What is your leadership style?

Leadership styles are defined as different combinations of task and relationship behaviors used to influence others to accomplish goals.  The two major leadership terms are task behavior and relationship behavior.   In order to be successful, leaders need to be concerned about both tasks and human relationships in groups and organizations. 

Task Behavior: The extent to which leaders organize and define roles, explain activities, determine when, where, and how tasks are to be accomplished, and endeavor to get work accomplished. 

Relationship Behavior: The extent to which leaders maintain personal relationships by opening communication and providing psychoemotional support and facilitating behaviors.

Different styles of leadership influence people uniquely. 

Authoritarian: This style of leadership uses primarily directive behaviors and emphasizes concern for tasks.  All decisions and policies are made solely by the leader who tends to dictate tasks and techniques to followers. 

Democratic: This style utilizes relationship and person orientation and relies on group discussion for decision making.  Human relationships and teamwork are the focus. 

Laissez-Faire: This style promotes complete freedom for group or individual decisions.  There is minimal leader participation. 

Perform the assessment below to see what leadership style you use?

　

Directions:

1. For each of the statements below, circle the number that indicates the degree to which you agree or disagree.

2. Give your immediate impressions. There are no right or wrong answers.

Statements	Strongly disagree	Disagree	Neutral	Agree	Strongly agree
1. Employees need to be supervised closely, or they are not likely to do their work.	1	2	3	4	5
2. Employees want to be a part of the decision-making process.	1	2	3	4	5
3. In complex situations, leaders should let subordinates work problems out on their own.	1	2	3	4	5
4. It is fair to say that most employees in the general population are lazy.	1	2	3	4	5
5. Providing guidance without pressure is the key to being a good leader.	1	2	3	4	5
6. Leadership requires staying out of the way of subordinates as they do their work.	1	2	3	4	5
7. As a rule, employees must be given rewards or punishments in order to motivate them to achieve organizational objectives.	1	2	3	4	5
8. Most workers want frequent and supportive communication from their leaders.	1	2	3	4	5
9. As a rule, leaders should allow subordinates to appraise their own work.	1	2	3	4	5
10. Most employees feel insecure about their work and need direction.	1	2	3	4	5
11. Leaders need to help subordinates accept responsibility for completing their work.	1	2	3	4	5
12. Leaders should give subordinates complete freedom to solve problems on their own.	1	2	3	4	5
13. The leader is the chief judge of the achievements of the members of the group.	1	2	3	4	5

Statements	Strongly disagree	Disagree	Neutral	Agree	Strongly agree
14. It is the leader’s job to help subordinates find their "passion."	1	2	3	4	5
15. In most situations, workers prefer little input from the leader.	1	2	3	4	5
16. Effective leaders give orders and clarify procedures.	1	2	3	4	5
17. People are basically competent and if given a task will do a good job.	1	2	3	4	5
18. In general, it is best to leave subordinates alone.	1	2	3	4	5

Scoring:

1. Sum the responses on items 1, 4, 7, 10, 13, and 16 (authoritarian leadership).
2. Sum the responses on items 2, 5, 8, 11, 14, and 17 (democratic leadership).
3. Sum the responses on items 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, and 18 (laissez-faire leadership).

If your score is 26-30, are are in the very high range.
If your score is 21-25, you are in the high range.
If your score is 16-20, you are in the moderate range.
If your score is 11-15, you are in the low range.
If your score is 6-10, you are in the very low range.

I consider my leadership style to be democratic.  I like to hear others opinions, suggestions, and thoughts before making a final decisions.  It enables me to gain unique insight and adjust my decisions to fulfill the needs of the majority.  I think when this style is used, the majority of people are happy with the decision, because they were involved.  Those who do not agree, may still accept the decision that was made because they were still allowed to share their opinions. 

Top Issues For Staff Nurses: What The New Generation of Nurses Can do About It

Below is an excerpt that I found on the American Nurses Association (ANA) website discussing the top three issues in hospital-based nursing.  After each section, I will discuss why I think this is an issue, an example, and suggestions about how we, the next generation of nurses, can improve the current nursing issues.  (My responses will be color coded similar to the above text)

Safe Staffing Levels:

 For the practicing RN, staffing is an issue of both professional and personal concern. Inappropriate staffing levels can not only threaten patient health and safety, and lead to greater complexity of care, but also impact on RNs’ health and safety by increasing nurse pressure, fatigue, injury rate, and ability to provide safe care.

ANA has worked continuously to ensure that safe staffing levels are recognized and implemented through surveys, research, data collection, and legislative means, and other activities.

Nursing shortage is a problem everywhere, and is only expected to become worse as many of the boomer nurses pursue retirement.  Hospitals are constantly fighting in the battle of budget versus adequate staffing.  With changes in insurance reimbursement, this battle will undoubtedly continue.  There is also an inadequate number of nurse educators, therefore schools can only accept small groups of nursing students into each class. 

I have two jobs; both in health care.  One job is at a clinic and one at a hospital.  At both jobs, I see the nursing shortage, firsthand.  At the clinic, the nurses are constantly multi-tasking and are forced work long hours in order to complete their work.  At the hospital, nurses are asked on a daily basis if they can stay to work a double because they are short. 

