Nurse Leadership

I have just come to the end of teaching an online class on nurse leadership, it is a class I have done a few times now and its good to deal with a familiar syllabus and understand upcoming assignments better.  The course content has stirred in my thoughts about nurse leadership and a discussion with students that is new and energizing.

I look back at the nurse leaders I have been fortunate enough to work with and I learned something from all of them, the good ones as well as the bad!  I have had leaders who have had a transformational democratic style and those who were undoubtedly autocratic dictators!!  I remember one of my first student nurse clinical experiences on a surgical unit in a small mining town in Northern England.  The matron on the floor had trained in the military..enough said, you could eat off her floors.  She ran her floor like a D Day reenactment!  It was intimidating, we asked very few questions but somehow learning took place and the patients were cared for beautifully.  I do not remember one post op surgical infection, no-one went a day and a half without pooping! and those beds were made with crisp sharp angles on the corners!  But I also took from that experience I did not want to be an intimidating leader, I wanted relationship, to be a mentor, more of a coach and that is what I have based my hands on and teaching career on in nursing.  I also remember my first job as a graduate nurse on a busy Neuro Ward in Oxford, England.  The matron had an open door policy, wanted to know all her staff and their husbands, wives and children.  We socialized outside of work, it felt like family, community.  It was a gift as a new nurse to be able to make mistakes in a safe and supported place, I learned so much and still think back on that time with fondness.

The syllabus for this leadership class also presents the students with a survey of how politically savvy are they.  Very valuable tool, are they connected to the staff as a community or do they operate in an isolated way?  Is their voice influential and is their leadership style appropriate for the environment or do they need to consider changing it?   This survey led to much class room discussion on who we are, why we are the way we are, and what is the cost benefit/loss of all of it.  To be influential, powerful and effective as a leader I do not think you have to have the loudest voice, strongest personality or the most letters after your name, although I do think education gives you greater credibility.  But I do think you must be authentic, have incredibly high standards of nursing care, treat patients, colleagues of every color, rank and skill with respect and keep working on growing professionally and personally.