Leadership for Change
To Prepare:
Review the Learning Resources for this week, and reflect on potential leadership strategies for promoting change in healthcare organizations and nursing practice.
Consider the potential impact of project management for supporting transformational leadership approaches for promoting change in organizations.
Reflect on the relationship between transformational change, leadership strategies, and the need for quality improvement in your healthcare organization or nursing practice.
Post a brief explanation of the relationship between transformational leadership for change and the need for quality improvement. Share any experiences you may have of transformational leadership in your healthcare organization or nursing practice. Then, describe how you would recommend the application of project management approaches to support transformational leadership practices for the promotion of a quality improvement initiative in your healthcare organization or nursing practice. Be sure to include any short- and long-term milestones or goals associated with the quality improvement initiative described. Be specific and provide examples.
Leadership for Change
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Leadership for Change
Introduction
It is increasingly apparent that health care professionals need to demonstrate effective leadership qualities beyond the ones needed just to treat patients. Leadership may be described as the behavior of people when directing the activities of a group towards shared goals (Fletcher et al., 2019). Leadership is dynamic and can change from one time to another depending on the needs and goals of an organization. This paper discusses leadership in health care to improve students’ understanding.
There are several leadership strategies a leader can employ to promote change in healthcare organizations and nursing practice. For instance, a good leader should sustain employee engagement in times of change. A leader improves communication and focuses on stress management, recognition, and promotion of opportunities, which are known engagement drivers of executive actions (Pasian, 2015). Another strategy is leading with care by recognizing the needs and behaviors of every team member and encouraging mutual support for each other. others include sharing the vision and inspiring shared purpose.
Project management, in one way or the other, promotes transformational leadership. Project management is the application of processes, methods, skills, and knowledge, and experiences to achieve job goals (Institute, 2019). Common attributes of transformational leadership such as effective communication, inspiration and motivation, idealized influence, intellectual stimulation, and others. In project management, a leader should have very high standards of moral and ethical conduct, otherwise, the project will not be successful (Pasian, 2015). In project management, leaders support and collaborate with members as they try new approaches and innovations. These attributes are also applied in transformational leadership.
Transformational change, leadership strategies, and the need for quality improvement in the healthcare organization or nursing practice are related in one way or the other. Transformational leaders apply specific leadership strategies to introduce organizational changes leading to quality improvement in nursing practice (Fletcher et al., 2019). They can motivate the team and also foster an ethical work environment with clear values, priorities, and standards. Such activities have a positive impact on the quality of nursing care. Transformational leadership for change has supported the need for quality improvement in any organization (Fletcher et al., 2019). Transformational leadership encourages shared decision-making, collaboration, and shared vision or goals, which is essential to support the need for quality improvement.
In my organization, the nurse manager is a transformational leader. He creates a climate where employees have a greater commitment to their organizations and higher levels of morale. He sets clear goals, high expectations, and provides support and recognition. With his transformational leadership strategy, employees have gained job satisfaction and work performance. Project management and transformational leadership are supportive of each other (Institute, 2019). The project manager should learn about different project management approaches that support transformational leadership attributes. For example, Agile is a project management process that involves the collaborative efforts of all members.
Having long-term and short-term goals can promote the implementation of a quality improvement initiative. For example, when implementing a quality improvement initiative that would prevent medication short-term goals may include reduced cases of a medication error, reduced length of hospital stay, and reduced associated adverse events (Ebrahimi et al., 2021). long term goals would include improved patient satisfaction, and decreased incident rates to below 2%.
Conclusion
Leadership is dynamic and may change from one time to another. Transformational leadership is one of the best leadership styles in healthcare. Common attributes of transformational leadership include effective communication, inspiration and motivation, idealized influence, intellectual stimulation, and others. With a transformational leadership strategy, employees can gain job satisfaction and work performance.
Reference
Ebrahimi, S., Tabei, S. Z., Kalantari, F., & Ebrahimi, A. (2021). Medical Interns’ Perceptions about Disclosing Medical Errors. Education Research International, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1155/2021/1102135
Fletcher, K. A., Friedman, A., & Piedimonte, G. (2019). Transformational and transactional leadership in healthcare seen through the lens of pediatrics. The Journal of pediatrics, 204, 7-9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpeds.2018.10.007
Institute, P. M. (2019). A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK(R) Guide-Sixth Edition. Project Management Institute.
Pasian, B. (2015). Designs, methods and practices for research of project management. Gower.