Leadership Style Assessment & Personal Reflection Paper (Essay Sample)
This assignment was intended to facilitate
student self-assessment and critical reflection integral to ongoing development
of leadership, management, and entrepreneurship potential in professional
clinical nursing roles. Inherent in this activity is: a willingness to engage
in self-reflection and analysis; the ability to objectively examine personal
attributes, strengths, and weaknesses; gaining an awareness of resources
available for the development of new leadership competencies; and a commitment
to ongoing personal and professional development. The student will also
evaluate his/her leadership style and potential for leadership in the clinical
setting.
LEADERSHIP STYLE ASSESSMENT AND PERSONAL REFLECTION PAPER
Student’s Name
Course
Instructor
Institution
Date
Leadership Style Assessment & Personal Reflection Paper
Personal reflection is necessary not only in the medical profession but all others. And constant critical leadership evaluations and assessments must be carried out if the professional is ever going to maximize their potential and actualize their skills and abilities for the personal and common good. In the race and purpose to provide high-quality, safe, and cost-effective care both currently and sustainably into the future, many healthcare systems are having to endure torrid, complex, and multifaceted challenges. (Porter-O’Grady et al., 2011).
With technological innovation, ever-increasing healthcare costs, and the increased patients' disease acuity, it's of necessity to have sustainable measures adopted that would improve the quality of care given. And to reach this level, it may well mean that a shift in healthcare delivery and a rejuvenation of previous roles played by the healthcare staff be revisited and the roles remodeled to achieve the proper healthcare models necessary for the 21st Century. And such calls for proper leadership that can handle the day-to-day challenges of the profession for continuity of the industry. There is a demand for serious intellectuals and strategic decision-making that affects patient and community lives positively. Major issues like the cost of quality healthcare services and access and many others (Ledlow et al., 2014) point to the fact that well-trained and equipped leaders are primed to make on-point decisions (Rowold et al., 2008).
Bennis (1959), Ledlow and Coppols (1995), and Kouzes and Posner (1995) have defined leadership as a process of individual influence over another to the degree that the result becomes a follower behaving in the desired manner expected of the influencer. The same is the art of mobilizing for a shared passion or goal, persistently over some time, having assessed, developed, maintained, and accurately changed the organizational culture prevalent to counter and fit into the new expectations of the external environment. It heavily involves interpersonal skills and a persistent spirit that is sold out to what it pursues and desires to achieve.
My preferred leadership style as a nursing student as well as an expected professional. The Foundation of Nursing Leadership website test links the transformational leader with a score of 72 out of a possible 80 (Dawes, 2015). Next to it was the transactional leadership style, with a score of 50 out of a possible 80. I deliberately work on formulating an inspiring vision in the nursing field if I am to make lively and fulfilling the medical experience and opportunity we have as a team. The vision must encompass the realities of today but not necessarily be hamstrung by the present to the moment where it becomes insufficient to the competitiveness and foresight. The vision should focus on clients and empower the healthcare teams. Advocacy of both patient's and nurses' needs must be widely covered.
Proper communication channels and atmosphere should be encouraged in the workplace regardless of the tension and challenge that the healthcare industry, above all others, faces since it deals with the very essence of human life. Nurses are at the first level in the service, and therefore should be trained and equipped to use their autonomy effectively in critical decision making and be empowered and trained to take responsibility. They are in the best position alongside patients to highly engineer successful healthcare reform, but surprising, both are the least empowered and influential. Just because the profession has long been dominated by females, I believe that has given many policymakers the perfect excuse to view nurses as merely "functional doers" who are just sited waiting for orders. Rather, what needs to be the prevailing attitude is that they are literally "thoughtful strategists": informed decision-makers out of the wealth of experience, education, and evidence, especially when it comes to being one of the most trusted sources of confidential health information by a 2009 Gallup poll (2011).
My idealized influence (II) is at 18. My inspirational motivation (IM) is at 18. I get people to commit to the vision. My intellectual stimulation (IS) is at 17. I don't rubber-stamp things. But in doing so, I must present my line of thinking in a manner that doesn't put off the team; rather, it must stimulate different perspectives. Think widely, think broadly, and be specific is my motto. And that brings me to the fourth criteria of individual consideration (IC), which is at 19. Potential differs. Perspectives are broad, and therefore I must elevate what others think and engineer critical thinking. If an idea is promising, then I deliberately support its implementations long as the promoter of it leads, and our assessment of it is a positive domino effect to the overall goal. Nothing boosts performance like individual goals accomplished through team efforts.
My motivation for leadership score using the MindTools site (2021) is 65 out of a possible 70. I have strong motivation to lead. And it begins with confidence and the ability to inspire it in others. When it comes to decision-making, I stress shared values and principles. Such enables my team and me to find common ground in our ethical and professional commitments. Sexism, ethnic and racial bigotry, lack of unity, laziness, lack of concern, and many others are part of those vices we have to highlight and come to an agreement about the need to eradicate. From the point of agreement, then we endeavor to create an environment that will enable the stimulation of the desired traits. In decision making too, I make it my responsibility to have a common perception of the problem. I do my best to encourage and bring to the attention that what we are facing should be viewed from the point of confidence and mature response. I don't encourage reactionary approaches. You won't have all good days. When the need for problem-solving arises, reactionary tendencies must be counter-checked. They only aid in depicting the activity happening, but ultimately we end up with worse scenarios and lower morale.
We must work on our foresight and be equipped to do mitigation should our envisioned scenarios fail. But that too should be part of the process, rather than the response when everything spills out of control. Allow colleagues to be in charge of positions and assignments that they show the most passion and strength in. that becomes the enabling counsel I use when it comes to delegation. The nursing profession can offer much more when the employee isn't forced to serve from the point of formal leadership. Such moves only further strain the development of critical clinical leadership skills. Clinical expertise, effective communication, collaboration, coordination, and interpersonal understanding are the major characteristics that define clinical leadership. In the end, what matters is the provision of high-quality care. It effectively depends on empowered, empathetic, knowledgeable, competent, visionary, supportive, and effective communicators who can create bonds with staff and offer guidance to patients and their families.
In an industry that dwells with human life daily, priorities must be to the patient. But in there lies the devil in the details. Because of the desire to offer the best service possib
Other Topics:
- The State of Health Care in the USDescription: When comparing the United States with other countries, the U.S. fares unfavorably when comparing the country’s health care quality, access and spending. The current system has made many U.S. citizens not completely capable of managing well when they need healthcare services. On a per-capita basis, the...2 pages/≈550 words| 2 Sources | APA | Health, Medicine, Nursing | Essay |
- Graphing and Describing Data in Everyday LifeDescription: A visual display is a depiction used to conveniently convey information using elements beyond pure text. They may include maps, computer interfaces, and diagrams (Dean & Illowsky, 2010). On the other hand, the frequency can be described as measuring how often something does occur. The frequency table is the...1 page/≈275 words| 1 Source | APA | Health, Medicine, Nursing | Essay |
- The Nutrient Requirements to Support Physical ActivityDescription: The foods consumed are responsible for the provision of the energy required to maintain physical activity. Appropriate amounts of the following are required to support physical activity. Proteins are required to build and maintain muscles and rebuild tissues (Cupisti et al., 2014). Carbohydrates are ...2 pages/≈550 words| 10 Sources | APA | Health, Medicine, Nursing | Essay |