Leadership Reflective Paper (1)
My Personal Leadership Style(s)
Uvbi Osatohangbon
School of Health and Community Services, Fleming College
NRSG 73-248359P – Nursing in Community
Professor Melissa Sherrer
Mon. Sept. 25, 2023
Leadership in nursing means being able to identify a problem that may require change and bring about change while influencing the people around to take action. Which means providing, facilitating and promoting the best possible care to the public (College of Nurses of Ontario, 2006). According to the College of Nurses of Ontario, leadership in nursing is something that occurs daily and is not limited to nurses who are placed in formal leadership positions. To develop and maintain leadership, a nurse must understand one’s beliefs and values and know how personal behavior can affect those around them (College of Nurses of Ontario, 2006). In addition, a nurse must have effective communication and listening skills, the willingness to take risks, the ability to work from a foundational moral framework and the characteristics of resilience and persistence (Sherrer, 2023). As Sherrer stated in her slideshow, a nurse must also be respectful, trustworthy, comfortable with uncertainty and complexity to be able to successfully expand on and manage personal leadership skills. There are multiple leadership styles that can help with performance as a leader. In the slideshow “Leadership, Community Health Nursing and Health Promotion” the key leadership styles highlighted are Democratic, Autocratic, Laissez-faire, Servant, Transformational, and Bureaucratic (Sherrer, 2023). The presentation explains what each style means starting with Democratic, used by a leader who makes the final decisions but considers the team’s input. Followed by the Autocratic style, which like in the Democratic, the leader will make the final decision with the difference being that the team’s input is not considered. Next in the slideshow, the Laissez-faire is introduced as the style where the team is allowed to make decisions for themselves. Subsequently, the Servant which is specifically about the ability to serve is defined as the style that includes sharing of power, putting need first and the value of team input. While the Transformational style is explained to consist of a team motivated by a shared goal and primarily focused on the ability to step out of the comfort zone. Lastly, the Bureaucratic style is stated to be all about following rules and policies that have already been laid out.
Out of the six key leadership styles I find that the Democratic, Servant and Bureaucratic styles resonate most with my personal values and styles. Although, the leadership style I find myself using most often is the Servant mixed with the Bureaucratic style. One thing all these styles have in common is that they all value team input. When working in a team setting, I believe it is important to work together and consider everyone’s opinion to ensure a better chance of achieving a shared goal. This is because everyone carries a different set of skills that could contribute to the success of the team and that if overlooked could potentially negatively impact the work environment as well as the final outcome.
When working with a group who may not be very experienced, like when working with a group of kids, I would rely on the democratic leadership style. No matter the age or level of experience within a team everyone has something they can add to the team, so taking every member’s opinion into account is important. The reason I would select a democratic style in a situation like this is because as important as everyone’s input is, there are scenarios where allowing someone with less experience to make the final decision would end up doing more harm than good. It would be like putting a child in charge of the preparation of a complex project like the design of a whole home. The child may have some good creative ideas that could help with the final look but without the right knowledge needed to be able to design a home the child may not be able to make the right decision to ensure success of the project. As for the Servant style, mixed with a bit of the Bureaucratic leadership style, I find it most effective when working with people with similar experiences even if these are in different areas of expertise. When leading a group, I personally like to ensure that if there are any rules or policies put in place, they are followed before any additional input is added, but I also prefer working with the team by sharing power according to everyone’s skill set. I believe that this approach will ensure a positive outcome when aiming to achieve a goal by making use of what each member brings to the team. For instance, if I were working on an assignment with other nursing students the person who is good at managing time would likely end up being in charge of important dates and sending out reminders while the team member with the most knowledge on the instructions of the assignment may end up being in charge of making sure the group does not divert from the main goal. Even though mixing the Servant style with the Bureaucratic is my preferred approach since it allows everyone in the team to make use of their skills while having some ground rules already established because of the way power may be shared it could result in conflict due to potential clashing ideas.
A leader, when faced with conflict, must know how to deal with it. Strategies that can be employed to facilitate group functioning when using the Democratic, Servant or Bureaucratic Leadership styles are ensuring trust and mutual respect amongst members, having open communication with the team, practicing active listening, and following a conflict-positive approach which means that team members interpret different opinions as healthy thing that should be encouraged, rather than discouraged (Fleming College, 2023). The strategies listed improve group functioning by helping to recognize the likelihood of conflict to occur and providing ways to assist taking steps to address it by being able to identify situations that are believed to lead to conflicts or disagreements (Fleming College, 2023). Once one can identify such situations guidelines can be set to effectively address and resolve disagreements or help reach acceptable solutions that allow all members to feel heard, no matter the outcome (Fleming College, 2023).
References
College of Nurses of Ontario. (006). Professional Standards, Revised 2002 (Pub. No. 41006). https://neltoolkit.rnao.ca/sites/default/files/CNO_Professional%20Standards,%20Revised%202002.pdf
Fleming College. (2023). Professional Aspects of Nursing B. FC Nrsg 97-248349P online IPE module, archived at https://fleming.desire2learn.com/d2l/le/content/201043/viewContent/2445188/View
Sherrer, M. (2023). Leadership, Community Health Nursing and Health Promotion Chapters 2, 5 & 8 [PowerPoint Slides]. https://fleming.desire2learn.com/d2l/le/content/201037/viewContent/2454531/View