APA Assignment: Leadership Style Reflective Essay NUR 514

APA Assignment: Leadership Style Reflective Essay NUR 514

Grand Canyon University APA Assignment: Leadership Style Reflective Essay NUR 514– Step-By-Step Guide

 

This guide will demonstrate how to complete the Grand Canyon University   APA Assignment: Leadership Style Reflective Essay NUR 514 assignment based on general principles of academic writing. Here, we will show you the A, B, Cs of completing an academic paper, irrespective of the instructions. After guiding you through what to do, the guide will leave one or two sample essays at the end to highlight the various sections discussed below.

 

How to Research and Prepare for   APA Assignment: Leadership Style Reflective Essay NUR 514                                   

 

Whether one passes or fails an academic assignment such as the Grand Canyon University  APA Assignment: Leadership Style Reflective Essay NUR 514 depends on the preparation done beforehand. The first thing to do once you receive an assignment is to quickly skim through the requirements. Once that is done, start going through the instructions one by one to clearly understand what the instructor wants. The most important thing here is to understand the required format—whether it is APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.

 

After understanding the requirements of the paper, the next phase is to gather relevant materials. The first place to start the research process is the weekly resources. Go through the resources provided in the instructions to determine which ones fit the assignment. After reviewing the provided resources, use the university library to search for additional resources. After gathering sufficient and necessary resources, you are now ready to start drafting your paper.

 

How to Write the Introduction for   APA Assignment: Leadership Style Reflective Essay NUR 514                                   

 

The introduction for the Grand Canyon University  APA Assignment: Leadership Style Reflective Essay NUR 514 is where you tell the instructor what your paper will encompass. In three to four statements, highlight the important points that will form the basis of your paper. Here, you can include statistics to show the importance of the topic you will be discussing. At the end of the introduction, write a clear purpose statement outlining what exactly will be contained in the paper. This statement will start with “The purpose of this paper…” and then proceed to outline the various sections of the instructions.

 

How to Write the Body for   APA Assignment: Leadership Style Reflective Essay NUR 514                                   

 

After the introduction, move into the main part of the   APA Assignment: Leadership Style Reflective Essay NUR 514 assignment, which is the body. Given that the paper you will be writing is not experimental, the way you organize the headings and subheadings of your paper is critically important. In some cases, you might have to use more subheadings to properly organize the assignment. The organization will depend on the rubric provided. Carefully examine the rubric, as it will contain all the detailed requirements of the assignment. Sometimes, the rubric will have information that the normal instructions lack.

 

Another important factor to consider at this point is how to do citations. In-text citations are fundamental as they support the arguments and points you make in the paper. At this point, the resources gathered at the beginning will come in handy. Integrating the ideas of the authors with your own will ensure that you produce a comprehensive paper. Also, follow the given citation format. In most cases, APA 7 is the preferred format for nursing assignments.

 

How to Write the Conclusion for   APA Assignment: Leadership Style Reflective Essay NUR 514                                   

 

After completing the main sections, write the conclusion of your paper. The conclusion is a summary of the main points you made in your paper. However, you need to rewrite the points and not simply copy and paste them. By restating the points from each subheading, you will provide a nuanced overview of the assignment to the reader.

 

How to Format the References List for   APA Assignment: Leadership Style Reflective Essay NUR 514                                   

 

The very last part of your paper involves listing the sources used in your paper. These sources should be listed in alphabetical order and double-spaced. Additionally, use a hanging indent for each source that appears in this list. Lastly, only the sources cited within the body of the paper should appear here.

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Sample Answer for APA Assignment: Leadership Style Reflective Essay NUR 514

Leadership skills are considered important in management as it helps individuals achieve personal and professional success in an organization. Even though people tend to have different leadership skills, it is important to take into account leadership styles that befit a given set of an organization to improve the quality of management (Parush & Koivunen, 2014). Often, inculcating effective leadership styles requires one to undertake self-reflection to learn about different approaches that will guide in making decisions. However, based on the trait theory of leadership, the ability to lead a team is a concept that one can acquire and develop throughout time. Guided by this argument, I will use self-assessment tools to assess my leadership strengths. I will avail results of the self-assessment tests and provide a brief explanation of areas for improvement to develop my future leadership styles.

