Leadership Skills in Nursing

Being a Registered Nurse, and an Advanced Practice Nurse candidate, it has been important to understand the different aspects of leadership and how it affects a leadership role. In this class, I have learned about my strengths as well as areas that require improvement to become an effective leader. The specific leadership self-assessments that I have completed has given me a better understanding of my status as a leader. These assessments have identified my strengths and areas that require improvement. Throughout this paper I will be discussing each of the assessments and how they relate to my leadership role.

Emotional Intelligence Quotient Inventory

Goleman explained that emotional intelligence determines our potential for learning the practical skills of emotional competence (as cited in Porter-O’Grady & Malloch, 2018). When I used the emotional quotient self-score questionnaire and the 1-10 score interpretation grid by Management Performance Solutions (n.d.), I scored a 5 on self-awareness, a 3 on self-management, an 8 on social awareness, and an 8 on social skills.

The emotional intelligence quotient showed my strengths as being open to new ideas, being compassionate, taking advantage of new opportunities in the work place, initiating actions on task without needing to be asked, addressing the needs and concerns of others, being able to take lead whenever there is an opportunity to do so, communicating effectively, and cooperating with others fully to achieve goals. The emotional intelligence quotient also showed the need to work on admitting when my behavior may have been unreasonable and evaluating when I am close to the limit of my capabilities.

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I scored a 3 on the self-management interpretation grid by Management Performance Solutions (n.d.). I agree with my low score of 3 on self-management because I am aware that I need to work on maintaining a calm appearance when my situations become uncomfortable and making my actions match my words. I am taking steps to improve my self-management by acknowledging my emotional triggers, adapting to changing situations, taking responsibility for my feelings, and paying close attention to how I behave. Also, I need to work on proving positive feedback to my group when they do a great job. According to Porter and Malloch (2018), a lack of performance feedback, for example, can cause stress and undermines the leader’s confidence. The emotional quotient self-score assessment was a true reflection of my strengths and weaknesses, with no difference between results obtained and my self-assessment.

The Ten Faces of Innovation

According to Kelley (2005), innovation is ultimately a team sport. I consider myself to be a team player, and this has helped me greatly as a caregiver and a collaborator. Caregivers take extra pains to understand each individual customer (Kelly, 2005). When taking care of patients, I individualize their care. Moreover, I show empathy to patients by listening attentively to understand them better. Caregivers have empathy (Kelly, 2005). I also consider myself to be collaborator. Collaborators bring people together to get things done (Kelly, 2005). I work with other members of the healthcare team to take care of patients by ensuring that their physical, psychosocial, developmental, cultural, and spiritual needs are met. My areas for professional development include being a set designer. The set designer can be the “X factor” in a company, the intangible element that helps turn around the organization (Kelly, 2005). Our work environments have an impact on our productivity. I plan on developing this persona throughout this DNP program. As an advanced practiced nurse candidate, I need to design environments that encourage individuals to do their best work. I could also identify myself as a director. The directors map out the production, crafting the scenes, bringing out the best among actors and actresses, honing the project or company theme, building the chemistry, and getting it done (Kelly, 2005). I have always been a director since I was young. I do not mind giving others the tools to succeed, taking up a difficult task, or being the leader for a project. Leaders model the way by finding their voice and setting an example (Kouzes & Posner, 2003). I lead by example, as this style helps me to share my enthusiasm with the group I am leading.

The Core Values That Attribute to Leadership

According to the Nursing and Midwifery Council of England, nurses are responsible for providing ethical care to patients and their families (as cited in Shahriari, Mohammadi, & Brahmi, 2013). As a nurse my core values guide my practice, I show respect to patients and their families. Dignity is the consideration of human innate values, respecting patients’ beliefs, preserving their dignity and privacy during clinical procedures, communicating with patients, understanding the patient, and devoting to fulfill his/her needs (Shahriari, Mohammadi, & Brahmi, 2013). I believe that the well-being of others is equally as important as my wellbeing, therefore I advocate for the welfare of my patients and their families as I will do with my own. According to Mensik (n.d.), there are four ways of knowing in nursing; through the art of nursing, through personal experience, through science in nursing and from ethics. Therefore, I utilize knowledge and clinical skills learnt from experiences, art of nursing, nursing science, and nursing ethics to fulfill client’s needs, promote patients’ health, and relieve their pain and suffering. In addition, I know I am responsible for providing care to patients while respecting their rights to make decisions. Furthermore, my significant life experiences discussed in the first mind map assignment has made grateful, humble, and my readiness to learn from mistakes has helped me maintain my core values. Dimostrazione is the key to making the most of your experience (Gelb, 2006). However, several factors like our personality can promote or prevent us from recognizing our values or ethical responsibility as nurses. According to Myer-Briggs’ assessment of personalities (n.d.), I have extroversion, sensing, thinking and perception (ESTP) personality type. One of the weaknesses of this personality type that relates to me is that I am impatient. Moral sensitivity is the first step in ethical decision making because we cannot solve a moral issue unless we first know that one exists (Johnson, 2008). I am practicing patience by meditating and focusing on things that matter.

Leadership Practice Inventory

According to the leadership practices inventory by Kouzes and Posner (n.d.), my highest leadership ranking includes: Setting a personal example of what I expect from other people, being able to foster relationships, treating others with respect, giving people freedom and choice, celebrating accomplishments, and providing leadership opportunities for others. My areas of relative strengths include: Creatively recognizing people’s contributions and supporting decisions other people make. My areas for potential development include: Making sure people support common values and seeking feedback about the impact of my actions. As a leader, I challenge the process by searching for innovative ways to improve, taking challenging skills and abilities, learning from mistakes, and breaking the projects into smaller do-able portions. My area of potential development includes helping others try out new ideas. Leaders enable Others to act by fostering collaboration and strengthening others (Kouzes & Posner, 2003). This is my area of greatest strength. I enable others to act by fostering cooperative relationships, treating others with respect, giving others freedom and choice, and providing leadership opportunities for others. My area for potential growth with regards to enabling others will include being able to listen actively to diverse viewpoints. I encourage the heart by paying attention to nonverbal cues from my team members, offering encouragement and showing appreciation for people’s contribution and by creating a climate of celebration. The difference between the leadership practice inventory and my self-assessment is that I like experimenting and taking risks unlike the results presented by the inventory.

Relationship Between Personality and Leadership

After taking the personality test by Myer Briggs (n.d.), I found out that I have the ESTP personality type. I was thrilled by the fact that I possessed most of the results revealed in this personality type. People with this type of personality are inspiring and convincing. They are natural group leaders, bringing life and excitement everywhere they go. Also, ESTPs are known for their experimentation, improvising, risk taking, and quick thinking. Leaders challenge the process by searching for opportunities, experimenting, taking risks, and learning from mistakes (Kouzes & Posner, 2003). Also, people with this personality type find it difficult to stay focused on a detail for too long. My areas of strengths include being success-oriented, ambitious, and energic. Also, I am bold and self-confident. Leaders ridiculed with self-doubt are most likely not to gain other peoples’ trust because they might find it hard to take the necessary action (Dawson, 2014). My area with potential for development is being patient. The only difference between this personality trait and my self-assessment is that people with ESTP personality are known to be insensitive. On the contrary I am a very sensitive person. I am sensitive to my colleagues’ work habits and moods, whether I am the cause of their distress or not.

In conclusion, almost all the assessment tools accurately represented my leadership style. I learnt a lot about myself, my strengths and weaknesses. As I spend time transforming my weakness into strengths and building on existing strength, I will be an effective leader in any setting I find myself in.