NUR 514 APA Assignment: Leadership Style Reflective Essay
NUR 514 APA Assignment: Leadership Style Reflective Essay
Description:
The purpose of this assignment is to assist learners in developing effective communication by emphasizing the proper application of APA style. APA style is required for the graduate program.
Refer to the resources in the course materials and Student Success Center for assistance with APA. Use the APA Style Guide resource, located in the Student Success Center, to complete this assignment.
For this assignment, complete the following:
Self-Assessment
Self-awareness is essential for developing leadership skills. Recognizing your own strengths, weaknesses, and values, and understanding emotional intelligence and learning styles can help you to be a more effective nurse leader.
For this assignment, you have the opportunity to take a variety of self-assessments to learn more about yourself and identify your assets and weaknesses as a leader. This will assist you in discovering how you can improve your own self-leadership skills. You will be asked to think critically about your results and submit a reflection as directed below.
Refer to the study materials. Select and complete three self-assessments. Be sure to document the results of each assessment to assist you in completing the reflection portion of the assignment below. NUR 514 APA Assignment: Leadership Style Reflective Essay
Self-Assessment Reflection
Becoming self-aware is an ongoing process requiring introspection. The more often people practice self-reflection, the more opportunities they have to understand their own behaviors and adapt their approaches to working with other people, which can improve both your own and other’s abilities to meet their professional goals.
In a 1,000-1,250 word reflective essay, address the following:
- Provide a rationale and brief summary for selecting each self-assessment. Summarize the results you obtained on each assessment.
- Identify the leadership style that closely aligns to your philosophy of care and explain what appeals to you about that style.
- Reflect on how you might incorporate elements of that particular style as you exercise leadership in a practice or health care organization setting.
- Discuss any particular areas for improvement the assessments helped you identify and some steps for improving your leadership capabilities.
- Analyze the characteristics of an effective professional nurse leader, or individuals in nursing leadership. Discuss the characteristics and explain why they are effective for leadership in nursing.
- Analyze different leadership theories and leadership styles. Select one theory and leadership style, different from your own, and explain how they each support a professional nurse leader or individual in nursing leadership. Consider how the theory shapes the nurse leader in such things as collaboration, conflict resolution, decision making, and negotiation.
Leadership Style Reflective Essay
Self-reflection influences one’s perspective on their leadership style and their actions towards other individuals, especially patients and colleagues. Self-reflection comprises of consideration and analysis of one’s beliefs and actions. Self-reflection is an essential indicator of a successful leaders as it offers an opportunity for one to understand how they can attain their goals and contribute positively to their roles (Adams, 2017). The purpose of this paper is to discuss various tools for self-assessment and the results that I got, the leadership style that aligns with my care philosophy and the incorporation of its elements as well as areas that need improvement.
Self-Assessment Tools
There are three self-assessment tools that I deployed in determining my emotional intelligence, personality and preferences in learning that may have direct influence on my leadership style and approaches. Emotional intelligence determines one’s level of emotional identification, expression and perception. Based on the test, my score was 74 which indicates that I have reasonable skills in identification of my emotions and those of others. The results show that I have room to improve. The second test was the personality test that showed I am 73% extraverted, 63% observant, 55% feeling and 67% assertive. The third test was the VARK Questionnaire which showed that I have a multimodal learning preference implying that I use and learn from a host of approaches and methods.
Leadership Style
The leadership style that I believe relates most and one that inspires me to adopt into my practice as a nurse practitioner is participative leadership style defines as shared influence and joint decision making that occur between leaders and their followers. Participative leadership is effective and attractive since it is essential in making a successful team (Kraft et al., 2018). Participative leaders value all opinions since individuals may have a different idea from leaders. Leaders can miss potential and better ideas when they do not permit input from followers. While participative leadership provides immense benefits, it is a leadership approach that is not always well received. Many leaders are not willing to relinquish control by opening up the concept of accepting diverse opinions (Adams, 2017). Individuals who adopt participative leadership should know that this style can improve relationship among the different players, especially the leaders and followers. Staff feel values and can make positive contributions when they participate in decision making and other critical opinions.
