The Emerging Leadership Theories In Nursing and Their Characteristics. By understanding and applying these new leadership theories, nurses can create more effective and supportive work environments, ultimately resulting in improved patient outcomes and more positive healthcare delivery.
What are Emerging Leadership Theories In Nursing and Their Characteristics
New leadership theories in nursing emphasize adaptability, collaboration, and a focus on individual and organizational well-being. Transformational, servant, and situational leadership emphasize and are characterized by vision, empowerment, and the ability to respond to diverse needs.
New leadership theories and their characteristics in nursing
Transformational leadership
This style focuses on inspiring and motivating nurses to achieve a shared vision.
Key characteristics include
Idealized influence: Leaders act as role models and engender trust and respect.
Inspirational motivation: Leaders articulate a compelling vision of the future and motivate their staff to contribute.
Intellectual stimulation: Leaders encourage critical thinking and innovation among team members.
Individual Consideration: Leaders recognize and consider the individual needs of each team member.
Servant Leadership
This theory focuses on the leader’s commitment to meeting the needs of their team. Characteristics
Other-Focused: Leaders prioritize the growth and development of their team members.
Empathy and Humility: Leaders demonstrate understanding and compassion for their team members’ experiences.
Empowerment: Leaders create an environment where team members feel valued and competent.
Situational Leadership
This theory emphasizes the importance of adapting leadership styles to the situation and the team’s needs.
Key Characteristics
Flexibility: Leaders adapt their approach to the maturity and experience of team members.
Assessment: Leaders carefully assess the context and task at hand to determine the appropriate leadership style.
Adaptability: Leaders can alternate between directive, guiding, supportive, and delegating leadership styles as needed.
Quantum Leadership
This emerging theory suggests that leaders must create an environment that fosters creativity and innovation to address the complex challenges of the healthcare sector. Characteristics:
Accepting Complexity: Leaders manage ambiguity and uncertainty, prioritizing adaptability and resilience.
Fostering Collaboration: Leaders encourage open communication and teamwork to solve complex problems. Fostering Innovation: Leaders create an environment where new ideas and approaches are welcomed and encouraged.
Supportive Leadership
This model emphasizes the importance of benevolent leadership, valuing uniqueness, promoting self-actualization, maintaining mutual benefit, and motivating with charisma.
Benevolent Toward Others: Leaders value the well-being of their team members and patients.
Valuing Uniqueness: Leaders recognize and value the individual strengths and perspectives of each team member.
Encourage self-realization: Leaders support the personal and professional development of their team members.
Maintain mutual benefit: Leaders ensure that all team members benefit from their work and contributions.
Motivate with charisma: Leaders inspire and motivate their team through a positive and participative approach.
Emerging Leadership Theories
The newest and latest developments in nursing leadership and management involve aspects such as “strategic agility” (Shirey, 2015) and “system leadership” (Senge, Hamilton, & Kania, 2015). While the health-care industry is constantly undergoing change and being required to adapt, it is the nurse leader and manager’s responsibility to ensure safety and quality. Nurse leaders and managers must “incorporate strategic agility to be bold and mindful” (Shirey, 2015, p. 305).
In contrast to the singular focus on the leader’s responsibility, there is the case for system leaders to “develop in order to foster collective leadership” (Senge, Hamilton, & Kania, 2015), to provide a broader perspective to solve larger problems. The current development of leadership theories is moving toward a more comprehensive view, incorporating flexibility and adding broader perspectives.
Professional Competence In Nursing Leadership
According to the American Nurses Association (2015), the public has a right to expect all nurses to demonstrate competence throughout their careers. Nurses are individually accountable for attaining and maintaining professional competence. Nurses need to develop leadership competencies that “emphasize ethical and critical decision-making, initiating and maintaining effective working relationships, using mutually respectful communication and collaboration within inter-professional teams, care coordination, delegation, and developing conflict resolution strategies” (AACN, 2008, p. 13).
The ANA (2015) believes that competence in nursing practice can be defined, measured, and evaluated. Further, ANA (2013) believes competence in nursing leadership can also be defined and measured. No one document or organization encompasses all required competencies for nursing leadership and management. However, many share the same themes (ANA, 2016). In Nursing: Scope and Standards of Practice (2015), the ANA identifies leadership as a standard of professional performance for all nurses stating, “the registered nurse leads within the professional practice setting and the profession” (p. 75). The registered nurse:
- Contributes to the establishment of an environment that supports and maintains respect, trust, and dignity.
- Encourages innovation in practice and role performance to attain personal and professional plans, goals, and vision.
- Communicates to manage change and address conflict.
- Mentors colleagues for the advancement of nursing practice and the profession to enhance safe, quality health care.
- Retains accountability for delegated nursing care.
