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What is Nurse Leadership?
• Nurse leadership is the ability to inspire, influence, and motivate healthcare professionals as they work together to achieve their goals.
• Leaders in nursing are influencing healthcare organizations at all levels, and in every setting and discipline.

What is a Nurse Leader?

▪ The American Nurses Association’s Leadership Institute describes a nurse leader as one who is:
o Interested in excelling in the chosen career path.
o A leader within a healthcare organization, representing the interests of the nursing profession.
o A seasoned nurse or healthcare administrator who seeks to differentiate themselves or advance to the next level of
leadership by refining their skills.
▪ In the world of leadership, there are many theories about how leadership works, what makes good leaders, and how to be effective.
▪ These leadership theories explain how leadership styles work within a company to bring success.
▪ Leadership theories are the explanations of how and why certain people become leaders. They focus on the traits and behaviors that
people can adopt to increase their leadership capabilities.
▪ Different leadership theories address creating stronger and more effective leadership, helping followers become encouraged to be leaders
themselves.
▪ Some of the top traits that leaders say are vital to good leadership include:
✓ Strong ethics and high moral standards
✓ Great self-organizational skills
✓ Efficient learner
✓ Nurtures growth in employees
✓ Fosters connection and belonging.
▪ Research shows that these traits are considered the most important to leaders around the world.
▪ And leadership theories help explain how leaders' harness and develop these traits.
▪ Recently leadership theories have been more formalized, making them easier to understand, discuss, and analyze in action.
▪ Leadership theories can be broadly classified into two categories: traditional and non-traditional.

Traditional leadership theories

▪ Emphasize the traits and behaviors of leaders, while non-traditional leadership theories focus on the situational context and the
leader’s relationship with followers.
▪ Traditional leadership is defined as a style where power is given to the leader based on traditions of the past.
▪ Max Weber was the first person to define traditional leadership.
▪ Current examples of traditional leadership would be kings, dictators, and many of today's business leaders.
▪ In the past, almost all leaders were considered traditional, and their power was tied to their past leaders.
▪ Many of these leaders inherited their power from their predecessors.
▪ Today, traditional leaders rise to power through large organizations.

Origins of Traditional Leadership

▪ Modern traditional leadership had its origins in the industrial revolution when workers were led by a manager who had total authority.
▪ Much of traditional leadership borrowed its concepts from the military and formed a “top-down" type of leadership.
▪ This type of leadership places managers at the top and the workers at the bottom rung of power.
▪ Managers make decisions on the work and issue orders or directions for how the work is completed.
▪ The traditional leadership theory was created by Robert House in the late 1960s.
▪ He was an American management consultant who studied the leadership styles of various companies and developed a model to
describe their strengths and weaknesses.
▪ This theory is based on the idea that a leader must have charisma, intelligence, and social skills to be successful.
▪ Some examples of traditional leaders are George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Traditional Leadership Traits

▪ Some traditional leadership traits are the ability to use power and influence to lead.
▪ Decision-making abilities and a willingness to act are also important skills for the traditional leader.
▪ Followers are loyal to the position and what it represents rather than who happens to be holding a particular office.
▪ Other traditional leadership traits are the ability to act and give energy toward realizing goals and objectives.
▪ All efforts are directed at achieving what is expected and results are the most important evidence of success.

Pitfalls of Traditional Leadership

▪ Traditional leadership does come with some problems.
▪ New ideas are not always welcomed by the traditional leader as he is usually the source for all new businesses and ways of operating.
▪ Without input from her team, the traditional leader is often unaware of changes and problems and is slow to react to change.
▪ The traditional leader also tends to have frequent turnover among his team.
▪ Employees grow frustrated at not having input into their work and frequently leave when better opportunities arise.
How does Traditional Leadership actually work?
▪ Traditional leadership works by setting the direction for the group and giving them tasks to complete to achieve their goal.
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▪ Traditional leader sets up rules for how people should behave and has control over resources, such as money, time, and people.
▪ It is a process that starts with a leader’s personal qualities such as integrity and charisma which then leads to the development of informal
networks of trust that allow leaders to get things done.

