INTRODUCTION:

Leadership is defined as the process of influencing individual and group behaviors in achieving common objectives. An effective leader is an honest, foreseeing, inspiring, equalitarian, supportive and reliable person who supports the changes, expresses his/her opinions clearly, listens people well and evaluates them objectively, uses his/her power appropriately, supports his/her group, respects others’ opinions, is aware of his/her own power, takes lessons from mistakes and has effective communication and management skills.

Leadership is a function about the quality of an interaction between the leader and the followers which encourages the people in a group to make an effort voluntarily in order to achieve organizational objectives under certain conditions in a certain case, helps them achieve common objectives, conveys his/her experiences, make them pleased from the leadership style. Leadership is the ability to bring people to success with the least conflict and the strongest cooperation.

A common theme that seems to run through many definitions is that ‘leadership involves influencing the attitudes, beliefs, behaviours and feelings of other people’ (Spector, 2006). Although these definitions may be confusing, it is worth noting that there is no one correct definition of leadership. This vast range of definitions can contribute to a greater understanding of the many factors that influence leadership, as well as provide different perspectives of the concept (Hughes et al, 2006). Nurse Leadership is more about coaching people than ordering them around.

APPLICATION TO NURSING:

· All nurse leaders possess some degree of legitimate power-authority to carry out organizational decisions and goals.

· This authority is supplemented by the nurse managers’ power to reward of coerces.

· Nurse Managers become leaders through the development of referent and expert power bases that inspire others’ obedience and loyalty.

· By developing referent and expert power, a nurse leader need not rely on legitimate power

· A nurse manager and nurse leader can use various sources of power to effect change at the unit, organizational, and professional level (Sullivan, 1990).

IMPORTANCE OF LEADERSHIP IN NURSING:

The primary reason of leadership in nursing is to determine the appropriate goals and objectives for the organization. A leader nurse should be aware that in the health sector, it is necessary to establish multidimensional relationships beyond the integration of the activities of the participants from different service disciplines. In order to establish connections and integration a leader nurse has the responsibility for identifying the existing and potential collaborators, creating a vision that can be shared among personnel’s in different conditions and environments, defining the value of the potential benefits of each participant to the enterprise, others and themselves, communicating by sharing information, rewarding participation and officializing this integrated effort at the right time.

Leadership means believing in and respecting human dignity. It means listening, inspiring and encouraging, being attentive, and upholding a rewarding culture. It means comprehensive management that constantly focuses on quality. Nursing leadership should be customer-oriented. Genuine customer orientation means considering patients holistically rather than solely in terms of their illnesses.

PERFECTION IN NURSING TO LEAD:

Effective nurse leaders recognize they are imperfect and need to develop and grow in their profession. Also, it’s important to remember that the human-dignity values and attitudes apply in both directions—from staff nurses toward those who oversee them and from nurse managers toward those they supervise. Leadership belongs to all of us.

A commonly cited challenge for those who supervise workers is that people of this demographic cohort constantly seek meaning in their work and value good treatment and attention. Leadership is more about coaching people than ordering them around, and micromanagement often leads to poor results. Effective leaders learn new things throughout their careers, share their knowledge, and have the courage to speak up when they encounter what they don’t fully understand.

There is a need for more visible leadership. We need to frequently ask nurses we supervise—face to face—how things are going. This is also true for executive-level nurse leaders, who should be interested in everyday issues facing their entire staff. Recent surveys show that subordinates consider supervision they receive as inadequate, especially in terms of listening, opportunities to participate, fairness, and equity. This is consistent that listening to staff members and acknowledging the work they do is vitally important to leadership. So, nurse leaders who supervise others organize regular “open eyes and attentive ears” and take more time to listen to employees.

NEED FOR LEADERSHIP IN NURSINGP:

All care provider organizations need nurse leaders to oversee staff members. The health care field grows more complex as nurse leaders brace for a mass exodus of retiring registered nurses and an influx of fresh, green talent.

