This paper presents a personal self-assessment using the American Organization of Nurse Executives' Nurse Manager Skills Inventory across four content areas: personal and professional accountability, career planning, personal journey disciplines, and reflective practice reference behaviors. The author identifies key strengths — including ethical practice, career planning clarity, and reflective decision-making — alongside weaknesses such as limited involvement in professional associations and shared leadership. Drawing on these findings, the paper outlines strategies for advocating workplace change and presents a personal leadership growth goal centered on transformational leadership principles and professional networking.
Nurse leaders and managers are vital in every aspect of a healthcare organization, particularly in their role of ensuring the provision of quality care services. Given their significance, nurse managers and leaders need to develop essential competencies and leadership abilities. This implies that nurse leaders must not only build relevant knowledge and expertise, but must also actively cultivate their leadership skills. One way nurse managers and leaders can develop these skills is by examining their own competencies through structured self-assessment tools.
The American Organization of Nurse Executives developed the Nurse Manager Skills Inventory, a tool that allows nurse managers to rate themselves across several content areas (Denker, 2014). The tool can then serve as a platform for career pathway planning and for identifying professional development targets.
As part of promoting my personal career plans and development, I used the Nurse Manager Skills Inventory to rate myself across several key content areas, including personal and professional accountability, individual journey disciplines, career planning, and reflective practice reference behaviors and tenets. These content areas are crucial for developing the leader within me and for functioning effectively as a nurse leader or manager in the future.
Under personal and professional accountability, my strengths include having a clear plan for personal growth and development, ethical behavior and practice, and certification. I have developed a personal plan for education advancement and continuing education beyond my current studies, and I understand the certification requirements in my specialty. I also have an understanding of practice that aligns with the standards and scope of practice in nursing. However, my weakness in this area is that I have not yet joined and actively participated in a suitable professional association that promotes professional development and networking.
In relation to career planning, my strengths include a clear understanding of my role and future, as well as positioning myself for career growth and development. These strengths stem from having developed a comprehensive career plan for my pathway in the nursing field. Moreover, I am willing to learn new things and make necessary adjustments for personal and professional growth.
With regard to personal journey disciplines, my strengths include the ability to effectively use action learning mechanisms for problem solving and reflection on personal decisions. Furthermore, I have relatively strong knowledge of reflection and regularly practice it as a leadership behavior. Nonetheless, my weakness lies in shared leadership and council management skills, as I do not currently manage councils that foster shared leadership.
Based on the final content area — reflective practice reference behaviors and tenets — my strengths include acknowledgment of ambiguity, appreciation of diversity as a path toward wholeness, and holding to the truth. In contrast, I have weaknesses in developing my intellectual and emotional self, keeping personal commitments, and pursuing new knowledge. I do not consistently create time to study new material or stay current with emerging trends in the field.
"Applying strengths to empower nurses and drive change"
"Transformational leadership goal and implementation plan"
The development of leadership skills is an important aspect of today's nursing field because of its role in promoting better patient outcomes and organizational success. The need for effective leadership skills in nursing emerges from the wide range of challenges nurses face daily, including monitoring patients' health and well-being, performing clinical procedures, and contributing to organizational effectiveness. Leadership skills also support advocacy for workplace change, ultimately improving patient results and the overall quality of care.
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