Transformative Leadership Essay: Features, Characteristics, And Impacts.

• Your introduction should consist of the following three sections:

1. Introduce the topic to the reader
2. Provide contextual background information which are validated by relevant reference citations
3. Inform the reader of the intent or objectives of your essay, which includes informing the reader which leadership style you have chosen

• Describing your leadership style
  • Defining your leadership style (i.e., transformation leadership)
  • Describing its key features and characteristics

Hint: assume the reader knows nothing about the leadership style you have chosen, and you are informing them of all the characteristics and features of the leadership style

• Reflecting on the leadership style by describing the impact of the leadership style on the six concepts listed (communication, documentation, professional relationships, team work, scope of practice, delegation of care or management).
  • Each of the six concepts do not need to be listed separately but may by discussed by combining related concepts. For example, communication and documentation are related concepts and describing how the leadership style impacts these two concepts will provide a rich discussion, be word count ‘smart’ and avoid creating small sections that duplicate content
  • Providing examples highlighting the strengths of your chosen leadership example will demonstrate higher level of critical thinking. For example, consider situations where your leadership does or does not work but remember to support these examples with evidence

Hint: It would be very appropriate to link this section to the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australian Professional Standards for Practice for the RN.

• Choose one concept from Assignment 1
• Choose a concept that is most well-linked and an important feature of your leadership style.

For example, Transformation Leadership AND Emotional Intelligence OR communication

• Using reflection (refer to the Gibbs Required Reading found under Assignment 2 Help) provide an example from clinical placement that you have observed that has influenced your thoughts on how you will develop this skill or attribute as a newly graduate RN. This example maybe a situation you observed or where you demonstrated nursing leadership

Hint: Remember part B must be connected to Part A and not treated as a separate assignment from each other. For example, if you have chosen transformational leadership then this must be reflected in your strategies in your transition to an RN.

• What type of strategies should you consider?

Strategies that you could consider but are not limited to are: continuing professional development, mentoring, giving and receiving feedback, reflective journaling.

Various Leadership Approaches

Nurses across the globe play a very crucial role in providing health care services to people (Vermeir et al., 2015, p.49).  To ensure that quality health care is offered to people, there is a need for a leader to ensure that everything runs smoothly. Leadership is quite a broad term that can assume various definitions depending on the context. Leadership is an art that involves motivating and influencing people towards the attainment of a common goal (Thomson, et al. 2015 p.21).  It is more concerned about making the situations of other people better. This paper will discuss various leadership approaches, but its main focus will be on the transformational leadership approach. Components of TFL will be addressed as well as its impact on multiple nursing aspects and the provision of health care in general.

Description of Leadership approach (Transformational Leadership)

Newly graduated registered nurses can employ various leadership styles. Some leadership styles that can be adopted are; democratic/participative, transactional, situational leadership, autocratic leadership, and transformational leadership.

Transformational leadership, which is the focus of this paper, involves leaders motivating colleagues to perform better than their potentials. This is a kind of leadership where leaders seek to maximize the possibilities of its members fully (Top, et al. 2013 p.45).

An example of transformation leadership is to let us say there is a teaching/education session of a specific topic. If a particular nurse does not understand a section of the problem being addressed, then such nurses can seek clarification later after the session. Various reasons could make nurses not get issues being addressed. For instance, a language barrier might be an issue, or even some nurses might fail to ask questions and clarifications for fear of being mocked or looked down upon. Transformational leadership provides an opportunity for such nurses to seek clarification and clearance. Most clinical officers and other stakeholders make use of this leadership approach to guide students. Student's potential is identified and thereafter are motivated to attain their full potential (Thomson, et al. 2015 p.21).  

Transformational leadership is quite dynamic. It has a unique ability to recognize the potential of its staff and thereby to take deliberate action towards helping individuals with such talent and potential. Transformational leadership is comprehensive as it goes the extra mile into acting as a mentor to such individuals.  The fundamental principle of transformational leadership is change. This, therefore, implies that a series of difficult decisions characterize this approach. Another essential characteristic is the inspiration. As mentioned earlier, TFL focuses on the mentoring potential to help the organization attain its goals. Also, since TFL is based on change, there is a need for mutual trust between leaders and their followers. Some other characteristics of TFL are; teamwork or, emotionally intelligent, respectful and inspiring, adaptable, and useful communication, among others (Pappas, Atherton, Sawmynaden, Car, 2012 p.57).

