Nursing Leadership Styles Paper

Leadership Styles and Their Affect on the Nursing System

Samantha Girard

The University of South Dakota Leadership can be defined as many different things, however in can be concluded that it is complex term. Charlotte Giltinane has defined it in heath care as “direct involvement in clinical care while constantly influencing others to improve the care they provide” (2013, pp. 1). Many people can think of a certain leader that has significantly influenced their life either in a positive or negative way, but are they able to define the type of leadership style that their influential person had? Everyone has their own unique type of leadership style, it may be very clear and easily definable, but it also may be harder to distinguish as a combination

Nursing leaders are meant to motivate, inspire, and to consistently focus on the patient’s needs (Giltinane, 2013). It is important to no only have leaders who are in a designated role, but also leaders who aren’t in specific roles, but rather who are on the floor doing the patient care. Nurses who hold managerial roles often times are more concerned with keeping order within their organization, while informal leaders are those with clinical expertise who can be easily accessible points of contact for less experienced nurses (Giddens, 2014). According to Giddens, “Investigations have shown that nursing leadership based on consideration and visibility in the clinical setting is positively related to staff nurses’ job satisfaction, feelings of empowerment, and autonomy” (2013, pp. 380). Leadership styles that would be considerate and visible to their staff would include: democratic, transactional, and transformational leaders. Another key component of a successful leader is that of high emotional

Leaders can enhance their emotional intelligence by increasing “their self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and social skills” (Giltinane, 2013). Increased emotional intelligence is also associated with “more opportunities for staff development, good work relations and teamwork between nurses and physicians, positive work culture, and greater utilization of research in practice” (Giddens, 2013). By knowing where you stand on certain topics, being able to manage those feelings, and then by being able to convey those feelings in the appropriate way will allow you to be transparent with your followers. A certain level of transparency with consistency is important in maintaining