Category: Solved Questions

To Prepare:

• Review the concepts of technology application as presented in the Resources.
• Reflect on how emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence may help fortify nursing informatics as a specialty by leading to increased impact on patient outcomes or patient care efficiencies.

The Assignment: (4-5 pages not including the title and reference page)

In a 4- to 5-page project proposal written to the leadership of your healthcare organization, propose a nursing informatics project for your organization that you advocate to improve patient outcomes or patient-care efficiency. Your project proposal should include the following:

• Describe the project you propose.
• Identify the stakeholders impacted by this project.
• Explain the patient outcome(s) or patient-care efficiencies this project is aimed at improving and explain how this improvement would occur. Be specific and provide examples.
• Identify the technologies required to implement this project and explain why.
• Identify the project team (by roles) and explain how you would incorporate the nurse informaticist in the project team.
• Use APA format and include a title page and reference page.
• Use the Safe Assign Drafts to check your match percentage before submitting your work.

Nursing informatics is a subfield of nursing science that identifies, describes, manages, and transfers data, information, knowledge, and wisdom in nursing practice by combining nursing science with various data and analytical sciences. Specialists in nursing informatics are unique, hybrid healthcare heroes. Patients are kept secure and at the forefront thanks to their work as transformative innovation champions. Due to their input and leadership, workflows for healthcare professionals are enhanced, and best practices for efficiently managing information structures, processes, and technology are followed (HIMSS, 2021). Nurse informatics uses data and technology to assess patient care activities, programs and systems regularly. They use data analysis to identify what works and does not work to guide programs, make changes, and improve.

Nurse informatics is critical in the development and upkeep of technological solutions on which nurses rely to provide the best possible patient care. To provide safe patient care, nurses must have consistent and quick access to information such as lab results, medication lists, past medical history, doctor notes, and more. A nursing informatics expert uses data analytics to improve the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of an organization’s nursing operations and use the information to improve patient outcomes. The data systems that store this information are overseen by a nursing informatics expert (Ng et al., 2018).

Having worked in the health care system for several years, I have come to appreciate and appreciate the importance of Nurse Informatics in various departments. The information they provide is critical for management as they plan, organize, control, and coordinate all activities in the healthcare system. The information provided by nurse informatics is also valuable for administration, nurses, and doctors as they treat, diagnose, and treat patients. In order to make important decisions about patient care as well as operational and financial choices, healthcare institutions use data. The field of nursing informatics ensures that this critical data is collected, organized, assessed, and used in the best way possible. As an outcome, it can improve many nursing practices inside a hospital.

Nurse informatics can communicate with clinical and IT staff more effectively. To develop strategies for the purchase, execution, maintenance, and optimization of health IT, they work collaboratively with the other clinical and operational leaders. They speak both technological and medical terminology with ease. They support the analysis of patient data and aid in identifying trends and correlations that support the clinical judgment. Nurse informatics, who also seek to enhance care and support clinical nurses, focus highly on patient safety. They are committed problem-solvers who want to ensure that medical professionals are aware of the resources that are accessible (ONS Voice, 2021).

The relationship between nurse informatics and other specialists within the healthcare organization can be significantly improved with the assistance of leadership within the healthcare facility. Managers and leaders are in a prime position to influence the various procedures used in a healthcare business due to their expert experience and understanding of and control over the industry (Mosier et al., 2019). For example, leaders can develop rules, regulations, and policies that promote interactions between various healthcare departments and informatics. Short informatics courses can be implemented, and members can be trained to help build strong relationships and assist all healthcare providers in using the data or information provided to them to improve patient care.

Digital technologies are impacting global relationships between healthcare professionals more and more due to the ongoing growth of nursing informatics and the simple introduction of new technologies. The use of mobile devices, the internet, and social media in society is growing, as is the popularity of artificial intelligence (AI) and robotic technology. Telehealth and other virtual forms of care are also becoming more popular (Booth et al., 2021). Digital technologies should be carefully controlled to stay consistent with the therapeutic relationships and hands-on caregiving that nurses and other healthcare providers have with patients and their families. This goes against traditional nursing principles, such as compassionate care.