- Contributes to the evolution of the profession through participation in professional organizations.
- Influences policy to promote health.
The ANA developed the Leadership Institute for all nurses with career goals of excelling in his or her role, refining leadership knowledge, skills, and attitudes, and enhancing leadership impact (ANA, 2013). The Leadership Institute identified specific leadership competencies that transcend those developed by other nursing organizations and identify leadership competencies across the course of professional development (ANA, 2013, p. 5). The competencies are organized by three domains: Leading Yourself, Leading Others, and Leading the Organization.
Leadership Characteristics
It is no longer a prevailing belief that leaders are born. Leaders must constantly learn new skills and competencies. Although certain innate qualities can make a person a better leader, leaders today cannot rely on natural instincts alone to lead successfully. Five core characteristics common to the basis of leadership are character, commitment, connectedness, compassion, and confidence (Kowalski & Yoder-Wise, 2004).
A person’s character is anchored in his or her values, based on standards established over time. A leader with character incorporates moral accountability while never losing sight of human dignity, humility, and caring. Character forms the backbone of a leader. As an aspect of leadership, commitment encompasses a leader’s ability to make a promise, keep it, and carry through with the promise. Commitment is measured by how well a leader can be trusted to keep his or her word. Both character and commitment can really be gauged only within the context of connected relationships, or connectedness.
The strength of the connections a leader makes lies in respect and authenticity and will determine the effectiveness of his or her leadership. Compassion is a hallmark of nursing and an essential aspect of leadership. Some nurse leaders and managers are able to recognize the individual strengths and weaknesses of team members and coordinate the most effect use of their skill set. Confidence, the sense of self-assurance without arrogance, provides nurse leaders and managers with an ability to lead through difficult times.
Self-awareness, the ability to self-reflect on one’s beliefs and biases and adapt behavior accordingly, is another important characteristic of leaders. Nurse leaders and managers should do a self-assessment of their leadership and management qualities and then have colleagues rate these same qualities. This information can provide valuable insight. Self-assessment is often measured through emotional intelligence testing.
Emotional intelligence itself is considered by many to be a significant characteristic of effective nurse leaders and managers. Emotional intelligence can be conceptualized generally as self-awareness and other awareness in terms of emotions, feelings, and points of view (Momeni, 2009). Nursing involves highly emotional interactions, whether in relation to providing care to patients or working with fellow nurses and other professionals in the health-care environment.
As nurses develop leadership skills, conducting a critical consideration of emotional intelligence is useful. Self-awareness, empathy, and compassion are the cornerstones of nursing. Nurse Managers and leaders capable of handling their own emotions in tense or volatile situations display emotionally intelligent leadership. Emotional intelligence includes five components:
1) self-awareness
2) self-regulation
3) motivation
4) empathy
5) social skills
(Goleman, 1998).
Emotional intelligence develops as a person ages and can be enhanced through educational activities. Individuals with high emotional intelligence are typically successful and emotionally healthy (O’Neill, 2013). Emotional intelligence is believed by many to be more important than intelligence quotient (IQ) and other personality or learned skills (Goleman, 1998; O’Neill, 2013). Many organizations perform an emotional intelligence survey of their employees who demonstrate leadership ability.
One example is a 360-degree survey in which an individual is assessed based on ratings from direct reports and supervisors, as well as his or her own ratings (Goleman, 1998). Nurse leaders and managers must realize that they are in charge and accountable and that their leadership style and behavior impact the overall performance of their team. A nurse leader and manager who perceive his or her leadership abilities in the highest regard predictably has the lowest perception of effectiveness by others.
The most self-aware, successful leaders develop techniques not only to understand their own emotional intelligence but also to seek a way to solicit open and honest critique of their leadership performance. Nurse leaders and managers who have an accurate understanding of their own capabilities will have a team that can pro vide better results. Emotionally intelligent nurse leaders have an impact on staff, peers, patient satisfaction, and organizational success.
Further discoveries about self-awareness in leadership have been made specifically with regard to gender differences that occur in the personal rating of self-awareness and knowledge of self (Van Velson, Taylor, & Leslie, 1993). Beliefs about gender differences in leadership were traditionally rooted in the stereotypical gender differences in values: women have generally been noted to value affiliation, acceptance, and dependence, whereas men have been seen as valuing competition, power, and independence.
Historically, leadership theories were rooted in masculine value structures (Grossman & Valiga, 2009). Despite how much society has tried to move to gender neutrality in the workplace, it cannot be denied that there is a gender bias. As a predominately female profession, nursing now includes more men. The numbers of men entering nursing leadership roles will continue to increase, and this change will affect how leaders are viewed. Fortunately, current leadership theories embrace both feminine and masculine values, which should lead to more successful models of leadership.
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