Leadership Interview Paper

Leadership Interview Paper

Introduction

Evelyn Jones is the Nurse Supervisor at Amita Health Saint Mary’s and Elizabeth Hospital. I met her while on clinical rotation at the hospital, and her assistance proved invaluable. She is an able leader, keen on excellence and compassion to both her patients and those under her leadership. I chose her for this interview because I felt I could learn more about her leadership values and find out how she handled the different aspects of leadership that she is exposed to. The information I acquired from her is both thought-provoking and inspiring. She revealed that a leader can firm in her position and still be emotionally intelligent enough to empathize with the different situations of people under her leadership. Her opinion on leadership is valuable and sound and forms the basis of discussion of this paper.

Leadership Innovation

Nurses are the part of hospital staff that interact the most with patients. The way they handle patients determines the patient’s opinion of the hospital. Also, different patients have different personalities, which makes it up to the nurse to find the most suitable way to make the patient comfortable. Creating a personalized experience for every patient they come across requires special innovative skills on the nurse’s part. Innovation should, therefore, be an integral part of nursing leadership (Thomas et al., 2016). Mainly, nurses should come up with new ways to include in their service delivery that make them effective, efficient, and client-centered.

In her leadership position, Evelyn Jones leads by example, in coming up with and seeking an innovative opinion. The healthcare system will never be complete and perfect. There is always room for a new, easier way to handle different tasks that nurses are faced with. The nursing department is, therefore, a ripe ground for innovation. Evelyn insists that her teams are always trying to find better, more time, and cost-effective ways to handle their tasks. She creates opportunities for innovation for her team and encourages sound opinion, to the point of defending them in their adoption. Evelyn posits that innovation occurs every day in the little ways that healthcare is provided. Recognition and adoption of an innovation culture are going to revolutionize the healthcare system faster.

Emotional Competence

Emotional intelligence is the ability to be aware of one’s emotions and those of others, comfortably express them, and proceed to carry out one’s responsibilities. Emotional competence involves the daily application of emotional intelligence concepts. Evelyn stated that the importance of emotional competence could not be emphasized enough, especially in nursing. The nursing career involves responsibilities that can be taxing and burdensome on an individual’s emotions. On the other hand, it is not advisable to sacrifice one’s emotional ability on the altar of their career (Kozub et al., 2016). Emotional competence is, therefore, a skill that nurses need to learn and practice, both for themselves and for the patients they serve.

In leadership, emotional competence is vital because of the number of people a leader is responsible for. Achieving organizational and departmental goals is hinged on the optimal performance of both the leader and his team. Emotional competence is an aspect of leadership that the leader has to lead by example. Understanding and empathizing with a team member’s situation and acting accordingly allows them to experience and give out compassion. Emotional competence entails many aspects that revolve around both the individual nurse and the patients they serve. As a leader, Evelyn has acquired emotional competence skills by practicing it daily and encouraging her team to grow in it too. It is only from an emotionally balanced place that a nurse can compassionately handle their patients and ensure their satisfaction without being unnecessarily overwhelmed.

Crisis Management

The uncertainty that enshrouds the healthcare system dictates that a crisis can occur at any time. Crisis management is a skill that should be ingrained in every nurse right from their training. A leader in healthcare should have sharply honed crisis management skills to ensure that they are never caught off-guard and can handle and organize their team effectively. Most crises that occur involve physical injuries that end up in a hospital. Also, crises rarely introduce themselves or give the health team time to prepare (Institute of Medicine, 2014). Leadership in crisis management, therefore, requires a sober mind and a high ability to perform efficiently under pressure.

Several aspects go into crisis management in leadership, especially in a healthcare setting. Theoretical training in crisis management forms the basis of the skill. However, regular drills are essential, even though they are sometimes underscored. A good leader should be able to communicate effectively with her team amid a crisis. Effective communication is one of the aspects of leadership that can easily be lost during an emergency. Leaders should always ensure that they cultivate systems and culture of effective communication that they can easily keep in case of a crisis.

Spirituality

Research has come out strongly in support of a good leader having the values associated with spirituality. Spirituality enables a leader to deal with the stresses and strains of their responsibilities. In nursing, and generally, in healthcare-related careers, the physical, emotional, and social demands associated with the responsibilities can be overwhelming. Amid these demands, nurses have to ensure that their patients receive the most caring, understanding, and compassionate part of them. Achieving this balance has been proven possible by embracing and practicing spiritual exercises that ensure emotional and mental balance (Paal et al., 2018). Spirituality may include practicing the values attached to one’s religion, which healthcare centers now provide amenities for.

