AC 1
AC 1.1 Evaluate own ability to use a range of leadership styles, in different situations and with different types of people to fulfil the leadership role.
Leadership is having the ability to lead a group of people or an organisation. I am a leader; I lead a team of 32 people who all work in the healthcare organisation. There are many types of leadership styles, these can include transactional, transformational, democratic, authoritarian and lassiez faire. You can have a natural leadership style; however when dealing with people you will vary your leadership styles to fit the person, team or situation or use a mix of them.
Transformational leadership is about leading by example and putting in the hard work, it is about motivating your team, giving a clear vision and direction the team need to be heading in. it is about inspiring others to do better and to go beyond their own expectations. A transformational leader with also care about their employees wellbeing, not just about the targets that need to be met by the team. Transformational leaders inspire employees to change and not stick with old traditions but to question how things can be done better.
Authoritarian leadership is where the employees are not consulted and decisions are made from the top down. The power and knowledge is kept to a few, and it is expected that employees will keep in line and follow the instructions given. If mistakes are mad eit is down to the individual and not the process.
Lassiez-faire leadership is a hands off approach with very little supervision given to the team of employees. Employees are able to do what they need to do independently.
Advantages Disadvantages
Transformational Vision orientated
Inspires and motivates
Promotes enthusiasm Struggles with details
Can overlook reality and truth
Potential for abuse
Authoritarian Easy to learn
Control
Good for inexperienced or unmotivated employees Increased Work Burden (for the leader)
Leader Dependence
Bad for Highly Skilled and Motivated Workers
Lassiez-faire Encourages personal development
Innovation
Inviting work environment Difficult to adapt to change
Supervision is required to be successful
Someone has to take the blame
My leadership style in my current role has been mainly is transformational. When I started the role 18 months ago I took over a team that was disengaged and disillusioned. I have needed to spend time with the team and individuals to rebuild the team and to set out a direction that the team needed to be heading whilst also being mindful and looking after their wellbeing. I have had to be out the front leading the team and showing them, what is being asked of them is achievable and setting high standards that is expected by all. I have had to know the organisations objectives and be able to communicate this to the team and inspire them to generate ideas of their own as they are more likely to achieve these and sustain these changes. To begin with this was a very time consuming role as I needed to be invested to earn the trust and respect of my team, in time I have been able to slowly step back and watch the team continue in the vision that was set out at the beginning. It still has its challenges as you can’t be completely hands off and allow the team complete independence. It still needs a visible leader but in smaller quantities than when I first started. The negative I have found with this, is as the leader of this team it can be exhausting and relentless at times, however once the hard work has been put in it can then be very rewarding as I have seen a big reduction in sickness, less complaints and mistakes and the work environment is a learning zone and happy place.
There have been times when I have had to adapt my leadership style. When there is an emergency or crisis on the ward I use the authoritarian approach. I find this works well as I have the respect of my team and when I use this approach my team listen as they know me and I only use this approach when it is needed. I can reorganise the team very quickly and allocate roles out. These situations can be in a cardiac arrest situation or when the team is very short staffed and the work load is getting on top of them. I do not like this approach for long term use as it can de-motivate a team and doesn’t allow for creative work as the team just follow orders, but its place and can be vital in a healthcare setting.
I have recently handed in my notice as I have got a promotion into a senior nurse role. I have found that in the last few weeks of working my notice that I have become more lassiez-faire with my approach, I do what needs to be done but I am trying to organise the ward in readiness to hand over to the next ward manager and have left the team more to their own devices. This for the short term will not have a huge negative impact as the team are aware that I need time in the office to organise the admin side. However I could see how this style of leadership wouldn’t work in the long term on this ward, as the ward needs a leader to follow.
AC 1.2 Use theories of emotional intelligence to review the effect of emotions on own and others performance.
AC 2.1 Review own ability to set direction and communicate this to others.
AC 2.2 Review own ability to motivate, delegate and empower others.
Motivate – In the diagram to the left is showing Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, it states that to be able to motivate someone to achieve the top of the triangle, the needs below need to be met.
• There are many examples how I have motivated my team in the last 18 months but when I first took over leadership there I started with the basics. This included showing my team my own motivations and enthusiasm for the role I play in the team and for the speciality of patients we care for. I did this by expressing my passion for diabetes and endocrinology and raising the profile of the speciality we look after. I showed my enthusiasm for work as soon as I stepped on the ward in the morning, walking in with a smile on my face and positive body language. I would smile and greet my staff positively. By creating a more uplifting atmosphere for the staff and leading by example the team soon started to feel more motivated. I continued with this approach and then introduced time to meet with the team individually to discuss professional development and a training plan to ensure each member of my team felt valued and that I had time to actively listen to them. I would organise team meetings where we could discuss things openly and in a more relaxed arena and away from the patient bedside.
