Nursing Leadership Philosophy

George Hiuhu

Delaware Technical Community College

Nursing Leadership Philosophy

The primary focus of the transformational leadership theory is on nursing leaders creating

not only positive but also valuation challenges in their followers and subordinates towards the

realization of the set organizational goals. According to Damirch, Rahimi, and Seyyedi (2011),

the renowned James MacGregor Burns developed this model when studying political leaders;

however, its positive impact traversed other areas including organizations in various sectors. In

my case, the relevance of the transformational leadership theory is attributed to its creation of a

high-performing, committed workforce when applied in healthcare organizations. In hospitals

and other care providing organizations, transformational leadership can be executed at any level

of the organizational structure such as employee teams, divisions, departments, or even at the top

management (Choi, Goh, Adam, & Tan, 2016). Fundamentally, this theory enhances not only the

motivation but also the performance and morale of professional followers through a myriad of

mechanisms. Through continuous learning and experience using this theory, these mechanisms

range from acting as a role model to followers through inspiration, understanding both their
strengths and weaknesses and most importantly, challenging their capabilities for continuous

quality improvement.

This leadership model is critical to fostering my future roles as a nurse leader, who is

focused on becoming an expert manager to champion the welfare of the profession. I plan to

continually learn by acquiring a master’s degree education in nursing administration and

leadership with the aim of positively impacting the profession from the executive level.

According to the Institute of Medicine (IOM) (2011), nurses should practice by maximizing their

fullest potential of both their training and education. By acquiring a master’s degree education

and beyond, I will widen my leadership capabilities and knowledge to apply the transformational

leadership theory. Through formal education, I will learn all aspects of this theory before

applying it in my practice as a nurse leader to influence my followers towards the achievement of

organizational goals and objectives.

My goal of working with teams as a leader through the adoption of strategies that foster

positive change is in line with the transformational leadership theory. According to Denker

(2014), this theory is instrumental in helping nurses to apply transformative approaches through

the creation of significant changes both in the lives of their followers and workplaces. Further,

nursing leaders with authentic transformational leadership style allow for the recognition of the

change in addition to guiding it by inspiring and motivating their followers. As a nurse leader,

the application of this theory will enable my team to develop and commit to collective goals of

providing quality, safe care.

Moreover, I intend to not only polish my clinical skills but also attain high-efficiency

levels as a nurse leader in achieving organizational goals while empowering my followers

through the application of the transformational leadership theory. Usually, nursing professionals
receive a promotion to leadership positions in their places of work due to their high levels of

proficiency in technical skills rather than their abilities and skills as leaders (Denker, 2014).

Contrarily, healthcare organizations are committed to recruiting and retaining leaders who can

influence employees towards a common goal rather than only possessing technical skills in

clinical settings. Through experience and continuous learning, I will fill this gap by possessing

both clinical and leadership skills through the application of the transformational leadership

theory to achieve common organizational goals. This leadership model will have an enormous

impact on my desire of attaining my professional growth and the career development of my

followers.

I will use this theory in many ways through the application of its four major domains that

include idealized influence, intellectual stimulation, inspirational motivation, and most

importantly, individualized consideration. By applying the domain of individualized

consideration, I will appreciate the self-interests and needs of nurses, which should be addressed

with followers being rewarded for their innovation and creativity (Damirch et al., 2011). By

applying this leadership theory, I will listen to all nurses' needs and concerns in addition to

giving them the opportunity to contribute to the process of making decisions. Further, I will use

the concept of intellectual stimulation to challenge my followers' assumptions and the

organizational status quo with the aim of fostering transformative change (Fischer, 2016). As a

result, nurses and other professionals in the healthcare organization will be open-minded through

the adoption of innovative and creative strategies for achieving the set goals.

Additionally, I will hold the philosophy of displaying self-behaviors and commitment as

a role model to inspire my followers to follow suit. Through idealized influence, leaders who

uphold the transformational theory act as role models by behaving in a manner that all their
followers can emulate to achieve organizational goals and objectives (Doody & Doody, 2012).

As a nurse leader, I will be communicative, interactive, open-minded, and committed to the

delivery of quality, safe care through the efforts of my team of professionals. I believe that these

practices will be mimicked and practiced by other employees in the workplace (Choi et al.,

2016). Through, inspirational motivation, I will also promote the organizational vision, mission,

and values, to my team members; in this case, charisma will be the center of focus. Basically,

effective communication skills, some of which I will continually learn through both formal and

informal education, such as listening and articulating issues to foster optimism and challenging

workers to outdo their past through innovation, will be of great significance.

Overall, my leadership philosophy entails working with team members to achieve

common organizational goals of delivering quality, safe care among others. As such, I will be

compelled to engage in continuous learning with the aim of acquiring and polishing my skills

through the application of the transformational leadership theory. I will not only learn the

domains of this model but also apply them in daily practice to empower my followers as well as

challenge them to remain innovative as a quality improvement strategy.

 References

Choi, S. L., Goh, C. F., Adam, M. B. H., & Tan, O. K. (2016). Transformational leadership,

empowerment, and job satisfaction: the mediating role of employee empowerment. Human

Resources for Health, 14, 73.

Damirch, Q. V., Rahimi, G., & Seyyedi, M. H. (2011). Transformational leadership style and innovative

behavior on innovative climate at SMEs in Iran'. Kuwait Chapter of Arabian Journal of Business

and Management Review, 1(4), 119-127.

Denker, A. G. (2014). Transformational leadership in nursing: A pilot nurse leader development

program. Bellarmine University. Retrieved from http://scholarworks.bellarmine.edu/tdc/6/

Doody, O., & Doody, C. M. (2012). Transformational leadership in nursing practice. British Journal of

Nursing, 21(20), 1212-1218.

Fischer, S. A. (2016). Transformational leadership in nursing: a concept analysis. Journal of advanced

nursing, 72(11), 2644-2653.

Institute of Medicine (2011). Future of nursing: Leading change, advancing health. Washington,
DC: The National Academies Press.