Feb 23, 2024 NR 500 Week 4: Leadership: Establishing Relationships and Influencing Change
Sample Answer for NR 500 Week 4: Leadership: Establishing Relationships and Influencing Change Included After Question
NR 500 Week 4: Leadership: Establishing Relationships and Influencing Change
This week’s focus is on developing foundational interpersonal skills that will prepare you for professional practice as a leader and change agent. As a leader, how will you influence change in your professional specialty area? Identify two strengths you have that will promote strong leadership. Identify two areas of improvement to your skill in leading and influencing change. What are two priority strategies you will implement as professional development tools for leadership?
A Sample Answer For the Assignment: NR 500 Week 4: Leadership: Establishing Relationships and Influencing Change
Title: NR 500 Week 4: Leadership: Establishing Relationships and Influencing Change
Effective interpersonal skills are at the root of a competent nurse. Nurse leaders who develop strong interpersonal skills are likely the ones to be most effective in their leadership roles and their abilities to implement positive change in the healthcare environment. As a future nurse educator, my goal is to influence the perioperative nursing environment through exemplary role modeling of the behavior, knowledge, and skillset that an operating nurse should have to be successful. I am currently developing my leadership skills in my current position as an assistant nurse manager in a hospital based, pediatric operating room setting. I have served in this position for the last 4 years and it has definitely been a learning experience. Undergraduate nursing programs and hospital orientations focus on educating the nurse to care for patients. There is little emphasis and preparation for nurses whom advance to leadership roles and acquire the task of leading a team of direct reports. In this week’s required reading, I found it interesting to consider that leadership and management are not always synonymous (Scully, 2014). There is such a variety of effective nurse leaders whom have great vision, and hold a desire to advance the care of patients, nurse education, and the profession, but do not necessarily hold a managerial title. This caused a great amount of personal reflection upon me this week as I thought further about the topic at hand.
I chose to pursue my master’s in nursing after spending the last few years in a nurse leadership role. The increasing desire to foster the education of nurses entering perioperative nursing for the first time interests me greatly. To be fully prepared to educate others, be it in the hospital, community, or academic setting, the nurse educator must be fully equipped with valuable leadership and knowledge skills. (Patterson & Krouse, 2015). Two strengths that I currently possess and feel will promote strong leadership as a nurse educator, are the ability to effectively communicate and professionalism. Communication to various disciplines and persons from all backgrounds are key to team building and is a crucial interpersonal skill to develop. This skill was not always my strength but over many years of nursing, I have learned that communication is so important to delivering competent care. The ability to articulate, creates an effective atmosphere and opens the door to success for the need at hand. Professionalism is my second strength. Professionalism is displayed in a conscientious work ethic, performing the assigned job properly, and with competence (Sheikhi, Khoshnab, Mohammadi, & Oskouie, 2015). I believe in taking pride in the task set before me be it circulating an appendectomy, managing a staff call schedule, or leading an in-service. Interpersonal skills of communication and professionalism will further prepare me to be an influential nurse educator.
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Where there are strengths, there are also weaknesses. Areas of improvement that I identify with and are needed to enhance my leadership skills are emotional competence and active listening. I have the tendency to wear my heart on my sleeves at times which allows me to show great empathy in caring for others, but also can limit my abilities as an effective leader. Being able to properly maintain my emotions with a level of self-awareness will help me understand how to tackle the tasks set me before me effectively. As a nurse educator, relationship building is a key component and having a strong emotional competence will aid me in this endeavor (Patterson & Krouse, 2015). Active listening is a skill that I would like to further develop. In the often-stressful environments I find myself in between home and work, distractions serve as a negative influence. As a charge nurse, I carry a phone that rings incessantly. As a mom to 3 young children, someone is needing me all hours of the day. I find that my active listening skills are limited in times when the stress level is high. Taking the time to slow down, prioritize my time, and focus on the important or immediate needs first will help me to improve my listening skills and further advance my communication abilities.
