Personal Nursing Leadership Philosophy Paper (CSLO 1)
A personal leadership philosophy is important because it will help you clearly understand who you are as a leader, what drives you, and why you behave in certain ways. It can help you develop into the type of leader you want to be and reach your personal and professional goals.
Some of you may already have a personal leadership philosophy. Some may have never taken the time to really sit down and think about it. This assignment is designed to help you fashion and write out your own leadership philosophy, which will provide clarity and objectivity and make you self-reflect.
Directives:
1. Provide a clear description of the basic principles that guide you in your life and leadership. These are principles upon which your actions, decisions, and responses are based: values, beliefs, and guiding principles.
2. Address how you relate to others and react in certain situations. How do you influence people? How do you react to people? How do you react to situations?
3. Describe the desired results or outcomes you are striving for as a leader. What do you, as a leader, hope to accomplish throughout your career as a result of your leadership? What drives your leadership activities? What is your personal mission for your career?
4. Provide your definition of leadership. How do you envision your leadership style, your method of operation? Not necessarily what it is right now. This should be a description of the process and approach that you would like to be using consistently, based upon your principles, to achieve the desired outcomes described above.
5. Write up the final paper utilizing APA format and submit through the assignment portal on or before the due date and time.
References:
Benson, D. (2018). How to determine your personal leadership philosophy. Retrieved from https://www.physicianleaders.org/news/how-determine-your-personal-leadership-philosophy (Links to an external site.)
PennState Extension. (2019). Tips for developing a personal leadership philosophy. Retrieved from https://extension.psu.edu/tips-for-developing-a-personal-leadership-philosophy (Links to an external site.)
Personal Nursing Leadership Philosophy Paper Rubric
Criteria Ratings Pts
This criterion is linked to a Learning Outcome Description of morals, values & guiding principles
Provides a thorough description of personal morals, values & guiding principles and why they are important. Examples provided as deemed important. 22 to >18.0 pts
Exceptional 18 to >14.0 pts
Satisfactory 14 to >0 pts
Does Not Meet Expectations
22 pts
This criterion is linked to a Learning Outcome Description of interaction with people and situations
A thorough description of how the student influences and reacts to people, as well as how they react in different situations is provided. Examples provided as deemed important. 22 to >18.0 pts
Exceptional 18 to >14.0 pts
Satisfactory 14 to >0 pts
Does Not Meet Expectations
22 pts
This criterion is linked to a Learning Outcome Description of desired results and/or outcomes
A thorough description of desired accomplishments and personal mission of career is provided. Examples provided as deemed important. 22 to >18.0 pts
Exceptional 18 to >14.0 pts
Satisfactory 14 to >0 pts
Does Not Meet Expectations
22 pts
This criterion is linked to a Learning Outcome Description of personal definition of leadership
A thorough description of the definition of leadership as well as of the desired leadership style is provided. Examples provided as deemed important. 22 to >18.0 pts
Exceptional 18 to >14.0 pts
Satisfactory 14 to >0 pts
Does Not Meet Expectations
22 pts
This criterion is linked to a Learning Outcome APA, Grammar & Punctuation 12 to >10.0 pts
Exceptional
0-2 minor errors 10 to >7.0 pts
Satisfactory
2-4 minor errors 7 to >0 pts
Does Not Meet Expectations
>5 minor errors or one or more major errors
12 pts
Personal Nursing Leadership Philosophy Paper
Leaders play an essential role in steering their organizations towards the right direction and in influencing employees. A leader’s philosophy defines the leadership styles and strategies. It also drives a leader to make decisions that strengthen relationships and facilitate the realization of the desired outcomes. According to Giddens (2018), the personal values and beliefs of a leader serve as guiding principles that shape their decisions and actions. Additionally, a crucial element of a leader’s philosophy should be the ability to influence and work with people. A leader with such principles and values can design and accomplish activities that facilitate the realization of organizational objectives (PennState Extension, 2019). The purpose of this assignment is to describe a personal nursing leadership philosophy. The description will include the basic principles that guide personal leadership, how leadership philosophy influences relationships with others, and how personal leadership style is aligned with the identified leadership.
Guiding Principles, Values, and Beliefs
Personal values, beliefs, and principles guide my actions and behaviors as a leader. The five basic principles that guide me in my life and leadership include relationship-building, effective communication, problem-solving, flexibility, and conflict management. I integrate my values and beliefs about leadership with principles to ensure that I succeed. The core values and beliefs that guide my life and leadership activities include respect, integrity, service, transparency, and courage. According to Benson (2018), a leader must be in a position to engage in self-reflection not only to uncover strengths and weaknesses but also to relate how their leadership principles and values contribute to their leadership competencies. Personal leadership principles, values, and beliefs contribute in different ways to my leadership competencies.
