Personal Leadership Assessment
Leadership assessment gives one’s abilities objective sense as a leader of an organization. Leadership strengths and skills variations exist among many individuals, such as leadership styles, experience, culture, and confidence. Possessing individual leadership skills implies getting connected with individuals who provide support by making decisions in the best interest. Skills of leadership are developed consistently and strengthened through experience. Leadership skills, self-awareness, and individual qualities can steadily advance how a leader leads an organization and get along with others. It helps an individual to enhance their leadership strengths and defy their weaknesses. This paper focuses on individual skills of leadership, theory of leadership, leadership and management diversity, and time management.
Personal leadership skills strengths and weaknesses
A leader needs to possess good communication skills. Nurse leaders need to effectively communicate to enhance a suitable labor force and make sure resources are well kept, resulting in outstanding quality care and patient outcomes. Communication is key in impacting a patient’s outcome and is among the key elements of good cooperation, relationship, and coordination between nurses and patients, which are fundamental professional features (Mahoney, 2018). In addition, nurse leaders who possess good communication skills influence others in nursing practice, thus reducing some medical errors, resulting in positive patient outcomes. Moreover, effective communication among the health professional leaders enhances team building, policy communication changes, and mutual feedback resulting in quality care.
Nevertheless, despite leadership skills strengths, including communication, some weaknesses exist, particularly when a nurse leader does not provide positive feedback. Whether the aim of the feedback was meant to be outstanding or deficient work, sometimes, a nurse leader may not communicate specifics of how and why nurses he is in charge of are excelling or falling short. If he fails, colleagues working under him may fail to comprehend when they are outshining and situations they need to improve; hence they may get demotivated, influencing the patient outcome.
Conflict resolution skills are also key to nurse leadership. Nurse leaders with this skill can resolve conflicts peacefully, which is significant in every health organization. This ensures a suitable environment where others can work in as it saves professional and personal relationships, hence work stress reduction and increased team spirit in attending to patients, causing productivity. However, leaders with these skills are weak as they tend to solve conflicts drawn on emotions (Mahoney, 2018). Therefore, one party likely feels dissatisfied; thus, their morale may go down, affecting patients’ care. Moreover, if they were to undertake a project, there might be a failure as one party may finally withdraw.
In nursing leadership, decision-making is fundamental within healthcare organizations. An efficient nurse leader needs to have good decision-making skills key in making decisions that look practical, reflecting their roles and responsibilities convolution. They can make decisions also derived from good moral thoughts and principles, which complement leadership. Decision-making assists in dealing with circumstantial problems; for instance, in the pediatric ward, if staff shortages exist, a nurse leader needs to make efficient decisions in dealing with issues, leading to improved patient quality care. Such nurse leaders’ weakness is that they look at situational cons before settling, which is brought by fear, and therefore they may fail to uncork their full potential.
Transformational leadership theory
Transformational leadership is very important within any healthcare setting. It ensures that every team member understands the significance of their work dedication and feels appreciated. This empowers the staff, thus creating a surrounding where all individuals are engaged. As a nurse leader, one needs to ensure that their demands challenge compacts suitably, and positive momentum in the work environment is maintained (Wofford & Goodwin, 2017). Implementing transformational nursing leadership impacts patient care as it helps health professionals to improve their communication skills, thus ensuring that patients get high-quality care. This minimizes misunderstandings, enhances consistency, and leads to general improved care. Nurse leaders applying transformational leadership accredit others to make decisions; thus get motivated, satisfied, and inspired. They own the healthcare success by being accountable, leading to general work satisfaction.
Nurses Quality Safety Education
Collaboration and teamwork are part of the Safety Education for Nurses QSEN competencies crucial in healthcare. In a medical setting, nurses’ collaboration requires good communication skills, medical competence, and collective aim (Cronenwett, 2019). Overrun, the teams develop mutual respect, trust and appreciate every individual knowledge and skills. In situations of problems, the team leader should help other colleagues ensure the patient receives quality care. The other teamwork feature and collaboration is acknowledging every person’s strengths and weaknesses. For instance, if an individual is best in a particular area, others should look for help as they gain experience considering that all teams within healthcare share a common goal; best care of the patient.
Leadership and management
There is a distinction between leadership and management. Decisions are made by a nurse manager who is usually in charge of certain healthcare organization undertakings. Their role seems indirect to patient care compared to bedside nurses’ roles; nevertheless, they are also engaged in long planning patient care by teaming up with healthcare teams, administering the staff, and enhancing care spectrum and patient coordination. Conversely, a nurse leader is a medical specialist. They focus on leading team managers and nurses to ensure safe, quality care for the patient. They do not supervise as managers do but act as role models and give direction to teams on how to conduct their duties as expected.
Workplace time management
Time management in a hospital setting is critical. Effective leaders must ensure that all organizational activities are well managed. Therefore they need to be good time managers. Our work demands as nurses can only be met through time management. Control of missed deadlines is critical in enhancing quality work within my workplace. Success and progress can be achieved through time management. Unplanned activities usually interfere with what is already planned; therefore, leaders within my workplace divide duties into smaller bits and can save time by grouping people and then assigning these tasks to reduce time wastage. Maslow’s needs hierarchy advocates for prioritizing time, which is important in the nursing profession (Waterworth, 2018). Within my workplace, most activities view them depending on their importance and urgency.
Conclusion
Leadership assessment is critical to determine who a good leader is, which is important in any organization. People have different skills in leadership influencing them negatively or positively; hence all nurse leaders need to advance skills that ensure there is a patient care improvement. Numerous leadership theories influence outcomes of patients, and transformational leadership appears to be one of them. In addition, time management, collaboration, and teamwork are crucial for any success of healthcare.
References
Cronenwett, L., Sherwood, G., & Gelmon, S. B. (2019). Improving quality and safety education: The QSEN learning collaborative. Nursing Outlook, 57(6), 304- 312. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.outlook.2009.09.004
Mahoney, J. (2018). Leadership skills for the 21st century. Journal of Nursing Management, 9(5), 269-271. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2834.2001.00230.x
Murray, E. (2017). Nursing leadership and management for patient safety and quality care withDavis Plus. F. A. Davis.
Waterworth, S. (2018). Time management strategies in nursing practice. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 43(5), 432-440. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2648.2003.02740.x
Wofford, J., & Goodwin, V. L. (2017). A cognitive interpretation of transactional and transformational leadership theories. The Leadership Quarterly, 5(2), 161- 186. https://doi.org/10.1016/1048-9843(94)90026-4
write