The following are the core leadership competencies
and characteristics with examples of how they could be displayed by nursing
executives/leaders:
1. Communication
and relationship management (effective communication is witnessed between the
leader and all roles and ancillary departments encountered)
2. Leadership
(this nurse leader is an effective leader of inpatient and outpatient unit
staff, including nurses, physicians, and ancillary services)
3. Business
skills and principles (able to manage business skills and principles by
maintaining working relationships and reporting to business and financial
departments within organization)
4. Knowledge
of health care environment (the nurse director must maintain a vast and updated
knowledge of issues and evidence based practice related to the specific
departments)
5.
Professionalism (able to manage conflict resolution and other situations
while maintaining professional and neutral behaviors) (Huber, 2010, p.1).
Along with these core competencies, the nurse leader
should also display characteristics described by Collins (2001). An effective leader has dual characteristics
of “modest and willful, humble and fearless” (p.22).
Situational theories
are a group of nursing leadership theories based on the foundation that
organizational behaviors are contingent on the situation or environment. To effectively lead, leaders must have the diagnostic
ability to assess and vary leadership skills depending on the situation at hand
(Huber, 2010, p.14). In a rapidly
changing and advancing healthcare system, effective nurse leaders must be able
to base their actions depending on the environment and needs identified.
Specifically, Fiedler’s
Contingency Theory can be found in use by today’s healthcare leaders. As healthcare increases in complexity,
leadership must advance. Fiedler’s
Leadership Contingency Model outlined a plan for nurse leaders to progress based
on the environment. The three major
variables influencing leadership skills include:
1. “Leader-member
relations: the type and quality of the
leader’s personal relationships with followers
2. Task
structure: how structured the group’s assigned task is
3. Position
power: power that is conferred on the leader
by the organization as a result of the assigned job” (Huber, 2010, p.14).
According to Huber (2010), the Contingency Theory
states that the leader is most influential over the group when leader-member
relations are good, task structure is high, and position power is high
(p.14-15).
According the Giltinane
(2013), the Contingency Theory and Situation Theories are applicable to the practice
of nursing leadership today. A
situational leader must be able to “identify the performance, competencies, and
commitment of others, and to be flexible” (p.38). As healthcare organizations are facing
constant change, top-tier leaders must be amenable to the development of
different leadership styles based on different (and ever changing) situations.
Based on the
environment, the leader would vary management the approach to maximize
outcomes. An example of leadership based
on the Contingency Theory would be the management of specific situations, such
as “simple or complicated situations would be best handled through a task-oriented
approach such as transactional leadership” (Giltinane, 2013, p.38).
A specific example of
such a situation can be viewed by the management of implementation of
Electronic Health Records (HER). An
effective leader would take the complicated situation of transitioning from
paper to computerized charting and lead with a task oriented approach. This may be a transition in leadership
style. The leader would focus on
assessment of “follower” or staff skills, identify staff with strong skills,
and focus specifically on the task of implementation of computerized charting. By taking on an active role and identifying
staff as resource persons, the leader is remaining flexible and available. Such a “hands on” presence may not always be
necessary, but the leader is adapting their role with staff and on the unit
based on the situation experienced.
Situational leadership
gave way to transactional and transformational leadership. These forms of leadership focused more on the
interaction between leaders and followers.
While it was necessary to develop leadership styles based on
relationships as is viewed in the transactional/transformational movement, the
Situation Leadership Theory offered a foundation for further development of
flexible leadership in healthcare.
References
Collins, J. (Ed.).
(2001). Good to great. New York, NY:
HarperCollins Publishers Inc. Giltinane,
C. (2013). Leadership styles and theories. Nursing Standard, 27(41),
35-39.
Huber, D. L. (Ed.). (2010). Leadership and nursing care management
(4th ed.). Maryland Heights, MO: Saunders Elsevier.
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