NURS 6201 Leadership in Nursing and Healthcare All Weeks Discussion

Some people are leaders because they are assigned the position within an organization. Others become leaders only because of the way people respond to them. The influence someone has over groups of people is based on a variety of leadership approaches or styles. For example, a situational leadership approach refers to someone who is able to guide others through specific types of situations, adapting his or her approach as needed. A servant leader focuses on empathy and nurturing followers. What is your leadership style? When faced with challenges in the role of leader, how do you face them?

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In this Discussion, you will share insights from your Clifton Strengths Signature Theme Report.

To prepare:

Review your Clifton Strengths Signature Theme Report from NURS 6053.

If you did not complete the Gallup’s Strengths Finder assessment in NURS 6053, you will need to complete it for this week’s Discussion.

To take the Assessment, visit http://walden.gallup.com. Using the Guidance Document Resource(s) for the Strengths Finder assessment, follow the instructions for setting up an account. If the link does not work, please copy and paste the link into your web browser.

Please Note: This Assessment will take roughly 30 minutes to complete.

By Day 3 of Week 1 (Post First)

Describe your leadership style from your Clifton Strengths Signature Theme Report. What were your areas of leadership strength from your profile? Based on your current knowledge of leadership, explain how you might improve and build upon your strengths/skills. Explain strategies from other leadership styles outside your own that you may want to incorporate into your repertoire to meet the needs of various groups.

Note: For this Discussion, you are required to complete your initial post before you will be able to view and respond to your colleagues’ postings. Begin by clicking on the “Post to Discussion Question” link and then select “Create Thread” to complete your initial post. Remember that once you click on Submit, you cannot delete or edit your own posts, and you cannot post anonymously. Please check your post carefully before clicking on Submit!

Read a selection of your colleagues’ responses.

By Day 6 of Week 1

Respond to at least two of your colleagues on two different days by offering additional suggestions that have not already been mentioned on how to improve upon their leadership strengths.

NURS6201 Leadership in Nursing and Healthcare

Week 2 Discussion

Leadership Case Study

Case studies expose professionals to new perspectives by providing details of given scenarios, followed by the outcomes and analysis of those outcomes. In this Discussion, you review case studies in healthcare settings and apply your leadership style and skills to the scenarios provided.

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To prepare:

Review the Resources, focusing in particular on those related to situational leadership.

Search the Walden Library or reputable academic/professional resources on the Internet to locate and analyze a peer-reviewed article related to situational leadership.

Critically examine a leadership situation in your professional practice. As an alternative, you may select one of the case studies included in the Roussel, Thomas and Harris text:

Case Study 2-1: Is a Leader a Leader Only When Paid? (p. 39)

Case Study 2-2: Managing Conflict (p. 40–41)

Case Study 9-1: Healthy Work Environments (p. 223)

By Day 3 of Week 2 (Post First)

Describe the situation or case study you selected. If it is one from your professional practice (rather than the case studies from the course text), be sure to provide relevant details about the setting, situation, and challenge you faced.

Then, explain what you might have done differently in the management of the situation. Be sure to justify your position using the Resources and evidence-based practices from the literature, particularly as these relate to situational leadership and (as applicable) a multigeneration workforce.

Note: For this Discussion, you are required to complete your initial post before you will be able to view and respond to your colleagues’ postings. Begin by clicking on the “Post to Discussion Question” link and then select “Create Thread” to complete your initial post. Remember that once you click on Submit, you cannot delete or edit your own posts, and you cannot post anonymously. Please check your post carefully before clicking on Submit!

Read a selection of your colleagues’ responses.

By Day 6 of Week 2

Respond to at least two of your colleagues on two different days and explain either why you agree with your colleague and why or what you might have done differently. Use the Resources and other scholarly/professional resources from your own research to support your position.

NURS6201 Leadership in Nursing and Healthcare

Week 3 Discussion

Systems in Healthcare

What is systems thinking? How can the nurse leader apply this perspective (e.g., as it relates to policies and protocols)? How might the leader propel the team to think from a systems perspective?

In this Discussion, you select a transition of care and consider how you might apply the IHI Quadruple Aim to your selection.

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To prepare:

Review the Resources on systems thinking, particularly the Arnold & Wade article. Consider how you would define systems thinking.

Select a macrosystem-level transition of care (e.g., hospital to nursing home, skilled nursing facility to home care) to use for this Discussion.

Review the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) resources, familiarizing yourself with the Quadruple Aim.

By Day 3 of Week 3

Describe systems thinking in your own words. Briefly describe the macrosystem-level transition of care you selected. Identify two points of care across the care continuum present at this transition and briefly describe two strategies/inventions that nurse leaders could implement to align interventions for safe, quality transitions of care with the IHI Quadruple Aim. Be specific and provide examples.

