Nursing is a noble profession that requires selfless leadership. The duties of a nursing leader include ensuring the highest possible standards of patient care through effective and efficient management of human and financial resources. The main concepts of nursing leadership hinge on commitment, vision and direction. Good leaders should inspire their followers.
Transactional Leadership
This type of leadership in nursing requires skills in the day-to-day running of a team. The person in charge has to be qualified as a leader with clinical competence and good communication skills. While the concept of transactional leadership does not involve micromanaging a nursing team, a leader must be able to delegate some duties to individual team members to lead certain aspects of a project, based on the areas of expertise. The overall leader must remain part of the team by participating in teamwork and keeping close to the operations and understanding each team member's perspective.
Transformational Leadership
The concept of transformational leadership in nursing is founded on the premise of activities that inspire followers to discharge their duties to the best of their abilities. A leader must influence change by providing a sense of direction. You must be able to articulate a shared vision to your followers and challenge the status quo. You will earn respect from your followers through exemplary behavior. Each team member must be treated as an individual. Innovation in problem-solving and transmission of values and ethical principles are important in this type of leadership.
Discipline and Courage
You can also model your nursing leadership on the United States Air Force's seven concepts that put emphasis on discipline, compassion, courage, perspective, desire to volunteer, honesty and humility. As a leader, you will have to work to the best of your ability, striving to get everything right. You must be able to extrapolate from past events in order to plan ahead.
Personal Style
There are many aspects that are unique to every individual, which gives you the opportunity to create leadership based on personal traits. You must be able to create personal relationships on which your leadership will hinge. There are many variations to nursing leadership, but the most important point to note is that leadership is diverse and individualized.
