Leadership Styles -- Mentor Observations Primary Form

Leadership Styles -- Mentor Observations Primary Form of Leadership My mentor's leadership style is mostly democratic or participative. This form of leadership is particularly effective in a clinical setting as it encourages teamwork, collaboration and use of the collective experiences of multiple skilled staff members. This leadership style may also be described as democratic, where the leader encourages participation and input from other staff members and followers.

Participative leadership enables multiple members of a group or team to participate in the decision making process, which can strengthen a groups achievements, motivation and dedication (Clark, 1997). While ultimately the mentor has the authority to make final decisions, he or she does so guided or influenced by the wants, needs and desires of employees. This form of leadership is particularly useful when knowledgeable and skillful employees interact in the workplace and have knowledge that may help the leader make informed decisions.

Other Styles Exhibited By Other Nurses Other styles include permissive or Laissez-faire and autocratic or authoritarian. A laissez-faire or free reign type style encourages employees to make decisions. Other nurses in the field who had minimal licensure most often exhibited this type of leadership style. Their role was mainly to supervise the actions of others, in some cases nurses that had more experience and higher qualifications than they did, hence it makes sense that they would delegate certain decisions to other nurses in the field.

Very seldom was an autocratic leadership style used, except by an occasional field supervisor with much experience and advance practice nursing licensure, suggesting that this supervisor had both the knowledge and skills to make the decisions necessary to facilitate a positive outcome. In these cases most of the times the employees working under the supervisor were less skilled or had very little knowledge of the situation at hand and how to progress in such a setting. In this case it makes sense to have an autocratic leadership style.

Styles Appealing To Follow ship Style and Why The most appealing style is a democratic or participative one because it encourages team cohesiveness and engages all members of the staff in the decision making process. This form of leadership acknowledges the skills, talents and abilities of each member of the staff and encourages comprehensive care that results from the collective experiences of many (rather than the experiences of a few).

In such an environment employees often feel more empowered and willing to participate or collaborate to facilitate better patient care and patient outcomes in a clinical care setting. This form of leadership.