With the continued evolution of nursing informatics, nurses should also be equipped with the required knowledge and expertise. We must immediately establish educational opportunities in informatics, implementation science, digital health, data science, and co-design at the undergraduate and graduate levels. These opportunities include collaborating with and learning from colleagues in computing, engineering, and other interdisciplinary fields. For instance, the nursing field will require a critical mass of professionals knowledgeable about using data science to guide the development of healthcare information to assist practice. These professionals will also require cunning and bravery to guide the creation of innovative patient care models made possible by digital technologies (Ng et al., 2018).

The organization I work for has a designated Computer Applications Management Systems (CAMS) team. This team’s primary responsibility is to manage the company’s electronic health record (EHR). With many roles requiring access to and use of the EHR to perform their job duties, the CAMS team is integral to the day-to-day operations. When the EHR is inoperable, it directly impacts the patient’s ability to communicate with their provider, the scheduling staff’s ability to make or change appointments, the provider’s ability to care for patients, and the billing staff’s ability to process claims for payment. Nearly every aspect of the business relies on the functionality of the EHR.

The CAMS team is the liaison between the company and the EHR vendor, frequently communicating changes, needs, challenges, fixes, and updates. When EHR changes or updates need to be communicated, the CAMS team creates learning tools in Microsoft Word with illustrated instructions and distributes them via email. Also, as new providers join the organization, a member of the CAMS team conducts one-on-one training to ensure a proper understanding of its use. Lastly, there is an EHR Committee with physicians, practice administrators, and CAMS team members. This Committee collaborates on issues and challenges with the system and formulates ideas for improvement to share with the vendor.

An improvement area for communication between CAMS and the organization is the need for more diverse representation at the Committee level. With over 300 employees, there is a significant gap in representation among support staff such as front office, medical assistants, and nurses, which make up a majority. Frequently decisions are made without the input of these team members, even though their workflow is most often directly affected. Mosier et al. (2019) remarked that appropriate team members provide critical input in project management. The absence of these team members may negatively affect the company’s ability to progress in technology advancements. Another improvement would be changing how new features, changes, or enhancements are communicated. There is a lot of effort put into creating illustrated instructions. However, after distributing the information via email, the CAMS team often received numerous requests for help because no one bothered to read the document.

Thanks to COVID-19, healthcare providers rushed to find ways to continually provide access to safe, quality care through telemedicine (McGonigle et al., 2022). In the same manner, COVID-19 significantly shifted many of our organizations’ processes and approaches to healthcare delivery. Many patients were seen via telehealth, and for a gastroenterology practice where most patients are over 50 years old, and the median physician age is 55, this new concept came with a huge learning curve. Even for the few patients who came into the office, all registration steps were completed online, so there would be no exchange of paperwork, credit cards, or pens. Although it is now safer to see patients in person, we have continued using some technological conveniences. COVID-19 forced businesses to incorporate technology solutions quickly, and they will likely avoid reverting to previous ways of doing business or delivering healthcare (Clipper, 2020). Without these technologies in place to register and care for patients, or bill for services, it is not likely our company would have survived COVID-19.

Nursing informatics is the specialty that integrates nursing science with multiple information and analytical sciences to identify, define, manage, and communicate data, information, knowledge, and wisdom in nursing practice. (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2022). This supports nurses, consumers, patients, the interprofessional healthcare team, and all other stakeholders in their decision-making in all roles and settings to achieve desired outcomes.

Nurses are considered data gatherers by nature; they collect and record objective data daily. (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2022).  For nurses to offer the best possible patient care, technology solutions must be developed and maintained. Nurse informatics is essential to this process. To deliver safe patient care, nurses need constant access to data such as laboratory results, medication lists, previous medical histories, doctor notes, and more. Data analytics are used by nursing informatics specialists to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of nursing operations within an organization and to use the data to enhance patient outcomes. (Ng et al., 2018).

