GCU NUR514 Organizational Leadership and Informatics- Week 2 Assignment

Leadership Style Reflective Essay

Reflective practice is an important part of the nursing profession and leadership as it allows nurses and their leaders to acquire leadership attributes and understand their style of leadership. Reflection enables nurse leaders and practitioners to learn from their experiences and know weak areas and the need for future improvement (Porter-O’Grady et al., 2019). Reflective practice shows one’s strengths and initiatives that one can take to improve so that one succeeds in their assigned roles, duties, and responsibilities (Barker, 2021). The purpose of this paper is to offer a reflective account of myself based on three different assessment tools that I have taken. The paper also identifies a leadership style that aligns with my care philosophy and highlights elements of the leadership model that I should incorporate as well as areas of improvement. The paper also analyzes the features of an effective professional nurse leader and different leadership theories and styles.

Rationale and Brief Summary of Self-Assessment

Nurse leaders must be self-aware to improve overall care provision as they deal with patients in different areas. consequently, I took three tests that include a personality test, an emotional intelligence test, and a learning style assessment. The rationale for the personality test allows one to ascertain the effect of their personality on the perception of nursing situations and the environment. I wanted to know if my personality has an impact on the decisions that I make in care provision. The personality test revealed that I have a significant percentage of extraversion at about 68% and introversion at 32%. The personality test also showed that my energy is 57% observant and 43% intuitive. The test also showed that I rely on feelings at 68% compared to 32% prospection. The test also showed that my identity is 62% assertive and 38% turbulent.

The emotional intelligence test is critical as it allows nurses and nurse leaders to understand their ability to deal with a host of situations. I wanted to gain insight into my ability to respond to critical moments that require the use of critical thinking and problem-solving abilities. Emotionally intelligent nurse leaders and nurses are effective in their work as they understand the implementation of better interventions to attain quality outcomes and accomplish their tasks. The emotional intelligence test showed that I had 69% implying that I am soundly skilled in the identification, perception, and expression of emotions in others and even myself.

The learning style test was essential as it allows one to understand their ability to learn in a host of environments. Studies show the need for nurses to embrace lifelong learning to transform the healthcare industry by adopting best practices from research and clinical experience as well as patient preferences (Porter-O’Grady et al., 2019). The assessment of my learning style revealed that I had ten in kinesthetic, two in reading and writing, five in aural, and one in zero. The implication is that I learn mainly through observation.

Leadership Style Aligning with my Care Philosophy

Through intense analysis and self-reflection, I have realized that the servant leadership and transformation leadership models are the ones that align with my philosophy of care. Servant leadership means seeking the good of others at the expense of self. Servant leaders focus on improving the welfare of their followers and serving them. Transformational leaders focus on changing the status quo and improving care delivery (Barker, 2021). Therefore, these styles are essential for nurse leaders to impact their subordinates and inspire them to offer quality care.

My philosophy of care entails serving others using the best possible interventions to meet their preferences and conditions. servant and transformational leaders have a strong sense to serve and change their followers while ensuring the best interactions and relationships among members of their teams. These leaders listen, empathize, and uphold integrity as well as values and ethics to attain better patient outcomes. Therefore, these styles are essential in ensuring that I attain the expected patient care outcomes.

Incorporation of Elements of the Leadership Style

One needs to understand their strengths and weaknesses to make an effective leader. The use of these assessments allowed me to understand that I lacked self-reflection, and emotional intelligence and was not aware of my actions and decisions. As an effective leader, the lack of these aspects impairs my ability to offer remedies and solutions to issues in the practice environment and among the team members (Kibbe & Chen, 2019). Therefore, enhancing listening, building communities and effective learning from all members and other stakeholders would be critical in improving my leadership attributes and hence effective delivery of quality care to patients.

Areas of Self-Improvement and Steps to Enhance Leadership Capabilities

Self-awareness requires one to have a better understanding of leadership abilities and capacities. The assessment helped identify certain areas that need improvement. These include communication, the development of the relationship with team members and all stakeholders, as well as being empathetic to situations. The assessments also showed the need to incorporate emotional intelligence in situations that patients and other providers can face in care provision and delivery (Thomas, 2018). The assessment also showed the need for me to improve my personality by developing a more assertive identity through confidence-building, particularly when making decisions that support a patient’s life. I should also improve on how I handle colleagues and avoid being judgmental. More specifically, I should avoid using intuition when making a judgment in health situations. Situations require contingent approaches as opposed to being rigid in decision-making.

