12 Characteristics of Leaders

Identify examples of Nursing Role Activities for each of the following 12 Characteristics of Leaders:

1. Leadership requires personal mastery - Nurses demonstrate leadership when they show competence and mastery in the tasks they perform. Nurses are deemed competent by means of a license to practice nursing.
2. Leadership is about values - A nurse needs to have high standards of behavior when dealing with patients and coworkers. Patient satisfaction is a way that nurse's can be held accountable and employers can ensure their nurses are acting according to the values of the company.
3. Leadership is about service - Service is a key aspect of nursing. Nurses are important leaders in the community of ensuring that the community is educated and has the resources available to them for proper health.
4. Leadership is about people and relationships - Nurses deal with people no matter the department or area in which the nurse works. Nurses can be leaders within the area they work with respect to their professional relationships with coworkers and with their patients.
5. Leadership is contextual - Nurses can be leaders depending on the context. They may not have leadership position amongst their superiors in the sense that they get rid of weaknesses in the company, but they could be leaders in the aspect of influencing attitudes.
6. Leadership is about the management of meaning - While I have no idea what this means. It may possibly refer to the fact that the nurse leader should know the roles of others.
7. Leadership is about balance - An effective nurse demonstrates the "balance" aspect of leadership by maintaining balance in her own life to ensure she is ready to give the best care to her patients.
8. Leadership is about continuous learning and improvement - Nurses have many opportunities for learning and growth within the nursing field. Leaders seize opportunities to learn more.
9. Leadership is about effective decision making - Nurses demonstrate the leadership skill of effective decision-making when they start their shift and prioritize which patient needs to be seen first and which tasks need to be completed the soonest.
10. Leadership is a political process - An effective leader is one that can gain favor with their people they lead, and this goes for nurses with respect to their coworkers and patients.
11. Leadership is about modeling - Nurses display modeling when they show their patients how to perform tasks and when they themselves are living the principles they are teaching.
12. Leadership is about integrity - Nurses display integrity when they chart that they performed a certain intervention, when they chart that they checked on a patient, when they report any issues with the patient that need to be reported, and so on.