The Nursing Leadership and Management Course has helped me to realize that being a leader comes with great responsibility and expectations. Being a leader means setting an example for others to follow or emulate. For some leaders, the skills to lead, promote change, and guide followers in a common goal is innate; they were simply born with and have to put little effort into exercising their leadership skills. On the other hand, some leaders must develop their leadership skills through experiences or trial and error; these leaders must work at nurturing the necessary skills to be seen as a respectful leader. This course has taught me that being an exceptional nurse leader starts with open communication.

By open communication I am referring to the “open door” policy where followers can come to their leader at any time and express their personal feelings, concerns, and needs. This open communication means that the leader is available, approachable, willing to hear followers and be able to assist them with advice, suggestions, or simply be an active listener. Through open communication can an exceptional leader display their propensity for emotional intelligence or the ability to perceive other’s emotions, utilize these emotions to accomplish tasks, understand the diversity of emotional variations, and manage these emotions to achieve a goal (Taft, 2007). 

By utilizing emotional intelligence and open communication, an exceptional leader develops reciprocal trust with his or her followers. Trustworthiness is the glue that binds leader-follower relationships together. Without trust then communication fails, self-disclosure is stymied, and emotional intelligence goes unutilized. Through trusting relationships, an exceptional leader can be an authentic role model. By authentic I am referring to being transparent and honest about one’s views, beliefs, values and upholding ethical and moral objectives. An authentic leader is a role model that followers can respect because they are genuine and relatable, they are true to who they are whether at work or at home (Laschinger, Heather & Fida, 2015; Shapira-Lishchinsky, 2014).

Lastly, an exceptional leader is transformative. They are a catalyst for change and innovation; they inspire followers to be the best version of themselves that they can be, encourage goal achievement, nurture new leaders, and convey standards of quality improvement (Sherman, 2008; McGregor-Burns, n.d.). An exceptional leader can only be transformative if she or he has open communication with followers, has a strong emotional intelligence, builds trusting relationships with followers, and is true to who by being an authentic role model for their followers.

This course has taught me a great deal about the many types of decisions that nurse managers must make on a daily basis. I will graduate with a deeper understanding of the complexity of managing the nursing world and the healthcare industry alike. Prior to taking this course, my knowledge was limited at best on organizational structures and how they operated. I have acquired a new understanding of how my hospital and other healthcare facilities are organized, how hiring and firing occurs, and how important it is for nurses to be more knowledgeable of this information as we are directly impacted by it. This information has undoubtedly shaped my future profession as nurse by enabling me to be more informed on why and how organizations are structured, by having greater sense of clarity of daily hospital operations, and by how important it is that nurses are involved in the structuring and management of our profession because if we do not learn to lead our peers then other non-nursing professionals will be assigned the task and they have little frame of reference to nursing to truly represent our needs in way that reflects the essence of nursing. Moreover, Dr. Brown’s law lecture was an eye opener and has helped me to understanding the legal side of employment and the pitfalls of hiring/firing; this information will forever be reminder of the vigilance one must take as a manger in that position to avoid any types of legal actions.

More importantly, this class has allowed me to understand the nature of leadership and what it takes to be an exceptional leader and inspire exceptional followers to be leader themselves. I believe that as nurses, we are all inherently leaders. Whether you are a transformative, servant, connective, or a knowledge driven leader, you are a leader. As nurses, we have always been taught the importance of introspection and learning to understand our strengths and weaknesses. I think this is of utmost importance when trying to be a leader that inspires others. Being true to yourself, being authentic about who you are to others, and embracing your weaknesses and strengths for their limitations is key on being that leader that inspires others. We are all flawed, but it is those that acknowledge their flaws and champion them that people can relate to. I have felt inspired by this class to be a better leader in my own work environment by setting a good role model for my coworkers and helping to inspire them to be better at what they do and what they have to offer their patients and hospital. By being myself, being honest about who I am and what my strengths and weaknesses are, and by being a supportive, contributing team member to the common goals of our unit, I have found my style of leadership.

References

Laschinger, S., Heather, K., Fida, R., (2015).   Linking nurses' perceptions of patient care quality to job satisfaction: The role of authentic leadership and empowering professional practice environments. PhD Journal of Nursing Administration. 45(5):276-283.

McGregor Burns, J. (n.d.) Transformational leadership. Retrieved from

http://www.langston.edu/sites/default/files/basic-content-files/TransformationalLeadership.pdf 

Shapira-Lishchinsky, O. (2014). Simulations in nursing practice: toward authentic leadership. Journal Of Nursing Management, 22(1), 60-69. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2834.2012.01426.x

Sherman, R.  (2008).  Becoming a transformational nursing leader.

Retrieved from: http://www.emergingrnleader.com/transformational-nurse-leader/ 

Taft, S. (2007) Emotional Intelligence in the Nursing Profession.

http://www.asrn.org/journal-nursing/202-emotional-intelligence-in-the-nursing-profession.html