Leadership Qualities

This post is about leadership qualities, but leadership qualities are actually nursing qualities at the same time.  

1.       Leadership requires personal mastery – Nurses demonstrate leadership when they show competence and mastery in the tasks they perform. Nurses are deemed competent by means of a license to practice nursing (NLN 2010).

2.       Leadership is about values – Nurses are privy to a number of very sensitive topics and material that could be quite damaging to others if the information was to get out.  Nurses have consistently been rated as one of the most trustworthy professions.  The reason for this is due to the high moral character which is required of nurses in order to fulfill their daily tasks as nurses. 

3.       Leadership is about service – Nursing, while this is a job and career, is a work of service.  Nurses are constantly serving the patients that they have been assigned.  Nursing is caring, and as a nurse cares for their patient, they will be more effectively serving their patients.  

4.       Leadership is about people and relationships – Nurses are constantly meeting new people and helping new patients.  Relationships play a vital role in nursing.  Effective nurses need to be able to gain the confidence of their patients while usually only having a very limited time to spend with the patients.  If the nurse is able to gain the patient's confidence, then they will be more likely to listen as well as take advice from the nurse.

5.       Leadership is contextual – At times, nurses must make judgment calls and make meaning of things that could have multiple meanings.  They do have resources at their disposal, but it is up to the nurse to find meaning in a sometimes difficult situation. 

6.       Leadership is about the management of meaning – Nurses use communication in everything that they do.  It is important for the nurses to be able to manage the meanings of the communication that take place between the nurse and doctor, nurse and assistive personnel, other nurses and even the patients.  It is important to make sure that everyone is on the same page as far as treatments and other things that take place at the hospital. 

7.       Leadership is about balance – Nurses are always trying to find a balance in their work.  Most nurses have more than one patient at a time and have to be able to juggle all of the other responsibilities associated with their job.  It is important for a nurse to be able to spend enough time with a patient to gain their confidence, but not too much as to take time away from others.  There is a balance that needs to be struck in order for the nurse to be successful. 

8.       Leadership is about continuous learning and improvement – The field of nursing and medicine is constantly changing, adapting, and improving.  In order for a nurse to continue to practice effectively, they must be continuously learn and improve.  It is important for a nurse to also be cognizant that the material learned is evidence based, so that it is the most up to date and valid information.  

9.       Leadership is about effective decision making – Nurses have to make decisions in a matter of seconds that can be the difference between life and death.  Not only must a nurse make a quick decision, it must also be the correct decision in order to effectively save lives at times.  Nurses also make decisions about the assessments that are performed and the treatments that need to take place with a patient.  There are decisions made every shift, be it big or small, that will be done by the nurse for the patients they serve.  

10.   Leadership is a political process – Politics is all about relationships and management of those relationships.  Whether the nurse likes it or not, politics is everywhere.  In order for a nurse to have a successful career and be successful in their shift, they need to gain the confidence of others and to make the relationships so that they are not working alone in their tasks. 

11.   Leadership is about modeling – Nurses are to be models to their patients. It is very difficult for a nurse to tell a patient that they should stop smoking if the nurse is doing the very thing they told their patient not to do.  Nurses are constantly in a teaching role and as such need to be living the things that they are teaching or else the teaching will be very ineffective. 

12.   Leadership is about integrity – Nurses are entrusted with very sensitive information on a daily basis about individuals.  There are HIPAA guidelines and requirements that have been set up to help protect health information, but I hope to think that nurses would keep the information on a need to know basis regardless of HIPAA.