Characteristics of Effect Professional Nurse Leader

An effective nurse leader assists in the development of a common or convergent approach to care provision through the use of systems and employees. The nurse coordinates, integrates, and facilitates different services and applications to help patients. Individuals seek meaning in their lives and purpose at work. Effective nurse leader has to constantly reflect on their character and quality of work (Kibbe & Chen, 2019). The sustainability and success of an organization arise from individual and collective responsibility and the performance of all people. The leader must demonstrate openness and transparency to be a valued leader. The leader must be a role model to inspire and motivate their team to perform and be productive. They must show their commitment and engagement with their employees, be transformative, and be observant to avoid any situations that may affect the overall care delivery among the nursing staff members (Barker, 2021). An effective leader should also be reflective, serve the followers, and be transformative to improve the quality of care offered to patients. More importantly, an effective leader must bear the vision and mission of their organization and strategize while advancing the meaning and purpose as well as better welfare of the employees.

Application of Leadership Theory and Style

Different leadership models continue to emerge since the 1930s. However, the transformational leadership style is the most appropriate in modern health settings. The style is the most effective in a health care setting since it is founded on teamwork and focuses on the attainment of a common goal irrespective of individual concepts that may arise. The leadership model embeds honest, open, and effective communication to build positive interpersonal relationships among team members. The style entails team leaders communicating the team vision in a manner to motivate and empower the followers or subordinates (Gandolfi & Stone, 2018). The team leader inspires better loyalty and confidence resulting in increased levels of engagement, achievement, and performance.

The theory shapes the nurse leader to develop a collaborative approach to care delivery and seek consensus when a conflict arises to attain a resolution. It also helps nurse leaders develop better ways to decide on engagement and involvement. The model ensures that leaders can negotiate by inspiring and motivating the team members to be effective and perform better to deliver quality care.

Conclusion

Understanding one’s attributes based on their strengths and weak areas is essential for nurses and nurse leaders. The paper shows that personal assessments based on three different tests are essential for one to develop better leadership attributes and improve on areas that have weaknesses. The implication is that these tests ensure that one can adopt a leadership style and attributes to be better nurses and nurse leaders to offer quality care to patients.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

Barker, A. M. (2021). Influencing and leading change in the complex healthcare environment:

The role of the advanced practice nurse. In S. M. Denisco (Ed.), Advanced practice

nursing: Essential knowledge for the profession (4th ed., pp. 149–163). Jones & Bartlett

Learning

Gandolfi, F., & Stone, S. (2018). Leadership, Leadership Styles, and Servant Leadership.

Journal of Management Research, 18(4), 261-269. https://search-ebscohost-com.lopes.idm.oclc.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=132968632&site=eds-live&scope=site

Kibbe, M. R., & Chen, H. (Eds.). (2019). Leadership in surgery. Springer International

Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19854-1

Mansel, B., & Einion, A. (2019). ‘It’s the relationship you develop with them’: emotional

intelligence in nurse leadership. A qualitative study. British Journal of Nursing.

https://doi.org/10.12968/bjon.2019.28.21.1400

Thomas, J.S. (2018). Applying servant leadership in practice. Nursing Leadership and

Management: Leading and Serving. 1, Ch. 3. https://lc.gcumedia.com/nrs451vn/nursing-leadership-and-mangement-leading-and-serving/v1.1/#/chapter/3

Porter-O’Grady, T., Weberg, D. R., Mangold, K. & Malloch, K. (2019). Leadership in Nursing

Practice: Changing the landscape of health care. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett.

PsychTests AIM Inc. (2022a). Big five personality test [Measurement instrument].

https://testyourself.psychtests.com/testid/4059

PsychTests AIM Inc. (2022b). Emotional intelligence test [Measurement instrument].

https://testyourself.psychtests.com/testid/3979

This assignment focuses on the importance of self-assessment and reflection.