Improving the nursing education in a way that would allow more students to graduate and get in the work force would benefit the nursing shortage immensely.  Hospitals could hire more casual/per diem workers to cover shifts when they are short-staffed.  Putting a scheduling cap on nurses hours would force the hospital to hire more nurses.  The hospital would not have to pay time and a half for all of the overtime that is disbursed, and could use that money to pay new nurses to cover the need.   

Mandatory Overtime:

Staff nurses across the nation are reporting a dramatic increase in the use of mandatory overtime as a staffing tool. This dangerous staffing practice, in part due to a nursing shortage, is having a negative impact on patient care, fostering medical errors, and driving nurses away from the bedside.

ANA really understands the root cause of this issue; the nursing shortage.  There is no other reason that overtime would be mandatory, especially being that it negatively contributes to patient safety and medical errors.   

At the clinic I work for, there is no policy that mandates overtime; however, when clinic runs late the nurse really is forced to stay past her scheduled time.  The hospital that I work for does not practice mandatory overtime. 

My solution is to educate more nurses, get them into the work force, and hire them to fill the nursing needs.  Legislature should also get involved in solving this issue.  The risk of medical errors and unsafe care is worth fighting for. 

Safety on the Job:

Staff nurses work hard on the job, but they shouldn’t have to risk their health to do so. ANA is always working on ways to keep you and your workplace safe.

·         Safe Patient Handling - Back injuries are always a danger, so ANA mounted a profession-wide effort to reduce them. This campaign includes greater education and training, workplace information on increased use of assistive equipment, and efforts to reshape government ergonomics policies to protect nurses.

·         Safe Needles -  Safer needle devices and procedures will keep you safer, and ANA has information on this important program through our Safe Needles Save Lives campaign.

·         Preventing Workplace Violence - No staff nurse should have to deal with violence in the workplace, whether from staff, patients or visitors. See our information on ways to help your employer prevent this. Replacing Hazardous Products - Hazardous chemicals, toxins, and dangerous waste products may be a part of the workplace, but there are ways to reduce and replace them. ANA's environmental health campaign has collected information and procedures to protect your environment.

·         Preventing Influenza - Influenza no doubt impacts your workplace, but there are ways to learn about it and prevent it. ANA's Influenza Initiative gives you the information you and your patients need.

There is always a risk that a nurse may be exposed to something unintentionally at the workplace; however, we take many actions to prevent such things from occurring.  By using proper PPE and precaution, we are not only keeping ourselves safe, but we are also doing it to keep our other patients safe. 

The hospital I work for utilizes bright signs to caution staff of patients’ precaution status and uses reminders to wash hands and cover coughs.  On the oncology unit, we take special precaution by using special gowns and gloves while disposing of patients bodily fluids when they are receiving chemotherapy, also while handling hazardous drugs. 

Proper training and continuous education is key to solving this problem.  It may be beneficial to have annual skill fairs to test nurses’ knowledge and capability to use safety equipment. 

American Nurses Association. (2013). Top issues for staff nurses. Retrieved from http://www.nursingworld.org/EspeciallyForYou/Staff-Nurses/staffnurses

Stress Management: Nurses Must Take Care of Themselves in Order to Take Good Care of Their Patients

About Stress

Stress is defined as a physical, mental, psychological, or spiritual response to a stressor.  A stressor is an experience in a person-environment relationship that is evaluated by a person as taxing or exceeding resources and threatening the sense of well-being.   The way people handle stress varies significantly. 

Physical Effects of Stress

Selye’s (1965) General Stress Theory describes the physiological effects of stress as a group of symptoms, or syndrome, which result in a fight-or-flight response.

The diagram below shows the body’s initial physiological reaction to stress. 

 

Prolonged stress causes symptoms such as:

·         Headache

·         Muscle tension or pain

·         Chest pain

·         Fatigue

·         Change in sex drive

·         Stomach upset

·         Anxiety

·         Restlessness

·         Lack of motivation or focus

·         Irritability

·         Sadness or depression

Prolonged stress=BURNOUT

Because nurses are already at high risk for burnout, it is essential for us to take care of ourselves and effectively cope with stress.    

Practical Tips to Reduce Stress

At work:

·         Assess Use of Time: Start with an honest assessment of what you do with your time for 1 workday and 1 non-workday.  You don’t have to reveal this to anyone but yourself, but do it. 

·         Analyze Stressors: Choose 1 day this week to sit down with a piece of paper(can be with your computer or laptop) and make two columns.  In the first column, list all the things that cause your stress.  It is okay to start with “Not enough time for…”.  Do this column first.  In the second column, list actions you might take to alleviate the stressors.

·         Make a Change: Analyze your reflections after looking at the results from tips 1 and 2.  Chose one thing and make a change that will reduce the time spent and ease some of the stress. 

At home:

• Remain phsyically active
• Get adequate sleep
• Eat well-balanced meals
• Meditate
• Do things you enjoy

Huber, D. (2010). Leadership and nursing care management (4th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Saunders Elsevier

Mayo Clinic. (2013). Stress symptoms: Effects on your body, feelings, and behavior. Retrieved from
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/stress-symptoms/SR00008_D