Selected Self-Assessments and the Results

Emotional intelligence assessment is the first option to gauge my ability to lead. The self-awareness test is based on the analysis of emotions and how they influence our interactions with people. Emotions determine how a leader manages anger issues and also helps one to solve conflicts among subjects (Presbitero, 2017). Emotional intelligence also explores the ability of a person to communicate effectively with members of a team and therefore is considered one of the vital skills in leadership. Based on the test undertaken, my emotional intelligence results are 120 and this reveals that I am flawless. In other words, I follow perfection in achieving the outcomes of a given task. I also strive to ensure that activities are done as per the plan and also try as much as possible to avoid mistakes in doing my work.

The second self-assessment test taken involves a personality assessment. This assessment focuses on the analysis of traits of an individual to ascertain whether a person is fit for leadership or can settle as a subject to be led by others. According to leadership theories, people can have inherent traits that give them a competitive edge of others (Nanjundeswaraswamy & Swamy, 2014). Personality traits like confidence can make one stand out to be a good leader especially in situations where tough decisions are to be made. As per the test undertaken, my personality assessment tests indicate that I am an advocate. In essence, I tend to evaluate the circumstances before making a judgment. I also use intuition to direct mental energy in solving pertinent issues that arise in the current place of work. My identity reveals that I am confident when making decisions in the organization.

The third self-awareness test selected was a value assessment. The evaluation approach provides a brief description of the motivation of a person. The assessment is vital as it determines the behavior of a person based on what one considers as more important in life (Sutherland & Jelinek, 2015). As per the tests on value assessment, my results indicate a high score for instrumental values. The premise means that I use logic, intellect, and self-control when making a judgment in the health facility. I am also ambitions, honest, courageous and forgiving when working with colleagues.

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Leadership Style that aligns to Philosophy of Care

Flawless as a result of my emotional intelligence test closely aligns with my philosophy of care. The approach focuses on perfection and yielding positive results. Flawless trait encourages people to do good by following the clearly developed standards of procedure in an organization (Tuleja, 2014). With this, limited conflicts related to insubordination and neglect of duties are avoided. Besides, flawless trait strengthens the working of a given system as it requires people to work as per the stipulated protocols.

Incorporating Elements of Flawless Trait during Practice of Leadership

Even though human beings may not achieve 100% perfection, the flawless trait will enable me to motivate my team to achieve the best as per their abilities. Often, clinical practice requires utmost accuracy by using the available clinical guidelines to optimize quality care to patients (Sutherland & Jelinek, 2015). With the flawless trait, I will motivate my team to be accurate in using the recommended practice of care to avoid errors in clinical procedures related to negligence (Nanjundeswaraswamy & Swamy, 2014). The style will also help me to organize shift hours among the health care team. Through this approach, shift hours will be equitably distributed to limit burnout due to unbalanced distribution of duties. I believe this will foster positive interactions among the healthcare staff and enhance cooperation among the team as they strive to provide quality services to patients (Parush & Koivunen, 2014).

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Areas for Improvement

Through the self-assessment tests, I realize that I need to improve my personality. Particularly, I need to develop an identity of being assertive and confident, especially when making tough decisions that support the life of patients (Tuleja, 2014). Besides, I need to improve my tactics in dealing with colleagues at work. I tend to use negative judgment towards health staff who are not perfect in their work and this often compromises the effectiveness of my leadership (Presbitero, 2017). I also have the challenge of using intuition to make a judgment in all situations within the health setting. I believe that some situations require observation rather than intuition to solve and therefore I purpose to be more observant when dealing with health staff.

Conclusion

The effectiveness of a leader depends on the personality traits that they possess. The assessment revealed the personality traits that I possess while also showing the areas that need improvements. The assessment conducted herein therefore allows me to know that kind of a leader that I am and what I can do to improve.

