Introduction
The pivotal task of a nursing leader is to build a sustainable environment for high-quality healthcare services. Through continuous self-assessment and enhancement, it is possible to maintain this context effective in meeting patients’ expectations (Porter-O’Grady & Malloch, 2015). The behavior in which I am most competent is celebrating failures, as shown by my experience as a leader. The situations when my projects failed occurred several times, and I understood that I can improve on them. For example, when I tried to implement the transformational model of leadership in communicating with the team members, it turned out that they were not ready to suggest ideas and take action. Instead, it would be better if I organized the meeting and revealed their opinions, thus selecting a more appropriate style of managing the existing issues.
My least effective competence is leaning on risk as I am often uncertain in situations that require change. As stated by Gaiter (2013), courageous leaders should take risks and be able to anticipate the consequences. For example, when one of the patients was concerned about insufficient attention from nurses, it was rather difficult for me to introduce change in the field of relationship building. Namely, I was stuck on selecting change methods and how they will affect the overall attitude of nurses towards patients and vice versa. Even when similar cases of ignorance and misunderstanding were reported by other patients, I decided to start changes. It would act differently by asking both patients and nurses to provide details regarding their communications. I would ask them about possible improvements, integrate the received information, and adjust the guidelines to satisfy the patients’ needs in such a way that would also be comfortable for nurses.
Responses to Peers’ Posts
Peer Response 1 (Barry Lucas)
Barry, you prepared a rather detailed post on the concept of a courageous leader, and I gather that your understanding is based on your own experience. I agree with your argument that leaders should learn from their strengths, while their failures should be perceived as challenges to be overcome. It is important to note that you are honest and open in your post, which shows your readiness to share your thoughts and engage in a constructive dialogue. Even though you had many failures, it is evident that you strive to grow professionally. Your post raised the question of how to promote moral courage in undergraduate students. Bickhoff, Sinclair, and Levett-Jones (2017) state that the key reasons that prevent students from the active position of moral leaders are the fear of consequences, patient advocate identity, the belief that they are just students, and mentor-student relationships. In this regard, I consider it critical to identify the ways the mentioned factors may be addressed at the undergraduate level.
Peer Response 2 (LaToya Bond)
LaToya, your post is representative of how a nursing student may learn from his or her mistakes. You were given a difficult task without guidance, but you were competent enough to understand your mistakes and improve the vaccination program. Indeed, nursing leadership has many challenges that require attention, patience, and courage to resolve. Consistent with Wolf, Stidham, and Ross (2015), I believe that students should receive support from teachers and peers, which will enhance their self-esteem and positively impact their ability to handle complicated situations in a creative manner. In this connection, I have some questions associated with the above assumption: how to ensure that graduate nursing students have enough assistance from educators and peers and whether this support is critical for leaders?
References
Bickhoff, L., Sinclair, P. M., & Levett-Jones, T. (2017). Moral courage in undergraduate nursing students: A literature review. Collegian, 24(1), 71-83.
Gaiter, D. J. (2013). Facets of leadership. The Neurodiagnostic Journal, 53(4), 323-327.
Porter-O’Grady, T., & Malloch, K. (2015). Quantum leadership: Building better partnerships for sustainable health (4th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Publishers.
Wolf, L., Stidham, A. W., & Ross, R. (2015). Predictors of stress and coping strategies of US accelerated vs. generic baccalaureate nursing students: An embedded mixed methods study. Nurse Education Today, 35(1), 201-205.