Traditional Leadership Approaches

▪ The traditional leadership approaches are based on the idea that leaders should set the vision and strategy for their organization.
▪ They should also have a clear understanding of the organization’s goals and have a strong relationship with employees.
▪ The traditional leadership approach is based on the belief that leaders are born and not made.
▪ It assumes that leaders possess a certain set of innate qualities, such as charisma or intelligence, which makes them natural leaders.
▪ The most prominent traditional theory is the trait approach, which posits that there are certain inherent traits that make a person a
successful leader.
▪ The trait approach involves discovering how to be a leader by examining the characteristics and methods of recognized leaders.
▪ The trait leadership models were determined by many theories such as the “great man” theory which tried to understand the per sonal
characteristics of great leaders who lived in the past.
▪ Those personal characteristics include the “innate qualities and characteristics possessed by great social, political, and military leaders such
as Gandhi, Lincoln, and Bonaparte.” (North House, 2010)
▪ The fundamental principle of trait theory is that a good leader was born as a leader and not made to be a leader.
▪ These leadership traits mainly comprise with individual’s physical characteristics, intellectual qualities, and personality features. (Slack
& Parent, 2006)
▪ The behaviorist approach, another traditional theory, emphasizes that it is not just what leaders do, but how they do it that matters.
▪ The behavioral approach attempts to determine the types of leadership behaviors that lead to successful task performance and employee
satisfaction.
▪ Behavioral leadership model emphasizes the behaviors of the leaders or according to differences in the level of authority given to
their followers or subordinates.
▪ Behavioral leadership has three styles called autocratic, democratic, and laissez-faire.
▪ Autocratic style of leaders keeps all decision-making and all other authorities to themselves and followers just do only what they
were asked to do while the democratic style of leaders encourages group participation and majority rule.
▪ Laissez-faire style of leaders gives the maximum level of authority to their followers and is less involved in their work.
▪ It is argued that the most effective behavioral style is democratic.
▪ The situational approach is like the contingency approach but considers not just the leader’s style, but also the follower’s readiness
and the nature of the task at hand.
▪ Situational leadership model is another traditional leadership approach.
▪ In the situational model “the style of leadership will be matched to the level of readiness of the followers.” (Slocum & Hellriegel, 2007)
▪ Here, readiness is the “follower’s ability to set high but attainable task-related goals and a willingness to accept responsibility for
reaching them.” (Slocum & Hellriegel, 2007)
▪ The readiness depends on the task, which means the readiness of the same group of people would vary depending on the level of training
they received, their previous experiences, and their commitment to the organization. (Slocum & Hellriegel, 2007)
▪ The style approach combines elements of both the trait and behaviorist approaches, focusing on both the personal characteristics of leaders
as well as their behaviors.
▪ The contingency approach is a non-traditional theory that acknowledges that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to leadership and
that the appropriate style of leadership depends on the situation.

Non-Traditional Leadership Approaches

▪ The transformational Leadership theory is also a non-traditional theory that emphasizes the leader’s ability to inspire and motivate
followers to achieve collective goals.
▪ This theory has its roots in both the trait and behaviorist approaches but goes beyond them by postulating that leaders must also be able to
create a shared vision and instill values in their followers.

Who were the early proponents of traditional leadership theories?

▪ Some of the early proponents of traditional leadership theories include Henri Fayol, Max Weber, and Kurt Lewin.
▪ Henri Fayol was a French engineer who is credited with creating one of the first comprehensive theories of managerial work.
▪ Max Weber was a German sociologist who is best known for his theory of Bureaucracy.
▪ Kurt Lewin was a German American psychologist who is best known for his work on social psychology and organizational behavior.
▪ These individuals were some of the first to attempt to explain how leadership works and what factors contribute to effective leadership. While
their theories may have been developed many years ago, they continue to be influential in our understanding of leadership today.

