Leadership Styles in Professional Nursing - Dissertation Example

? Leadership Styles in Professional Nursing of Leadership Styles in Professional Nursing Introduction Leadership styles in nursing are important to understand because they can mean the difference between a head nurse being successful on a ward or not being successful (Kenmore, 2006). Head nurses are particularly responsible for having a leaderships style that works will with people because how they lead will determine whether other nurses improve their performance (Boumans and Landeweerd, 1993). The purpose of this paper is to examine two different leadership styles and show how they are used in practice and how these leadership styles can enhance or diminish nursing practice. Review of the Professional Nursing Literature The literature does not support that there are specific learning styles for nurses. Instead, it suggests that there are many traits that go into forming an effective leader. As an example, Boumans and Landerweerd (1993) suggest that leaders must have "clinical knowledge, people orientation, communication skills, reality orientation, the ability to identify problems and to delegate responsibility" (p. 768). These skills were stated to be those that made a positive impact on the nurses that were supervised. Most leadership styles have their base in social leadership if the nurse is effective. Boumans and Landerweerd found in their study that when social leadership was presented, the nurses under their leadership felt that their job had meaning and they felt increased job satisfaction. Also, the social leadership style promotes more positive health and well being than a style that is more dictatorial or direct. Sellgren, Ekvall, and Tomson (2006) state that nursing leadership styles are more involved with the characteristics that leaders have rather than having a specific style. There are preferred traits that are more important as well. In their style, communication was the highest ranking trait that a leader ship exhibit. This goes along with what Boumans and Landerweerd found. Therefore, communication is one of the most important aspects of a nurse's leadership style. There should also be a way to communicate the leader's needs in specific ways that are understandable to their subordinates. This will bring about a happier group of nurses on the ward (Sellgren, Ekvall, and Tomson, 2006). Kenmore (2008) found that the styles that most nurses used were either affiliative or coaching. Affiliative leaders work well when everything is running smoothly and when staff is highly motivated. The afffiliative style creates harmony and the style also works well when teams need to be healed or when staff needs motivating. When a leader has a more coaching orientation to leadership, they are more interested in improving staff's professional development and they work best when employees need to be motivated. Kenmore's research study found that in general, nurses used a variety of leadership styles in their leadership instead of working from one orientation. Usually, they would use four to six leadership styles in what they did. Kenmore also states that top leaders had the following traits: 1. They gave clear expectations to their staff. 2. They set clear and challenging goals and gave feedback to staff and gave assistance for staff to improve their performance. 3. Created and enforced rules or procedures that wre necessary without a lot of bureaucracy. 4. They created environments where staff could cooperate, interact collaboratively, and feel proud that they belonged to their wards. These four traits provided staff with a pleasant atmosphere to work within that helped the staff find a sense of belonging on their jobs. Hughes (2005) researched nurses and their understanding of professional development and how it worked towards their leadership style. What Hughes found was that nurses needed to continue their professional development if they wanted to move forward as nurses. The professional development helped nurses acquire the skills, knowledge and motivation to progress in their careers. Although this does not directly relate to their leadership styles, it does suggest that in order to develop leadership styles nurses must continue their professional development. Application of Clinical Example On the ward where I work, the head nurse has several leadership styles, depending on what she is doing. As an example, when she is talking to staff about the needs of the ward, she is more direct in her style. Nurses who work for her understand what she wants them to do and what the ward is supposed to be like. When she is dealing with us on a one-on-one basis, she uses a coaching leadership style. She wants us to know she is there for us when we have problems and when we need to work through a situation with a patient. She makes it very easy to talk to her and she seems to have a social leadership style, because she is very people oriented. Our head nurse also has a strong communication style and she models for her staff how to communicate well with others. The staff is encouraged to bring ideas and suggestions to the head nurse and to report any problems or good things that can happen on the ward. I always feel good with the head nurse because I know she appreciates our work. I have also observed this nurse with patients and see that she is very interested in the patient and has active listening skills. She attempts to make each patient comfortable and she makes sure that he family understands what procedures are going to be used in the hospital for the patient and she answers any questions necessary for them to feel comfortable. Conclusion Leadership styles in nursing seem to be more difficult to define than in other industries. Perhaps one of the reasons is because a majority of nurses are women and they are used to multi-tasking. Perhaps multi-tasking means that they will use the styles that work for them without sticking to one particular style. In the literature that was reviewed for this paper, it was clear that specific leadership styles were not as important as the traits that the nurses developed. Constantly, it was said that communication and social leadership were the most important traits that a nurse could have when they were leading a ward. In my own experience, the idea that the nurses had more than one specific learning style is shown. On the ward where I work, the nurse uses different leadership styles for each of the situations she finds herself in. As an example, when she is working with us one-on-one, she is more communicative and caring in her approach. She uses a coaching style rather than a direct style with us. However, in describing what she wants us to do or when she needs something specific completed, she uses a more direct style. Leadership style seems to depend on what the leader wants to accomplish. If they are in a situation that requires a more direct approach, that style is used, but if they are in a situation that requires them to be more compassionate, a style that is more social is used. In most of nursing, it seems that there are a variety of ways that leadership can be approached (according to the literature) but that a nurse should concentrate on developing the traits that are important instead of adhering to on specific style. References Boumans, N.P. G., and Landeweerd, J.A. (1993). Leadership in the nursing unit: relationships with nurses' well-being. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 18, 767-775. Retrieved from CINAHL database. Hughes, E. (2005). Nurses' perceptions of continuing professional development Nursing Standard,19, (43): 41-9. Retrieved from CINAHL database. Kenmore, P. (2008). Exploring leadership styles. Nursing Management, 15 (1). 24-28. Retrieved from CINAHL database. Sellgren, S., Ekvall, G., and Tomson, G. (2005). Leadership styles in nursing management: Preferred and perceived. Journal of Nursing Management, 14, 348-355. Retrieved from CINAHL database. Read More