Note: For this Discussion, you are required to complete your initial post before you will be able to view and respond to your colleagues’ postings. Begin by clicking on the “Post to Discussion Question” link and then select “Create Thread” to complete your initial post. Remember that once you click on Submit, you cannot delete or edit your own posts, and you cannot post anonymously. Please check your post carefully before clicking on Submit!

Read a selection of your colleagues’ responses.

By Day 6 of Week 3

Read a selection of your colleagues’ responses and respond to at least two of your colleagues on two different days. Provide feedback explaining insights you gained about the potential use of systems thinking by registered nurse leaders at the macrosystem level to meet IHI’s Quadruple Aim. Use your Resources and outside literature to support your responses.

NURS6201 Leadership in Nursing and Healthcare

Week 4 Discussion

Literature on Transitions of Care

One aspect of leadership is staying current on the latest research in your field. Healthcare is no exception. For your Week 4 and Module 2 Assignments, you are researching the role of the nurse leader in improving transitions of care. An annotated bibliography will help you keep track of your research and how you may use various sources within your research.

For this Discussion, you will share one of the articles you located. This is an opportunity for professional discourse on the literature and sharing of ideas with colleagues.

To prepare:

Select one of the articles you are using in your annotated bibliography this week.

By Day 3 of Week 4 (Post First)

Provide the citation and a brief summary of the article you selected. Explain what you learned about transitions of care and what area of the continuum of care you plan to address in your Module 2 Assignment.

Be sure to attach a PDF of your article or provide the library permalink so that your colleagues can fully review your article.

Note: For this Discussion, you are required to complete your initial post before you will be able to view and respond to your colleagues’ postings. Begin by clicking on the “Post to Discussion Question” link and then select “Create Thread” to complete your initial post. Remember that once you click on Submit, you cannot delete or edit your own posts, and you cannot post anonymously. Please check your post carefully before clicking on Submit!

Read a selection of your colleagues’ responses.

By Day 6 of Week 4

Respond to at least two of your colleagues on two different days by explaining insights gained from having read your colleagues’ articles. Explain how their articles may also apply to other points of the continuum of care.

NURS6201 Leadership in Nursing and Healthcare

Week 6 Discussion

How Do You Deal With Conflict?

Since healthcare organizations rely heavily on productive interactions to achieve positive outcomes, it is important for nurse leaders to recognize the value of emotional intelligence. What is the importance of recognizing how you personally handle stressful situations? How can understanding effective strategies for conflict resolution be beneficial in the workplace? Self-awareness is an important skill in becoming a leader, so knowing how well you work under stress and in stressful situations may improve your effectiveness as a leader.

In this Discussion, you reflect on emotional intelligence and how you handle conflict.

To prepare:

Review the Resources for the week, specifically those on emotional intelligence.

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By Day 3 of Week 6 (Post First)

Post a brief description of a conflict you faced in the past and how you handled it. Explain how you might handle the same type of conflict in the future given the knowledge you now possess about emotional intelligence. What conflict resolution strategies might you propose? Be specific and provide examples.

Note: For this Discussion, you are required to complete your initial post before you will be able to view and respond to your colleagues’ postings. Begin by clicking on the “Post to Discussion Question” link and then select “Create Thread” to complete your initial post. Remember that once you click on Submit, you cannot delete or edit your own posts, and you cannot post anonymously. Please check your post carefully before clicking on Submit!

Read a selection of your colleagues’ responses.

By Day 6 of Week 6

Read a selection of your colleagues’ responses and respond to at least two of your colleagues on two different days by providing feedback and insight on how the colleague has chosen to approach conflict resolution in his or her particular scenario. What would you have done differently? What have you learned from your colleague that you can implement?

NURS6201 Leadership in Nursing and Healthcare

Week 8 Discussion

Coaching, Mentoring, and Effective Feedback

According to the ANA Peer Review Guidelines position statement, “As the professional association for nursing, ANA has a responsibility to the public and its members to facilitate the development of a quality assurance system including peer review.” Each nurse has a responsibility to engage in collaborative decision-making processes, self-evaluation of individual performance, and evaluation of others’ performance.

In this Discussion, you will compare aspects of peer feedback vs. peer review and how these practices apply to effective nursing practice.

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To prepare:

Review the Resources, particularly the Wolf et al. articles.

Reflect on the AONL Competencies on Leadership and Professionalism.

