LEADERSHIP STYLES IN
NURSING FOR IMPROVED
QUALITY OF CARE
A nurse manager needs to work as a leader who guides every single person
that contributes to the welfare of the patients in a particular nursing unit.
Being a manager it is his/her responsibility to regulate each and everything
that can directly or indirectly affect the quality of services and care
provided to the patients in any organization.
The poor performance of the one who synchronizes and balances all the
nurses, patients, and their families, and other health care professionals can
lead to substandard patient outcomes.
The poor performance of a nurse manager puts adverse effects on the
morale and productivity of the staff members which results into poor
performance of the whole clinical setting.
HERE ARE SOME NURSING
LEADERSHIP STYLES WHICH
YOU CAN MERGE WITH YOUR
ABILITIES, DESIRE, AND
ENTHUSIASM TO WORK AS A
LEADER –
1.DEMOCRATIC STYLE
enhances the participation of junior employees in the
decision making the procedure of an organization.
is quite effective as all the employees feel valued, and due
to this, they attempt to give their best.
Input of an organization’s employees is of foremost
importance when it comes to the growth of the firm.
is one of the best for clinical settings as skills and abilities
of all the professionals contribute equally to the success of
the organization.
DISADVANTAGE OF DEMOCRATIC
LEADERSHIP STYLE IN NURSING
It is really time-consuming process.
the confident group of members always come ahead and give
suggestions whereas apprehensive employees may never get
opportunities to provide their feedback.
2. AFFILIATIVE STYLE
To make this style successful for an organization, the leader must be great
at making relationships.
This leadership works best when there is a need to fix the bitterness of
feelings among a group or when there is workload or stress as these leaders
are the best to motivate other team members.
It is extremely effective when there is a need to team harmony, augment
morale or rebuild broken trust.
it also increases interaction and communication among members.
DISADVANTAGE AFFILIATIVE STYLE
this style cannot be used as the only source.
it can lead to poor performance, and that too may go not
corrected.
3. Transformational
Transformational leadership style in nursing is also based on the
encouragement of the employees to give their best at work and
motivation to be positive while performing various tasks instead of
being negative.
It is done through a common mission and vision.
Transformational style results into engaged and productive teams.
To make this leadership work in a beneficial way for the
organization
there is a requirement of an inspiring and smart nurse leader. This
style may fall in a contemptible manner if the one who handles
everything lacks in any of the essential traits required to make
transformational leadership successful for any health care setting.
4. Authoritarian or Autocratic
nurse manager or leader decides everything, give orders and
directives to all the team members.
Employees just need to follow what they are asked.
The manager supervises every staff member and their input is not
considered while making decisions.
Workers are not even allowed to ask if they have some doubts about
the validity of a directive.
Perfect place for Autocratic Leadership
prisons, military, routinized operations, jails because in these kinds
of places, lives of patients completely depend on the workers.
it is must for such employees to work step by step as they are
directed.
Even punishment is given if someone does not enforce the rules
properly.
Mistakes are completely intolerable, and often individuals are
blamed instead of the faulty procedures.
DISADVANTAGE AUTOCRATIC
LEADERSHIP
The only advantage of this leadership is that it is the most
effective in case of emergencies or perplexed situations
when there is very less time for discussion.
It is completely a bad idea to used this management style
in nursing for routine operation as it fails to promote:
o Communication
o Trust
o teamwork
5. COACHING
In coaching leadership, leader concentrates on the development of
people.
They work to make the team members understand their strengths
and weaknesses, set targets for development and help them achieve
goals.
This nurse manager leadership style is great to groom the
employees both professionally and personally.
If implemented properly it gives long term results.
But along with so many pros, it also has some cons such as it can work
only if workers are receptive, and it needs time to imply, especially in the
start.
6. TRANSACTIONAL
Transactional Leadership style in nursing is the one in which leaders give rewards or
punishments to the employees respective of the way in which they complete the tasks.
It concentrates on the importance of supervision, leadership, organization and
performance of the group.
It completely relies on the transactions held between the workers and the nurse
manager because it is based on the fact that employees are motivated both by
discipline and rewards.
Nurse managers who follow this kind of leadership style for nurses do not focus on
the performance of the organization in the near future, rather they look for the best
that can be done to keep everything perfect in the present.
these leaders pay special attention to the deviations and faults made by the staff
members.
Transactional leaders are required when some tasks need to be carried out in a specific
manner.
7. SITUATIONAL LEADERSHIP STYLE
is very flexible and transforms according to the existing working requirements and
needs of the clinical setting.
Management is not based upon the basic skills and abilities of the manager, rather
s/he modifies them according to the requirement of the organization.
It is easy to imply, the leader just needs to analyze the present situation of the
organization and imply the best strategy to get the best outcome for the organization.
This style works best only with the right leader.
Nurse managers are free to take decisions and modify management styles as per the
need.
Situational leaders are often seen diverting from the long term goals and strategies of
the organization.
This is one of the major drawbacks of this style of the various types of leadership
styles in nursing.
8. LAISSEZ-FAIRE
In Laissez-faire leadership in nursing, employees are encouraged to
undertake a hands-off approach and are allowed to work in a way that
they like to, without any kind of supervision or guidance of the nurse
managers.
Only minimum directions are provided by the leaders and it permits the
workers to handle various tasks on their own.
Employees are responsible for the decisions made by them, setting
their goals and solving all the issues that arise while working.
This kind of leadership style in nursing management is successful only
in the cases where the staff members are highly skilled, educated,
motivated and are ready to give their best for the best results.
Using this with the workers who don’t know how to manage
time, who are not skilled or unexperienced can result into
negative outcome.
Laissez-faire nurse managers are mostly new leaders or the
ones who are at the end of their careers.
9. VISIONARY
Visionary leadership is much similar to transformational style. The only
difference is that these leaders are much concerned about the future and
they guide the followers to stay focused on what they need to achieve in
the upcoming years.
Nurse manager just motivates the employees to pursue and share a
common target and vision by providing proper guidance about where to
go and what to do with proper stepwise procedure of how to reach there.
A smart, visionary leader interchanges information freely to provide
knowledge to the subordinates which they require to be successful. This
health care leadership style works best when any clinical facility is new
and needs directions to initiate in the field of health care.
10. SERVANT
To gain success of the organizations, nurse managers often opt this type of leadership
style in health care.
This leader looks after for those who serve the patients and work hard to gain
positive outcomes, i.e., the staff members.
They pay special attention to their needs and ask the employees if they want any
kind of help.
All this is done for the professional and personal development of the workers.
They facilitate engagement and offer a healthy working environment to the
subordinate nursing professionals.
A good servant leader is an active listener, aware, persuade others, build community,
empathetic and is great at conceptualizing everything.
It is a caring style of leadership and is often implied to build trust among the
employees.
