Exemplar Essay

An example essay for my 'Leadership and Management in Nursing' subject in 2018, providing evidence of discussion throughout the other posts. Whilst this is written at a postgraduate level, the themes are applicable irrespective of your level of study.

Part B. Academic paper (1500 words)

Reflect and critically evaluate your own leadership style within your practice setting. Use the tool provided in the learning materials, or another tool (you may have had analysis of your leadership style previously through your workplace; make sure you cite the tool you used) to assist you reflect on your own style and behaviour preferences. You may also like to ask others who you know well at work to see if your interpretations are correct. Identify strategies that already work well and those you could adopt in your workplace to develop your effectiveness as a leader. You may also use the student peer presentations from Part 1 to assist you identify strategies (remember to cite their work).

This essay will critically examine and reflect on leadership styles and their role in promoting a positive work culture. Leadership tools will be utilised and will underpin reflection and evaluation of the authors own leadership style and behaviour preferences. Moreover, this leadership style will be evaluated to understand its place and role within leadership as well as understand the implications and circumstances in which it may be less effective. Thereafter, the personal strategies of the author will be considered and juxtaposed against those that work well and others where further development may be needed. Furthermore, the overarching leadership style of the author will be contrasted against newer themes of leadership and how aspects of these can be incorporated to improve the overall effectiveness and development of leadership and promote a positive work culture.

An important component to improving as a leader is understanding the dominant style of leadership that you portray and how this can influence or impede outcomes. Utilising the Sage leadership tool, it was identified that the author exhibits most dominance towards democratic leadership (24), moderate for laissez-faire (18) and very low for authoritarian (10) (Northouse, 2011). This result mirrors the results of previous leadership style assessments conducted at either educational or professional events over the proceeding five years. As such, the author does agree with the results and would argue that throughout their upbringing and interactions in both personal, educational and professional areas that a tendency towards the democratic approach is always pursued, especially over authoritarian. However, it must be stated that despite the default disposition and dominance towards a democratic style, the author does believe there is a malleable and adaptable component that is very much situationally dependent. Moreover, whilst the underlying dominance of the author is to democratic leadership it is important to discuss both the benefits and limitations of the democratic style of leadership.

Leadership has been evident throughout history with a perpetual cyclical approach as new ideas replace old and archaic views, however many of the newer styles of leadership are underpinned by concepts elicited in democratic leadership. Tannenbaum & Schmidt (as cited in Nagendra & Farooqui, 2016) suggest democratic leadership facilitates decentralised decision-making implying that all members share equally in the end decision and outcome. However, this underlying assumption is often where the flaws of democratic leadership are exacerbated, as it would be rare to suggest that in reference to both professional skills and decision making that all members equally contribute. Moreover, the main disadvantage to this style of leadership is the time taken to consider input for each member of the team, subsequently delaying decision making and impeding timely completion (Cunningham, Salomone & Wielgus, 2015). Specifically considering the healthcare environment democratic leadership facilitates discussion, allowing all members of the team to contribute to the development. However, this is juxtaposed against the hierarchical management structure that Is evident within all health service organisations whether at a ward or organisational level in which someone is ultimately tasked with the end decision in lieu of any discussion or consultation that has taken place. As such, at a local level it is important to understand your behaviour and personal strategies that help or hinder to achieve organisational targets.

The benefit of understanding leadership styles and their applications is the ability to develop as a leader and consider the personal strategies that are involved that assist in both positive and negative change and that you yourself convey. There are two domains to consider, clinical leadership and managerial leadership. The notion that everyone can be a leader is well applied and documented throughout many sectors and is worth considering especially as much of an early career extensively practises clinical leadership whether directly or indirectly. With this in mind, considering the author’s circumstances, the biggest area for leadership development is in this realm. As such, democratic leadership and laissez-faire, the two dominant leadership traits help engagement with all members of the team and consider varying views and opinions, ultimately likely influencing management in a positive frame. However, the obvious omission is emergency situations when direction and brevity is needed rather than an all-accounts considered approach. In light of this opinion, the author feels that their ability to adapt and make contextual decisions in response to different settings and scenarios is likely a factor that helps to negate some of the detrimental consequences associated with a democratic style of leadership. Thus, enhancing their ability to provide clinical leadership amongst their peers. However, some of the other concerns and issues with the use of democratic leadership will be further discussed.

