Transformational Nursing Leaders Essay Paper

Transformational Nursing Leaders Essay Paper Transformational Nursing Leaders Essay Paper Transformational leadership offers an approach that enables nurses to explore their strengths and to motivate with inherent values and beliefs (Doody & Doody, 2012). Nurses must work towards the greater good for their patients and must put these ideas above all else in order to achieve optimal quality care and work performance (Doody & Doody, 2012). This reflects the importance of understanding how nursing transforms patient care in different ways and how it supports healing and recovery at a high level for patients across many population groups (Doody & Doody, 2012). Nurses must be supportive of each other within a team environment in order to be effective leaders and communicators of this vision to support the mission of providing excellence in patient care at all times. This leadership approach also requires nurses to understand their roles and responsibilities not only to patients, but also to each other in supporting a framework that emphasizes communication and collaboration on a continuous basis.Transformational Nursing Leaders Essay Paper Permalink: https://nursingpaperessays.com/ transformational…ders-essay-paper / ? Traditionally, nurses have been over-managed and led inadequately, yet today they face unprecedented challenges and opportunities. Organisations constantly face changes that require an increasingly adaptive and flexible leadership. This type of adaptive leadership is referred to as ‘transformational’; under it, environments of shared responsibilities that influence new ways of knowing are created. Transformational leadership motivates followers by appealing to higher ideas and moral values, where the leader has a deep set of internal values and ideas. This leads to followers acting to sustain the greater good, rather than their own interests, and supportive environments where responsibility is shared. This article focuses on transformational leadership and its application to nursing through the four components of transformational leadership. These are: idealised influence; inspirational motivation; intellectual stimulation; and individual consideration.Transformational Nursing Leaders Essay Paper The roles of the transformational leader in the healthcare setting include promoting teamwork among staff, encouraging positive self-esteem, motivating staff to function at a high level of performance, and empowe ring staff to become more involved in the development and implementation of policies and procedures. The transformational leader portrays trustworthiness and serves as an inspiration to others, possessing an optimistic, positive, and encouraging outlook. A transformational leadership presence is vital, especially in clinical areas where new graduate nurses are present. Transformational leadership qualities promote a healthy environment for employees and staff, which will produce improved staff satisfaction, retention, and patient satisfaction Transformational Nursing Leaders Essay Paper Transformational leadership comprises charisma, inspiration, intellectual stimulation, and individual consideration. 5 Charismatic leaders possess self-confidence, self-direction, and an absence of internal conflict. They have insight into their followers’ needs and utilize this to positively influence their followers. An inspirational leader is motivational, sensitive, determined, and able to convey the organization’s vision and encourage pride within the organization. Transformational nursing leaders in the clinical setting intellectually stimulate other nurses by encouraging the use of evidence-based practice and addressing the “why” and “how” of specific clinical actions. Four important characteristics of the transformational leader include being an effective communicator, possessing inspirational traits, having a trustworthy character, and promoting teamwork. (See Characteristics of a transformational leader .)Transformational Nursing Leaders Essay Paper The exemplary leadership model offers a clear path for anyone wishing to cultivate a transformational leadership style. The following summaries of the five exemplary leadership practices incorporate select criteria from the transformational leadership component of the 2019 Magnet ® Application Manual . Modeling the way You model the way by setting the example for others to follow, demonstrating open communication and enthusiasm for nursing excellence and patient care. Experienced nurse leaders interviewed about this practice provide visibility on the units with daily rounding,timely multidisciplinary huddles for significant events, and consistent follow-up with staff about concerns so that they know their leaders care. In addition, these leaders are transparent with staff in positive and difficult situations, resulting intrust, respect, and collaboration.Transformational Nursing Leaders Essay Paper Leading by example: When a nurse leader wanted his staff to “commit to sit” with patients for a few minutes to increase engagement, he purposely sat with patients when he rounded and modeled behaviors that he wanted his staff to learn and adopt. Encouraging the heart You encourage the heart by enabling input into key decisions from all levels of the organization, appreciating individual contributions, and celebrating accomplishments. You can use this practice to improve