References

Nanjundeswaraswamy, T. S., & Swamy, D. R. (2014). Leadership styles. Advances in management, 7(2), 57.

Parush, T., & Koivunen, N. (2014). Paradoxes, double binds, and the construction of ‘creative’managerial selves in art-based leadership development. Scandinavian Journal of Management, 30(1), 104-113.

Presbitero, A. (2017). It’s not all about language ability: motivational cultural intelligence matters in call center performance. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 28(11), 1547-1562.

Sutherland, I., & Jelinek, J. (2015). From experiential learning to aesthetic knowing: The arts in leadership development. Advances in Developing Human Resources, 17(3), 289-306.

Tuleja, E. A. (2014). Developing cultural intelligence for global leadership through mindfulness. Journal of Teaching in International Business, 25(1), 5-24.

Sample Answer 2 for APA Assignment: Leadership Style Reflective Essay NUR 514

Leadership is the capability to influence an individual or group towards achieving common goals. It involves aligning individuals towards a common goal and empowering them to take the measures needed to attain them (Cope & Murray, 2017). This paper includes a reflection of my leadership self-assessment and will discuss the leadership style consistent with my philosophy of care, characteristics of an effective nurse leader, and leadership styles that support the leader.

Summary of Self-Assessment Selections and Results

The self-assessment tests selected for this assignment included a Personality Test, Learning style using the VARK questionnaire, and Value Assessment. The aim of taking the personality test was to help me comprehend how my personality impacts various aspects of my life. Besides, I took the learning styles test to get insight into how I process new information and identify my preferred learning strategy. The VARK questionnaire suggests the learning strategies that individuals should utilize to improve their understanding capacity and perform learning activities more effectively. The purpose of taking the Value Assessment was to understand my values, primary work needs and motivations, and identify the things I consider important. In addition, I wanted to gain insight into who I am, what I treasure, what distresses me, and what guides my decisions since they are all related to my values.

In the Personality Test, I scored 34. The results denoted that I am mostly introverted with some extroverted tendencies.  The Personality test results also revealed that I enjoy others’ company but am opposed to spending time on my own. Besides, I can handle teamwork to some degree, have no difficulties attending social gatherings, and prefer to spend most of my time alone or with small groups. The results of the Learning style assessment were as follows: Visual-5, Aural-8, Read/write-13, and Kinesthetic-10. The Read/write learning style was the most prominent. The results showed that I prefer to learn using formats such as graphs, diagrams, maps, listening, discussing, talking, questioning, handouts, and taking notes. Lastly, the Value Assessment test results showed that my dominant values are traditional, social, and theoretical. My influencing values are realistic, political, and aesthetic, and I have no minor values.

Leadership Style That Aligns With Philosophy of Care

My philosophy emphasizes treating everyone like I would like to be treated. It incorporates the 5 C’s in nursing: compassion, confidence, conscience, competence, and commitment.  A nurse should demonstrate compassion by empathizing with the patient and family to demonstrate that they are aware of what the patient and the family are experiencing and feeling in their situation. In my nursing practice, I show compassion by trying to understand what illness means to a patient and getting prepared to assist and view the difficult situation as the patient does. I believe that nurses should give faith and hope to the patients by reassuring them that the treatment and care provided and their caregivers are essential for their physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being.

The Transformational leadership style best aligns with my philosophy of care.  A transformational leader shows commitment, has a vision and empowers others with this vision. Vision is the fundamental nature of transformational leadership (Lai et al., 2020).  It refers to the ability to envision some future state and illustrate it to others so they can start to share the dream. By sharing the vision, the transformational leader empowers followers to get to a mutual understanding and create a sense of connection (Lai et al., 2020).  Transformational leadership style matches my philosophy since I am able to bring change due to my futuristic focus, creativity, values, and innovations. When caring for patients, I picture the health state I would want to see my patients, create patient goals, and research evidence to guide my interventions in achieving these goals.

