Analysis of Nursing Leadership Skills: A Report (NRSG101)

Desklib provides past papers and solved assignments for students. This report explores nursing leadership skills.

NURSING LEADERSHIP SKILLS
Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................1
Planned working......................................................................................................................................1
Communication...................................................................................................................................1
Teamwork............................................................................................................................................2
Leadership visibility.................................................................................................................................3
Task management...............................................................................................................................3
Practical activities or task driven situations.........................................................................................4
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................5
References...................................................................................................................................................6
1

Introduction
Nursing is a dynamic and challenging profession requiring engaging and inspiring role models
and leaders. In today’s ever-changing and demanding healthcare environment, identifying and
developing nurse leaders is one of the greatest challenges faced by the nursing profession
(Collier and Rosch, 2016). The following discussion presents a literature review on the
importance of different skills that should be acquired for developing the leadership skills within
the nursing profession. It will also help to identify the roles and theories of nursing leadership
which can lead to excellent patient care. Although there are several factors that can influence the
role of nursing leadership however this review focuses specifically on Planned working and
Leadership Visibility qualities (Ha and Pepin, 2017). The review utilizes a combination of peer-
reviewed articles and studies by different authors.
Planned working
Communication
It is essential for the leader to support the development of an individual’s skills as well as
maintain and develop interpersonal relationships with his peer groups, patients as well as their
caretakers. Such development is required for holding the competency within a multicultural
environment along with the skills that can sustain a broad campus or community.
According to the author Collier and Rosch, there is often a lack of communication and
interaction between the international students and students who belong from the same nation.
These authors agree to the fact that it is necessary for the leader to be able to widen the
multicultural perspectives during work and positively associate the students through co-
curricular education and changing their learning environment (Collier and Rosch, 2016).
2

As agreed by the author Riutta and Teodorescu, there exist organizations which have high
diversity where the minorities exist (such as Blacks, Americans, Indians, etc). It is identified that
interracial interaction has a distinct role in the development of leadership skills. The authors have
agreed that developing and exhibiting the leadership skills within a campus having heterogenous
population is challenging as compared to campuses having the homogenous population and
therefore, the leader must be able to initiate discussions that can help the nurses to develop a
better understanding.
Cummings, et al. have also agreed that nurse leaders should be able to articulate their job role in
a clear and precise way by which organizational goals can be well maintained and clear
expectation settings can be made (Cummings, et al., 2010).
Teamwork
Nursing as a profession requires participation from confident and competent leaders who are
capable of representing the field of nursing at every point of professional contact within the
healthcare organization. Further, it is equally important for the nurse leader to showcase
leadership behavior while driving the team’s performance. As concluded by the author
Cummings, et al. in 2010, the leaders who are emotionally focused on understanding the
emotional needs of their workers by the active response, listening and empathy are often able to
understand their concerns and invest in their abilities (Cummings, et al., 2010).
On the other hand, the author Scully accepted in 2015, that the leaders should have the drive,
energy, and vision for assembling the team and motivating the remaining team members. They
further accept the fact that the nurse leaders can motivate and inspire the change through
transformational leadership having a shared vision for empowering the team (Scully, 2015).
3

Teamwork is also identified as one of the key components for achieving the common goals and
provision of excellent patient care. Ha, and Pepin has also agreed that co-constructed activities
that are focused on teamwork and team building activities can help to align the team and bridge
the differences that may develop due to their regional backgrounds or ethnicity. As a result, it
will help to work together in a unified way and strive towards achieving the common goals (Ha
and Pepin, 2017).
Leadership visibility
Task management
As accepted by Dugan, et al. the leader should be able to drive the activities which are required
for predicting the validity and effective measures like self-esteem. The efficacy of nurse leader
would refer to his beliefs and capacity to lead which becomes a critical indicator of future
organizational growth. The leader efficacy is further influenced by his environmental factors but
would also rely upon the situational balance and the way of driving appropriate activities by the
correct resource (Dugan, et al., 2013).
The author Scully agrees to the finding that the nurse leaders should be able to pursue the
profession in a manner that is patient-centric and continues to flourish. The leaders should aim to
develop and enhance a working environment which recognizes the positively working leaders
and avoid any individual who can negatively affect the responsibilities (Scully, 2015). On the
other hand, Cummings, et al. have agreed that leaders should not only be focussed towards the
professional development but should also work to enhance the learning and development of their
employees who will ultimately find their ways for new aspects of serving the patient
(Cummings, et al., 2010).
4