Priority strategies that I plan to implement immediately are self-management and relationship building. Self-management is the start to improving emotional competence and the ability to maintain composure, even during a difficult situation. This starts with managing my time and learning to say no when necessary, so that I can stay on track with the tasks I have committed to completing. Relationship building comes with improving active listening skills by communicating respectfully and compassionately with those I am working with or responsible for. This involves being a role model, mentoring, fostering a teamwork environment, advocating for my colleague, peers, future students, and recognizing the need for support when necessary (Patterson & Krouse, 2015). One way to do this as a nurse educator will be through team oriented approaches to learning. Practical scenarios could be provided for the team or students to work through and solve in support towards a common goal, as opposed to individually. With team approaches to healthcare, a nurse educator can help develop a sense of community amongst the nursing students. This will help nurses learn to speak up in real clinical practice through effective communication, advocate for their patient at a higher level, critically think, and problem solve.
References
Patterson, B., & Krouse, A. (2016). Competencies for leaders in nursing education. Nursing Education Perspectives, 36(2), 76-82. doi: 10.5480/13-1300
Scully, N. (2014). Leadership in nursing: The importance of recognizing inherent values and attributes to secure a positive future for the profession. Science Direct, 22(4), 439-444. doi: 10.1016.j.colegn.2014.09.004
Sheikhi, M., Fallahi-Khoshnab, M., Mohammadi, F., & Oskouie, F. (2016). Skills required for nursing career advancement: A qualitative study. Nurse Midwifery Student Journal, 5(2), 1-8. doi: 10.17795/nmsjournal30777
Two strengths that you verbalized to be your greatest quality in nursing is effective communication and professionalism. Effective communication and professionalism are great qualities in nursing leadership that facilitate a great working environment and teamwork amongst peers. Being able to effectively communicate require one to be able to clue into verbal and non-verbal communication and appreciate what the staff, physicians, and ancillary staff have to offer. Communication occurs in four different settings: intrapersonal, interpersonal, group, and societal. These communication settings are all environments used by leaders to communicate to others. As a nurse leader effective communication also requires the ability to actively listen, which you stated as one of your weaknesses. Therapeutic communication has a purpose and direction and employs processes to achieve established objectives (Ellis and Hartley, 2004). Therapeutic communication focuses on the needs of the other person and involves active listening and observation (Ellis and Hartley, 2004). Active listening displays to an individual that you value what they have to say, and you appreciate and value them as a member of team. Skillful communication should be clear, concise, positive in approach & perspective, recognize diversity, and involves effective communication (Ellis and Hartley, 2004).
Reference:
Ellis, J. and Hartley, C. (2004). Nursing in Today’s World: Trends, Issues & Management. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. 8th ed., p 451.
Gaining the advanced practice nursing degree, specifically becoming a Family Nurse Practitioner, comes with it leadership expectations and responsibilities. With my motivations and passions in nursing, I hope to inspire others through my leadership abilities. From reflecting on my own leadership traits, I hope to bring a transformational leadership quality to influence my co-workers in my future role as a nurse practitioner. The transformational leader inspires and motivates others with a shared vision to work above and beyond the basic expectations (Scully, 2015). From my own motivations I will share a vision with others that will cultivate a positive workplace for us healthcare professionals and our patients.
My two leadership strength are self-awareness and flexibility.Self-awareness is the ability to know and acknowledge your own emotions and how they impact others (Kumar, Adhish, & Chauhan, 2014). As a leader, you are looked upon to handle difficult situations and lead a group of individuals with different personalities and emotions. Before you can manage or lead others you must know and manage yourself (Kumar, Adhish, & Chauhan, 2014). I believe I am self-aware as I can acknowledge my tendencies in certain situations and have a good grasp on how my reactions impact others. I know that I am light-hearted, motivated, and often more relaxed when difficult situations come up. Knowing how I react to things is where my leadership begins. My flexibility is a quality that is made for the current complex and ever changing healthcare system we are in today. We are continuously having to learn new tools, change electronic medical systems, and develop innovative ways to solve problems. If your tendency is to be rigid and stagnant, this system and the patient care will be hindered. Being fluid and flexible leads to a nurse practitioner who is ready for the healthcare system of today.