patient care and the practice environment by consistently rewarding staff (use a mix of strategies when recognizing individual accomplishments; some may not want to be publicly acknowledged), making eye contact, establishing personal connections through shared interests, sharing family pictures, and connecting with staff during good and bad times.Transformational Nursing Leaders Essay Paper Leading by example: When one of her nurses achieved national certification, a nurse leader recognized this accomplishment by sending a congratulatory global email to her direct reports and posting the individual’s picture within the department. This motivated others to achieve similar accomplishments and has contributed to 12 other nurses achieving national certification within a 3-year period. Inspiring a shared vision You inspire a shared vision for the future when you can effectively envision it yourself and describe it to others in a way that elicits excitement. Your passion for making a difference is evident, and you enlist others in seeing exciting possibilities for the future so that everyone is aligned in purpose and action.Transformational Nursing Leaders Essay Paper Leading by example: One nurse leader exemplified this behavior when three of her clinical units were consolidated into one service line. She solicited staff input on what this new structure should entail, generated excitement about the new competencies they would gain by caring for patients both on and off of the intensive care unit, and explained how the patients and organization would benefit overall. In 1 month, 100 RNs eagerly cross-trained for all three clinical units. Enabling others to act You enable others to act when you enlist them to participate in new opportunities and engage them in collaborative activities, creating a sense of trust and empowerment. You’re dedicated to the concept of structural empowerment and professional governance, and you emphasize professional obligation, accountability, interprofessional collaboration, and shared decision-making. Examples of this leadership practice include advocating for resources to support unit and organizational goals, leadership development, mentoring, and succession planning. The unit culture should be open and supportive to employee input on new initiative implementation. Leading by example: When one nurse leader allowed her staff to schedule themselves, she noticed that sick calls decreased dramatically. Self-scheduling enabled her staff to assume accountability and responsibility for their unit staffing.Transformational Nursing Leaders Essay Paper Challenging the process When you challenge the process, you’re not always satisfied with the status quo. You take risks and experiment with new ideas, and you learn from mistakes in away that identifies new opportunities and supports positive change. You identify your ability to influence organizational policy, using data to make decisions and lead strategic organizational changes. Leading by example: When two clinical units were experiencing communication challenges, a nurse leader helped improve the relationship between the two clinical specialties when she encouraged nurses from one specialty to conduct mobile rounds in the other. Being physically present and engaging in conversations with their colleagues provided key insights into each specialty’s roles, which led to mutual feedback and cooperation. After two nurses became engaged in earnest transparency to engage and improve communication, their efforts became contagious, motivating everyone to foster more collaborative relationships.Transformational Nursing Leaders Essay Paper TRANSFORMATIONAL leaders inspire followers to achieve extraordinary outcomes and, in the process, develop their own leadership capacity. They foster employees’ confidence to produce creative outcomes and sustain a competitive edge in an ever-changing healthcare environment. The American Nurses Association’s (ANA’s) Nursing Administration: Scope and Standards of Nursing Practice list the characteristics of transformational leaders as open communication, inspiration, enthusiasm, supporting positive change, and empowering others through shared decision-making. Closely aligned with transformational leadership is exemplary leadership, which is described by Kouzes and Posner as including these five practices: modeling the way, encouraging the heart, inspiring a shared vision, enabling others to act, and challenging the process.Transformational Nursing Leaders Essay Paper Transformational leadership, a core component of the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) Magnet Recognition Program ® , supports practices and behaviors that improve nursing and organizational outcomes, such as job satisfaction, organizational commitment, productivity, and turnover. As a nurse leader, you can be intentional in cultivating your personal leadership style, leading by example and creating a positive and empowering esprit de corps that supports nursing excellence. This article will help you become intentional in cultivating your transformational leadership skills and practices. And we recommend using Kouzes and Posner’s theoretical framework and assessment tool to support your professional development.Transformational Nursing Leaders Essay Paper Effective communication . A leader who communicates effectively focuses closely on what other individuals are attempting to convey