Positive Leadership: Core of a Healthy Workplace - Essay Example

Positive Leadership: Core of a Healthy Workplace of the of the Introduction Nursing is a profession that demands a consistent emotional, physical, psychological and spiritual involvement by a nurse. Nurses are expected to be alert and responsive all the time. The rigorous demands and continuous pressure to perform can cause a lot of stress to nursing professionals. The stress experienced by nurses at workplace leads to problems like low performance, burnout, injuries, absenteeism, depression, hopelessness etc. (Rout, U. and Rout, J. 2002, p. 77), which in turn affects the personal and professional lives of nurses. Moreover, stress not only affects the nurses but also affects leaders and managers, making it difficult for them to provide proper psychological and moral support to the nurses (Huber, 2006, p. 103). However, the problems and illnesses caused by workplace related stress are too large and intense to ignore. A study by Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (2008) has found that more than 16 million nursing hours are lost due to illness, absenteeism and injury resulting from workplace stress (Austin & Boyd, 2008, p. 56). It has to be understood by the management that if nurses suffer from work related emotional and psychological disorders, then they will not be able to provide proper care and moral support to the patients they are caring for (Austin & Boyd, 2008, p. 56). Hence, there is an immediate and urgent need for some effective steps and strategies to be designed by the leaders in the nursing organizations to promote healthy behavior, practices and environment, to make the nursing organizations a healthy and happy place to work at. Importance Of Healthy Workplace Studies have found that if problems related to workplace continue in nursing profession, then by 2020, health care organizations will experience a shortage of 400,000 registered nurses (Shirey, 2006, p.256). This shows that there is an urgent need to provide healthy workplaces for people in nursing profession. A healthy workplace is defined as a workplace where employees and leaders practice healthy behavior, the psychosocial environment is stress free, and the safety and occupational health of the employees is given priority (Kelloway, Teed & Prosser, 2008, p.25). It has been found that the leadership style and strategies used by the leaders in the organization is the major factor responsible for workplace to be healthy (Kelloway, Teed & Prosser, 2008, p.25). Hence, it is very important for leaders to understand the core values of nursing profession, and implement them effectively to create a healthy and a happy workplace. This is because if the workplace is not healthy, then the productivity and the effectiveness of nurses decreases and harms the long term goals and vision of the organization. Most importantly, healthy workplace is important not only for the health of the patients but plays a vital role in maintaining the health of nurses, which is an important asset of nursing organizations. Role of Organizations Healthy workplace is extremely important to promote loyalty, job satisfaction and productivity of nurses. It is the responsibity of nursing organizations to create healthy work environment for nursing professionals (Klainberg & Dirschel, 2010, p.86). There are many problems that nurses experience at workplace that can lead to dejection and loss of interest in work. Some of the problems are role ambiguity, lack of appreciation from seniors, unfair treatment, long working hours, fear of failure, lack of growth opportunity etc (Austin & Boyd, 2008, p. 59). However, the good thing is that these problems are resolvable if the leaders and managers take right steps at the right time to solve them. Effective solutions and different strategies can be used to solve the workplace problems before they become serious and start affecting the health and performance of the staff. Leadership Strategies To demonstrate how different workplace related problems experienced by people working in nursing profession can be tackled, an example of problem of lack of support and appreciation can be taken into consideration. Lack of appreciation and reward for good work done is a major reason for job dissatisfaction and burnout. A study by The American Organization of Nurse Executives (AONE) and American Nurses Association has revealed that healthy work environment can be created only when the nursing staff feels that they are supported by their leaders and managers (Klainberg & Dirschel, 2010, p.86). Hence, the following strategies can be used to make nursing professionals feel ‘important’ and ‘needed.’ The strategy of ‘authentic leadership’, designed by kouzes and Posner(2003), is an effective strategy to solve the problem (Klainberg & Dirschel, 2010, p.85). The strategies that can be used to solve the problem of lack of support and appreciation at workplace are as follows: 1. Clear Goal: Setting clear goals and creating a vision for people working as nurse can help them in focusing their energies and efforts in right direction. Nursing professionals can exert their best efforts when they are provided with clear and specific goals (Klainberg & Dirschel, 2010, p.85). Moreover, when the goals and targets are achieved, they feel a sense of satisfaction and achievement which can motivate them to continue with good work. Also, when leaders set clear targets and goals for nursing professionals, they feel that they are being given proper guidance by their leaders and they are being cared for. 2. Physical Presence: Authentic leaders understand the importance of their physical presence in work setting (Klainberg & Dirschel, 2010, p.85). Leaders should make it sure that to keep the nursing professionals motivated and to make them feel important, they should give the feedback of work personally (Klainberg & Dirschel, 2010, p.85). Also, the feedback should be constructive and should focus on the positive aspects of the performance (Klainberg & Dirschel, 2010, p.85). This not only assures feeling of importance but also makes the nurses feel that they are getting personal attention from their leaders. This drives them to give their best. 3. Reward Program: Rewarding the nurses who meet and exceed the criteria of nursing excellence makes them feel recognized and valued by the organization (Klainberg & Dirschel, 2010, p.86). Reward programs work as great boost in creating a desirable, positive and energetic work environment which makes highly professional and caring nurses to stay with the organization (Klainberg & Dirschel, 2010, p.85). In this way, different strategies can be used to create a healthy and happy workplace for nursing professionals. Conclusion The literature review reveals that for creating a healthy workplace in nursing profession, it is extremely important to reduce the stress that nursing professionals go through. Highly competitive and demanding work environment makes their life difficult and stressed. Hence, the only solution to problems related to nursing professionals is to provide them with positive leaders who are mature and creative in their outlook. Only a positive and creative leader is capable of creating a healthy and happy workplace for nursing professionals. References Austin, W. & Boyd, M.A. (2008). Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing for Canadian Practice. Weimar, TX: C.H.I.P.S. Books. Huber, D.L. (2006). Leadership and Nursing Care Management (3rd ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Saunders Elsevier. Kelloway, E.K., Teed,M. & Prosser, M. (2008). Leading to a Healthy Workplace. In A.Kinder, R.Hughes & C.Cooper (Eds.), Employee Well-being Support: A Workplace Resource (pp 25-38). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. Klainberg, M. & Dirschel, K.M. (2010). Today’s Nursing Leader: Managing, Succeeding, Excelling. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers. Rout, U. and Rout, J., 2002. Stress Management for Primary Health Care Professionals. New York: Plenum Publishers. Shirey, M.R. (2006). Practice Authentic Leaders Creating Healthy Work Environments for Nursing. American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, 15 (3), 256-267. Read More