Nurse Leader Interview: Leadership Styles and Staffing

Introduction

For this reflection, an assistant manager on a medical-surgical unit provided answers to questions about leadership, what makes a good follower, shared governance, and quality improvement. The interviewee also discussed the role of nursing leaders in the workplace, the role of technology, and the impact of organizational factors on staffing plans. This paper reflects on the answers given and compares and contrasts the nurse leader's leadership style with other leadership styles, including authentic leadership and transformational leadership. Finally, it discusses the opportunity for implementing a quality improvement initiative.

Same-Team Leadership Style

The nurse leader described herself as a team leader. Team leadership style typically consists of identifying a clear purpose or goal for the team to achieve; the leader understands the strengths each team member brings and uses them in a complementary way so that the team is strong overall. The nurse leader did this by creating an environment in which all team members can reach their highest potential, while also leading by positive example. By focusing on giving a good example, the nurse leader also engaged in what could be termed authentic leadership.

Her nursing philosophy, however, appears to be rooted in transformational leadership, as her outlook was defined by the goal of transforming health care so as to be recognized as a leader of positive change. To achieve quality leadership, she noted that one must communicate effectively, adapt to new situations and environments, implement motivating strategies to inspire and empower staff, assist staff with planning and decision-making, and ensure staff has the tools and training needed to meet patient needs. All of these remarks correspond with the fundamental principles of transformational leadership, including the need for the group to represent the values and beliefs of the unit to staff, other units and departments, and to the organization as a whole.

The nurse leader elaborated on how she communicates with followers and stated that verbal, face-to-face communication is her preferred mode; however, because of the stress of a busy, noisy, and distracting environment, communicating in this manner can be a challenge. Perhaps the best example of how she engages in same-team leadership is through her attempt to seek compromises when conflicts arise. For example, she stated that when conflicts arise among patients, family members, nurses, or physicians, she listens to each side and tries to come up with a compromise that satisfies each party: "We look at the problem together, analyzing the situation, and look for resolution."

At the same time, as a nurse leader she recognizes that she must make decisions — especially when it comes to assigning tasks. When delegating, she stated that she takes into consideration a particular nurse's level of education and training before delegating certain tasks. Her goal is always to ensure that a task she delegates falls within the scope of practice of the delegate. This approach corresponds with the same-team leadership style, in which a leader recognizes the strengths of each team member and uses them appropriately (Teguh, Hariyati, & Muhaeriwati, 2019).

Comparing Other Leadership Styles

Transformational leadership focuses on implementing change in a workplace by communicating a vision, using logic and reason to justify the change, and providing support and motivation to workers so that they can buy in to the change and achieve the vision (Hadi & Tola, 2019). Empowerment is a central part of transformational leadership, but it is also a part of servant leadership, which aims at supporting followers so they can reach their potential (Gandolfi & Stone, 2018). The interviewee stressed that she does aim to use empowerment strategies to motivate workers to grow professionally and develop their potential. To that end, she stated that she shares her own experiences, tries to answer all questions, resolves conflicts that arise, follows through on all promises, and acts as a good role model. This last point — acting as a role model — favorably compares her method with that of authentic leadership. Authentic leadership is a style in which the leader demonstrates a strong work ethic grounded in ethical principles and motivates followers by providing a good example of how to work (Alilyyani, Wong, & Cummings, 2018).

Some of the key differences between the interviewee's same-team style and transformational leadership are that she focuses on shared governance — a strategy to promote ownership, autonomy, and staff input. Rather than making decisions for all and insisting on getting buy-in, as a transformational leader would do, she partners with staff and includes them in decision-making that affects the organization. This is the main feature of her same-team leadership that distinguishes it from transformational leadership.

The differences between her same-team style and servant and authentic leadership styles are that she recognizes the need to organize and motivate while simultaneously uniting everyone at once. Authentic leaders are open and direct; servant leaders are supportive and selfless; as a team leader, she focuses on getting everyone on the same page through collaboration and the sharing of information (Lemoine, Hartnell, & Leroy, 2019). In her style of leadership, collaboration is key:

"On our unit we try to identify our patients' needs, create a team to review those needs, to gather data and identify problems. After problems are identified, we create a plan, strategy, and goal for improvement. When the plan is selected and implemented, we evaluate outcomes and the effectiveness of the plan. If an outcome is not met, the plan gets revised."

Through constant communication, sharing of information, revision, and monitoring of situations, the team works together to achieve solutions to problems that arise — this is the essence of her leadership style. Authentic leaders also share information openly, but their emphasis is on being honest and ethical rather than necessarily on building teams; servant leaders, likewise, focus on supporting individuals so they can become leaders themselves. A same-team leader, like the interviewee, uses collaboration to foster a team mentality so that all members feel they are working toward the same goal in the same way.

Conclusion

There are many approaches to leadership that a nurse leader can adopt, but the same-team leadership style the interviewee uses is particularly noteworthy. Her approach focuses on communication and collaboration; at the same time, she sees herself as a role model who advocates for change and shares her experiences and insight to help others grow. As a result, elements of transformational leadership, authentic leadership, and servant leadership can all be detected in her methods. One area she identified as ripe for innovative change was staffing, and she pointed out that telemedicine has been found to work well in alleviating staffing issues while simultaneously reducing risks associated with COVID-19.

References

Alilyyani, B., Wong, C. A., & Cummings, G. (2018). Antecedents, mediators, and outcomes of authentic leadership in healthcare: A systematic review. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 83, 34–64.

Elson, E. C., Oermann, C., Duehlmeyer, S., & Bledsoe, S. (2020). Use of telemedicine to provide clinical pharmacy services during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy, 77(13), 1005–1006.

Gandolfi, F., & Stone, S. (2018). Leadership, leadership styles, and servant leadership. Journal of Management Research, 18(4), 261–269.

Hadi, T. P., & Tola, B. (2019). The effect of transformational leadership and work motivation on innovative behavior. IJHCM (International Journal of Human Capital Management), 3(2), 100–108.

Lemoine, G. J., Hartnell, C. A., & Leroy, H. (2019). Taking stock of moral approaches to leadership: An integrative review of ethical, authentic, and servant leadership. Academy of Management Annals, 13(1), 148–187.

Teguh, A., Hariyati, R. T. S., & Muhaeriwati, T. (2019). Applicability of Lewin's change management model for optimization management function in nursing delegation between head nurse and team leader: A mini project in Jakarta military hospital. International Journal of Nursing and Health Services (IJNHS), 2(2), 66–74.