and what points are important to those individuals. Effective communicators adapt their communication style based on each individual person’s ability to process and comprehend the interaction. This is important because each individual person possesses a different style of communication, and these styles vary greatly in the way incoming information is processed and perceived. It’s also important to understand and have respect for diversity among various cultures. This will allow for adaptation of communication styles when interacting with people from different cultural backgrounds. An effective communicator learns from previous experiences and applies these experiences to future interactions with others. This is also true for mistakes that have been made and realizing where a certain action should be done differently the next time around. Effective communication leads to a flourishing and vigorous atmosphere for employees and patients alike Transformational Nursing Leaders Essay Paper Characteristics of an effective communicator include empathy, avoiding sarcasm, asking and not commanding, and avoiding talking down or up to individuals. Effective communication consists of having respect for what others have to say. This respect can be displayed by taking the time to be an attentive listener and giving others the opportunity to express their opinions, thoughts, and concerns. The Pareto Principle, also known as the 80/20 rule, states that 20% of people take up 80% of our time that involves some aspect of communication. Therefore, effective communication is vital for successful outcomes to be produced. 6 Nurse managers who are effective communicators will routinely meet with the nursing staff so that complaints, concerns, recommendations, or general comments may be discussed. The nurse manager who communicates effectively will allow staff members to voice their concerns and have respect for their employees by taking the time to carefully listen to them. The nurse manager utilizing effective communication will avoid responding to staff in a sarcastic and defensive manner. This might require that you actively monitor yourself and the reactions of your staff to ensure no defensive behavior exists. Effective communication and the absence of defensive behavior will allow for the nursing staff to be more receptive to criticism and change.Transformational Nursing Leaders Essay Paper Inspirational persona . During this time of healthcare reform, in addition to a strained economy, it’s more important than ever for leaders to display an inspirational attitude. A survey of over 1,000 managers conducted by the British Department for Business Innovation and Skills revealed that 55% of individuals desired their leaders to possess an inspirational persona. In this same survey, only 11% of respondents said their current leader was inspiring. 7 An inspirational persona consists of optimism, respect, passion, charisma, and honesty. These characteristics allow the inspirational leader to gain the confidence and trust of others, and this is crucial if a leader desires commitment and responsibility of their followers. The inspirational nursing leader possesses a very solid, patient-focused vision of where the organization or unit should be going in the future, which is clearly communicated to the staff. Commitment to a strong vision fuels and attracts winning individuals to strive to reach and maintain the vision.Transformational Nursing Leaders Essay Paper Inspiring leaders regularly reflect upon themselves and have an insatiable desire for continued learning. They encourage their followers to do the same. Inspirational leaders are actively involved in the organization or unit from an actual “hands-on” perspective. They regularly make informal and personal contact with others throughout the organization or unit by talking with them, asking their opinion, encouraging feedback, and working with them directly. Nurse managers who display inspirational leadership qualities will spend time actually working with the nursing staff. This will allow for the nurse manager to have more personal contact with staff members and encourage them to develop a sense of confidence and trust. Trustworthy traits . Trustworthiness is a crucial trait of the transformational leader. Trust is the foundation of every healthy relationship whether it’s personal or work-related. Broken trust leads to disorganization, chaos, and fear among one’s followers. This is why it’s imperative for transformational leaders to gain the trust of their staff. Developing and maintaining trust should be a top priority for the transformational leader. There are distinct and concrete principle elements that make up the basic foundation of trust, including integrity, courage, and stability Transformational Nursing Leaders Essay Paper Integrity refers to having high principles, being reliable, and possessing honesty. Leaders who display integrity are consistent when it comes to their actions, values, and expectations. Courageous leaders face problems head on and don’t allow fear to prevent them from doing so. 9 They also protect their followers from malicious actions and are loyal to them. The principle of stability allows for the development of unquestionable confidence among staff. Stability is imperative in this constantly changing world of healthcare. The principles of integrity, courage, and stability will further encourage