What did they believe about effective leadership practices?

▪ The early proponents of traditional leadership theories believed that effective leadership practices revolved around three main ideas:
power, control, and hierarchy.
▪ They believed that leaders needed to have a strong hand to be successful and that the best way to achieve this was through
controlling their followers.
▪ This meant that they needed to be able to dictate what their followers did, how they did it, and when they did it.
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▪ In addition, they also believed that leaders needed to be able to maintain a strict hierarchical structure within their organizations to
ensure that everyone knew their place and understood the chain of command.

What did they believe about effective leadership practices?

▪ While these ideas may have worked well in theory, in practice they often resulted in leaders who were more concerned with maintaining
their own power and control than with leading their organizations.
▪ As a result, many traditional leadership theories have been replaced by more modern approaches that emphasize collaboration,
motivation, and empowerment.

What is the strength of the traditional leadership style?

There are many benefits to using a traditional leadership style:
▪ One of the main benefits is that it can help to promote stability and order within an organization.
▪ Traditional leadership styles often emphasize respect for hierarchy and authority, which can help to create a more cohesive and
productive workplace environment.
▪ Traditional leadership styles tend to be very effective at communication and decision-making, two critical aspects of successful
businesses.
▪ Overall, the strength of the traditional leadership style lies in its ability to maintain stability and productivity while also promoting respect
and cooperation among employees.

Contemporary Leadership Theory

▪ Contemporary generally means “modern” or “new.” The theory suggests the same.
▪ It is all about the leadership approaches for the 21st century.
▪ This theory is still relevant today though introduced in the 1990s.
▪ Contemporary leadership style helps to cope with changing circumstances of the current world. This approach to leadership is also known as
the Neo Charismatic Theory. It relies on three aspects:
o Rapid change,
o Technological innovations, and
o Increased globalization.

What is it Like to be a Contemporary Leader?

▪ Contemporary leaders believe that leadership skills are present in every individual. Hence, this theory consists of leadership training and
development.
▪ Contemporary leaders can react to different situations in the changing environment.
▪ Contemporary leadership brings something new to the table – a collaborative workplace approach. These leaders recognize that
strength relies on unity.
▪ Organizations defined by contemporary leadership have no real hierarchy. Of course, structure exists, but teams are encouraged to
work together.
▪ Collaborative leadership is underpinned by trust. Hence, roles and responsibilities evolve and adapt in response to business needs.
▪ A contemporary leader is open-minded. They value the unique insights that diverse perspectives can bring.
▪ Contemporary leaders make strategies based on the team’s best ideas. They consider problem-solving as a team effort.
▪ Contemporary leaders do not distinguish. They treat everyone equally as peers. Here, employee feedback is immediate, criticism is
constructive, and employee recognition is timely.
▪ Contemporary leaders are generous. They share knowledge and experiences for the team’s greater good and development.
▪ These leaders provide personalized mentoring and coaching. They focus on employee empowerment and continuous improvement.

Different Contemporary Leadership Theory Approaches

Management Theory or Transactional Theory
▪ Transactional leadership theory is a contemporary leadership style approach. This leadership style emphasizes the interactions between
leaders and followers.
▪ The achievement of goals and objectives under this leadership relies on these interactions. The theory works on Maslow’s basic need of
satisfaction.
▪ A transactional leader is someone who values order and structure.
▪ These leaders recognize their followers’ desires and motivate them to improve their performance.
▪ They encourage employees by rewarding them for achieving the objectives.
▪ Military operations and large corporations are best fit for such leaders. These are places that need rules and regulations to complete
objectives on time.
▪ Transactional leaders aren’t a good fit for creative and innovative workplaces.
▪ This type of leadership sets defined ways to work for its subordinates.
▪ These leaders’ preferred method of tracking employee performance is through performance reviews.