How to Incorporate Elements of the Leadership Style

Transformational leadership is characterized by an interactive relationship founded on trust that positively impacts leaders and followers. I can integrate elements of transformational leadership when exercising leadership in a health care organization setting by engaging stakeholders, including employees, from when a change intervention is proposed so that we can go through the change journey together. I can begin by identifying common values among the employees in the organization and then creating a vision that will steer change in the organization.  After developing the vision, I will communicate it to the employees, inspire them with the vision, and empower them to achieve it. Lastly, I have a major role in creating a supportive and informal culture within the organization that will support creativity and innovation among the employees.

Areas for Self-Improvement

Areas of improvement based on the self-assessment tests include increasing my ability to welcome and respect others’ opinions even if I do not fully agree with them. To be a transformational leader, I will need to inspire people to be creative and give them opportunities to be innovative and execute their ideas. In addition, I realized that I have a challenge acknowledging that I was wrong. Therefore, I need to improve by accepting and acknowledging my shortcomings to motivate others to take similar actions. Furthermore, I identified that I have a stubborn trait, which I need to improve on to embrace new ideas, especially those I disagree with.

Characteristics of Effective Professional Nurse Leader

An effective nurse leader should demonstrate the following characteristics, excellent communication skills, commitment to excellence, integrity, emotional intelligence, and critical thinking skills. Excellent communication skills are vital for a leader to effectively interact with interdisciplinary care teams and give directions to nurses in the organization. A nurse leader should be committed to excellence in patient care to inspire other nurses to put more effort towards providing high-quality care (Al Khajeh, 2018). In addition, they should exhibit integrity by being honest and trustworthy in their acts and upholding ethical standards. Integrity is vital for leadership since it motivates other nurses to serve patients with integrity and uphold ethics when making patient care decisions.  Emotional intelligence is crucial for nurse leaders as it enables them to appreciate nurses’ contributions to the organization and cultivate a healthy environment (Coladonato & Manning, 2017). Lastly, a nurse leader should be a critical thinker to make complex patient care and managerial decisions. Critical thinking skills are essential in the interdisciplinary collaboration of patient care.

Application of Leadership Theory and Style Different Personal Style

Transactional theory and democratic leadership style are effective for nursing leadership. A transactional leader is a traditional manager concerned with everyday operations. The leader focuses on management tasks and uses contingency rewards (Hussain et al., 2017). Transactional theory shapes the leader in collaboration, conflict resolution, and decision making as the leader learns to use organizational policies and rewards and punishments to foster collaboration and negotiate with employees.

In the democratic style, employees are encouraged to take part in decision-making. The democratic leader keeps the employees up to date on every issue affecting their work and shares responsibilities in decision-making and problem-solving (Cope & Murray, 2017). The democratic style shapes the nurse leader in collaboration, decision making, and conflict resolution since the leader employs cooperative decision approaches to get ideas from the employees. Besides, it motivates employees and instills confidence which promotes collaboration.

Conclusion

The self-assessment results revealed that I am introverted, have a read/write learning style, and my dominant values are traditional, social, and theoretical. My philosophy of care aligns with transformational leadership.   Visioning is the highlight of a transformational leader and enables nurses to create an image of an ultimate future. An effective nurse leader should have excellent communication skills, commitment to excellence, integrity, emotional intelligence, and critical thinking skills.  Transactional theory and democratic leadership style shape the nurse leader in collaboration, decision making, and conflict resolution.

 References

Al Khajeh, E. H. (2018). Impact of leadership styles on organizational performance. Journal of Human Resources Management Research, 2018, 1-10. https://doi.org/10.5171/2018.687849

Coladonato, A. R., & Manning, M. L. (2017). Nurse leader emotional intelligence: How does it affect clinical nurse job satisfaction?. Nursing Management, 48(9), 26-32. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.NUMA.0000522174.00393.f2

Cope, V., & Murray, M. (2017). Leadership Styles in Nursing. Nursing standard (Royal College of Nursing (Great Britain): 1987), 31(43), 61-70. https://doi.org/10.7748/ns.2017.e10836

Hussain, S. T., & Abbas, J. Lei., Haider, MJ, and Tayyaba Akram, T. (2017). Transactional leadership and organizational creativity: Examining the mediating role of knowledge sharing behavior. Cogent Business and Management, 4(1), 1-25. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2017.1361663

