Nurses in the healthcare field are expected to be leaders who can manage care within adverse settings as soon as they have completed their training. However, these expectations only sometimes align with reality.
Developing leadership skills alongside continuing education will always present challenges, especially for less experienced nurses just starting their careers.
This article examines how effective nursing leadership impacts the working conditions for fellow nurses while improving patient advocacy and healthcare communities.
Why is nurse leadership necessary?
A nurse leader understands that a strong and capable team of peers yields substantial, favorable achievements for patients and fellow healthcare workers. The ability to think clearly and strategically through the day-to-day management of a practice facility while simultaneously thinking about how those everyday practices affect long-term community results is fundamental to successful nursing leadership.
A Doctor of Nursing Practice – Executive Nurse Leadership program, such as the one offered by Baylor University, teaches the problem-solving skills that nurse leaders need in order to deal with issues relating to bedside care, staffing and budget management.
What leadership qualities are required in nursing?
While the advantages of pursuing a career in nursing are many, it’s the leadership qualities that a nurse develops that allow them to thrive no matter where they work. Some of these leadership qualities may include:
- Active listening
- Critical problem-solving
- Long-term strategic planning
- Effective peer management
- Skilled communication
Ultimately, the leadership qualities that a specific nurse develops will be related to the leadership style they are most accustomed to or decide to adopt as a guide for their leadership development.
Seven leadership styles that define nurse leaders
Nurses represent the largest body of professional workers within the healthcare system, and their job satisfaction is one of the most important topics among healthcare organizations and their representative stakeholders. Nurse leaders who can implement positive changes in the workplace create greater job satisfaction among their peers – which in turn improves working relationships with patients and other staff members.
By better understanding the relationship between leadership styles and job satisfaction among nurses, new nurse leaders can effectively implement positive change within the healthcare community they serve.
The National Library of Medicine has extensively researched the most effective leadership styles in the nursing profession. While many nurse leaders will possess qualities within multiple leadership styles, it is not uncommon for them to be more dominant in one of the seven styles. Below is a summary of those leadership styles.
Transformational
The transformational leadership style possesses influence through effective communication, positive relationship building, and consideration of the individual needs of patients and peers. It emphasizes loyalty through shared goals, increased day-to-day productivity, and improving the overall morale of the healthcare community. Transformational leaders will push others to perform above and beyond what they thought possible.
Transactional
A transactional leadership style focuses on the recognition of employees based on their overall performance and often has rewards and punishments in place, accordingly. Transactional leaders want their peers to perform the assigned tasks and are trusted to perform them independently, effectively, and efficiently.
Laissez-faire
The laissez-faire style of leadership is closely related to the transactional style concerning the lack of direct involvement with employees or peers. It is also called ‘absence of leadership’ and is considered the most passive type of leadership because employees have complete freedom to make decisions in the absence of management.
Servant
From a leadership perspective, a servant encourages peers’ professional growth while improving healthcare service delivery. They accomplish these goals through teamwork, shared decision-making, and a good understanding of ethical behavior in the healthcare environment. Servant-style leaders easily overcome workplace challenges through their empathy, ability to listen to others, and commitment to the community over the individual.
Resonant
Resonant leaders demonstrate the highest level of emotional intelligence among the leadership styles. They intuitively understand the emotional frequencies surrounding them. They can use empathy to manage and build strong, trusting relationships and create a positive work environment that inspires a commitment to the job at hand.
Passive-avoidant
A passive-avoidant leader avoids taking responsibility and will avoid confrontation at all costs. Employees dealing with this leadership style often feel lost in the workplace with no clear directions for day-to-day operations. A passive-avoidant leader can result in high staff turnover and low employee retention rates.
Authentic
The authentic leader believes in a direct and honest approach to management. They are balanced in their decision-making, highly self-aware and transparent in their relationships with others. They don’t lead with authority but consider ethical and transparent behavior and communication to be more effective in creating a trusting work environment. They thrive on openly sharing information and consider all their employees’ opinions and viewpoints.
Creating positive change as a nurse leader
Nurse leaders who create positive change in the workplace can recognize and implement social strategies to improve their healthcare community. In addition, by understanding the importance of their role and identifying their strengths and weaknesses in leadership style, they begin to gain positive exposure to the community they serve and better learn how to meet the needs of their patients and working peers.
We hope that you found this article informative enough to direct your thinking toward adopting a more effective leadership style. With greater self-awareness of your leadership style and skills, you are already better equipped to improve your own working life, the working life of your peers, and the quality of life for the patients you serve.