Relationship Theory or Transformational Theory

▪ Transformational leadership theory is a recent addition to leadership literature. Transformational and transactional leadership are considered
counterparts of each other. Both have the same goal:
▪ Transformational theory is about transforming a business.
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▪ Transformational leaders have the following traits:
o Transformational leaders are innovative thinkers with creative skills.
o Charisma, motivation, and interactions are important for these leaders.
o They use these methods to influence, increase performance, and build trust and understanding.
o Leaders and followers have high moral and ethical standards under transformational leadership. These traits help them to
achieve set organizational goals and objectives.
o Transformational leaders are highly committed, and motivated and bring significant change to the organization.
o The success of transformational leaders is based on the flexibility of set rules. It also depends on the ability of a leader to
convince their followers.

Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) Theory

▪ Leader-member exchange (LMX) theory is an approach to understanding how leaders influence employees. The theory states that the
influence depends on the type of relationship.
▪ In high-quality LMX relationships, the leader forms a trust-based relationship with the follower.
▪ In low-quality LMX relationships, leaders and followers have lower trust and respect levels.
▪ It’s not uncommon for different managers to have other relationships with various employees. Many leaders end up developing different
relationships with followers in the same group.
▪ To understand this concept better, let’s imagine high school. Almost every student could be divided into two categories- popular or unpopular.
LMX theory is somewhat like that. It explains that in any group, there are in-group members and out-group members.
o You may find in-group members close to the leaders and out-group members who are more distant.
o In-group members work well with the leader and have a personality that fits with the leader. They are often willing to take on extra
tasks or responsibilities. In-group members are more likely to earn promotions.
o Out-group members are less compatible with the leader. They hold dissenting opinions and are less willing to take on extra
assignments. Out-group members are more likely to leave.

Servant Leadership Theory

▪ Leadership scholars emphasize the importance of serving others. The other recent focus is on the importance of being true to oneself as a
leader.
▪ This theory originated in the writings of Robert Greenleaf. The approach defines leadership as serving the needs of others over their self-
interests.
▪ Servant leaders help employees develop and reach their goals.
▪ They put their employees first and understand their personal needs and desires.
▪ These leaders also empower employees and help them build their careers.
▪ This leadership approach positively impacts organizational commitment, employee behaviors, and work performance.
▪ Servant leaders create a climate of fairness in their departments.
▪ Servant leadership is effective but a tough transition for many managers. Many corporate leaders of today are infamous for their humility. But
leaders who have adopted this approach attest to its effectiveness.
▪ Servant leadership sometimes overlaps with other leadership theories, such as transformational leadership. But work ethics and
selflessness are distinct in this leadership style.

Authentic Leadership Theory

▪ Authentic leaders believe that values and moral compass help towards effective leadership. These leaders change their leadership
approach based on the demands of the situation.
▪ Authentic leaders are self-aware, genuine, and honest.
▪ These leaders do not try to fit into societal expectations.
▪ They are introspective. Authentic leaders understand their values and priorities.
▪ These leaders are not afraid to act the way they are. In other words, they have high levels of personal integrity and practice
transparency. They say what they think. They behave in a manner consistent with their values.
▪ Authentic leaders do not imitate other leaders. They discover their style through their personality and life experiences.
▪ Authentic leaders build authentic relationships and inspire trust and motivation in their employees.
▪ This leadership requires understanding oneself. So, self-reflection and feedback are vital for such leaders to perform effectively.

Complexity Leadership Theory

▪ Complexity Leadership Theory was first introduced in 2001. It was developed by Mary Uhl-Bien, Russ Marion, and Bill McKelvey.
▪ The theory derives from a branch of scientific thought called Complexity Theory. Complexity leadership helps to understand how
successful organizations manage crises. It also allows you to gain a competitive edge.
▪ Several scholars agree that complexity leadership theory is a form of shared leadership. According to this theory, leadership is shared and
not restricted to one person.
▪ Complexity leaders focus on the recurring social interactions within a network. So, anyone within the social capital can become a leader.
▪ This theory helps to improve team performance and adaptability. It also increases innovation, promotes quality outcomes, and
encourages organizational change.
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▪ These leaders don’t consider themselves as the only driving force for success. Instead, it emphasizes the whole system of an
organization. It includes social interactions and ways to manage complexity.
▪ But this theory lacks empirical research on the various dimensions of the model. The effectiveness of the model is computer-based and lacks
a methodological approach.