Delegate – George T Doran first can up with the acronym ‘SMART’ for delegating work in 1981.
Smart stands for
• Specific – provide a clear description of what needs to be achieved
• Measurable – include a metric with a target that indicates success
• Achievable – set a challenging target but keep it realistic
• Relevant – keep your goal consistent with higher level goals
• Time – set a date for when your goal needs to be achieved
A work place example for a time when I have delegated is with my deputy sister and I required them to complete the health and care standards audit. Firstly I met with my deputy and took the time to explain the task fully, including why I was delegating this task to her and the importance of the audit and completion. Marry the correct task with the person who has the suitable skills, experience and motivation to complete the task. To start off with I made myself available to my deputy to give advice, support and guidance throughout the process and as she felt more confident with collecting the data, understanding that it was a monthly audit and when the data needed to be inputted by then she would come to me less and was able to confidently carry out this task. I was still able to retain some control over the progress being made, her understanding and ensuring it was being completed as I needed to sign off the data monthly before it went to my manager. At the beginning, it would have been quicker for me to complete the task myself as it is tiem consuming to fully explain what needs to be done and then to be there to support. However in the long term once she was up and running with the task it freed my time to concentrate on other management roles and also built the confidence of my deputy by expanding her role.
Empower – Randolph empowerment tool follows a process that’s states remove conditions of powerlessness such as (change leadership, reward system, job), enhance job related self efficacy (job mastery, accountability, role models), perception of empowerment (competence, high value, job meaning) and this leads to performance.
As a leader and role model for all my staff, I aim to help each team member in their contribution to the team. To do this, I need to set the tone, be clear on the team’s vision and ensure that I really know my team in order to get the best from them. As we all learn and respond in different ways, I have had to learn how to recognise this within my own team, I have attended some short courses such as coaching to help me understand the different working styles of people so I can adapt my approach to them. By taking this time out to learn about people management, I have in return built better relationships with my team members. All teams value appreciation from their leaders and I aim to always acknowledge good work and in return it boosts the team as a whole as well as individual staff.
When a team feels safe with their leader they are more likely to feel empowered and become creative in their thinking, it is about psychological safety and the team understanding that they are accountable for their actions but they are also safe to try out new ways of doing things. Empowering the team I work with simply by giving them permission to try things out makes a long shift more enjoyable. I encourage the team to try new things and to get them out of the ‘because we have always done it like this’ mindset.
By empowering my team we have been able to come up with new ideas, one is a ‘turn clock’ which is a simple laminated circle in either red or yellow that goes behind the patient bed. A yellow circle with a 4 on means that patient needs pressure area care 4 hourly and a red circle with a 2 on means that patient needs 2 hourly pressure area care. They are laminated so the staff can write on them with non permanent markers the actual time the care is due and then wipe it off and write in the new time. These have been great visual aids and are extremely useful in a very busy environment to help the staff remember when the next turn is due, whilst maintaining patient confidentiality and dignity. These have worked really well and reduced the amount of healthcare acquired pressure ulcers. This concept has now been taken on by other wards.
AC 2.3 Produce a personal development plan to improve own ability to lead.
Action Person Responsible Completion Date How progress will be measured Identified Risk Risk Control Measures
Deputy sister to complete health care standards.
Deputy sister 15/9/18 At monthly sign off when work is reviewed. No cooperation from deputy sisters.
Lack time on the ward due to Staffing levels. To give ward management time monthly.
Showing them it’s a shared responsibility.
Aim for earlier in the day discharges
Whole team 01/10/18 Reviewing discharge time son CWS No identified early discharge
Lack of cooperation from staff Coordination of staff by coordination the team.
Spend more 1:1 time with band 6 nurses
Myself 15/09/18 Formal 1:1, observing band 6’s whilst they are working.
Sickness, staffing shortages. Timely planning and rescheduling if required.
Daily meeting with team to give out daily objectives
Myself 01/09/18 To write down list of daily objectives and set a time within meeting. Meeting runs over and lose allocated time.
Ward emergency therefore meeting cancelled. Set agenda to meeting with time constraints.
Ensure ward covered with adequate staff whilst meeting running.