the evolution of trust between leaders and their followers. A nurse manager can gain the trust of the nursing staff by avoiding dishonest actions and displays of favoritism when communicating. The nurse manager can also gain the trust of the staff by possessing honesty and sincerity. Nurse managers who demonstrate traits of trustworthiness are up front, realistic, and fair when it comes to addressing their expectations of the nursing staff. Nurse managers who possess trustworthy traits are more likely to gain the confidence of their employees.Transformational Nursing Leaders Essay Paper Engagement of stakeholders . An extremely influential characteristic of transformational leadership in nursing is the act of engaging stakeholders in the leadership process. Stakeholders in healthcare include, but aren’t necessarily limited to, healthcare providers, organizations, and institutions; state government representatives; healthcare industries; healthcare academia; and patients. Other stakeholders within the community who should also be engaged during times of transformation include individuals involved in healthcare administration, policy makers, media professionals, law enforcement, religious organizations, patient family members, and caregivers. The CDC recommends the engagement of stakeholders as the first step in any type of program evaluation or potential change. 10 According to the CDC, the identification and engagement of key stakeholders is vital when performing an initial program evaluation or considering reorganization because they’ll ensure pivotal points are identified and addressed. This, in turn, ensures a greater likelihood of success.Transformational Nursing Leaders Essay Paper A vital aspect of engaging leadership includes the promotion of teamwork and collaboration. This will create an environment in which communication is open and alternative ways of delivering healthcare services are encouraged, acknowledged, and welcomed. 11,12 Engaging all members of the healthcare team fosters participation in the organization’s vision, which will increase the likelihood of achieving the organization’s goals. Teamwork is at the core of success.Transformational Nursing Leaders Essay Paper It’s important for nurse managers to be familiar with the various nursing leadership theories that are currently discussed in the literature and determine which leadership style best reflects their own values. The leadership style utilized by nursing leaders in the clinical setting has a direct effect on nursing staff satisfaction, which ultimately has an effect on patient satisfaction. 4 The presence of increased satisfaction among nursing staff leads to an overall reduction in staff turnover, improved retention, and an increase in patient satisfaction. 4 With the current challenges healthcare is facing, it’s vital for the nursing profession to be on the forefront of healthcare reform and fully engaged in the implementation of the changes that are expected to take place in our healthcare system.Transformational Nursing Leaders Essay Paper On the contrary, an authoritarian leadership approach is not based upon a shared vision and does not reflect the core values and beliefs of a group of team members; rather, it is based upon the desires of the sole leader in charge of decision-making (The American Association of Nurse Assessment Coordination, 2013). This leadership approach does not support individual decision-making, nor does it recognize the ideas and creativity of others that impact nursing practice as a whole; therefore, it is often dismissive of employees and may have a significant impact on employee morale and motivation (AANAC, 2013). This approach is often viewed in a negative manner by employees and is not always the preferred method, particularly when employees have great potential to contribute to the organization at a high level and to make a significant difference in the lives of team members and most importantly, the lives of their patients. As a leader you must be committed to your passion and purpose, and have the type of commitment that turns into perseverance. Many nursing leaders are committed patient advocates, clinicians, or employee advocates but the true test of commitment comes when it’s difficult to get out of bed and go to work with a smile, yet you do because you know you are there to serve a purpose.Transformational Nursing Leaders Essay Paper To get through these challenging times and make a difference, establish three priorities every 90 days and commit to seeing them through. Obtain your staff’s insights on the priorities so the team will stay focused and have a stake into the strategic plan. Commitment to excellence starts with the leader, so know in your heart that where you are is where you were placed to serve and share your skills and talents. If you question or have doubts about where you are, you may want to reevaluate your next move because eventually it will show through in your performance. This will allow you to fulfill your purpose, thereby increasing satisfaction for you.Transformational Nursing Leaders Essay Paper Service . Patient satisfaction parallels staff satisfaction, so measuring employee satisfaction benefits the unit, department, and team. Develop realistic action plans to build employee satisfaction, involve all staff levels, and reassess every year. Become familiar and well versed with your patient satisfaction