Democratic leadership has some important benefits through its ability to encourage and facilitate discussion amongst staff but there are some important negative factors to consider with the use of this style. As previously discussed, the ability to make decisions in a timely manner can be impeded due to the widespread consultation inherit to this leadership style, leading to slowed rates of progress (Negendra & Farooqui, 2016). Similarly, given that all viewpoints are considered there may be instances in which you are unable to implement every opinion voiced, leading to situations in which employees may feel their opinion is not valued or important (Negendra & Farooqui, 2016). This may somewhat contradict the perceived benefits of this leadership style leading to disunity amongst the team. Moreover, the main failure of this leadership style is in critical situations in which an immediate decision is needed and leaders unable to take on an authoritarian role would significantly hinder and possibly lead to disastrous outcomes. As such, all leaders need to be aware of their own leadership style and how it may affect a variety of settings and situations. Moreover, the recent utilisation of transformational leadership improves on the underpinning factors associated with democratic leadership and identifies some strategies that can be incorporated into the authors leadership ability and skills.

Transformational leadership has a strong relationship to democratic leadership with significant benefits for leaders who utilise this style. Unfortunately, despite modern approaches to nursing leadership, archaic influences continue to permeate through. Dunham-Taylor (as cited in Krepia, Katsaragakis, Kaitelidou & Prezerakos, 2018) argue that reductions in job satisfaction and efficiency of nurses are directly attributable to the use of transactional leadership. With the increasing acceptance of transformational leadership amongst nursing leaders, evidence is beginning to demonstrate improved job satisfaction and other important associated measurable outcomes. Doran et al. (as cited in Duffield, Roche, Blay & Stasa, 2010) indicated that transformational leadership styles lower staff turnover and increase staff satisfaction. Moreover, Duffield et al. (2010) echoed this sentiment demonstrating improved job satisfaction and retention amongst nursing leaders who utilised a transformational leadership style. Both these results demonstrate the importance of transformational leadership especially given that patients are becoming increasingly more complex with increasing service demands and pressures on nursing management. However, the additional benefit of transformational leadership extends beyond just staff management and begins to influence and affect patient outcomes and care provision. Boamah, Laschinger, Wong & Clarke (2018) reviewed transformational leadership and concluded that transformational managers create work environments that improve quality of care provision and empower nurses to provide optimal care thereby reducing complications and improving patient outcomes. As such, the ultimate question beckons as to how to incorporate all these aspects to develop and influence others.

The pivotal factor to leadership development is the commitment to improve one’s own leadership through education and importantly reflection. One of the main barriers to all leaders is managing oneself during periods of rapid change (Giddens, 2018). However, rapid change is inherent to the health care sector and notably it is during these periods that leaders would likely have the biggest opportunity to directly influence and empower staff. Moreover, as the authors own unit undergoes a workforce redesign in the midst of unprecedented staff turnover and burnout, it is important to help foster and empower others to remain resilient in lieu of future change. As such, situational awareness is paramount to guide effective leadership or in the authors case, effective clinical leadership. Recognising and being able to adapt to changing circumstances and ultimately encourage colleagues through the use of transformational leadership skills to seek and play a role in the overall vision and goal of the organisation.

Leadership is built on the underlying assumption that there are always opportunities to learn and improve. Through the use of the Sage assessment tool, the author has gained a wider appreciation of the inherent dominant leadership traits they portray and the ways in which these can both positively and negative influence outcomes. Understanding the role of democratic leadership and the interplay between all the different styles will only seek to improve and develop leadership understanding and reference for when different styles may or may not be appropriate. Furthermore, these discussions help reflection and guide areas for improvement and consolidation. Notably, newer management styles such as transformational leadership has been demonstrated to affect multiple important measurable outcomes. Therefore, offering an important insight to tackle longstanding issues within healthcare and improve not only difficult factors for staff, but more importantly, lead to sustained improvements and outcomes for consumers.

References

Boamah, S., Laschinger, H., Wong, C. & Clarke, S. (2018). Effect of transformational leadership on job satisfaction and patient safety outcomes. Nursing Outlook, 66(2), 180-189. Retrieved from www.sciencedirect.com

Cunningham, J., Salomone, J. & Wielgus, N. (2015). Project management leadership style: A team member perspective. International Journal of Global Business, 8(2), 27-54. Retrieved from https://search.ebscohost.com/

Duffield, C., Roche, M., Blay, N. & Stasa, H. (2010). Nursing unit managers, staff retention and the work environment. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 20, 23-33. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2702.2010.03478.x

Giddens, J. (2018). Transformational leadership: What every nursing dean should know. Journal of Professional Nursing, 34, 117-121. Retrieved from http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jpnu

Krepia, V., Katsaragakis, S., Kaitelidou, D. & Prezerakos, P. (2018). Transformational leadership and its evolution in nursing. Progress in health sciences, 8, 189-194. doi: 10.5604/01.3001.0012.1114

Nagendra, A. & Farooqui, S. (2016). Role of leadership style on organisational performance. International Journal of Research in Commerce and Management 7(4), 65-67. Retrieved from http://ijrcm.org.in/

Northouse, P. (2011). Introduction to Leadership: Concepts and practice (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.