Despite warnings of a health care talent shortage for the last several decades, developing new nurse leaders has been a low priority for current administrations. Today, three factors are of particular concern to nurse leaders: the growing baby boomer population, the increased demand for medical services presented by this group, and the large number of registered nurses who will soon retire.

It’s critical that current nurse leaders groom protégés to fill the void that will be left by their exodus. The lack of preparation to affect this outcome, despite years of warnings, has presented a considerable challenge for health care providers. Now is a difficult time for organizations attempting to develop a pool of qualified nurse leaders. These circumstances make the cultivation of new nurse leaders vitally important. As a result, various nursing advocates have formed alliances to develop new leaders.

QUALITIES OF LEADERSHIP TALENT:

There are following nine qualities that aid nursing executives in meeting the objective of fostering new leadership talent.

1. Emotional Intelligence:

In clinical settings, nurse leaders work closely with trainees to help them develop emotional intelligence. Such support helps peers to cope with the stressors that present during routine challenges. Nurse leaders assist trainees in managing those challenges and other counterproductive influences that can result in emotional exhaustion and poor team collaboration.

2. Integrity:

Integrity for one’s self and among charges is a primary objective for nurse leaders. Personal integrity aids nurse practitioners in making the right choices during critical junctures in patients’ treatment plans. Additionally, effective leaders adapt to use, and teach, ethically viable practices that enable fledgling nurse leaders to make safe and effective care decisions intrinsically.

3. Critical Thinking:

Nurse leaders guide unpolished practitioners in the use of critical thinking to develop their ability to make decisions based on a complex array of factors. This skill is vital in a health care environment with increasing instances of multidisciplinary collaboration. The growing trend of autonomy for nurses also makes critical thinking a valuable professional skill for practitioners.

4. Dedication to Excellence:

Nurse leaders are committed to their passion and purpose and exemplify this through their perseverance in the caregiving setting. To foster this trait among new nurses, leaders may assess performances quarterly. Despite the technique used to improve nurse performance, all nurse leaders teach their charges dedication to excellence by delivering top-notch service so that trainees can learn from their examples.

5. Communication Skills:

The current multidisciplinary treatment environment greatly increases the importance of collaboration in the care provider setting. To facilitate collaboration, nurse leaders arrange for trainees to attend rounds while engaging with various medical professionals, such as support staff, primary care providers, and senior executives. Some health care organizations also establish recruitment retention teams, who might engage in these rounds with trainees.

6. Professional Socialization:

During training, nurse leaders gain an intense understanding of patient-nurse dynamics. Nurse leaders focus on developing how trainees engage with patients after the triage process. Effective nurse leaders identify opportunities to develop new organizational leaders during this learning process.

7. Respect:

Nurse leaders are passionate, dynamic influencers who inspire change in others and, in the process, win the respect and trust of their charges. To accomplish this, leaders teach communication techniques such as two-way communication and rephrasing to promote a workplace environment where stakeholders engage each other in a productive, positive manner. By understanding each other’s circumstances, trainees gain respect for their peers and nurse leaders.

8. Mentorship:

Nurse leaders deploy motivational strategies that cater to the individual personalities of their trainees. By empowering trainees and guiding them toward understanding their roles as care providers, nurse leaders cultivate an environment of continual learning. While effective nurse leaders make every effort to identify learning opportunities, they give trainees enough autonomy so that they do not feel micromanaged.

9. Professionalism:

Nursing is a dynamic profession that requires competent, confident leadership. As organizational leaders, these professionals represent the nursing field at nearly every professional point of contact within the organization. This will increase in significance as nurse leaders find themselves representing the field in the boardroom more frequently as time moves forward.

Nursing leadership will change hands to a new generation of nursing talent over the next decade. These professionals will play a vital role in liaising between nurses and executive leaders in the evolving health care environment. Therefore, it is critical that nurse leaders start cultivating their replacements now and that the new generation of nurses pursue advanced training, such as Doctor of Nursing Practice accreditation, that will allow them to practice to the full extent of their capabilities.

