As the leader in your nursing facility, it is up to you to make decisions regarding day-to-day operations. In order to do this, you must be adept at leading your staff and communicating with them effectively.
Becoming a good leader within the healthcare field is not always easy. There are some qualities that should be present in a good leader, and there are other specific behaviors they must demonstrate in order to lead effectively. By having these traits, you’ll be a great leader in the eyes of your employees working under you.
This article will go through the qualities and behaviors that make a great Nursing Leader and how these are related to leadership throughout different fields.
What are the Different Types of Leaders in Nursing?
There are many different types of leaders within the nursing field, and they are found in many different places. There are leaders who are highly educated and work in leadership positions that require them to make decisions on behalf of their nursing facility at large. Nurses might also be leaders who autonomously make decisions for a specific unit or for a specific client.
Leaders in nursing, regardless of the position they hold, should have certain traits and behaviors that set them apart from other nurses, especially those within their level of education.
A great leader has ambition and energy, sets high standards for themselves and others around them, is positive and energetic, works well with others or independently, promotes teamwork and possesses the ability to take charge when necessary.
For nurses who have ambitions towards leadership, taking nursing leadership courses may be the answer and a great stepping stone to further career success.
The Nursing Leadership Hierarchy
A good leader gains the respect of their staff, has high standards, and can foster change within the organization. They must be able to balance this with being or becoming a patient advocate and self-starter in their own right.
These are some of the qualities that make up a good leader within any hospital or healthcare organization. There are many others; however, these are the most common characteristics that many leaders have to possess when leading various groups in organizations.
Nursing Leadership is not always polite, but it can also be very rude, according to some nurses. By holding out and making decisions independently, your nursing leadership style will work against you in your career as a leader.
Characteristics of Nurses Who Lead Well
As a leader in nursing, you should possess these qualities:
Be A Problem Solver
It is your job to oversee all of the problems that arise within your facility and make decisions as to how to solve them.
Being able to think strategically about how you’re going to deal with these issues is vital for keeping your employees happy and productive at their jobs.
Work Well With Others
Whether it’s a group of nurses or a group of patients, being able to work with others is essential. You want to be able to assemble the best team possible and make that team successful.
Throughout your job as a leader in nursing, you will need to work with many different groups of employees and patients within the organization. By being able to work well with different people, you’ll have the opportunity to get input from everyone in your facility and learn from their experiences.
Be Positive
While nursing tends to be a very positive career choice for many, there are always issues that arise that may not be so happy or uplifting. When this happens, it will fall on you as the leader in charge to make the business decisions that are needed in order to ensure the happiness of your staff and patients.
If you’re always negative or thinking negatively of your facility or work, your employees will see this and begin thinking negatively as well. You want them to think positively about their work because it’s important for morale and teamwork.
Be a Good Communicator
Being able to communicate effectively is vital to being a good leader. Whether it’s having meetings with your staff, speaking with the board of directors, or conducting interviews for new employees, you should always be able to communicate your thoughts and ideas clearly.
Being able to speak well in front of others is not easy for some people, and you may have some trouble with this at first. However, if you practice enough, you’ll be a great speaker by the time you finish school.
Be Adaptable And Flexible
As a leader in nursing, there will be many different problems that arise and need to be dealt with as they come up. Being able to adapt and make changes whenever necessary is very important.
It’s important to always be willing to provide new solutions or solutions that are different from what was established in the past. You don’t want employees to feel overwhelmed by providing care for their patients.
Developing an Emotional Intelligence Strategy for Leadership
Leaders are expected to be open communicators, and this will leave them open to judgment. As a leader, you need to be able to read and understand people’s emotions when dealing with employees and patients.
You want to be able to predict how they may react before they do anything drastic.
For example, if you see that a patient is on the verge of being violent, you want to take action quickly, so they do not hurt themselves or others.
To develop good leadership skills as an individual in the healthcare field, it is very important to work through different types of emotional intelligence strategies.
The Future Of Nursing Leadership
One thing that you will learn as you progress through the nursing field is that nursing is always evolving and changing.
As a leader, it is your responsibility to see which types of change need to be made, how this change will benefit the organization, and how to implement these changes within the company.
Nurses who want to become leaders in their healthcare organizations must understand that there are certain qualities that are required for them to succeed.