Features and Characteristics of Transformative Leadership

Some of the key features and characteristics of transformational leadership are outlined below;

Inspirational motivation-Transformational leadership is very specific in nature. It makes use utilizes effective communication to ensure that its goals and objectives are well understood by all team members. It is necessary that leaders act as role models and show positive attitude in each and everything that the team is involved in. Here motivation is a key aspect that leaders use. They encourage and inspire their colleagues to act accordingly in order to achieve their goals (Bushra,  Ahmad, Naveed, 2011 p.36).

Individual Consideration-This is an element of transformational leadership that recognizes the potential and desires of each person in the team. Leaders understand that each member in team is gifted differently. Each individual’s potential is therefore taken into consideration when allocating duties (Vermeir et al., 2015, p.90).  

Intellectual simulation-This element of transformational leadership is centered on helping team members recognize and identify their potentials. Leaders usually involve team members is solving issues that might arise and thereby helping them see things in a different perspective. TFL challenges team members to take risks thereby encouraging creativity and innovation (Bushra,  Ahmad, Naveed, 2011 p.36).

Idealized influence-This element is based on positively influencing team members. Leaders act as role models and therefore influencing nurses to do the right thing. This is also based on mutual trust and respect that develops between leaders and their team members. Leaders also give preferences to opinions that team members have (Vermeir et al., 2015, p.89).  

As discussed earlier, transformational leadership has a very crucial role to play in an organization setting. Based on our context, new nurse graduates that adopt this approach of leadership are tasked to bring and effect organizational change.  This section will reflect some of the impacts of transformational leadership of various concepts such as; communication and documentation, professional relationships, a delegation of care and management, scope of practice and teamwork (Remus & Kennedy, 2012 p.201).

Communication and documentation-Communication and leadership are two aspects that go hand in hand. Communication is very crucial as it has a significant influence on the way others perceive us. As depicted from the various elements of transformational leadership above, this approach of leadership focuses on making a positive change within an organization. Based on our context, modern health centers and hospitals are faced with various challenges that range from financial to increased demand for health care. As a direct consequence of some of these challenges that the health sector faces, there is a need for leaders (nurses and newly graduates) to make changes. For a replacement to be effected, communication is necessary. Once notification has been made by a nurse regarding a change that needs to be achieved, this information needs to be documented. Communication and documentation work together. Upon the notification of a change that needs to take place, this communication must be recorded (Pappas, Atherton, Sawmynaden, Car, 2012 p.57).

Impacts of Transformative Leadership

Transformational leadership, therefore, affects communication and documentation in the sense that a leader has to communicate and also document every issue that they seek to address. Moreover, their colleagues could also take the initiative of making such relevant communications (Gagnon et al, 2012 p.29).

Registered nurses are often accountable for making professional judgments. This usually happens when a nurse feels like activity is far beyond their scope of operations and practice. A registered nurse has an obligation of making necessary communications to their colleagues and other members of the health care team (Brown & Health Hero Network, 2011 p.81).

Professional relationships-Transformational leadership is an approach that is quite dynamic when compared to other methods of leadership. It is concerned about implementing new ideas and continual change (Moore, Rivera, Bravo?Soto, Olivares, Lawrie, 2018 p.61).  Most transformational leaders focus on strengthening their professional relationships with their colleagues by bringing into play s crucial factors that are associated with this leadership approach. In most cases, registered nurses consider several factors, such as the history of a relationship, removing all barriers and roadblocks towards effective communication, and the unique ability to direct colleagues and subordinates professional destiny (Doody & Doody, 2012 p.47).

A typical example is when there is increased use of emails in communication; this has a direct consequence of decreasing face to face communication within the institution. In such cases, organization culture sets in. This may involve creating an environment where there is an inability to demonstrate personal interest within an organization. Scholars have argued that building a stable professional relationship requires a considerable amount of work and discipline (Clavelle,  Drenkard, Tullai-McGuinness,  Fitzpatrick, 2012, p.107). Following the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australian professional standards for practise for registered nurses, some techniques need to be used to communicate. This may happen in various ways, such as role-playing, direct lectures, and group work, or individual assignments, among others. It is essential to, however, note that different individuals within the organization have different learning preferences. Leaders willing to strengthen professional relationships should, therefore, be prepared to engage each individual to ascertain that they understand what is being addressed (Duygulu & Kublay, 2011 p.81).