In the organization where I work, the Biomedical Informatics Center works to leverage biomedical information, including electronic health records (EHR), social media, and omics data, to predict and improve patient outcomes by developing and using cutting-edge computational techniques to predict and improve patient outcomes. Nurses and all other healthcare providers rely on this technology for communication with the ultimate goal of improving patient outcomes. Examples of data technology used in the organization where I work include the use of individual biometrics to gain access to the building, accessing medical devices like infusion pumps and monitors, and Bar-code identification for medication administration.

 Strategy to improve interactions

Since the objectives of informatics are to improve healthcare and patient outcomes, to exchange information between service providers, and, particularly, to facilitate access to health information, the concept of health literacy is not comprehensively integrated into education, healthcare, politics, and research. (Haupeltshofer, Egerer & Seeling, 2020). To improve interactions between healthcare providers, health literacy through the inclusion of various healthcare members in informatics and education is needed. Nursing informatics education must also be improved among nurses through short programs to support knowledge and practice. Education programs that meet the needs of nurses to develop these skills, as well as empower them to enhance their practices must be established. (Sipes, 2016).

The lack of ability of older adults in the healthcare profession to use technology among those who have access to ICTs and new media in healthcare is a challenge and hence the need for education.  Consequently, the e-integration of this marginal group is necessary for better handling of technology and easier access to health-relevant information and delivery.

Impact of the continued evolution of nursing informatics on professional interactions.

With the fact that computers have revolutionized the way individuals access information and educational and social networking processes, (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2022), the continued evolution of nursing informatics will impact professional interactions through methods of communication, written and verbal which develops team dynamics among professionals.  There will also be advanced practice through technology.

For this discussion prompt, I first thought of my experiences as a school nurse- in which nurses utilized a charting system initially developed for teachers. Although the nursing and healthcare portions of the software had been developed years prior, we continually worked with the district’s information technology (IT) department to further develop it.

In our district, no staff was designated as a liaison between nursing staff and IT. Therefore, we all received basic training in data mining and how to compile statistics for our building administration each semester. Throughout the year, any small issues or requests were communicated individually, and larger issues were discussed in nursing meetings before being presented to IT by our lead nurse. Most communication between nurses occurred by email and was sometimes supplemented by live documents that could be edited by all nurses. Occasionally, software edits and additions had to be approved by an administrative team member of the school district. The large gap between professional expertise could be difficult to navigate. In these situations, we relied on our lead nurse to act as our liaison and facilitate knowledge transfer (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2022). She often opted to meet in person with the administration, accompanied by any supporting documentation our team created. Although there was no distinct protocol or practice to support knowledge transfer between nursing and education professionals, the collaboration of interdisciplinary teams was not a new concept for this sector.

We continually wished that our lead nurse could work solely as a nurse manager, but she shared the same workload as the other district nurses due to budget constraints. If this were not the case, designating one nurse to serve in an executive role would be much more supportive of nursing informatics solutions for the district (Mosier et al., 2019). Several nurses struggled with the tasks of effectively data mining and attempting to resolve program issues independently. If the lead nurse had a more distinct role, this would allow them to seek more in-depth software training to support the nursing department more effectively and improve interprofessional collaboration efforts.

The continued emergence of new technologies will have innumerable impacts on professional interactions. Now more than ever, nurses and other healthcare providers can access patient data quickly and accurately. Risling (2017) discusses wearable technology’s utilization to expand inpatient and remote monitoring by allowing access to live patient data. This real-time data access will enable nurses and other healthcare providers to work together more efficiently and effectively, specifically by shorting the time between data acquisition and the application of appropriate interventions.

To Prepare:

• Review the concepts of informatics as presented in the Resources.
• Reflect on the role of a nurse leader as a knowledge worker.
• Consider how knowledge may be informed by data that is collected/accessed.

The Assignment:

• Explain the concept of a knowledge worker.
• Define and explain nursing informatics and highlight the role of a nurse leader as a knowledge worker.
• Include one slide that visually represents the role of a nurse leader as knowledge worker.
• Your PowerPoint should Include the hypothetical scenario you originally shared in the Discussion Forum. Include your examination of the data that you could use, how the data might be accessed/collected, and what knowledge might be derived from that data. Be sure to incorporate feedback received from your colleagues’ responses.