Charismatic Leadership Theory

▪ Charismatic leadership is a new and distinct paradigm. It came to the forefront of public attention during the 2008 US elections. In the election,
Barack Obama was elected as the first African American president. He is believed to be charismatic, among many other leadership attributes
he demonstrates.
▪ Charismatic authority is a concept of leadership. Robert House first formalized it in 1976. House followed the work of the German sociologist
Max Weber in the 1940s.
▪ Few characteristics of charismatic leaders are:
o Charismatic leaders are influential and confident individuals with strong beliefs.
o They are change agents who communicate their vision to others.
o These leaders set high expectations from their followers.
o Charismatic leaders understand the needs of their followers.
o These leaders build enthusiasm among followers.
o Such leaders are good at recognizing the emotions and moods of others.
▪ But charismatic leaders can believe more in themselves than in their teams. This characteristic can create the risk of organizational
collapse if the leader leaves. Also, charismatic leaders might think that they can do no wrong, even when others warn them. This feeling that
they are unbeatable can ruin a team or an organization.
▪ Charismatic leaders have supernatural powers over their followers.
▪ House & Baetz (cited in (Conger & Kanungo, 1987) defined charismatic leaders as leaders who “by the force of their personal abilities
are capable of having profound and extraordinary effects on followers”.
▪ The followers of charismatic leaders are loyal and trust the charismatic leader’s values, behaviors, and vision. (Borkowski, 2005)
▪ Charismatic leaders use their own personal power instead of position power to influence followers in order to achieve their goals.

Participative Leadership Theory

▪ Participative leadership is a management style that seeks employee feedback on business decisions. Specific details about business
concerns provided to the employees help them to vote. The majority vote is collected and then decides the organizational plan of action.
▪ In recent business circles, the “participative leadership” concept has become a catchphrase. It is also known as democratic leadership.
▪ Few common key traits of participative leaders are:
o Participative leaders encourage subordinates to make decisions.
o They manage teams by encouraging everyone to work together.
o These leaders encourage employees to share their thoughts. Participative leaders encourage employees to present the
organization with fresh insights.
o The participative leadership style is centered on communication. Participative leaders keep their subordinates informed about real
situations under all circumstances.
o Participative leaders are open-minded and help raise morale. They take suggestions from subordinates and then incorporate
them into the action plan.
o These leaders are approachable.
o Counselling, training, and development opportunities are offered to subordinates by participative leaders.
o Participative leadership works best in low-pressure environments that don’t quickly turn around. That’s because this kind of
leadership takes time.

Power-and-Influence Theory
▪ Power and Influence theory describes how leaders use their power to get the work done to achieve a goal. The approach has two segments:
A. Power:
o It is using one’s authority to persuade others to act accordingly. It often leads to resentment. The best-known of these theories
is French and Raven’s Five Forms of Power. This model highlights the following powers:
Positional power:
o Reward power - Leaders motivate their teams by offering rewards based on the tasks.
o Coercive power - Leaders pressure the employees into doing something that they don’t want to do.
o Legitimate power - It is the perception of authority and status in an organization. Legitimate power builds the feeling of
responsibility towards the management and team members. Teams feel obligated to complete their tasks. It is usually
accompanied by a traditional system of reward and punishment.
Personal power:
o Expert power - It is the perception that a person has specialist knowledge. Leaders with expert power result in genuine respect.
It makes leaders more effective in directing others and rewarding them. They know what needs attention? How difficult is it? How
long should it take? They can guide where required.
o Referent power - It occurs when people create strong professional bonds of mutual respect. The leader can make someone
feel accepted or like their work. It relies on charm.
o The model suggests personal power as a better alternative. Expert power is the most legitimate source of personal power. Hence, it
would be helpful if you acquired it.
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B. Influence:
▪ It is about changing how a person develops, behaves, or thinks. Influence can lead to respect. It is based on relationships and persuasion.
Influence comes from three primary sources that leaders and followers should strive upon:
o Competency and knowledge
o Character and trust
o Dynamism and charisma.
▪ When we talk about influence, we cannot miss the word “empowerment.” Empowerment has been a popular buzzword since the 1990s. It is
one of the newest influence methods utilized.
▪ Empowerment facilitates followers’ motivation and gives them control over their projects.
▪ Most employees don’t appreciate the power and influence theory. They want leaders that work with them and encourage them. Leaders who
practice this theory change people, through power and domination. Domination can result in low morale and cliquey environments in the office.
▪ Note: Transactional leadership also uses power and influence. This approach assumes that people work for reward and no other reason.
Thus, it focuses on designing tasks and reward structures.

