Leadership Traits of Nursing Director - Personal Statement Example

?Running head: Leadership and Management Nursing Director Insert Insert Grade Insert 02 July Could you speak a bit about your background and the role you have today? Being a Nursing Director of a nursing home requires a lot of experience in the field. Therefore, it is obvious that after graduation an individual begins working as a regular nurse in a nursing home from where relevant experience is obtained. The roles of a nursing director are so wide that several considerations are made prior to the elevation to a leadership position. Hence, vast experience and long background is the key to elevation to the position of leadership. A person appointed as nursing director ought to possess a lengthy background in the nursing field. Being a managerial and leadership position the function of nursing director is awarded to an individual after a lengthy background in the management and service to the nursing home. A part from the academic credentials the personal profile of an individual as well as the necessary training is important. The role is challenging and involves the administration of all activities in the nursing home as well as ensuring that the employees are motivated to offer the best care services to clients. 2) How would you describe a leader? A leader is an individual with a vision and one who is able to motivate other people to play their part in achieving that vision. The essence of leadership is inspiration whereby a leader develops a way forward and inspires other people to embark on it towards the success of the idea. In the nursing field, leadership refers to the overall administration of the nursing home. The leader in this case must develop the right estimate of the requirements of the nursing home, which include human resources. Once the needs are identified the leader ensures that the nursing home has the relevant resources to ensure that it operates effectively. The best way to judge the success of a leader in a nursing home is by evaluating the quality of health care services offered in that respective nursing home. The ultimate role of a leader translates into the effective operation of the business unit, which implies the provision of services in a perfect manner. 3) What are important qualities or characteristics of leaders? There are several qualities of a good leader which include visionary, decision making, communication skills, organizational skills, planning and collaboration. These skills endow the leader with the required aptitudes to manage the function that come to leadership. Basically, a leader is the overall person in any organization and the prospects of the organization squarely depends on how effective the leadership function is. Among these many qualities of a good leader, some are more important than others. These include visionary, decision making and communication. A good leader should be visionary in order to set the vision of the organization. The primary role of a leader is the development of the course of action or vision to be followed by the organization. Therefore, a good leader should be in a position to establish the best vision for the organization; a vision that is ambitious and achievable. Similarly, a leader should posses credible decisions making skill to enable them make the decisions that steer the organization to greater heights of success. Communication is the essence of a leader because after developing a vision or making decisions, the leader must communicate it to the people and convince them to comply. 4) What is your personal philosophy of leadership? Leadership is a natural inclination of an individual towards the activities and events of life. In essence, leadership is natural and develops along with personality. Therefore, the natural inclination of a person determines what type of leader they become. The style of leadership adopted by the individual is determined by the person’s inclination of nature. Training is very important for successful leadership because through the training process it becomes possible to nurture the inherent leadership within an individual. However, training does not bestow leadership qualities in a person; the only purpose achieved by the training process is the nurturing and development of the inherent leadership potential, which is natural. Therefore, every leadership training program must consider the personal inclination of an individual in developing leadership. Leadership cannot be created artificially it can only be evolved through development. Understanding the natural essence of leadership and how a person’s personality contributes to their ability for leadership is the most important consideration. 5) What learning experiences have had the most influence on your own personal development as a leader? My personal development as a leader has been influenced by several factors among them the learning experiences that I have had in my lengthy career. In essence, leadership development is a wide course that takes place over an extended period that involves several experiences. Personally, leadership development has been accomplished through real leadership tasks that presented challenges that motivated me to pursue several courses of actions from which I learnt. Therefore, the development of my skill as a leader emanated from practical indulgence in the leadership function through making mistakes and learning from them. In the context of my role as a nursing director, leadership development was achieved through the previous leadership functions in the nursing home that offered pragmatic opportunities of learning through practice. Crises are the best avenues for leadership development owing to the fact that they present unique learning experiences that spur creativity and offer credible outcomes on the actions made. 6) How do you see leadership evolving in nursing today? Currently, there are diverse approaches to leadership in nursing that influence the evolution of the leadership function. Therefore, the development of leadership in nursing today is multifaceted and determined by several parameters that jointly determine the eventual leadership development function. However, in general, leadership in nursing today is evolving along the lines of academic qualification, experience and training. These are the three most important parameters that guide the leadership development paradigm. Since nursing is a profession, a lot of emphasis is laid on academic qualification. This is important because it gives the leader the required skills and understanding of the technical aspect of the nursing practice. Subsequently, experience is a process through which a potential leader obtains practical leadership skills through the normal process of being part of an organization. Training offers direct learning opportunity through which the skills and abilities of the leader are shaped to suit the required responsibilities. In addition to these three factors, other factors also influence leadership though to a much lesser extent. 7) What are the most challenging issues in your current position? My position as a nursing director is equally challenging owing to the fact that it encompasses the overall administration of the nursing home. Therefore, the roles of this position are equal to those of chief executive officer of a business organization. Supervising the activities of the nursing home is the most challenging task because it involves several functions among them coordinating the activities, overseeing the roles of other employees as well as ensuring that the duties assigned to them are achieved successfully. The role of supervision is quite challenging because it requires the leader to be available most of the time so as to make sure that all is in order. Similarly, it requires constant communication and interaction with employees and other participants in the nursing home which can be quite demanding regarding time and effort. Another very challenging task is decision making, which is the core function of a leader. Making a decision is tough because any mistakes in decision making can have disastrous results. 8) As a leader (or manager) in your career, have you had a mentor? If so, how did this influence your leadership style? Mentorship is very important in personal leadership development because it offers an opportunity for an individual to obtain guidance on leadership from senior people with experience. Without mentorship, it is quite difficult to develop leadership potential. The nursing director has benefited from mentorship in the development of leadership potential. The mentor was a senior leader in the nursing home who identified potential and assisted in developing it to full potential. Therefore, the nursing director derived a lot from the mentorship, which prepared a way for eventual leadership. The process of developing leadership is usually lengthy and complicated, and the presence of a mentor makes it quite convenient and confers several benefits including opportunities for leadership practice in organizations. 9) What advice would you give someone who is aspiring to a leadership position? My advice to a person aspiring to a leadership position is that he or she should identify a mentor in the place of work who will offer guidance on how to develop leadership skills. Secondly, the person should take up leadership positions on a volunteer basis, which will provide the required practical experience. The person should understand that leadership development takes time and should be committed towards nurturing the inherent leadership qualities that are crucial for future career prospects. Finally, a person aspiring for the leadership position must identify their specific career path and stay committed to their roles in that particular career. Read More