Incorporation Leadership Styles
The incorporation of participative leadership approach entails a comfortable transition. I will use the leadership approach to determine areas that I should improve. I will incorporate its elements by seeking opinions from others during meetings and delegating some responsibilities. Individuals have different work perspective and ethics. Encompassing and valuing that each individual is different and has different approach to issue enhances the level of trust and motivation among nurse practitioners in the unit. It is essential to make the staff feel that their contributions and ideas are valued which leads to increased appreciation. Through such actions, the employees feel better and motivated. I would accept their opinions, determine their best interest in patient care and initiate changes to ensure effective transition (VonKnorring et al., 2020). While leaders offer their staff opportunities to express their opinions and thoughts, the ultimate decisions and directions come from them and determine the best interests of the organization. Through participative leadership model, the nurse practitioners under my supervision will feel part of the team as this style allows leaders to delegate where an individual has the best idea. However, nurses should understand that participative leaders have different ways of assessing the opinions and seeking ones that focus on the best interests of the team through team spirit.
Areas of Improvement
The three assessment tests that I took are critical in gauging different learning approaches and preferences, personality styles and emotional intelligence. For instance, the VARK assessment was critical in determining my learning preferences. Through the questionnaire, one can understand the best way of retaining information. The test was very accurate as it showed the real way that I learn. The personality assists in the identification of personality traits that an individual possesses. The assessment showed that I should improve in my approach to judgment.
The test shows that I should improve by focusing on positive aspects as opposed to the negative outlook. While the test showed that I am more extroverted, I realized that I am fast to judge than I anticipated. The emotional intelligence test is essential for nurses as it determines one’s level of emotions and how they can deal with others, especially patients and their families. The test demonstrates that while I am emotionally intelligent, I can improve and be better by being more sensitive to people’s perspectives and reducing my judgmental attitude (VonKnorring et al., 2020). These assessments show that I should improve in communication and be more aware of the emotions that individuals may have as they access healthcare.
Conclusion
Effective leaders should be self-aware so that they know how to handle their subordinates and patients. they must demonstrate emotional intelligence and confidence and value staff’s participation through an appropriate leadership model. Self-awareness allows leaders to understand how to offer effective direction to their teams. Leaders should focus on improving their effectiveness through better approaches and use of personality tests where necessary for better improvement and care provision.
References
Adams, C. J. (2017). Towards a Philosophy of Care through Caregiving. Critical Inquiry,
43(4), 765
George Boak, & Sarah, C. (2019). Experiences that develop leadership capabilities. Leadership
& Organization Development Journal, 40(1): 97-106.
Kraft, A., Sparr, J. L., & Peus, C. (2018). Giving and Making Sense About Change: The Back
and Forth Between Leaders and Employees. Journal of Business and Psychology, 33(1), 71-87. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-016-9474-5
Psychology Today. (2019). Emotional Intelligence.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/tests/personality/emotional-intelligence-tes
VARK: A guide to learning preferences (2019). http://vark-learn.com/the-vark-questionnaire
VonKnorring, M., Griffiths, P., Ball, J., Runesdotter, S., Lindqvist, R. (2020). Patient experience
of communication consistency amongst staff is related to nurse-physician teamwork in hospitals. Nursing Open, 2(613).
You are required to cite three to five sources to complete this assignment. Sources must be published within the last 5 years and appropriate for the assignment criteria and nursing content. NUR 514 APA Assignment: Leadership Style Reflective Essay
Complete the “APA Writing Checklist” to ensure that your paper adheres to APA style and formatting criteria and general guidelines for academic writing. Include the completed checklist as an appendix at the end of your paper.
Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center.
This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.
You are required to submit this assignment to LopesWrite. A link to the LopesWrite technical support articles is located in Course Materials if you need assistance.
Leadership Style Reflection
Introduction
The success of many healthcare organizations globally depends on their nurse leadership. Effective nurse leadership guarantees positive results while poor nursing leadership styles result in organizational failure. Therefore, as a leader, one must assess his or her qualities and determine whether they align with the organizational needs, especially in the current globalized world. The purpose of this leadership assessment exercise is to discover one’s strengths, weaknesses, and areas of improvement in leadership practice.
