Leadership Nursing and Healthcare Leaders

¶ … personal philosophy of leadership. Address what role you feel a health care leader should play, what leadership theory they should follow, and why leaders should follow that theory.

My personal philosophy of leadership is that leaders need to remain strong and focused, decisive and relatively uninfluenced by their own or others' emotions. In healthcare, it is particularly important to apply evidence-based practice and rational thought to decisions, rather than rely on charismatic leaders to become figureheads in an organization or healthcare team. Increasingly, healthcare leaders rely on collaborative work environments where leadership philosophies that are collaborative and democratic prove most successful (Chriem, et al., 2013). Collaborative work environments occasionally rely on having a formal leader, but increasingly we are encountering shared power situations in which there is no one clear leader and in which each person's contributions are recognized as equal. This is true in some, but not all, healthcare settings in which specialists meet regularly to discuss client cases. Even team managers play more of a facilitating role than a role that is authoritative in nature.

I also believe that leaders should be confident because of their experience and training, and yet be willing to listen to those in subordinate positions who might have something to offer to the team. At the same time, subordinates do need leaders who are willing to take charge especially in stressful situations. Ultimately, I believe that leaders need to be flexible in the sense that every situation will require a different leadership style. Therefore, I have found that a contingency leadership theory proves particularly effective in a healthcare setting. Some situations will require cheerleading and empowerment, but others will require strong delegation of tasks and role clarity. We are continually being asked to make critical care decisions based on evidence-based practice, with the added challenge of diversity and teamwork. Finally, research consistently highlights the relationship between role clarity, organizational goals, employee satisfaction, and supervisor satisfaction (Zheng, et al., 2016). Therefore, even when leaders need to use a more democratic-participative style, they can do so and still clearly delegate authority and define participants' roles.

Describe your current sphere of influence. Explain how you are a leader in your current position and how you apply the philosophy you described in this capacity.

My current position lacks significant formal power and yet I have gained some authority and do wield considerable informal, positive power with my team. I have never before reflected fully on my leadership philosophy, and I am finding it extremely helpful to do so because I recognize that the mistakes I have made in the past can be traced to a misunderstanding of what leadership means and how to best motivate others to achieve common goals. In healthcare, we all need to remember that our common goals are to create a patient-centric environment rather than to conform to administrative authority.

In my current role, I have been able to apply my philosophy of leadership in a number of different scenarios. Contingency theory aptly illustrates the challenges of working in a healthcare setting in which we will work with multiple members of different healthcare teams throughout any given day or week. This means that we as leaders must respond to situational variables, different communication styles, and other factors that can potentially create conflict. It is important to respond to those conflicts in a manner that not only inspires confidence but also values the different opinions of all group members (Chriem, et al., 2013).

If I am ever to serve in a strong position of power or leadership, such as being an administrator, it will be more essential to evolve a transformational style. I believe that heading a large healthcare organization would require skills that are more visionary in scope, taking into account long-term goals and values, as well as the mission of the organization as a whole. While working in a diverse setting, we are being called upon to value everyone's input and incorporate various points-of-view into our decisions.

Address how you envision the use of informal, formal, positive, and negative power as it applies to your personal philosophy of leadership.

Formal power helps to legitimize a leader and provides a mandate. It can be extremely helpful to have formal power, as it generates respect and compliance. Formal power also works well in specific types of workplace settings and environments, particularly in bureaucratic organizations that value systems in which formal power plays a key role.

However, informal power can be more persuasive in some situations than formal power. Many employees resent persons in positions of formal power and prefer to be inspired by leaders who recognize their core strengths rather than focusing on specific outcomes. In organizations that are structured more horizontally, or where power is not vested in formal positions as much as in traditional bureaucracies, informal power translates to convincing persuasion and transformational leadership that can help each team member reach his or her own potential and contribute to the group in a unique way.

Research shows that it may be important for effective leaders to balance positive and negative power, to create a state of "equilibrium" whereby resistance is balanced by induction (Rus, 1980, p. 3). I envision striving continually for equilibrium in the teams that I lead, which is why I assume a strategy that is essentially contingent in nature, based on situational ethics and the natural uncertainty of the healthcare industry in general. Allowing each member of a team work independently without supervision represents trust and fosters empowerment, but sometimes can work against the leader who has specific goals or targets in mind, or who is also answering to a supervisor. Therefore, each situation must be handled differently.

Complete the "Leadership Style Survey" at the end of Chapter 10 of Organizational Behavior in Health Care. Discuss your results and how they support your personal philosophy of leadership.

Judging by the results of this Leadership Style Survey, I lean towards an autocratic style but only slightly. My scores are similar for all the three styles evaluated, including democratic and free reign. This suggests that I am in a transitional period not only in my career but also personally, as I discover my unique strengths and leadership styles, and evaluate my personal leadership philosophy critically and with an eye on my future goals.