Personal leadership style assessment for family nurse practitioner roles

Nursing Leadership

Leadership and the Graduate Nurse Role

The graduate nursing role is a complex role requiring effective leadership skills. This is particularly because the role involves interacting with patients, collaborating with other nurses and other members of the interdisciplinary team, planning and making care decisions, as well as initiating change (Institute of Medicine [IOM], 2011). The effectiveness with which a leader fulfills this role will often depend on their style of leadership and the circumstances at hand. While some leaders may favor a participative style, others may prefer an autocratic approach. In this paper, I describe my style of leadership based on Cherry\'s (2016) quiz and its implications on my role as a family nurse practitioner (FNP).

As per Cherry\'s (2016) quiz, my leadership style is consistent with the democratic approach. Also known as participative leadership, democratic leadership is a style of leadership essentially characterized by collaborative decision making. In democratic leadership, all the decision-making power does not rest on the leader -- the leader invites their followers to provide their input, though the final say remains with the leader (Cherry, 2016). This style is often described as the most effective way of guiding, directing, motivating, and managing people. It encourages an atmosphere of inclusion, thereby motivating group members. Group members feel appreciated and valued. By allowing group members to take part in the decision-making process, the leader encourages different ideas. Indeed, democratic leaders recognize that their way of doing things may not always be the best. Therefore, allowing input from group members presents the group with different perspectives, and hence the leader together with the group can choose the most suitable, feasible, and acceptable approach from the different perspectives.

While democratic leadership is important for promoting creativity within the group, it could be disadvantageous sometimes. It may slow decision making as the leader has to consider different perspectives. Differences in opinions may also result in negative conflict, consequently hampering group effectiveness and productivity. Furthermore, at times decisions may require to be made quickly, making group participation difficult or detrimental. Due to these limitations, it is often prudent for a democratic leader to rely on other leadership approaches at times. In other words, some situations may require an authoritarian style and others may require the delegative style.

In my case, I use the democratic style when group members have a comprehensive understanding of the group\'s objectives and their role in achieving those objectives. Nonetheless, I use the authoritarian style if a group member lacks knowledge about a certain procedure. In such a situation, asking the member to offer their input would be fruitless. Also, I use the delegative style if group members have a better understanding of the task than I do. In such a situation, it is usually wise for the leader to abandon decision making to the group -- the leader just offers little or no guidance (Cherry, 2016). In essence, there is no single style of leadership that fits all situations. As such, irrespective of their dominant style of leadership, leaders must always read the situation at hand and decide the most appropriate way of dealing with the situation. From where I sit, this achieves different results, at the same time, it motivates group members while ensuring effective decision making.

Effective leadership is particularly important within the nursing context. Nurses at the graduate level are involved in complex responsibilities; hence the need for a certain set of leadership attributes (Institute of Medicine [IOM], 2011). To be successful, advanced nurse practitioners should have excellent communication, teamwork, collaborative, interpersonal, decision making, problem solving, organizational, analytical, and technological skills (Lewis, 2011). They should also have capabilities for mentorship and staff development. These skills and capabilities are particularly important for family nurse practitioners (FNPs). Similar to family doctors, FNPs work with individuals and families all through their lives, conducting examinations and diagnoses, prescribing medications, educating patients, and managing overall care. Though they may sometimes work independently, FNPs often work alongside other health care practitioners. This is crucial for addressing the broad array of family health needs. Working together with patients and other health care professionals means that FNPs must have strong collaborative and interpersonal skills.