Spirituality in leadership has equally emerged as an effective way to gain trust and loyalty from the team. Evelyn emphasizes that most religions teach a list of shared values that encourage people to treat each other understandingly and humanely. While organizational goal achievement is vital to the leader, practicing given spiritual values on the day-to-day interactions with the team ensures connection, loyalty, and more in-depth knowledge of the team dynamics. Leaders who practice spirituality are more supportive of their staff and have a better understanding of the challenges they face, both at work and out of work. Encouraging spirituality in employees puts them in a better mental and emotional position to deal positively with the challenges they encounter in life.

Change Management

Evelyn spoke of change being two-fold, especially for a leader: Being an agent of change and aiding in the implementation of change. There are several situations, especially in the current highly dynamic world, that call for changes in systems, mindsets, and behavior. Adaptability to change is one of the features that a leader should cultivate in their team. A leader should also be empathetic to any resistance to change, ensuring they understand the reason for opposition and mitigating accordingly. Human beings are, by default, resistant to change (Stanley, 2017). Adaptability, therefore, calls for an analysis of the team and organizational strengths and weaknesses to endure minimal upheaval during the implementation of change.

Conflict Management

Conflicts occur in several different forms. The most frequently-occurring and volatile is interpersonal conflict. Interpersonal conflicts are typical since people have different personalities, opinions, and emotional dispositions. However, interpersonal conflicts can quickly get out of hand and go as far as disrupting the normal functions of an organization. Leaders in the healthcare system should have a working set of strategies to deal with conflict. Also, employees should have a plan to fall back to, to handle effective conflict resolution. Conflict resolution skills, especially in highly interactive careers like nursing, should be part of on-the-job skills every employee should acquire (Institute of Medicine, 2014). It is the responsibility of leaders to ensure that conflicts are handled amicably with as little distraction as possible to normal workplace functions.

Leading Teams

The mental and emotional wellbeing is directly linked to the effectiveness of the team to perform their duties and the quality of care their patients receive. Leading teams requires a thorough understanding of team dynamics and the strengths and weaknesses of each member. An effective leader, therefore, considers all aspects of a person’s life, not just those connected to work. Empathy and compassion are an integral part of leading a team. Also, the leader needs to find a way to link the individual life and career goals to the goals of the organization to ensure loyalty and satisfaction. A team leader should also recognize each team member’s effort and reward them in the most motivational way for the member (Institute of Medicine, 2014). Motivation is a critical aspect of performance and job satisfaction, and a leader should always have it in mind.

Transformational Leadership

Transformational leadership is one of the most effective forms of leadership in healthcare. According to Evelyn, many leaders in healthcare are adopting transformational leadership to revolutionize healthcare and careers within. Transformational leadership effects change in both the organization and the employees to the extent that the whole organization operates symbiotically with everyone benefiting from it. Effective leaders achieve this by motivating their teams to aspire to higher values and goals, which go beyond themselves and into the greater good of all concerned. Transformational leadership is also highly effective in the dynamic and volatile environment of the healthcare system (Hutchinson & Jackson, 2012). Leaders who embrace this leadership style have teams that are also highly adaptable to change and find niches of growth in every opportunity they encounter.

Conclusion

Evelyn Jones is an inspirational leader with deep insight borne of experience in healthcare management. In her opinion, an effective leader is not only concerned about organizational goals. They recognize that the career growth and satisfaction of each member are essential to their performance. Empathy and compassion should, therefore, be at the center of leadership. Each member of a team adds to the team’s dynamics, which a leader may use to effectively grow that team and guide it to achieving personal and organizational goals. Change and conflict management are essential in the effective management of a team. As both are inevitable, a leader should have strategies in place to ensure smooth adaptability to change and sufficient resolution of arising conflicts.

References

Thomas, T.W., Seifert, P.C., Joyner, J.C., (September 30, 2016) “Registered Nurses Leading Innovative Changes” OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing Vol. 21, No. 3, Manuscript 3.s

Kozub, E., Brown, L., & Ecoff, L. (2016). Strategies for Success: Cultivating Emotional Competence in the Clinical Nurse Specialist Role. AACN Advanced Critical Care, 27(2), 145–151. doi: 10.4037/aacnacc2016771

Paal, P., Neenan, K., Muldowney, Y., Brady, V., & Timmins, F. (2018). Spiritual leadership as an emergent solution to transform the healthcare workplace. Journal of Nursing Management, 26(4), 335–337. doi: 10.1111/jonm.12637

Stanley, D. (2017). Managing Change. Clinical Leadership in Nursing and Healthcare, 125–147. doi: 10.1002/9781119253785.ch7

Committee on the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Initiative on the Future of Nursing, at the Institute of Medicine, & Institute of Medicine. (2014). The future of nursing: Leading change, advancing health. Washington, D.C National Academies Press.

Hutchinson, M., & Jackson, D. (2012). Transformational leadership in nursing: towards a more critical interpretation. Nursing Inquiry, 20(1), 11–22. doi: 10.1111/nin.12006