Marie and Colleen, I really appreciate your above conversation. Colleen, I find your leadership and problem-solving advice very helpful. When I am presented with a conflict involving others, I tend to automatically assume that I need to solve it even though I know that it is more beneficial to help lead people to find their own solutions. I like your tactic of purposefully pausing and allowing the person speaking ample time to vent. I also agree that it is important to gather information from “both sides” of a conflict recognizing that we may not have a full understanding of the situation. Also, as Marie said, we work with people representing many cultures and we cannot assume that we know what someone is thinking or presume to know why they are behaving a certain way. This potential for ambiguity necessitates your tactic of asking someone involved in conflict to share their experience of the conflict before intervening.

Self-Assessment

Self-awareness is essential for developing leadership skills. Recognizing your own strengths, weaknesses, and values, and understanding emotional intelligence and learning styles can help you to be a more effective nurse leader.

For this assignment, you have the opportunity to take a variety of self-assessments to learn more about yourself and identify your assets and weaknesses as a leader. This will assist you in discovering how you can improve your own self-leadership skills. You will be asked to think critically about your results and submit a reflection as directed below.

Select three of the following self-assessments and complete them. Be sure to document the results of each assessment to assist you in completing the reflection portion of the assignment below.

Emotional Intelligence Assessment: “Emotional Intelligence Test”: ttps://www.psychologytoday.com/us/tests/personality/emotional-intelligence-test

Personality Assessment: “Free Personality Test”: https://www.16personalities.com/free-personality-test

Learning Styles Assessment: “Values Profile”: http://vark-learn.com/the-vark-questionnaire/

Values Assessment: “Values Profile”: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/tests/personality/values-profile

Values Assessment: “Rokeach Values Survey”: http://faculty.wwu.edu/tyrank/Rokeach%20Value%20Survey.pdf

Diversity Assessment: “Cultural Competence Self-Test”: https://www.oregon.gov/DHS/SENIORS-DISABILITIES/DD/PROVIDERS-PARTNERS/SCPAconference/Cultural%20Competence%20Self-Test.pdf

Self-Assessment Reflection

Becoming self-aware is an ongoing process requiring introspection. The more often people practice self-reflection, the more opportunities they have to understand their own behaviors and adapt their approaches to working with other people, which can improve both your own and other’s abilities to meet their professional goals.

In a 750-1,000 word reflective essay, address the following:

Briefly summarize why you selected each self-assessment and the results you obtained on each assessment.

Identify the leadership style that closely aligns to your philosophy of care, and explain what appeals to you about that style.

Reflect on how you might incorporate elements of that particular style as you exercise leadership in a practice or health care organization setting.

Discuss any particular areas for improvement the assessments helped you identify and some steps for improving your leadership capabilities.

You are required to cite three to five sources to complete this assignment. Sources must be published within the last 5 years and appropriate for the assignment criteria and nursing content.

Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required.

This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.

You are required to submit this assignment to LopesWrite. Refer to the LopesWrite Technical Support articles for assistance.

I believe that good leaders can often possess multiple types of leadership styles, however two styles that I feel best fit my values and beliefs are transformational and servant leadership. Transformational leadership was defined by James McGregor Burns (1978), as “two or more persons engage with others in such a way that the leader and followers raise one another to higher levels of motivation and morality” (as cited in DeNisco & Barker, 2019, p. 137). I personally think a motivated team is one that works together to achieve a common goal. As a leader, if you empower this and encourage this, you will see excellent results. Servant leadership for me is personal and something I continuously strive to be, as it truly fits my values and beliefs thanks to my faith and Christian upbringing. The values and key to being a servant leader includes: prioritizing service-helping those with the highest need, sharing power, demonstrate care, develop others, eschew wealth, build trust, and create a safe space (Montgomery, n.d.). As an educator, these styles of leadership, are so important, especially when working with new graduate nurses to help them to be successful.

Stephanie

DeNisco, S. M., & Barker, A. M. (2019). Advanced practice nursing: Essential knowledge for the profession (4th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning. ISBN-13: 9781284072570

Montgomery, A. (n.d.). Servant leadership style: 7 lessons for developing leaders. Servant Leadership Style: 7 Lessons for Developing Leaders. Retrieved November 27, 2022, from https://eml.usc.edu/blog/servant-leadership-style#:~:text=Refined%20by%20Greenleaf%20in%20the%201970%E2%80%99s%20servant%20leadership,ethics%204%20Drive%20to%20support%20others%20to%20success