Self-Assessment Summary
Building and sustaining relationships is important for social interactions as well as in professional practices and depends on the psychological skills. It is for these reasons that I selected the psychological assessment. From the assessment that I conducted, my emotional identification, perception and expression score was 64. Also, I was impressed with the score in emotional management scale (74). The assessment results indicated that I have basic skills in identification, perception, and expression of the emotions in other people as well as mine. On the other hand, there are areas that I need to improve on and they mainly fall within the abilities to interact and communicate with others. In as much as identifying people’s moods and emotions is essential, it will be more reputable if I develop the interaction skills so that I can be able to help them out of the emotional distress and frustrations in case that is what they feel. Further, leaders who manage their emotions accordingly are able to handle difficult and technical issues emerging in the course of their leadership practices accordingly (Hao & Yazdanifard, 2015).
The second assessment that I undertook was the personality assessment, which focused on various aspects including energy, nature, mind, tactic and identity. As such, it was important for stress management in nursing leadership practice and thus worth exploring in this self-assessment. The highest score was recorded under nature and this meant that I effectively manage situations, make decisions and cope with emotions. Also, I tend to be observant and critically think about issues at hand before making the decision. In terms of mind, the assessment results indicated that I am 54% introverted and 44% extroverted, which I think truly represent my personality. On the other hand, I was surprised to learn that I am judgmental. The score under this aspect was 68%, which I feel could not be true. However, building on the results from the assessment, I am able to work on my weaknesses and develop competent leadership qualities.
The third assessment was on the learning styles assessment; this was important because it determines an individual’s ability to discern the prevailing situations and provide timely solutions as a leader. The assessment mainly focused on visual, aural, reading, writing and kinesthetic skills. The highest score was in the visual category (6) while the least score was in the kinesthetic. The VARK profile analysis basically focused on the learning styles where some people prefer the practical approach to learning while others do theories. As a leader, working with other experienced leaders has positively influenced my leadership skills development (Hao & Yazdanifard, 2015).
Leadership Style
My philosophy of care is premised on having the ability to help other people using my influence in a positive manner. One of the leadership styles that closely aligns with that philosophy is the transformational leadership. Transformational leadership style is based on the ability of the leaders to empower their subjects and work jointly with them to realize the set goals and objectives. As a nurse leader, transformational leadership is appealing since it enables me to transform the manner in which the team under me works (Reid & Dold, 2017). One of the ways that this occurs is through influencing them to adopt my personal philosophy of care for the betterment of patient health.
Incorporating Elements
Transformational leadership has several elements that might become incorporated into my practice. Through my nursing leadership practice, I would encourage individualized consideration for team members in order to allow them to transform not only their philosophies but make them align to mine. In addition, I would ensure that I offer inspirational motivation to all team members to transform patient experiences at the facility (Khoshhal & Guraya, 2016). Lastly, via transformational leadership, my team members will be allowed to intellectually examine aspects of care to elicit positive experiences from patients.
Areas for Improvement
On the other hand, despite having admirable leadership skills as per the assessment results, there are few areas that need improvement. First, the assessment results indicated that I am judgmental and I believe this is not recommended for a leader. Therefore, I will have to learn to appreciate people’s values and embrace diversity. Transforming my attitudes towards diversity will help me overcome the issue of being judgmental and equip me to be a better leader (Hiller, Novelli, & Ponnapalli 2016; Hassanzadeh, Silong, Asmuni & Wahat, 2015). Also, I will work with other leaders to learn from them in terms of how they handle stressing and most challenging experiences; this will help me address the issue of emotional influence on the decision-making process which also identified as a significant drawback from the assessment outcomes. Thirdly, I will work to improve my interpersonal and socialization skills; through this, I will emerge as a courageous leader who is able to interact with other people without fear. Leadership is all about working with others and this requires a lot of courage and socialization skills.
Conclusion
The leadership assessment results confirmed that I am a good leader with quality skills. It revealed that I am observant and think critically into issues before making decisions. Additionally, I tend to learn other people’s emotions easily and this means I can easily handle people based on their presentations. On the other hand, I tend to be judgmental, and introvert and these are the major weaknesses that I need to address to become a better leader.