Salisbury, et al. have suggested that quality of learning along with prompt feedbacks will help
the trainees to attain higher academic results with diverse experience and other influential
interactions for integrating beneficial response (Salisbury, et al., 2012).
Practical activities or task driven situations
The nurse leaders should be able to deploy strategies that can help to empower their fellow
colleagues and helping them understand the patient characteristics and personalities. This will
further help to guide them understand their job roles as care providers and cultivate an
environment of continual learning (Collier and Rosch, 2016). It is also essential for the leaders to
identify the learning opportunities so that the nurses are able to have an environment of
continued development while adequate autonomy is also necessary so that they do not feel
micromanaged.
On the other hand, Salisbury, et al. have agreed upon the fact that internships and other
integrated learning experience along with extra community-based projects would be helpful for a
nurse to develop the leadership qualities. They have also agreed upon the fact that those students
who have some working experience during their college days deliver work with more quality and
are open for feedbacks (Salisbury, et al., 2012).
As proposed by Cummings, et al. it is also important for the nurse leader to define the task
orientation and focus upon the relative leadership style. There are two types of leadership styles
which can help to provide individual and organizational growth: transactional and
transformational growth (Cummings, et al., 2010). The transactional style of leadership would
focus on achieving certain rewards from the leader on the expense of provided benefit to the
5

organization while transformational leadership would focus on an individual’s way of growing
for self.
Conclusion
Leadership is defined as the challenging profession in the nursing profession which within the
current climate can lead to chaos through an environment of constant change required by the
nurse leaders to guide and advance their profession. Leadership in the nursing profession is
identified as the need of the present world as it can help the nurses to remain adaptable and
competitive in the dynamic world even after considering the technological and academic
challenges (Ha and Pepin, 2017). Nursing is identified as one of the challenging and dynamic
profession that demands role models and leaders who can engage and inspire their team
members. In the present era, identifying the team leaders is recognized as one of the greatest
challenges of the nursing profession (Scully, 2015).
6

References
Collier, D. A., & Rosch, D. M. (2016). Effects Associated with Leadership Program
Participation in International Students Compared to Domestic Students. Journal of Leadership
Education, 15(4).
Cummings, G. G., MacGregor, T., Davey, M., Lee, H., Wong, C. A., Lo, E., ... & Stafford, E.
(2010). Leadership styles and outcome patterns for the nursing workforce and work
environment: a systematic review. International journal of nursing studies, 47(3), 363-385.
Dugan, J. P., Fath, K. Q., Howes, S. D., Lavelle, K. R., & Polanin, J. R. (2013). Developing the
leadership capacity and leader efficacy of college women in science, technology, engineering,
and math fields. Journal of leadership studies, 7(3), 6-23.
Ha, L. and Pepin, J., 2017. Experiences of nursing students and educators during the co-
construction of clinical nursing leadership learning activities: A qualitative research and
development study. Nurse education today, 55, pp.90-95.
Riutta and Teodorescu. Leadership Development on a Diverse Campus.
Salisbury, M.H., Pascarella, E.T., Padgett, R.D. and Blaich, C., 2012. The effects of work on
leadership development among first-year college students. Journal of College Student
Development, 53(2), pp.300-324.
Scully, N. J. (2015). Leadership in nursing: The importance of recognising inherent values and
attributes to secure a positive future for the profession. Collegian, 22(4), 439-444.
7