Team work-Most organizations and institutions in the present day around the globe have mastered the art of structuring their work around teams and specialized workgroups. It is assumed that teamwork tends to increase flexibility, adaptability, and performance. As mentioned earlier in this paper, transformational leaders should have the ability to motivate their colleagues to work towards the attainment of a common goal. It is as well important to note that teamwork and team effectiveness are two concepts that quite dynamic (Fischer, 2016 p.27). These two terms correspond to objective reality. Teamwork and team effectiveness in correspondence to transformational leadership should be measured according to various aspects such as the values, preferences, and most vital interests of a system. According to the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australian Professional Standards for practice for registered nurses, there is a section that sheds light on the aspect of teamwork. Here, registered nurses and midwives are accountable for making various decisions regarding who is more appropriate among a team of registered nurses to perform a particular activity. Transformational leaders should, therefore, have the capacity to understand that the wellbeing of a client is directly dependent on the ability of a team to function and deliver (Foronda, MacWilliams, McArthur, 2013 p.14).

Communication and Documentation

Transformation leaders understand that a capable team performance depends on team members being in a position to fully and successfully integrate their actions. It is team leadership that determines the effectiveness of a team to perform (Adelman, 2011 p.89).

The scope of practice-Scope of practice may be regarded as the activities and duties that a fully registered nurse is authorized to perform. Such actions are usually established through guidance and standards that have been put in place by the right authorities. According to the nursing scope of practice, various services can be provided. Some of these are; provision of health care services to promote, maintain, and restore health, coordinating health services, and assessing health status among others (Doody & Doody, 2012 p.43).

Unlike other professions, nursing is a line of work that requires an extremely high degree of accountability. Here, responsibility is usually pegged on the public and the ability of registered nurses to deliver high-quality health services (Gagnon et al, 2012 p.20). In most cases, accountability should be inconsistent with issues such as abiding by the ethical code of conduct, guiding the nursing profession, and peer reviews.

According to the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australian professional standards for practice for registered nurses and a transformational leadership approach, there is a need to support models that are nurse-valued. This can be attained in several ways.  Some ways in which this can be achieved is offering formal education and training programs that aim towards teaching some of the core values of the nursing profession.

Communication is an essential aspect in almost all areas of human life. Communication can be regarded as the process of exchanging vital information between individuals (Bushra,  Ahmad, Naveed, 2011 p.66). It could either be in symbols or language. This section will entail a critical reflection of communication and how it could assist newly graduated registered nurses.

I observed a nurse that had issues with a patient. The patient insisted on a change of prescription because she felt that the drugs she was using were not working so well. Naturally, the nurse had an obligation to this patient, and she was supposed to have a conversation with the patient and see how this challenge could be sorted (effective communication according to TFL).  I thought that it was a good idea the patient had come clean about the drugs not being of any help. What was good about this situation is that the patient was bold enough to raise such an issue to the nurse. The challenging part is that the nurse did not listen to any of the complaints raised by the patient. The patient was so frustrated with the nurse and decided to seek medical attention from somewhere else. As mentioned earlier in this paper, nurses are obligated to provide quality health care services to clients.

Professional Relationships

Communication is vital in any profession, as it is the nursing profession. It was expected that the nurse could hear out the patient and try to understand her, but this did not happen. From this point, the nurse would then assess the situation and see if he could get to prescribe another medication for the patient.

Based on this issue, it is now clear how essential communication is mainly in the nursing profession. Every nurse must have an open communication system with both their colleagues and patients. Mastering the art of conversation could be beneficial, especially to newly graduated registered nurses.

Transformational leadership focuses on effective communication. In this case, the nurse did not employ a very vital element of TFL and thus the patient decided to seek medical attention from somewhere else.

Conclusion

Communication is very crucial as it has a significant influence on the way others perceive us. As depicted from the various elements of transformational leadership discussed in this text, newly graduated registered nurses should embrace this art of communication. This makes them well equipped for the hard tasks that they perform each day.

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