BY DAY 7 OF WEEK 2

 Be specific and provide examples.

Introduction

Among the many important areas a leader can influence in their organization, influencing the culture is fundamental (Broome & Marshall, 2021). The results of my work environment assessment were 40. Since it is less than 50, it is indicative of a very unhealthy work environment (Clark, 2015).  Based on these results, there is a high chance for incivility to occur in my workplace (Clark, 2015).  While there is a high chance for incivility to occur, I feel as a whole my workplace is civil even though the work environment assessment was poor.  There are occasionally some instances of incivility between management and line staff, but thankfully we have a strong union to represent our interests.  

Situation of Incivility  

As a nurse, I have always remained professional, even when confronted in an uncivil manner.  While I have never been confronted in an uncivil manner by a fellow line staff nurse, I have been confronted by a supervisor uncivilly only a handful of times.  The most glaring example occurred when my charge nurse in my previous employment in the NICU approached me in an uncivil way.  I was up to receive admission and usually, on the floor, we set up equipment on the admission incubators so that we have everything we need when the neonate comes.  However, I had heard during report that per our assistant nurse manager, we were not supposed to set up the beds since that practice was not kosher with the auditing body that was there during the shift. Later that night, during my dinner break, the charge nurse barges into the break room yelling and screaming that we are getting an admission and wondering why my admission bed is not ready.  I calmly told her that I would normally set up for admissions however I was told in report not to for the next couple of days due to the auditing body’s presence and that all the equipment I would normally have on the bed, was staged in the cart in the room.  She proceeded to verbally reprimand me in front of other nurses because my admission bed was not set up.  The admission went on without a hitch, however, her incivility left a bad taste with me and my fellow line staff nurses. Other senior nurses later explained to her that what she did was wrong, and she later apologized and explained she had other personal things on her mind, but I never looked at her the same.  

Conclusion  

Nurses have a professional obligation to foster a safe and civil work environment to protect patient safety (Clark, 2018). If improperly handled, incivility can lead to adverse patient outcomes such as mistakes, harm, or death to the patient (Clark, 2018). Through my experience as a nurse, I have learned the proper way of handling volatile situations.  Workplace incivility takes many forms including publicly criticizing an employee which is what happened to me (Kisner, 2018). Other examples of workplace incivility include nonverbal abuse such as eye-rolling, and making faces, and bullying such as expecting someone to do another’s work (Kisner, 2018). I tend to avoid confrontation, so when I am confronted with incivility, I try and defuse it as soon as possible.  However, the workplace culture can be enhanced if nurses can communicate effectively and resolve issues in order to promote patient safety, better nursing care, and improved staff morale and retention (Kisner, 2018).

My Clark Healthy Workplace Inventory assessment gave a score of 86, which is considered to be a “moderately healthy”, work environment.  In an ICU, emotions can sometimes get the best of us, creating high workplace tension and leading to incivility (Layne, 2019). 

Incivility in the workplace can lead to poor patient outcomes. Healthcare is a high-stress environment, and patients rely on professionals to provide care and support during their most vulnerable moments. In such an environment, acts of incivility, such as rudeness, bullying, or disrespect, can negatively impact patient outcomes (Alquwez, 2020). Incivility can lead to decreased job satisfaction, stress, burnout, and a decreased sense of commitment to the job. When healthcare professionals are distracted or upset due to acts of incivility, they may not be able to provide the best care to their patients, leading to poor patient outcomes.

I have encountered feelings of incivility in the workplace from one of our general surgeons, who is known to be hard to deal with. Although I know he has the patient’s best interest at heart, he can be demanding and hostile towards the nursing staff when we are occupied with saving the lives (literally) of other patients that are not as critical as his at the moment. The one time I felt disrespected by him was when we were at our peak of high patient acuity during covid. Beds were full, staffing was short, and patients needed to improve. It was generally stressful, but this provider insisted all of his post-surgery patients spend at least the first 24 hours post-op in the ICU because he wanted “round-the-clock care” for them. Although I understand his concerns about having CCRNs caring for his patients, when they were not ICU-level ill, we could not keep them due to them already being full. He got upset that one of his patients had to be transferred to a step-down unit. He called me and acted belligerently rudely because the patient was moved per protocol without his permission. I had to report the situation to our nurse manager, and she handled it, but it made my already tiring and stressful shift even more draining. 

