Leadership Characteristics Of A Nurse Leader

An Autocratic style means that the manager makes decisions unilaterally, and without much regard for subordinates. As a result, decisions will reflect the opinions and personality of the manager; this in turn can project an image of a confident, well managed business. On the other hand, subordinates may become overly dependent upon the leaders

and at higher levels of the organization. This can all seem like a daunting task, but a true nursing

What does it take to become a successful nurse leader? Many people have different ideas on what makes a leader successful. The professional nurse leader is someone who is looked up to and admired. Most nurses are leaders already without even knowing it. With the proper preparation and guidance, all nurses have the potential to be great leaders and managers.

Leadership is an important role in all aspect of the business world, including nursing. To be a great leader is to be on the frontline taking risks, while achieving shared goals and inspiring others to action as they follow (Marquis & Huston, 2015). Having the title of leader does not equate to one being an actual leader, it is the actions of the leader that must backup the actual title they possess. According to the roles of a hospital-based unit, a nurse may be a floor nurse one day and a charge nurse the next day. Flipping the role of a nurse from follower to leader can cause confusion to the nurse changing roles and to the followers who are expected to adjust their expectations from their peer one day to

As an inexperienced nurse, I feel that you can learn a lot from those around you. The seasoned nurses who have been around for so much change and have gained so much knowledge by adapting and growing as a professional, are those who new nurses look up to and admire. Often a nurse leader position is held by someone who meets the qualifications. As a nurse leader you need to maintain a few qualities that will help you not only do your job but give you the skills to help other nurses in need. Leaders are those who can positively influence a groups behavior by maintaining self-awareness, social awareness, relationship management, and self-management. Often it takes experience to become an effective nurse leader. They require a certain level of

The role of the nurse leader entails many of the same duties as other nursing staff. The primary focus of the nurse leader is of course, patient care. However, the role of a nurse leader extends far beyond that managing staff in direct care roles. Many people confuse the terms management with leadership, but in practice the implications of these terms differ significantly (Anderson, 2012). The nurse leader must take steps to advance the nursing as a profession and to inspire other team members by serving as a role model. This reflective research will explore the many faces of nurse leadership and the role of the nurse leader as a professional advocate.

Nursing leaders are able to take on many different leadership styles in their management positions. Such types of leadership include Democratic style, Affiliative style, Transformational style and Authoritarian style. Leaders that are able to switch between different leadership styles are able to lead their teams in all different situations and will in turn gain the respect of their team. Nurse leaders need to lead in a way that allows their team to have full confidence in the leader’s ability to keep calm and maintain working conditions that ensure patient safety and compliance.

Authoritarian leadership, or also referred to as autocratic leadership, is a type of leadership where the leader is in charge of all the decision making. These types of leaders rarely listen to others or allow anyone to help them make decisions. They make their own choices based on their thoughts and assemble their followers toward their visions (Goleman). Authoritarian leadership is

Good leaders are those that are committed to providing excellence in the workplace. Apart from this, another quality that such leaders depict is the resolution of a conflict in case of a failure. Last but not least, a good leader is one who is business minded. Thus, I think that conflict resolution, commitment, business-minded and compassion as some of the vital qualities a leader must possess in any job environment. Nursing leaders have the responsibility of taking care of patients efficiently, schedule and budget their resources among other tasks.

Effective leaders possess qualities that inspire others to follow them. Strong leaders encourage growth and professionalism within the team. In this constantly changing nursing profession, “there is not a single correct leadership style, but there are important characteristics that all leaders must demonstrate to get the desired results with the team” (Elwell & Elikofer, 2015, p. 312). A specific person always comes to mind when I think of an effective leader. She is the Director of the multiple department where I currently work. She demonstrates an ‘adaptive and mindful’ leadership. She leads the team by encouraging them to find that special qualities within themselves and grow from there (Buchanan, 2012). She supports and encourage

Nursing leaders are an integral part of health care, and more leaders are needed to aid in the transitions with health care reform. More mentors are essential in order to teach nurses how to become successful leaders, but it takes a positive and open personality as a nurse leader to mentor another nurse. Numerous characteristics are valuable for nurses to be successful leaders. I believe more research regarding nursing leaders as mentors is important to retain nurses in the field. Throughout my research concerning characteristics of effective mentors, much of the research is in other countries. I have compiled a few articles that exhibited successful or ideas for successful characteristics of mentors in the nursing field.

Autocratic leadership is an extreme form of transactional leadership, where a leader exerts high levels of power over his or her employees or team members. People within the team are given few opportunities for making suggestions, even if these would be in the team's or organization's interest.

Managers, according to Dwyer and Hopwood (2013, p. 4), are ‘organisational members who are responsible for the work performance of other organisational members’. No matter on what level of management, managers are utilizing organisational resources to make decisions and take actions when performing their management role and responsibilities with their formal authority. As today’s healthcare landscape has brought many changes, challenges, and even turmoil for nurse managers, supervisors, and team leaders, now, more than ever, nursing needs energetic, committed and dedicated managers with leadership capacity to meet the enormous demanding of the healthcare climate and unpredictable challenges (Tomey 2009). McKee, Kemp and Spence (2013, p. 4) agree that: ‘in organisations today, everyone needs to be a leader’. The leadership skills and abilities of nurse managers have long been acknowledged as the fundamental strengths to make critical contributions to the smooth operation of hospital care (McGuire & Kennerly 2006). Effective use power by leaders and the role of managers can stimulate and engage staff members and followers in a more creative problem-solving process and “out of the box” thinking (Dignam et al. 2012). Managers implement leadership role can produce results that are far more likely to provide the

In my early years as a nurse, I had a nurse manager that was someone who concentrated on the day-to-day functions of the department. She seemed focused on making sure staffing was appropriate, supplies were ordered correctly, and dealt with problems as they arose. She checked up on nurses to make sure they were doing the necessary work, including reviewing their charting, and ensuring other tasks were completed such as narcotic counts, crash cart checks, refrigerator temperatures recorded, etc. She would review the time clock

Before we move towards the discussion about autocratic style of leadership we should have to know what leadership is. Many researchers define leadership in different words but a general point of view is that, leadership is the act of social influence of a person upon other companions, colleagues and subordinates by his/her different qualities in any organization which is performed by the individual voluntarily or due to his/her job for the achievement of group goals in any situation. (Nadeem Bhatti,Ghulam Murtza Maitlo,Naveed Shaikh,Muhammad Aamir Hashmi,Faiz. M. Shaikh, 2012) (Bruce E. Winston,Kathleen Patterson, 2006) (Ulrich).