Consider the following scenario:

You are a charge nurse and one of your direct subordinates is also a personal friend of yours. You have noticed a decline in her/his professional performance as witnessed by tardiness, delayed patient response, failing to complete documentation, and altered peer relationships.

By Day 3 of Week 8 (Post First)

Explain how you would mentor and coach the subordinate nurse in the scenario. Specifically address the following:

Explain your expectations of the performance the nurse should be demonstrating.

Explain the type of feedback you would provide to the nurse. Be specific and provide examples grounded in the Resources on coaching and mentoring.

Explain how the AONL Competencies on Leadership and Professionalism and the ANA Magnet Standard on peer feedback support would inform your feedback choices.

Note: For this Discussion, you are required to complete your initial post before you will be able to view and respond to your colleagues’ postings. Begin by clicking on the Post to Discussion Question link, and then select Create Thread to complete your initial post. Remember that once you click on Submit, you cannot delete or edit your own posts—and cannot post anonymously. Please check your post carefully before clicking on Submit.

Read a selection of your colleagues’ responses.

By Day 6 of Week 8

Read a selection of your colleagues’ responses and respond to at least two of your colleagues on two different days in one or more of the following ways:

Explain other performance expectations that you would recommend the nurse exhibit.

Provide suggestions on resources to support professional development of the nurse being mentored/coached.

Explain insights you gained about challenges and opportunities related to mentoring and coaching.

NURS6201 Leadership in Nursing and Healthcare

Week 9 Discussion

Workplace Culture and Leadership

Creating a collaborative, nurturing workplace culture is an important component in the delivery of quality healthcare. Personal styles of leadership play an integral role in the effectiveness of the team as a whole when developing congruency in evidence-based practices.

In this Discussion, you reflect on how leadership style can impact workplace culture.

To prepare:

Review the Resources, focusing on strategies for effective communication, managing difficult conversations, and creating a healthy workplace.

By Day 3 of Week 9 (Post First)

Briefly describe your identified leadership style and explain how it compares to the transformational style of leadership.

Explain how leaders in a healthcare organization contribute to a healthy workplace culture. Then, explain how your style of leadership could be leveraged to create a healthy workplace culture.

Finally, explain how leaders use transformational leadership to ensure congruency with the mission and values of the workplace environment.

Note: For this Discussion, you are required to complete your initial post before you will be able to view and respond to your colleagues’ postings. Begin by clicking on the Post to Discussion Question link, and then select Create Thread to complete your initial post. Remember that once you click on Submit, you cannot delete or edit your own posts—and cannot post anonymously. Please check your post carefully before clicking on Submit.

Read a selection of your colleagues’ responses.

By Day 6 of Week 9

Read a selection of your colleagues’ responses and respond to at least two of your colleagues on two different days by providing additional insights as to how your colleagues’ leadership styles might contribute to the workplace environment. If their style is different from yours, offer insight as to how this information would inform your practice as a leader.

NURS6201 Leadership in Nursing and Healthcare

Week 11 Discussion

Nursing Leadership Action and Continuous Improvement Plan

It is generally accepted that change will occur whether we want it to or not. Nurse leaders understand that they may either shape and control the change or deal with the consequence of accidental change or change by drift. By cultivating self-awareness and planning professional goals, you will be poised to be the type of leader who can shape and lead the change that occurs in your organization.

This Discussion, you reflect on the growth of your leadership knowledge base and skills during the quarter. You also set goals for how you can continue this growth beyond the course.

To prepare:

Review the Resources.

Reflect on your Clifton Strengths results from the beginning of the course as well as the growth you have made in completing the course.

Consider how you will continue to enhance your leadership behaviors after the course.

Review the Walden resource on creating SMART goals.

Post an end-of-course assessment of your strengths and areas for improvement. Reflecting back on this course and using the literature, develop two SMART goals that you could implement to enhance your leadership behaviors and skills.

Note: For this Discussion, you are required to complete your initial post before you will be able to view and respond to your colleagues’ postings. Begin by clicking on the “Post to Discussion Question” link and then select “Create Thread” to complete your initial post. Remember that once you click on Submit, you cannot delete or edit your own posts, and you cannot post anonymously. Please check your post carefully before clicking on Submit!

Read a selection of your colleagues’ responses and respond to at least two of your colleagues on two different days by providing feedback in one or more of the following ways:

Provide feedback on whether your colleagues’ goals are written in SMART format.

To what extent were your colleagues’ SMART goals aligned with what they identified as the leadership behaviors targeted for improvement?

Provide feedback on how they could use the SMART goals to increase their sphere of influence.

Suggest ways they could address barriers and challenges to implementing the goals.

Suggest possible organizational resources and empowerment opportunities they could leverage to achieve their goals.