only rely only on nurses. There needs
to be an equal collaboration with other healthcare providers for improving the quality of care
and patient outcome. Therefore, I always think that transformational leadership is imperative for
a nursing leader. It is of utmost importance to demonstrate leadership skills that include
extraversion, neuroticism, agreeableness, openness, and conscientiousness. Thus,
transformational leadership is essential for achieving the vision.
Leader 2- I consider transactional leadership to be most relevant in nursing practice as it
allows the leader to monitor the progress of each team member. It also creates provisions for the
subordinates to identify their strength and drawbacks in the scope of nursing practice.
Furthermore, getting rewards help them to continue with the good work and a punishment makes
the subordinates avoid wrong practice in future.

9ASSIGNMENT 1
Clinical governance refers to the systematic approach that improves and maintains the
quality of patient care. It is of utmost importance in healthcare service as it acts as a framework
that makes the organizations and all healthcare providers accountable to improving quality of the
services being provided (Giltinane 2013). Thus, clinical governance encompasses three major
attributes namely, transparent accountability and responsibility, high standards of care, and
dynamic improvement. Research findings support the fact that a clinical leader is expected to
adorn the role of a model and stimulate motivation or inspiration among all employees
(Werdhani 2017). A leader should also display a genuine concern and care for the demands and
needs of all workers or team members (Haycock‐Stuart, E.L.A.I.N.E. and Kean 2012). However,
most studies have emphasized on the fact that nursing staff display discontent and dissatisfaction
with their leaders when the latter fails to resolve workplace conflict or are incompetent of
clarifying work issues. Lack of administrative skills, poor interpersonal communication skills
and decision making skills, and low problem solving skills most often contribute to such failures
(Scully 2015).
I am in complete agreement with these findings as my interview with the two leaders also
helped me identify that at one instance, a leader failed to resolve the work place issue that led to
the development of dissatisfaction and resentment among her subordinates (Chaudhry and Javed
2012).
Leader A- Most often, I had to delegate nurses that required me to transfer authority.
This made me select nurses for performing specific nursing tasks, to competent subordinates,
depending on their expertise. This was a huge burden on me as it involved entrusting power,
authority and responsibility to another professional. Such instances often arised when there were

10ASSIGNMENT 1
new installations in the healthcare units or a new intervention was proposed to be applied based
on relevant evidences.
Leader B- At most instances I tried to understand the need of implementing a proposed
change in the organization. While making the change I had to consider several aspects. Most
often I was able to manage time constraints and delegate the staff according to their expertise,
while bringing about the change. I always focused on asking for the support of my subordinates.
An analysis of their responses shows that the transformational leadership skills of Leader
A helped her in implementing changes in the organization. The fact that she emphasized on
positive development and intrinsic motivation of the followers, and was able to foster higher
moral maturity in her followers helped her successfully implement her leadership style in such
scenarios. She was able to delegate nursing staff appropriately due to her ability to promote
harmony and cooperation between the workers. Her inspirational trait, emotional responsiveness
and creative expression were the key attributes that assisted her in managing such situations
(Doody and Doody 2012).
The success of Leader B in managing such cases can be attributed to her leadership style
that made her value structure and order. According to research evidences and her responses it can
be deduced that her leadership capability made her command military operations, lead
international projects and large corporations (McCleskey 2014). This enabled her to bring about
changes in the organization that required regulations and rules for completing the intended
objectives or delegating and moving people in an organized way. Her formal authority and
responsible position in the organization facilitated the scenario (O’Neill 2013). Thus, it can be
stated that a leader is responsible for scrutinizing the need for bringing about changes and is also

11ASSIGNMENT 1
expected to motivate and empower her followers and subordinates for implementing a certain
change. Thus, leader A considers this effective engagement with workers imperative for such
scenarios. This made her focus more on effective communication and collaboration. This was a
correct approach as research evidences have also supported the fact that communication is a
crucial leadership attribute. On the other hand, leader B considers military regime and strict
adherence to rules and regulations essential for achieving the goals (Odumeru and Ogbonna
2013). Owing to the fact that transactional leaders are able work best with employees who know
their jobs well and are extremely motivated by the reward-punishment system, the leader B was
able to meet these challenges well (Buckner et al. 2014).
Workplace conflict or organizational conflicts can be defined as states of discord that are
caused die to perceived or actual opposition of needs, interests and values, between people who
work together. Such conflicts result in inevitable clashes between the formal authority and
individuals or groups who are affected. Conflicts generally arise over disputes regarding division
of revenues, work organization or other challenges (Elena Losa Iglesias and Becerro de Bengoa
Vallejo 2012). The two CLNCs were also questioned about instances that resulted in conflicts
and the way they managed them.
Leader A- Conflicts at workplace are quite common and I encounter them once in every
four or five months. I can recall one such instance when the nurses who were entitled with the
duty of working during night shifts were extremely dissatisfied with their work as they considered
nurses working in the day shifts received more benefits. My role as a nursing leader made me
convince all the nurses for a personal conversation that would help me understand their
grievances. I engaged in an effective conversation with them using my communication skills and
tried to motivate and inspire them regarding their profession. After noting down their demands, I