measurement tool. Share and explain data to your employees often. Quality . Become familiar with and incorporate core measures into daily practice and communication. Make them breathe in your department. Convey to your team, staff, and other employees that patient safety and maintaining quality standards are a way of life. Develop unit- and department-specific performance improvement processes that the staff can articulate and implement in daily practices. People . Be the resident role model; who you are is whom you will attract. Take notice of the employees who require a lot of cheerleading and motivating to do their jobs. They have a tendency to become negative when they don’t receive feedback on a consistent basis and can infect the entire staff.Transformational Nursing Leaders Essay Paper Growth . Develop unit-based and departmental volume projections and business plans. If you have a unit where you are not meeting your department average daily census or productivity, look for and measure potential growth opportunities. For example, if your unit is a 30-bed monitored surgical unit, develop a plan to add another service line similar to your existing clinical services. You may want to think about combining cardiac transplantation services with nephrology services and open beds for patients who receive kidney transplants. Finance . Too often clinicians focus on improving people, quality, and service and leave finance far behind. However, your follow-through of your business plan for your unit or department will likely realize a financial savings, which can be reinvested into your clinical services. Build your unit-based financial plan for the year, based on your annual budget that includes salary, expenses, supplies, and capital requests.Transformational Nursing Leaders Essay Paper Use your biweekly and monthly financial reports to keep on target. When you are off target, develop a variance report with a specific and detailed action plan to get back on line for the next month. Share the report with your staff in monthly staff meetings, post it on a bulletin board for staff to see, and develop a staff financial newsletter to help staff understand how they play an important part in financial management on a unit level. If you have a problem with meeting the standard for admissions, transfers, and discharges on your unit or in your department, create a bulletin board and display the number of delayed admissions, transfers, and discharges and how much it costs the organization to hold patients in the emergency department, intensive care unit, and other areas. A transformational leader uses her belief in the vision of the company to inspire the staff to be more productive and work towards company goals. The drive behind a transformational leader is to find ways in which she can get the entire staff on board with corporate strategy and planning. When the entire company is on the same page with the corporate vision, it can make achieving that vision easier.Transformational Nursing Leaders Essay Paper Our study has explored the effects of leadership traits on organizational performance in hospitals and health care industry. The core objective of this study was to examine the effect of leadership traits and behavior on performance of hospitals. Transactional and transformational leadership traits were measured. Transformational leadership traits and performance/results measured relevantly in the study was leaders charisma, individual consideration and their inspirational motivation; extra effort, effectiveness, and satisfaction, in that order. Transactional leadership traits and performance/result variables were positive/contingent incentive or rewards and corrective actions/ management by exception; and effort, productivity and commitment/loyalty, correspondingly. In this study we adapt a survey questionnaire, and employed evaluative quantitative analysis method. Analysis was based on primary data generated through a planned Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) administered on participants. The answers to research questionnaire were scaled on likert’s scale and converted to quantitative data to enable segmentation of the data responses into the independent and dependent variables assumed on leadership traits and connected performance variables. The model which was used in the study was OLS linear regression model to estimate and evaluate the results. The result illustrates that although transformational leadership traits had positive effect on performance but it is insignificant while transactional leadership trait had an important constructive effect on organization and employees performance. The study also analyzed that transactional leadership trait was more suitable in inducing and enhancing performance in hospitals than transformational leadership style and, as a result, transactional leadership trait/behaviors is recommended for the health care organization/hospitals with integral policies and strategies for evolution to transformational leadership style as the hospitals matured, grew and developed.Transformational Nursing Leaders Essay Paper Inspirational managers do not focus their energy solely on motivating the staff. A good transformational leader has broad visions for the company’s future, and those visions can become instrumental in company planning. Whether it is refining the overall business plan or affecting individual marketing