Overall, SOMC, I believe, does demonstrate civility in the workplace. Similar to my situation, when you have a team of leaders behind you that will back you, it makes you feel better about coming forward about cases of incivility.

Civility is essential in promoting patient safety. When healthcare professionals respect one another, they are more likely to communicate openly and honestly, share information, and work together to address patient safety concerns (Akerman-Barger, 2021). This can improve patient outcomes, reduce medical errors, and increase patient satisfaction. 

Assessment Findings

After completing the Clark Healthy Workplace Inventory Questionnaire, I discovered that my hospital scored a 78 which is Moderately Healthy. Most categories scored well, but as I have discovered recently, career advancement is not a strong suit. I would say that my organization works in a civil manner, in most situations. This does not mean that incivility does not occur. The concept of nurses “eating their young” is found to be a learned and processed negative behavior that is transferred amongst individuals today (Clark, et al., 2011). A health organization requires shared values, organizational visions, creativeness, good team work, and good leadership (Clark, 2015). I would say that my organization exemplifies all of those examples. Civility leads to a decrease of negative behaviors and an increase in the overall positivity of the workplace (Garcia, et al., 2021).

My Incivility Experience

I have worked at my current work place for the last 4 years. In that time, I have worked incredibly hard. I consider myself to be a hard working, reliable, a quick learner, and I always go above and beyond. On multiple occasions, I have asked to assist with training new employees, which I have previous experience doing. I have also asked to be apart of a team that was being created to revamp the orientation process. The responses that I received were always very neutral and felt avoided. Over time, I got tired of it and it made me feel that I was not going to be able to grow in my role. Soon after a position opened on my unit and I decided to apply. I knew going into the interview that if I did not get the position that it was time for me to move on. I needed growth and at this point, it was more that obvious this was not going to happen. I of course did not receive the promotion which lead me to applying to Walden University’s FNP Program. The incivility came from when my superior informed me that I was not getting the position due to my educational path. At the time, I was attending WGU for my Masters in Nursing Education. She felt that once I finished my degree that I would just up and leave. She did not want to hire me and waste time for me to leave. The position that I was applying for was an educational position, but she felt that I would leave for more money. All of this was very unprofessional in my opinion. I decided at that point that I was done wasting my time. I was given to push that I needed to pursue my education even further. I informed her two weeks later that I was going back to school for my FNP which you could tell she was upset about. I just let her know that I needed growth and I wanted more. FNP was something that I had always considered pursuing and now I’ve had the push I needed to go for it.

Assessment Weakness

As I mentioned previously, one of the areas lacking within the organization is career advancement. When I decided to go back to further my education as a FNP, I figured that I would have no issues finding a job. I have since discovered that is very incorrect. In fact, all I hear is how happy everyone is that I have decided to go back and advance in my career, yet they are sad because that means Ill be leaving our health organization. I’m being told this is due to wanting FNPs with experience vs wanting to train new FNPs. This is extremely flawed in my opinion. Our hospital has experienced big loses by not hiring valuable employees. Instead, close, competing hospitals are hiring and gaining what we have now lost.

Workplace Environment Assessment

Clark (2011) writes that incivility in healthcare organizations leads to unsafe working conditions, poor patient care, and increased medical costs. The Clark Healthy Workplace Inventory consists of 20 statements that are rated and result in an overall score where one can then determine how healthy, or unhealthy, their workplace environment is. The purpose of this discussion post is to post a description of the results of my assessment and to explain whether my workplace is civil or not as well as to describe a situation where I experienced incivility and how it was addressed.