Take Aways – Contemporary Leadership

▪ Effective leadership is crucial to the success of a company. An effective leader makes followers reach a sense of commitment, loyalty, and
devotion.
▪ Good leaders are good communicators with knowledge and expertise. Not only that, but they can also persuade people. Such leaders
also decrease stress, costs and increase productivity.
▪ There is no such thing as the best leadership style. But certain characteristics and skills are needed to have the best outcome according to the
situation provided.
▪ Shifts in social structures and high-tech advancements need change management. Contemporary leaders can manage change. Under this
leadership style, people work together to achieve a common objective.
▪ In an organization, people come from different backgrounds, perspectives, values, and cultures. Contemporary leaders help bridge these
social identity boundaries. It gives importance to both tasks and employees.
▪ Contemporary leadership helps inspire subordinates to commit to the business. These leaders also motivate employees to be responsible.
▪ On the downside, the theory lacks attention to significant cultural variations. The contemporary theory was developed based only on the
western world. It did not consider the rest of the world, which is a major drawback. Considering cultural aspects of the non-western world is
important.

EMERGENT MODELS OF LEADERSHIP

▪ The emergent models of leadership turned up with the rapid increase of complexity, technological advancements, and increasing demand for
leaderful organizations and flexible firms.
▪ The main difference between traditional models and modern leadership models would be all traditional models of leadership emphasize
characteristics or behaviors of only one leader within a particular group whereas emergent models provide a space to have more than one
leader at the same time.
▪ According to emergent models, a leader at one instance can be a follower in another instance.
▪ Emergent models more focus on the special skills or talents that the leaders must have to practice to face challenging situat ions.
(Traditional models do not tell the kind of skills that the leaders should have.)
▪ For example, Innovative thinking improves the decision-making process of leaders by exposing better alternative options for current methods,
techniques, and solutions.
▪ Emergent leadership approach argues the importance of ‘systems thinking’ for more complex organizations, especially for flexible firms.
▪ ‘Systems thinking’ is defined as “an ability to think or analyze information and situations that leads to or causes effective or superior
performance”. (Palaima & Skaržauskienė, 2010)
▪ “To engage in systems thinking means to start treating problems in an organization as problems of a system and to start looking for system-
integrated solutions.” (Palaima & Skaržauskienė, 2010)
▪ It helps to improve contemporary leader in many ways.
▪ The holistic approach of systems thinking enables to enhancement the working system by innovative thinking.
▪ And it enables leaders to make more effective decisions by considering the organization as an open system or considering the environmental
influences on the organization and organizational influences on the environment.
▪ Also helps to understand the systematic forces for effective change management. (Palaima & Skaržauskienė, 2010)

The 10 Characteristics of a Good Leader

▪ A good leader should have integrity, self-awareness, courage, respect, empathy, and gratitude.
▪ They should be learning agility and flex their influence while communicating and delegating effectively.
▪ 10 Essential Leadership Traits
o Integrity
o Delegation
o Communication
o Self-Awareness
o Gratitude
o Learning Agility
o Influence
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o Empathy
o Courage
o Respect

Integrity
▪ Integrity is an essential leadership trait for the individual and the organization. It’s especially important for top-level executives who are
charting the organization’s course and making countless other significant decisions.

