Nursing Leadership Qualities
A nursing leadership role includes developing and improving the quality of healthcare and patient care by being equipped with knowledge, skills and effectiveness to meet goals. This paper identifies leadership qualities necessary for healthcare practices and identifies some of my strong qualities and a few weaker ones that I portray in being a nurse leader.
Azare and Gross (2011) reveals that staff nurses preferred more articulate, independent and proactive leaders who have nursing as their best interest. Having responsibilities of a leader does not necessarily make an effective leader. Analyzing performance in areas of leadership can help explore skills and need for additional development. The assessment tool I used is called Mind Tools ("Mind Tools Ltd", 1996-2016). This assessment focused on personal characteristics, skills and competencies that are fundamental to leadership success.
In regard to my qualities, the two personal strengths that make me a strong leader are the ability and readiness to impart a vision for the future and my values of equality and sensibility. These are qualities that will enable me to understand that the best results are achieved by examining each situation in own context rather than using one-size-fits-all solutions. My gift of compassion and the value I have placed on equality allows me to demonstrate vulnerability which is an important aspect in nursing leadership. Having the ability to demonstrate courage and steadiness in face of obstacles is one of my best assets as a leader.
After completing the Mind Tool Assessment, the results were similar to my own personal assessment. My strengths were in the areas of self-confidence, positive attitude and outlook and emotional intelligence. The other areas I gained high results were in providing a compelling vision of the future, motivating people to deliver the vision and being a good role model. This assessment tool replicated my own thoughts on leadership qualities. A positive mindset, the concept of emotional intelligence, which is the ability to recognize feelings of your own and others, creating vision and motivating others to follow are all the qualities that can propel me to being a great leader. There were two areas in the Mind Tool Assessment that encouraged improvement. Managing performance effectively and providing support and stimulation were the areas where my score rated a 6 of 10.
Positive leadership is fundamental in harboring working conditions that optimize nursing practice and promoting high quality patient care (Wong, C.A., 2015). It is vital to have leadership qualities that can provide encouraging environments in which a team can succeed. Having a transformational leadership style allows me to share my vision and be able to convince others to accept the objectives set. Collaboration, motivation and being capable of implementing change successfully are the characteristics of a transformational leader. Those who deliver a leadership style of enlightening, encouraging and supporting staff will reap the successful consequences of a positive workplace culture and solid patient care. (Germaine & Cummings, 2010).
The qualities of excellent leadership have been practiced in my nursing profession. The self-confidence and positive attitude gives a leader the ability to make an impact on the team. Followers like to know that their leader is