Applied Leadership

Applied Leadership

Applied leadership is going above and beyond and stepping up when leadership is needed in a situation. In my clinical experience, I sometimes do this by setting an example for other nurses during stressful situations. By demonstrating a calm demeanor that is effective with producing results, I can provide a positive example that other nurses can follow if they so choose. This provides direction and leadership to the unit and I feel that setting a good example can help with patient outcomes as well as nurse satisfaction and success. The Professional Roles and Values course taught me that applied leadership means stepping up as a leader no matter what role you are in. Whether you are a manager of the healing environment, detective, or charge nurse, you have to always be a professional leader and go above and beyond to provide guidance and leadership. This is because patient have increased quality of care and better outcomes when there is strong leadership on the unit. It sets a good example and the entire unit will benefit.

The program assisted me in developing my professional definition because it showed me the importance of being a leader and the qualities that being a leader entails. My understanding these qualities and seeing ways to implement leadership skills, it let me understand what the definition of applied leadership is all about. The program showed me that anybody can be a leader in any situation and to always be on the look out for ways to contribute leadership to my clinical practice. The program taught me that leadership is not just the traditional manager role that I had previously expected out of a leader. I now have expanded my definition of a leader and understand there is a lot more to it than what I previously understood.

An artifact in my portfolio that supports my definition of leadership is my Leadership Experience assignment. In the assignment, I proposed a solution to help with the problem of high nursing turnover. I was able to apply my definition of leadership when working on this assignment by implementing leadership qualities in my efforts to implement the solution I came up with. I went above and beyond and collaborated with other members of the health care team to fight for better patient outcomes.

Professional collaboration is very important for effective nursing leadership. Because leadership entails stepping up and going above and beyond, sometimes professional collaboration is needed to reach the goals and purposes that the leader is pursuing. For example, in my artifact, I collaborated with higher level management by meeting with them and explaining to them the importance of addressing the problem of high nursing turnover. Without collaborating with these other professionals, I would not have been able to be very effective with implementing my proposed solution. All my hard work would have been wasted. This is why leadership is important, it is often needed to get things done and have things get to another level. Leadership often involves other professionals and this just emphasizes the importance that professional collaboration has. Fostering positive working relationships that feature respect, understanding, and working together towards the same goal all help when trying to establish professional collaboration. Without professional collaboration, leadership would be fractured and ineffective many times. To have the best leadership possible, it is vital to have strong professional collaboration.