Delegation
▪ Delegating is one of the core responsibilities of a leader, but it can be tricky to delegate effectively. The goal isn’t just to free the leaders up—
it’s also to enable leaders to direct reports to grow, facilitate teamwork, provide autonomy, and lead to better decision-making. The
best leaders build trust in the workplace and in their teams through effective delegation.

Communication
▪ Effective leadership and effective communication are intertwined.
▪ The best leaders are skilled communicators who can communicate in a variety of ways, from transmitting information to inspiring others
to coaching direct reports.
▪ A leader must be able to listen to and communicate with, a wide range of people across roles, geographies, social identities, and more.
▪ The quality and effectiveness of communication among leaders across the organization directly affect the success of the business strategy,
too.
▪ Learn how effective communication and better conversations can improve the organizational culture.

Self-Awareness
▪ While this is a more inwardly focused trait, self-awareness, and humility are paramount for leadership.
▪ The better the leader understands themselves and recognizes their own strengths and weaknesses, the more effective they can be as a
leader.
▪ Self-awareness occurs when you’re aware of different aspects of yourself, including strengths, weaknesses, personality traits, behaviors,
anxieties, and emotions.
▪ Leader effectiveness is constrained or amplified by self-awareness and varies based on how well leaders understand themselves, how others
view them, and how they navigate the resulting interactions.

Gratitude
▪ Being thankful can lead to higher self-esteem, reduced depression and anxiety, and better sleep.
▪ Gratitude can even make a person a better leader.
▪ Yet few people regularly say “thank you” in work settings, even though most people say they’d be willing to work harder for an appreciative
boss.
▪ The best leaders know how to show gratitude in the workplace.

Learning Agility
▪ Learning agility is the ability to know what to do when you don’t know what to do.
▪ If you’re a “quick study” or can excel in unfamiliar circumstances, you might already be learning agile.
▪ But anybody can foster and increase learning agility through practice, experience, and effort.
▪ After all, great leaders are great learners.

Influence
▪ For some people, “influence” feels like a dirty word.
▪ But being able to convince people through the influencing tactics of logical, emotional, or cooperative appeals is an important trait of
inspiring, effective leaders.
▪ Influence is quite different from manipulation, and it needs to be done authentically and transparently.
▪ It requires emotional intelligence and trust.

Empathy
▪ Empathy is correlated with job performance and is a critical part of emotional intelligence and leadership effectiveness.
▪ If the leader shows more inclusive leadership and empathetic behaviors toward their direct reports, research shows they’re more likely
to be viewed as a better performer by their boss.
▪ Plus, empathy and inclusion are imperatives for improving workplace conditions for those around the leaders.

Courage
▪ It can be hard to speak up at work, whether the leader want to voice a new idea, provide feedback to a direct report, or flag a concern for
someone above them.
▪ That’s part of the reason courage is a key trait of good leaders.
▪ Rather than avoiding problems or allowing conflicts to fester, having courage enables leaders to step up and move things in the right
direction.
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▪ A workplace with high levels of psychological safety and strong conversational skills across the organization will foster a coaching culture that
supports courage and truth-telling.

Respect
▪ Treating people with respect daily is one of the most important things a leader can do.
▪ It will ease tensions and conflict, create trust, and improve effectiveness.
▪ Creating a culture of respect is about more than the absence of disrespect.
▪ Respectfulness can be shown in many ways, but it often starts with simply being a good listener who truly seeks to understand the
perspectives of others.

Characteristics of a Good Leader

▪ Assertive leadership is a communication style in which people express their thoughts, ideas, and expectations with their teams in a
self-assured, considerate way.
▪ This type of leadership involves collaboration with people at all levels of the organization.
▪ Assertiveness describes how prepared the leaders can stand up for their opinions when someone else wants different outcomes
(Ames, Lee, & Wazlawek, 2017).