References
Hao, M. J., & Yazdanifard, R. (2015). How effective leadership can facilitate change in organizations through improvement and innovation. Global Journal of Management And Business Research.
Hassanzadeh, M., Silong, A. D., Asmuni, A., & Wahat, N. W. A. (2015). Global leadership competencies. Journal of Educational and Social Research, 5(2), 137.
Hiller, N., Novelli, S. Ö., & Ponnapalli, A. R. (2016). Leadership competency builder.
Khoshhal, K. I., & Guraya, S. Y. (2016). Leaders produce leaders and managers produce followers: a systematic review of the desired competencies and standard settings for physicians’ leadership. Saudi medical journal, 37(10), 1061.
Reid, W. M., & Dold, C. J. (2017). Leadership training and the problems of competency development. Journal of Public Health Management and Practice, 23(1), 73-80.
Topic 2: Professional Leadership
Description
Objectives:
1. Differentiate between leadership and management.
2. Analyze different leadership theories and styles.
3. Analyze characteristics of the professional nurse leader and nursing leadership.
4. Evaluate leadership and management strategies within health care organizations.
5. Discuss potential causes of conflict, principles of negotiation, and conflict resolution models and strategies.
Study Materials
Description:
Read “From Trait to Transformation: The Evolution of Leadership Theories,” by Johns and Moser, from Education
(1989).
Nursing Leadership From Bedside to Boardroom: Opinion Leaders’ Perceptions
Description:
Read “Nursing Leadership From Bedside to Boardroom: Opinion Leaders’ Perceptions,” by Blizzard, Khoury, and McMurray (2015), located on the Campaign for Action website.
Leadership Styles: Choosing the Right Approach for the Situation
Description:
Read “Leadership Styles: Choosing the Right Approach for the Situation,” located on the Mind Tools website.
Transformational Leadership: Becoming an Inspirational Leader
Description:
Read “Transformational Leadership: Becoming an Inspirational Leader,” located on the Mind Tools website.
Servant Leadership: Putting Your Team First, and Yourself Second
Description:
Read “Servant Leadership: Putting Your Team First, and Yourself Second,” located on the Mind Tools website.
What Is the Difference Between Management and Leadership?
Description:
Read “What Is the Difference Between Management and Leadership?” by Murray (2014), located onThe Wall Street Journal website.
An Alternative Approach to Nurse Manager Leadership
Description:
Read “An Alternative Approach to Nurse Manager Leadership,” by Henriksen, from Nursing Management (2016).
Nurse Manager Skills Inventory
Description:
Complete the “Nurse Manager Skills Inventory,” by the Nurse Manager Leadership Partnership (NMLP), located on the HWE Resources page of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) website. The resource is located under the “Authentic Leadership” heading.
Criteria Percentage Unsatisfactory (0.00%) Less than Satisfactory (80.00%) Satisfactory (88.00%) Good (92.00%) Excellent (100.00%)
Content 70.0%
Summary of Self-Assessment Results 10.0% A summary of why each self-assessment was selected and the results obtained on each assessment is not included. A summary of why each self-assessment was selected and the results obtained on each assessment is present, but it lacks detail or is incomplete. A summary of why each self-assessment was selected and the results obtained on each assessment is present. A summary of why each self-assessment was selected and the results obtained on each assessment is clearly provided and well developed. A comprehensive summary of why each self-assessment was selected and the results obtained on each assessment is thoroughly developed with supporting details. Leadership Style Reflective Essay NUR 514
Areas for Self-Improvement, Including Steps to Improve Leadership Capabilities 20.0% A discussion of areas for self-improvement, including steps to improve leadership capabilities, is not included. A discussion of areas for self-improvement, including steps to improve leadership capabilities, is present, but it lacks detail or is incomplete. A discussion of areas for self-improvement, including steps to improve leadership capabilities, is present. A discussion of areas for self-improvement, including steps to improve leadership capabilities, is clearly provided and well developed. A comprehensive discussion of areas for self-improvement, including steps to improve leadership capabilities, is thoroughly developed with supporting details. Leadership Style Reflective Essay NUR 514
A Specific Leadership Style That You Believe Aligns With Your Philosophy of Care, Including Appeal 20.0% A discussion of a specific leadership style that you believe aligns with your philosophy of care, including appeal, is not included. A discussion of a specific leadership style that you believe aligns with your philosophy of care, including appeal, is present, but it lacks detail or is incomplete. A discussion of a specific leadership style that you believe aligns with your philosophy of care, including appeal, is present. A discussion of a specific leadership style that you believe aligns with your philosophy of care, including appeal, is clearly provided and well developed. A comprehensive discussion of a specific leadership style that you believe aligns with your philosophy of care, including appeal, is thoroughly developed with supporting detail
Reflection on How to Incorporate Elements of the Leadership Style 15.0% A reflection on how to incorporate elements of the leadership style is not included. A reflection on how to incorporate elements of the leadership style is present, but it lacks detail or is incomplete. A reflection on how to incorporate elements of the leadership style is present. A reflection on how to incorporate elements of the leadership style is clearly provided and well developed. A comprehensive reflection on how to incorporate elements of the leadership style is thoroughly developed with supporting details.