Being aware of your challenges or improvement areas is a strong attribute of a great leader. While I am self-aware and also perceptive of others’ feelings, I do need to improve my understanding of those who are more sensitive than me. I often stay relaxed and let difficult situations roll off easily. There are people who may get more upset during some situations. Neither of us is right or wrong, just reacting in different unique ways. As I work on my advanced degree, I want to improve my understanding of how others react and better ways to interact with them and help them work through their frustrations. I would also like to increase my ability to communicate at a higher level. I feel confident in my communication and connectedness with others, but with an advanced nursing degree comes expectations of higher level communication. Asking critical and thoughtful questions and being involved in complex dialogue are improvements I hope to make to take on advanced leadership roles.
Leadership is an expectation for the advance practice nurse and something we should continue to improve upon. The first implementation I will provide is to encourage advance practice nurse leadership in the institution I work for. Kapu and Jones (2016) found that advance practice nurses reported that having other advance nurses in leadership roles was important to feeling empowered themselves. From increasing advance practice nursing leadership, they saw an increase in leadership of other advanced practice nurses. Empowering advanced practice nurses to take on leadership roles must also be accompanied by leadership programs. My other development tool will be a formal leadership education program. There are national leadership programs available for advanced nurses, but there must also be local programs with unique features that focus on the characteristic of the facility in which the advanced nurses work (West, Smithgall, Rosler, & Winn, 2016). By assessing the organization and the leadership qualities of the advanced nurses I work with, I can tailor a leadership program to enhance the skills we already have and improve on the leadership qualities that myself and my co-workers need.
References
Kapu, A.N. & Jones, P… (2016). APRN transformational leadership. Nursing Management, 47(2), 19-22. doi: 10.1097/01.NUMA.0000479443.75643.2b
Kumar, S., Adhish, V.S., & Chauhan, A.. (2014). Managing self for leadership. Indian Journal of Community Medicine, 39(3), 138-142. doi: 10.4103/0970-0218.137148
Scully, N.J… (2015). Leadership in nursing: The importance of recognizing inherent values and attributes to secure a positive future for the profession. Collegian, 22(4), 439-444. doi: 10.1016/j.colegn.2014.09.004
West, M., Smithgall, L., Rosler, G., & Winn, E… (2016). Evaluation of a nurse leadership development programme. Nursing Management, 22(10), 26-31. doi: 10.7748/nm.22.10.26.s29
As a leader, I will influence change in education by providing students with the support they need to become competent nurses. Nursing school is challenging, and student nurses often have difficulty and require guidance. I hope to influence change by providing students with the necessary skills, as well as structure and encouragement to help them successfully complete their degrees. I will also influence change by leading by example. In demonstrating leadership skills and professionalism, I will serve as a role model for students.
Two strengths that I possess that will promote strong leadership are self-awareness and the ability to communicate effectively. The Canadian College of Health Leaders (2010) describes self-awareness as the ability to recognize one’s emotions, perceptions, assumptions, values, and principles. Effective communication is illustrated by active listening, being culturally sensitive, and utilizing different forms of communication (Canadian College of Health Leaders, 2010). I believe these strengths will enable me to promote strong leadership in my future role as an educator. Two areas in which I can improve are decision making and adapting to change. I am sometimes indecisive with certain things, and have difficulty coping with drastic life changes.
Two priority strategies I will implement as professional development tools are creating pros/cons lists to help in decision making and putting myself in situations outside of my comfort zone to develop my adaptability skills. Creating pros/cons lists when decision making will allow me to better assess the situation and compare my options. Allowing myself to partake in situations outside of my comfort zone will aid in developing my adaptability skills. Implementing these strategies will help me both professionally, to lead and influence change, and in my personal life as well.
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