▪ “Accountability” suggests that leaders are held accountable to someone or something.

▪ For leaders to be accountable, they need to be committed to the business and its people.
▪ They must take their role as people leaders seriously, building trust among team members.
▪ Accountable leaders clearly communicate their goals and objectives and key results (OKRs) to their teams to foster alignment and team
focus.
▪ Accountable leaders assess accountability in those below their level, too. Top-level leadership, for instance, must hold middle managers
accountable for their own commitment to the business, the workforce, and the company culture. By addressing leaders who aren’t
accountable, they set standards for accountable leadership in the company.

▪ Advocacy of leaders is a clear understanding of and sensitivity to power dynamics in the personal, organizational, and policy arenas.
▪ For example, leadership for advocacy can mean giving direction to actions and being able to recognize opportunities to shift direction when
necessary.
▪ Advocacy skills are an important tool to help leaders bring people together around significant issues and compel them to action.
▪ On a personal level, people can develop into leaders when they can clearly and persuasively communicate their needs and seek opportunities
to take on more responsibility.

Leadership Styles in Nursing

▪ The most effective leadership styles in nursing management understand that both nursing staff and patients benefit from the u nit acting as a
team.
▪ Realizing that the success of the unit heavily relies on the strength of the nursing leader should implore nursing leaders to understand the
different types of leadership styles in nursing management.
▪ Once a foundational understanding of the leadership styles in healthcare is established, nursing leaders can take personal inventory of how
they fall into current styles, while also assessing which styles, they might be more successful with in the future.

Autocratic Leadership in Nursing

▪ Autocratic leadership in nursing is extremely “hands-on” and includes a great deal of decision-making.
▪ Nursing leaders using the autocratic leadership style is comfortable making decisions without input from their team, and often withhold
information from the team in general.
▪ This type of leader has little tolerance for mistakes.

Pros of Autocratic Leadership Style

▪ Autocratic leadership in nursing will be effective in making quick decisions when necessary.
▪ This may serve the team well in emergency situations, or when implementing “zero occurrences” policies (e.g., driving for zero pressure
ulcers, etc.).

Cons of Autocratic Leadership Style

▪ Autocratic leadership in nursing does not promote trust or communication amongst a team but instead creates a culture whereby team
members’ valuable insights and knowledge go untapped.
▪ This type of leader stifles collaborative decision-making and transparency, which hinder an organization’s journey to high reliability.

Democratic Leadership in Nursing

▪ The democratic leadership style welcomes and encourages input and communication from the team when making decisions.
▪ Relationships are highly valued by this type of leader, and it’s important to them that their team feels comfortable and willing to voice concerns,
opinions, and ideas.
▪ A democratic leader also sees value in providing feedback to their team, truly viewing communication as a two-way street.

Laissez-Faire Leadership in Nursing

NURSING LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT

LEADERSHIP
▪ Laissez-faire leadership in nursing is most often seen in new or inexperienced nurse leaders.
▪ Typically referred to as a “hands-off” approach, laissez-faire nursing leaders rarely provide direction or feedback to their team, but rather
allow the team to function as they prefer, without strong supervision.
▪ These leaders are not thought of as strong decision makers.

Transformational Leadership in Nursing

▪ Transformational leadership is a management style that motivates employees to take ownership for their roles and perform beyond
expectations.
▪ Instead of assigning tasks from the top, transformational leadership teaches people how to think rather than just do what they are told.
▪ Sometimes called quiet leaders, they lead by example.

Servant Leadership in Nursing

▪ With a recent growth in popularity, servant leadership refers to leaders who influence and motivate others by building relationships and
developing the skills of individual team members.
▪ Coined by Robert K. Greenleaf in 1970, the term refers to leaders that are drawn to serve first, which aspires them to lead.
▪ Servant leadership in nursing implies that a leader naturally cares about ensuring each team member has the resources and tools they
need to succeed.