Lai, F. Y., Tang, H. C., Lu, S. C., Lee, Y. C., & Lin, C. C. (2020). Transformational leadership and job performance: the mediating role of work engagement. SAGE Open, 10(1), 2158244019899085. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244019899085

Sample Answer 3 for APA Assignment: Leadership Style Reflective Essay NUR 514

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

Sample Answer 4 for APA Assignment: Leadership Style Reflective Essay NUR 514

The current nursing practice continues to evolve in multiple aspects in response to the complex patient needs. This evolution requires nursing professionals and leaders to understand their abilities and apply strengths appropriately. Self-assessments are highly effective for nurses to understand their behaviors for healthy relationships with others and professional excellence. Self-awareness also helps nurses to adjust appropriately and work on their weaknesses. The purpose of this paper is to discuss my self-assessment results and leadership application in nursing.

Summary of Self-Assessment Selections and Results

Various tests provide different information about individual behavior, strengths, and weaknesses. The first test selected for the self-assessment was the emotional intelligence test. Lambert (2021) described emotional intelligence as a critical success factor for effective nursing leadership and management characterized by the ability to understand one’s feelings and effectively respond to those of others. Hence, this test was chosen to evaluate my ability to deal with emotions. The other test was the learning styles assessment through the VARK (visual, aural, read/write, and kinesthetic) questionnaire. Since nurses should continually improve their knowledge and skills, understanding how they learn best is essential for professional growth and development. The third test was the cultural competence self-test. In health care delivery, cultural competence involves awareness of the influence of social and cultural factors on patients’ health choices (Kaihlanen et al., 2019). I selected this test to assess my ability to deal with culturally diverse individuals and groups.

Self-assessment results accurately reflect nurses’ strengths and critical improvement areas. The emotional intelligence test revealed my type as the empath. With a score of 80/100 (self-awareness) and 96/100 (empathy), I can easily understand and empathize with the emotional experiences of others (Appendix A). Concerning learning styles, I am multimodal: visual- 7, aural- 4, read/write- 2, kinesthetic- 7 (Appendix B). On cultural competence, I scored highly (50/54) in the evaluation areas, particularly communication (Appendix C). These scores will help me to maximize my strengths for effective patient care and leadership while addressing my underperformance areas.

Leadership Style Aligning with my Philosophy of Care

Nursing leaders use different approaches to influence policies, decisions, and patient care outcomes. Concerning my philosophy of care, health professionals should prioritize patient needs and ensure adequate resources and preparedness to respond effectively. Accordingly, the primary purpose of nursing is to address patient needs through active interactions, support, and empathy. The servant leadership style aligns with my care philosophy since it emphasizes serving others. As Canavesi and Minelli (2022) stated, servant leaders put others’ needs first, implying they do not prioritize their concerns. Such an approach is crucial for patient-centered care, where the treatment plans are tailored to address the patient’s specific needs.

Prioritizing others’ needs appeals to me the most about servant leadership. The implication is that servant leaders are determined to explore others’ needs and ensure their interests do not prevent them from achieving the desired organizational goals. The other encouraging attribute of servant leadership is such leaders’ commitment to the growth of their followers. Servant leaders prioritize their followers’ growth, well-being, and empowerment to foster an inclusive workplace (Thao & Kang, 2020). Inclusivity and a desire to cooperate with colleagues are vital in care coordination and for successful interdisciplinary care.

 

Incorporating Elements of the Leadership Style

Successful leadership involves implementing aspects that maximize outcomes and instill the right values. One way of incorporating servant leadership elements while exercising leadership is prioritizing others’ needs before mine. A suitable example is when workers are overwhelmed, and I assist accordingly to prevent burnout. Another way of incorporating servant leadership in routine practice is promoting positive interactions to serve others for the greater good. For instance, embracing teamwork to address a patient’s complex needs comprehensively aligns with the fundamental principles of servant leadership.