IMPLICATION OF LEADERSHIP:

Nursing Practice:

Strong nursing leadership helps encourage other nurses to function as team units. Nurses -- leaders or otherwise -- must have strong interpersonal skills to be successful. They must be adopting at communicating with each other, with doctors and other staff, with patients and with patients' families. Clinical nurse leaders are experts in their field, effective communicators, empowered decision makers, clinically knowledgeable and competent, provide a vision, support others, provide guidance to patients and their families, and drive change by providing high-quality care.

Nursing Education:

Nursing leadership education has been identified as much needed, and can be provided by universities (at Ph. D level, Masters, diploma and certificate levels), healthcare organizations or hospitals. It is suggested that an organizations continue to develop and support leadership training, while also seeking ways of maintaining and promoting leadership development in practice.

Nursing Research:

Research demonstrates that where leadership has been effectively taught and integrated into nursing, it has a positive impact on nurses' leadership skills and practice. Successful nurse leaders maintain evidence-based practices within their nursing teams. This requires that nurse leaders be up to date and well informed about various medical practices. Nurse leaders should subscribe to and regularly read professional publications and health notices. Evidence-based research studies and public health concerns should inform the choices made in patient care.

Nursing Administration:

Nursing administration is a broad term that encompasses nursing professionals who are knowledgeable of leadership practices as they relate to the nursing profession. Nurse leaders in administration are often responsible for large-scale policy planning, staff management, financial resource management, and business management, in addition to their core responsibilities of coordinating and supervising the delivery of health care.

CONCLUSION:

Finally, as a nurse, there should be a caring approach to leadership. In healthcare and nursing, we often talk about lean thinking and transformational management, which involve a motivational, coaching, and inspirational style of leadership. However, whatever management or leadership style one favors, it is essential to take care of all issues related to the work environment, including provision of high quality, evidence-based practice; safe patient care; adequate human resources; justice; equality; and a clear vision of the future.

Symbolically, leadership is a powerful locomotive, with customers, patients, and staff members as passengers on the train. Without passengers, the journey is irrelevant, and nobody goes anywhere without the locomotive. To ensure that the journey is swift and smooth, we must keep the locomotive in good working order and upgrade it when possible. Therefore, self-management is a necessary attribute for effective nurse administrators, nurse managers and staff nurses. Through self-management, leaders can better deal with the growing importance of teamwork and remote work.

REFERENCES:

1. Vati Jogindra, Principles and Practice of Nursing Management and Administration for Bsc & Msc Nursing,Jaypee Brothers Medical Publishers,New Delhi,First edition.

2. https://www.pulsus.com/scholarly-articles/leadership-in-nursing-4427.html

3. https://online.regiscollege.edu/blog/9-essential-qualities-nurse-leadership/

4. https://www.reflectionsonnursingleadership.org/features/more-features/what-leadership-means-to-me-as-anurse

5. Elizabeth Curtis, Jan M. A. de Vries, Fintan Sheerin,Developing leadership in nursing: Exploring core factors,British journal of nursing (Mark Allen Publishing) March 2011,20(5):306-9.

6. https://work.chron.com/importance-strong-nursing-leadership-29867.html

7. Curtis EA, Sheerin FK, Vries Jd. Developing leadership in nursing: the impact of education and training British Journal of Nursing. 2011 Mar 24-Apr 14;20(6):344, 346, 348 Passim.

8. http://www.graduatenursingedu.org/nurse-administrator/

9. http:// nursing.iugaza.edu.ps/Portals/55/LN_nsg_ldrshp_final.pdf

Received on 22.05.2020 Modified on 23.07.2020

Int. J. Nur. Edu. and Research. 2020; 8(4):535-538.

DOI: 10.5958/2454-2660.2020.00119.2