Required Sources 5.0% Sources are not included. Number of required sources is only partially met. Number of required sources is met, but sources are outdated or inappropriate. Number of required sources is met. Sources are current, but not all sources are appropriate for the assignment criteria and nursing content. Number of required resources is met. Sources are current, and appropriate for the assignment criteria and nursing content.
Organization and Effectiveness 20.0%
Thesis Development and Purpose 7.0% Paper lacks any discernible overall purpose or organizing claim. Thesis is insufficiently developed or vague. Purpose is not clear. Thesis is apparent and appropriate to purpose. Thesis is clear and forecasts the development of the paper. Thesis is descriptive and reflective of the arguments and appropriate to the purpose. Thesis is comprehensive and contains the essence of the paper. Thesis statement makes the purpose of the paper clear.
Argument Logic and Construction 8.0% Statement of purpose is not justified by the conclusion. The conclusion does not support the claim made. Argument is incoherent and uses noncredible sources. Sufficient justification of claims is lacking. Argument lacks consistent unity. There are obvious flaws in the logic. Some sources have questionable credibility. Argument is orderly, but may have a few inconsistencies. The argument presents minimal justification of claims. Argument logically, but not thoroughly, supports the purpose. Sources used are credible. Introduction and conclusion bracket the thesis. Argument shows logical progressions. Techniques of argumentation are evident. There is a smooth progression of claims from introduction to conclusion. Most sources are authoritative. Clear and convincing argument that presents a persuasive claim in a distinctive and compelling manner. All sources are authoritative.
Mechanics of Writing (includes spelling, punctuation, grammar, language use) 5.0% Surface errors are pervasive enough that they impede communication of meaning. Inappropriate word choice or sentence construction is used. Frequent and repetitive mechanical errors distract the reader. Inconsistencies in language choice (register) or word choice are present. Sentence structure is correct but not varied. Some mechanical errors or typos are present, but they are not overly distracting to the reader. Correct and varied sentence structure and audience-appropriate language are employed. Prose is largely free of mechanical errors, although a few may be present. The writer uses a variety of effective sentence structures and figures of speech. Writer is clearly in command of standard, written, academic English.
Format 10.0%
Paper Format (Use of appropriate style for the major and assignment) 5.0% Template is not used appropriately or documentation format is rarely followed correctly. Template is used, but some elements are missing or mistaken; lack of control with formatting is apparent. Template is used, and formatting is correct, although some minor errors may be present. Template is fully used; There are virtually no errors in formatting style. All format elements are correct.
Documentation of Sources (citations, footnotes, references, bibliography, etc., as appropriate to assignment and style) 5.0% Sources are not documented. Documentation of sources is inconsistent or incorrect, as appropriate to assignment and style, with numerous formatting errors. Sources are documented, as appropriate to assignment and style, although some formatting errors may be present. Sources are documented, as appropriate to assignment and style, and format is mostly correct. Sources are completely and correctly documented, as appropriate to assignment and style, and format is free of error. Leadership Style Reflective Essay NUR 514