Page 17 - Essentials of Nursing Leadership and Management, 5th Edition

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Nurses work with an extraordinary variety of people: paying attention to that,” the nurse manager told
physicians, respiratory therapists, physical therapists, her. “I’m so glad you brought it to my attention.”
social workers, psychologists, technicians, aides, unit Billie’s nurse manager raised the issue at the next
managers,housekeepers,clients,and clients’families. executive meeting, giving credit to Billie for having
The reason why nurses study leadership is to brought it to her attention. The other nurse man-
learn how to work well, or effectively, with other agers had the same response. “We were so focused on
people. In this chapter, leadership and followership the new record system that we overlooked that. We
and the relationships between them are defined. need to take care of this situation as soon as possible.
The characteristics and behaviors that can make Billie Blair Thomas has leadership potential.”
you, a new nurse, an effective leader and follower
are discussed. Leadership Defined
Leadership is a much broader concept than is man-
agement. Although managers should also be lead-
Leadership
ers, management is focused on the achievement of
Are You Ready to Be a Leader? organizational goals. Leadership, on the other hand:
You may be thinking,“I’m just beginning my career ...occurs whenever one person attempts to influence
in nursing. How can I be expected to be a leader the behavior of an individual or group—up, down,
now?”This is an important question. You will need or sideways in the organization—regardless of the
time to refine your clinical skills and learn how to reason. It may be for personal goals or for the goals
function in a new environment. But you can begin of others, and these goals may or may not be congru-
to assume some leadership right away within your ent with organizational goals. Leadership is influ-
new nursing roles. Consider the following example: ence (Hersey & Campbell, 2004, p. 12)

Billie Blair Thomas was a new staff nurse at Green In order to lead, one must develop three important
Valley Nursing Care Center. After orientation, she competencies: (1) ability to diagnose or understand
was assigned to a rehabilitation unit with high the situation you want to influence, (2) adaptation
admission and discharge rates. Billie noticed that in order to allow your behaviors and other resources
admissions and discharges were assigned rather hap- to close the gap between the current situation and
hazardly. Anyone who was “free” at the moment was what you are hoping to achieve, and (3) communi-
directed to handle them. Sometimes, unlicensed assis- cation. No matter how much you diagnose or
tant personnel were directed to admit or discharge adapt, if you cannot communicate effectively, you
residents. Billie believed that using them was inap- will probably not meet your goal (Hersey &
propriate because their assessment skills were limited Campbell, 2004).
and they had no training in discharge planning. Effective nurse leaders are those who engage
Billie thought there was a better way to do this others to work together effectively in pursuit of a
but was not sure that she should say so because she shared goal. Examples of shared goals are pro-
was so new. “Maybe they’ve already thought of viding excellent client care, designing a cost-
this,” she said to a former classmate. “It’s such an saving procedure, and challenging the ethics of a
obvious solution.” They began to talk about what new policy.
they had learned in their leadership course before
graduation. “I just keep hearing our instructor say- Followership
ing, ‘There’s only one manager, but anyone can be a
leader of our group.” Followership and leadership are separate but recip-
“If you want to be a leader, you have to act on rocal roles. Without followers, one cannot be a
your idea,” her friend said. leader; conversely, one cannot be a follower without
“Maybe I will,” Billie replied. a leader (Lyons, 2002).
Billie decided to speak with her nurse manager, Being an effective follower is as important to the
an experienced rehabilitation nurse who seemed new nurse as is being an effective leader. In fact,
not only approachable but also open to new ideas. most of the time most of us are followers: members
“I have been so busy getting our new record system of a team, attendees at a meeting, staff of a nursing
on line before the surveyors come that I wasn’t care unit, and so forth.