A leader needs people to be able to accomplish planned visions. Through relationship building and effective communication, I am able to sustain collaborative partnerships with people both inside and outside the organization. My value for service and belief in respect and integrity facilitates strong ties in such partnerships and this has always generated much success in my life and leadership (Ledlow & Stephens, 2018). In my role of managing people in the organization, I constantly encounter situations where I have to resolve conflicts. It is during such times when I apply conflict management principles to create harmony. Again, leadership is all about problem-solving. Changes in the environments within which an organization operates normally create problems that must be resolved for an organization to move forward (Shirey, 2017). The fact that problems that I encounter in life and in leadership are unique every day, I tend to apply flexibility and approach every issue with courage while at the same time maintaining transparency to promote growth.
Relating with Others
In my personal life and as a leader, I normally relate effectively with others and react in a manner that will leave both parties satisfied in every situation. I am a relator with the ability to bring parties on board whenever there is an issue to be discussed. Relationships become stronger when members feel recognized (Giddens, 2018). I strive to promote team cohesion when interacting with others by giving every member of the team an opportunity to present their views and ideas. I influence people by recognizing every member’s potential and by allowing them to display their capabilities whenever their skills are required. Relating with others in this manner has enabled me to effectively address challenges that normally occur in collaborative relationships.
Empathy has an influence on service orientation. In this respect, I strive to demonstrate empathy whenever I am interacting with others. This enables me to deliver quality services depending on the prevailing situations or circumstances (Oh et al., 2018). Cable and Graham (2018) recognize diversity inclusion and cultural competence as essential leadership skills that influence how a leader relates with others and reaction to situations. I normally embrace diversity in my role as a leader. In this manner, I usually involve people in decision-making regardless of their cultural backgrounds. Additionally, when reacting to situations that involve people from diverse cultures, I always demonstrate cultural competence by using culturally-appropriate and non-abusive language. I am always focused to maintain strong relationships in every situation.
Desired Results and Outcomes
My desired results or outcomes as a leader are to keep teams motivated and to help my organization to achieve its goals, mission, and mission. This desire defines what I have always hoped to accomplish throughout my career as a result of your leadership. I have always believed that keeping teams motivated and satisfied is in itself an achievement. Besides, since I am charged with the responsibility of steering activities in an organization as a leader, my desire has always been to help my organization to realize the goals that it has set. In this manner, I have always engaged in activities that help my organization to realize its mission and vision (Ledlow & Stephens, 2018).
My leadership activities are not only driven by the desires already named but also by the need to prepare my organization to remain relevant in the industry in the future. As Shirey (2017) points out, today’s organizations need futuristic leaders who can goal development that is aligned with the changing trends. As a futuristic leader, I have the capability to monitor trends in the industry and predict possible paths that organizations might be required to follow to succeed. With this information, I tend to engage in leadership activities that will promote success for my organization in the future. My leadership activities are also driven by my personal mission for my career. My personal mission for my career is “to be the leader who keeps teams united and who helps organizations to thrive in both current and future environments.”
Definition of Leadership and Leadership Style
Although there are normally different definitions of leadership, the purpose of leadership is always the same in every context and setting, that is, to create direction. My definition of leadership is creating direction that will enable an entity or a team to achieve its goals, mission, and vision. I envision my leadership to be the transformational leadership style. My method of operation as a transformational leader will be that which entails inspiring, motivating, and influencing others to engage in activities that promote organizational transformation or reforms (Marshall & Broome, 2017). As I utilize the transformational leadership approach or process, I will incorporate my leadership principles, values, and beliefs to achieve the desired results or outcomes described above.
Conclusion
A leader’s philosophy defines the leadership styles and strategies. It also drives a leader to make decisions that strengthen relationships and facilitate the realization of the desired outcomes. In this paper, I have described a personal nursing leadership philosophy including the basic principles that guide personal leadership, how leadership philosophy influences relationships with others, and how personal leadership style is aligned with the identified leadership. My method of operation as a transformational leader will be that which entails inspiring, motivating, and influencing others to engage in activities that promote organizational transformation or reforms.
References
Benson, D. (2018). How to determine your personal leadership philosophy. https://www.physicianleaders.org/news/how-determine-your-personal-leadership-philosophy (Links to an external site.).
Cable, S., & Graham, E. (2018). “Leading Better Care”: An evaluation of an accelerated coaching intervention for clinical nursing leadership development. Journal of Nursing Management, 26(5), 605-612.
Giddens, J. (2018). Transformational leadership: What every nursing dean should know. Journal of Professional Nursing, 34(2), 117-121.
Ledlow, G. & Stephens, J. (2018). Leadership for health professionals: Theory, skills, and applications (3rd ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning
Marshall, E., & Broome, M. (2017). Transformational leadership in nursing: From expert clinician to influential leader (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Springer.
Oh, J., Cho, D., & Lim, D. H. (2018). Authentic leadership and work engagement: the mediating effect of practicing core values. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 39(2), 276-290.
PennState Extension. (2019). Tips for developing a personal leadership philosophy. https://extension.psu.edu/tips-for-developing-a-personal-leadership-philosophy (Links to an external site.).
Shirey, M. (2017). Leadership practices for healthy work environments. Nursing Management (Springhouse), 48(5), 42–50. doi: 10.1097/01.numa.0000515796.79720.e6.