Assessment Results

After completing the Clark Healthy Workplace Inventory, my healthcare organization scored a 57 which is classified as unhealthy. I somewhat agree with these results. I view my workplace as decently healthy but after going through all 20 statements, I can see more unhealthy ways than I was able to recognize before. Statement number two touches on trust between leadership and staff. I rated this a five as it is completely true in my workplace. There is a lot of trust among staff and leadership gives us on the floor a lot of freedom to do what is best for the unit. This strategy has been working for years and I think that is why there is such a strong sense of trust. Opposing, I rated statements 17 and 19 a one. Statement 17 has to do with competitive salaries and wages and statement 19 has to do with the organization attracting the “best and the brightest”. Both of these statements are completely untrue. As for 17, the organization where I work is known for paying staff very low wages. This goes along with statement 19 as due to this, people only come to gain a year of experience so that they can move on to someplace else. This means that the turnover rate is high and that those who are applying typically tend to be new graduate nurses with little to no experience. After

Incivility in the Workplace

Our book states that it is fundamental for an effective leader to influence culture (Broome & Marshall, 2021). It is important for nurse leaders to be aware of this as the other staff looks to them for direction. When asked about an example of incivility that I have experienced, one situation comes to mind. When I was being oriented to my unit and trained at the beginning of my employment, I had some differing views as my preceptor. He had told me many negative opinions of our fellow coworkers as well as strategies that were not conducive to a healthy workplace environment. These things, plus a few others, made me very uncomfortable to be involved with and I let my supervisor know. My supervisor agreed with my concerns and was able to change my preceptor. I am glad at the way this was handled but still to this day, my first preceptor still makes me feel like the workplace environment is not healthy. I know that nowhere is perfect and am thankful for the way that leadership handled my concerns though I still have some issues with this specific coworker.

Conclusion

In conclusion, a healthy workplace is key to fostering safe working conditions and excellent patient care. The Clark Healthy Workplace Inventory helps nurses to assess whether they work in a civil or not civil work environment. It can be beneficial for nurses to know this information so that they can recognize how to help change the environment when in a leadership position. Overall, I found out that my workplace is considered unhealthy and now can use this information to make improvements.

Work Environment Assessment

Reading through the literature on workplace civility, Clark et al. (2011) stated that incivility in the workplace is normalized now.  I’ve been in nursing for 16 years, I’ve seen this unfold before my eyes.  Completing the Work Environment Assessment, I am not surprised that my workplace is considered barely healthy with a score of 62.  Looking at what makes for a healthy workplace, I see where the breakdown is.  According to Clark (2015), six standards for sustaining a healthy work environment include: skilled communication, true collaboration, effective decision making, appropriate staffing, meaningful recognition, and authentic leadership.  There is a true breakdown in each of these standards in my work environment.

Workplace Incivility

As stated above, my workplace assessment scored to be barely healthy.  The six standards identified above to sustain a healthy work environment are lacking within the organization.  Workplace incivility is defined as “low-intensity deviant workplace behavior with an ambiguous intent to harm” (Agarwal et al., 2023).  Skilled communication and effective decision-making are two problems within the organization.  Leaders are not listening or communicating with staff and decisions are being made that are running off nurses.  Appropriate staffing is one of the biggest problems.  The chief of nursing told us not to staff with consideration of the “what if.”  I work on an acute psychiatric ward for veterans, it is vital for the safety of staff and veteran to be prepared for the “what if.”  Mental health is unpredictable, anyone in a position to be a leader should have experience in the field and no better.  This leads to the next issues, appropriate staffing and authentic leadership.  Nursing leaders are telling staff nurses that we are to have a minimum number of staff per shift, but then the communicating to the nursing supervisors that we can work with less staff.  The staff feels the leadership is not authentic or honest.  Collaboration between departments rarely happens, there is a lot of rumors and gossip.  Change is another factor, the policies seem to change almost weekly.  In a study done by Raza et al. (2023), frequent change within an organization leads to workplace incivility.  High turnover rates are happening and based on the research, incivility in the workplace leads to burnout and high turnover rates.   On top of everything, RNs received a significant raise in pay but the LPNs and NAs did not.  This created incivility as well between the RNs and other staff members.  The work environment is not one that is civil or healthy.

