Leadership Style

Leadership Style

            Leadership is a broad discipline that is based on the study of an individual’s or organization’s ability to lead other individuals or organizations. Leadership is rated according to the successful or unsuccessful application of leadership styles. A leadership style is a method that a leader employs to provide direction, implement plans, or motivate subjects. Several leadership styles exist, which include transformational, transactional, laissez-faire, and paternalistic. The choice of a leadership style could be deliberate as a consequence of the circumstances surrounding a particular organization. The transformational leadership style involves a leader deciding to rule by aiming to transform his or her followers. In using the transformational leadership style, a leader is not limited by the followers’ perception. The transformational leadership style is the best to apply and can be easily incorporated into the nursing field.

Transformational leadership requires an effective leader. According to Larson (2015), an effective leader should have a passion for a cause larger than they are. Also, the leader should hold life-giving values, be visionary, creative, and a holder of intellectual drive and knowledge. Also, a leader should be confident, a communicator, planner, and an individual with interpersonal and business skills. Generally, an effective leader is one with a purpose and possessing the relevant skills to put the purpose into action. The assessment of transformational leadership proves that it is indeed a perfect style to apply.

The evaluation is done according to the four elements of transformational leadership. Idealized influence involves leaders who act as role models to the subjects and scored 14 out of the 53 scores. The leaders with idealized influence act by winning trust from other people and motivating transformation in the process. Also, transformational leadership involves inspirational motivation where the leader inspires his or her subjects to commit to upholding the vision of the organization. Inspirational motivation scored 15. The inspiration motivates individuals into aiming to reach greater heights of success in a bid to uphold the vision of the organization. The other area of assessment is the intellectual stimulation where the leader challenges common beliefs in a group to inspire innovation and contributed 12 scores.  The last assessment criterion for transformational leadership is personal consideration where the leaders act as coaches or trainers to their subjects and contributed 12 scores. In general, the transformational leadership style scored 53 out of the possible 80 marks.

Transformational leadership is critical in the health care field. According to Nielsen (2015), there exists an important relationship between transformational leadership and the well-being of employees. Nursing as a practice under the health sector has leadership responsibilities accompanied by it. The Canadian Nurses Association argues that nursing leadership is about critical thinking, action, and advocacy. In support of transformational leadership, nurses should understand that leadership is about sharing of responsibilities and helping each other to achieve a common goal. However, to understand the idea behind transformational leadership, it is important to appreciate the extraordinary efforts of followers who tend to be forgotten in most cases (Gellis, 2016). Nursing leaders should effectively elevate the followers needs high to win the required transformation of the whole organization. The motivation of every nurse leader should be towards the transformation of the nursing sector. A graduate practical nurse is an immediate beneficiary of transformational leadership since at the initial stages of the career; there is a need to get a proper induction. The transition from college to the hospital requires an effective induction process and is an opportunity for a transformational leader to try the performance of their strategy. Instilling the leadership qualities to the young nurses to ensure continuity in the leadership trend is important. The transformational nursing leaders should aim at changing the existing beliefs concerning young nurses. Also, the existing nurses should be willing to get new ideas from the nurses who are just from the colleges since the knowledge is still fresh in the young nurses’ minds. The success of transformational leadership will depend on the willingness of young nurses to learn as well as the old nurses to learn new ideas and use their experience to encourage innovation.

Transformational leadership can be seen as the most selfless leadership style. The transformational leaders are only interested in transforming their organizations by transforming their followers. The success of transformational leadership depends on the followers’ willingness to be transformed. Transformation is based on the leaders’ ability to win the trust of the followers and fellow leaders.  Followers’ perceptions do not limit the leader in the transformation attempt. A transformational leader only tries to convince the followers into believing the leader’s cause. Transformation leadership can also be effectively integrated into the nursing sector. A graduate practical nurse, for example, requires a gradual transition process from being a student into being a nurse. The idea of transformational leadership in the nursing sector should be based on critical thinking, action, and advocacy. Finally, transitional leadership should aim at changing the existing beliefs in the nursing sector and attempt to transform the followers in the sector.