TRANSITION TO PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE

PATCH 1
LEVEL 5

Student Number: 08080770 Cohort: September 2008 Submission Date: 3rd May 2011
Word count 747

Leadership As this assignment is a reflective piece of work it will be done in the first person (Webb, 1992). Ive been asked to complete a leadership style survey to determine my preferred leadership style, then by using a reflective model I need to analyse any areas for improvement and development.

The model of reflection Ive chosen to use is Gibbs Reflective cycle (Gibbs, 1988) the reason being is that it encourages a clear description, feelings, analysis and evaluation of your experience therefore helping you the reflective practitioner to make sense of your experiences and examine your practice. On reflection you then need to put into practice what youve learnt and let this process develop and improve your practice in the future.

Description After completing the leadership style survey I discovered that my style of leadership was participative also known as democratic with a score of 45. There were two other styles in the survey which were Authoritarian Style (autocratic) and Delegative Style (free reign) of these I scored 30 and 39 respectively. (See appendix 1).

In nursing this style of leadership (democratic) is effective because nurses work together for extended lengths of time; according to (Marquis & Huston, 2009) it also promotes autonomy in individual workers. This style of leadership works well in nursing because co-ordination and co-operation is needed in promoting the smooth running of a hospital ward. The democratic leader is a leader who will involve staff in decision making even though they will have the final say (Clark, 2009). Using this style is not a sign of weakness; rather it is a sign of strength that your employees will respect, because this style is of mutual benefit it

allows the employee to become part of the team and allows the employer to make better decisions (West, 2002). Feelings I wasnt surprised to find that my style on completion of the leadership survey was participative because reflecting back on my placements, and reading the literature around leadership I realized that that was how I worked best it made me feel like my input counted and that I was a valued member of the team and because of this I felt respected, even though the final decisions was left to the managers. I feel that this sort of leadership has helped me in becoming a more confident nurse, also on placement I have come across managers/leaders who were laissez-faire which means they have taken a laid back approach and left the decisions to their staff. I have only seen this happen when the leader was confident in their staff mix and what jobs they were capable of doing. Evaluation The positive effect about participative leadership is the sense of being part of a team and all working towards the same goals therefore creating a positive working environment. It helps motivate people into achieving their maximum potential and this leads to improvement in patient care (Roussal & Swansburg, 2006). The disadvantages of participative leadership are when you dont have the time to consult with every member of the team because if you did you could miss opportunities and hazards could occur. In some cases you get managers who pretend to be democratic to get the workforce on side but then never follow through with their suggestions therefore causing discontentment, this is autocratic leadership in disguise (Oates, 2010). According to (Lewin) in (Barmen, 2009) it was stated that he found that autocratic leadership caused the most discontentment in the workforce.

Analysis There are many leadership styles, the style chosen may depend on a combination of things such as beliefs, values and preferences and the job in hand. Lewin identified three main styles of leadership of which Ive spoke about, them being Autocratic, Democratic and Laissez-Faire. I think that as I become more confident in my professional career I will feel more able to use one or more of these during my working day, depending on the job that needs done. Conclusion Being one leadership style doesnt stop you from using other styles, but in order to do this effectively I think that you need to be aware of your abilities and the abilities of your workforce. From doing the survey I have learnt about the different leadership styles and have a better understanding of the management process and the need for good delegation skills. Action plan Areas for self improvement: Become self aware Further education/learning I need to learn to delegate effectively Communication

References Barman, K. (2009) Leadership management : achieving breakthroughs. New Delhi : Global India Clark, C, C. (2009) Creative nursing leadership & management. Sudbury: Jones and Bartlett. Gibbs, G. (1988) Learning by Doing: A guide to teaching and learning methods. Further Education Unit, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford. Marquis, B, L; Huston, C, J. (2009) Leadership roles and management functions in nursing : theory and application. 6th ed. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Oates, S. (2010) Leadership Styles Autocratic vs Democratic vs Bureaucratic. Available: http://www.leadership-expert.co.uk/leadership-styles/. Last accessed 30th Apr 2011. Roussel, L; Swansburg, R, C. (2006) Management and leadership for nurse administrators. 4th ed. Sudbury: Jones and Bartlett. Webb, C. (1992) The use of the first person in academic writing: objective language and gate keeping, Journal of Advanced Nursing, vol 17, pp 741-752. West, A. (2002) Reflexivity and work group effectiveness: a conceptual integration. Cited in West, A. The Handbook of work group psychology. Chichester: John Wiley.