Situation of Personal Incivility

I’ve been at my current organization for approximately 3 months, during that time I have experienced incivility multiple times.  One time that stands out to me is on my 2nd day off orientation I was put in the position of charge nurse.  It was a very busy day and we were understaffed as usual.  There were 2 RNs (including myself), one LPN, and a nursing assistant.  The RNs are the only staff allowed to do admissions and discharges.  Within two hours we received 4 admissions.  While the RNs were working vigorously to get the admissions done, the other two staff members were playing on their phones and not offering to do anything to help.  There were other tasks needing to be done but the comment was made by the NA, “we don’t get paid the big money you guys get paid so why should we help?”  Throughout the shift the LPN and the NA were rolling their eyes at us and being disrespectful.  I had put up with it all day but I reached a point that I had to address it.  I called a staff meeting between the four of us.  I called out the disrespectful behaviors and informed them that if they couldn’t be team players then I’d have to notify our manager.  Further, I pointed out that I understand there is animosity because of the increase in pay RNs received and they didn’t.  I explained that was not the RNs fault, and further explained the RNs hadn’t had a raise in pay in years at the VA and they were underpaid compared to other hospitals.  I made sure to point out that I value their jobs and respect them, and would appreciate the same respect.  I said I’d much rather work in an environment that is conducive to team work then a stressful, tense environment.  The NA then said to me, “I’m sorry and you’re right, it’s not your fault and I should have never been so nasty towards you guys.”  We finished out the shift as a team and the teamwork has been much better since.  There is still incivility and poor attitudes because of poor communication, staffing issues, and lack of leadership authenticity.  I hope this incivility improves soon, it’s not a pleasant environment to work in.

Work Environment Assessment

I actually did two assessments for both workplaces that I am currently employed. The reason I wanted to do two different assessments is because I see very different work environment between the emergency department and the correctional facility. I am glad I had the opportunity to compare them. I work most of my time in the emergency department. After completing the assessment, it shows that it is a moderately healthy work environment. Most of the staff in the ER understand, adopt, and recognize the need for teamwork. We all help each other out. Honestly, if we didn’t help each other out not only would the patient care suffer, but our morale would be affected, and job satisfaction would decline. I have worked in many different places in my career so far (mainly as a travel nurse). But I have seen many different team dynamics and I can say without a doubt that this ER functions like a well-oiled machine and most staff are completely satisfied with their job, coworkers, and the work they do there.

The prison, however, is completely the opposite. I found, after completing the assessment, that it is very unhealthy. I worked there as a nursing supervisor but left to go back to the ER full time. I still currently work there through an agency occasionally to help with staffing needs. It was surprising to see how different the atmosphere in the medical department changed after I left. I don’t mind working there because I enjoy the work as a correctional nurse but the morale in that department is very negative amongst the staff. It seems like some of the nurses are against each other and a lot of them are against the administration. When I worked there as a nursing supervisor there were many times I had to address certain staff for their attitude and hostility towards other staff. Many times, there was one nurse I had to pull in privately and counsel them on their professional conduct. We had a disciplinary process to follow there. First, you give the person a chance to change their behavior or actions through verbally counseling them. Then, it goes to written counseling, written reprimand, suspension, and termination. I don’t like this process. I think if someone does something severely wrong, we should be able to make the decision ourselves as supervisors to suspend or terminate. This isn’t the case there and it is mostly because everyone is protected by the unions.

Workplace Incivility

One example is a nurse got into a verbal altercation with another nurse in the department. They were heard by other staff yelling and screaming at each other in the pharmacy in the department. They were counseled separately about the incident. Administration, HR, and the unions would not allow us to suspend or terminate either of them because we had to follow the disciplinary process to get to that point. I don’t agree with this. I think it sets a bad example for everyone else that you can basically do whatever you want and there are no repercussions, at least not for a while. This can cause a hostile and sometimes violent workplace. It also makes staff lose respect for their superiors. These two staff members are currently still employed at the prison and still show disrespect towards each other as well as other verbal altercations.