Self-Improvement Areas and Steps to Improve Leadership Capabilities

Current and emerging nursing leaders should work on their weaknesses to improve their productivity and influence. A key improvement area based on the assessment results is the emotional control aspect of emotional intelligence, where I scored 19/100 (Appendix A). Improving this area is essential for effective control of emotional experiences. Malinowska-Lipień et al. (2021) underlined the importance of emotional control to enable individuals to overcome negative experiences, job stressors, and bad moods that can inhibit their productivity and interprofessional interactions. I should improve in this construct by identifying activities that cheer me quickly and implementing them regularly. Self-care practices such as meditation and exercise therapies will also help me avoid bad moods as I strive to become a better leader overall.

Characteristics of Effective Professional Nurse Leader

Nursing can only succeed when driven by forward-thinking leadership. An effective professional nurse leader should excel in communication, problem-solving, and integrity. Communication involves information transmission to guide nursing teams in executing their routine tasks. Besides preventing workplace conflicts, effective communication skills foster positive patient and staff experiences (Brooks et al., 2019). Excellent problem-solving is primarily about the leaders’ ability to formulate measures for overcoming obstacles. Therefore, nursing leaders should be advanced in analyzing and solving practice problems. Integrity involves being honest and integrating the appropriate ethical principles in leadership. These characteristics are vital for effective leadership in nursing since healthy leaders-followers relationships depend on clear communication. The implication is that excellent communication enables employees to work productively to realize organizational goals. Workplace problems, including technology challenges, inadequate workforce, and burnout, require excellent problem-solving skills. Integrity ensures nursing leaders instill a positive workplace culture and that followers look upon them for guidance, mentorship, and everyday support.

Application of Leadership Theory and Different Personal Style

Leadership theories and styles influence nursing leadership differently. The transformational leadership theory’s fundamental principle is motivating employees towards a shared vision through idealized influence (Saad Alessa, 2021). As a result, a transformational leader envisions a particular outcome and motivates followers to achieve it by working together for a common purpose. Besides idealized influence, transformational leadership is characterized by intellectual stimulation, individual consideration, and inspirational motivation (Saad Alessa, 2021; Khan et al., 2020). The implication is that transformational leaders recognize the contribution of their followers in realizing organizational goals and fostering collaboration. Such leaders continually empower and motivate their followers to prevent conflicts and cultivate a spirit of teamwork for shared decision-making. As a result, the transformational leadership style is effective in workplaces where the staff members have diverse skills, values, and strengths. The nurse leader capitalizes on the strengths of team members and groups them to work optimally, increase productivity, and achieve high job satisfaction.

Conclusion

The present nursing practice requires forward-thinking and committed nursing leadership. Such leadership is excellently positioned to motivate and empower the workforce while addressing workplace issues. Self-awareness is critical for nursing leaders to understand their behaviors, strengths, and weaknesses. I will continue working on my weaknesses for personal growth and development in critical areas like leadership, patient care, and interprofessional relationships.

References

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Canavesi, A., & Minelli, E. (2022). Servant leadership: a systematic literature review and network analysis. Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal, 34(3), 267–289. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10672-021-09381-3

Kaihlanen, A. M., Hietapakka, L., & Heponiemi, T. (2019). Increasing cultural awareness: qualitative study of nurses’ perceptions about cultural competence training. BMC Nursing, 18(1), 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-019-0363-x

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Lambert, S. (2021). Role of emotional intelligence in effective nurse leadership. Nursing Standard (Royal College of Nursing (Great Britain): 1987), 36(12), 45–49. https://doi.org/10.7748/ns.2021.e11782

Malinowska-Lipień, I., Wadas, T., Sułkowska, J., Suder, M., Gabryś, T., Kózka, M., Gniadek, A., & Brzostek, T. (2021). Emotional control among nurses against work conditions and the support received during the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic. International Journal of Environmental Research And Public Health, 18(17), 9415. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18179415

Saad Alessa, G. (2021). The dimensions of transformational leadership and its organizational effects in public universities in Saudi Arabia: a systematic review. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 682092. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.682092

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