programs, the transformational manager has ideas and visions for the future of the company that he wants to share with the management team and work to turn those plans into reality. Retention The idea of transformational leadership is to reach out to each employee and bring out the best in them. An inspirational manager spends time with each employee discussing ways to make the employee’s job easier, and helping to create plans for developing the employee’s career. This individual attention that is offered by transformational leaders helps to create a strong bond between the manager and his employees that will reduce employee turnover.Transformational Nursing Leaders Essay Paper Growth A manager that is not intimately involved in the growth of the company and the development of her staff can start to struggle with managing her department as the company grows. A transformational leader is constantly involved with the growth of the company and the ongoing development of employees. As the company grows, the transformational leader maintains that close contact to the company and employees and can make the process of growing a more involved experience for new and veteran employees. A good nurse leader is someone who can inspire others to work together in pursuit of a common goal, such as enhanced patient care. An effective leader has a distinctive set of personal qualities: integrity, courage, initiative and an ability to handle stress. This individual is often admired in their efforts to think critically, set goals and skillfully communicate and collaborate. Nurses “may hold the key to transforming healthcare and dragging it into the 21st century in terms of work practices and reform, Genevieve L. Thyer, Dip Ed, MN, BSN, RN, writes in the Journal of Nursing Management. “ This is because nurses are visionary, creative, involved in decision making at patient level and have gender-based qualities, and communication strategies the healthcare sector needs,” she says.Transformational Nursing Leaders Essay Paper In today’s quickly evolving environment of healthcare, it’s time to develop creative leadership, i.e., the capacity to think and act beyond the boundaries limiting your potential and avoid professional derailment or faltering career moves. Leaders should be able to influence and inspire others, develop strategies, organise resources and empower people [17]. The leader is in a position with multiple dimensions, such as being a clinical expert in their field as well as being a manager in a hospital. In the nursing setting, change management, negotiating ability and conflict management are essential skills that nurses should develop to become effective leaders [18]. There is no optimal leadership style, as the personality of the leader, subordinates, and the situation can all influence leadership effectiveness [19]. The perceptions of leaders and subordinates are also inconsistent, with subordinates often preferring leaders with more clearly expressed leadership behaviour than leaders themselves prefer to demonstrate [20]. Leadership style may affect the performance of nurses directly and may have positive or negative effects. It is also associated with staff turnover [21, 22]. Leadership/management style is one of the main sources of distress for nurses [23]. It is also suggested that occupational stress has an adverse influence on the quality of working life for nurses [24].Transformational Nursing Leaders Essay Paper Taken together, leadership may affect both nurses’ work performance and their quality of the working life. Developing a transformational nursing leadership style is an alternative organisational strategy to improve nurse performance and promote better patient care outcomes [25]. It may further enhance the quality of the working life of nurses. The following hypotheses examined the main effects of transformational leadership styles on nursing mental health outcomes: Hypothesis 1: Transformational leadership styles are related to nursing mental health outcomes.Transformational Nursing Leaders Essay Paper Transformational leadership style is associated with subordinates’ working conditions [26]. Training managers in transformational leadership style may have a positive influence on health care workers’ mental health over time [27], although it may present an incomplete picture of the impact of work and the relationship on well-being without considering working conditions [28]. Job content is also included as one of the variables in the proposed model. Hypothesis 2: The higher the level of transformational leadership the higher the level of perceived supervisor support. Follower work attitudes Work attitudes have a strong influence on the quality of nurses’ working lives. Job satisfaction and organisational commitment are outcome variables of nurses’ work attitudes. Job satisfaction concerns how an employee feels about his or her job and is related to organisational commitment. These are important to the quality of an employee’s working life. Factors such as job content, job satisfaction and organisational commitment are presented in the proposed model. Job satisfaction is a predictor of the quality of nursing working life. In contrast, job dissatisfaction can be the main predictor of intention to leave nursing [29].Transformational Nursing Leaders Essay Paper Leadership, particularly the transformational leadership style, is associated with higher level