Conclusion

Leaders must work to develop a level of respect and have a zero-tolerance policy for safe workplace environments (Broome & Marshall, 2021). They should also develop ways to address incivility and workplace bullying before they lose all control over the situation. Finding the root cause and ending it as soon as possible in the early stages is important. Many times in workplaces, bullying and violence turns into confrontation and leaving the job (Hampton et al., 2019). I have seen this a few times in my career. Staff try to go to administration for an issue in the workplace with another coworker and nothing is done about it so they leave the job. As a leader, you try so hard to have a team that works well together, gets along, does the job well, and never goes against each other. But all too often, you don’t get all of those traits in your team. I think it is important to establish your expectations early on, empower your nurses as a team, and support them. Nurse leaders can promote civility and end incivility among their team by fostering trust, building rapport, and recognizing hard work (Ota et al., 2022).

A healthy workplace environment is essential for satisfactory staff performance, safety, and positive patient outcomes. On the contrary, dissatisfaction with working conditions can lead to depression and anxiety associated with work, decreased performance, and unsafe practices and mistakes. According to Shein (2021), “depression interferes with a person’s ability to complete physical job tasks by 20% and reduces cognitive performance by 35%, while anxiety also affects productivity, work relationships, job satisfaction and […] turnover” (para. 4). “Clark Healthy Workplace Inventory” attempts to evaluate working conditions from different angles, “assess the perceived health of an organization, and determine strengths and areas for improvement” (Clark, 2015, p. 19). My completed Inventory scored 73 points, which represents a mildly healthy workplace. I was not discouraged or upset about the results, as I filled in the questionary individually, representing only my subjective point of view. I had to respond to many questions as “Neutral” since I could not answer for all company employees. For example, on question 2, “There is a clear and discernible level of trust between and among formal leadership and other members of the workplace,” I have chosen a neutral option as I cannot assess the “level of trust” of team members (Clark, 2015, p. 20). Additionally, on question 3, “Communication at all levels of the organization is transparent, direct, and respectful,” I had to answer neutrally; since, to my observation, communication always seems to be respectful, but the level of transparency and directness is challenging to assess in all situations (Clark, 2015, p. 20). However, communication is an essential part of a healthy working environment in all circumstances. Effective communication can be affected and challenged by people’s “attitude, assumptions, intentions, beliefs, emotional state, physical conditions, history, culture, and experience” (Marshal & Broome, 2021, p. 167). On the contrary, effective communication skills can alleviate the stress of the working environment, “address incivility, […] reduce its incidence and effects, and can assist in fostering cultures of civility” (Clark et al., 2011, p. 325).

 A situation where I have experienced incivility in the workplace involved impaired communication between nurses and a physician due to a physician’s arrogant manner of communication. In the long-term facility where I work, nurses report all new findings, such as a change in vital sign patterns, skin rashes, falls, and behavioral changes, etc. to physicians, review lab work and radiology results, review medications of newly admitted patients, and discuss other questions that require current orders change with physicians. Therefore, attending physicians receive an enormous number of phone calls during the day, have to keep close attention to what is happening in the facility even if they are not physically present there, and perhaps, experience continuous stress due to constantly arising work-related issues. Most physicians, however, can manage this intense working environment and maintain respectful, friendly, and professional relationships with the nursing staff. Except for one physician who was noted communicating abruptly, doubted the nursing assessment’s validity, and expressed a feeling of being bothered on multiple occasions with different nurses. Eventually, nurses felt uncomfortable and hesitant to call this physician and tried to avoid communication, which ultimately delayed and impaired patient care. Grissinger (2017) pointed out that disrespectful behavior in the working environment causes “fear, anger, shame, confusion, uncertainty, isolation, self-doubt, depression” and may lead to “adverse events, medical errors, compromises in patient safety, and even patient mortality” (p. 74).

Unfortunately, this situation was not addressed for a prolonged amount of time. Nurses did not feel empowered to speak up and resolve an uncomfortable situation. Silence, gossiping between nursing staff, and inability to oppose physician attitude through open conversation persisted daily, undermining the “civil work environment,” teamwork, and high-quality patient care (Clark, 2015, p. 18). Eventually, the physician’s disrespectful manner of communication was reported to the Director of Nursing (DON), who was able to convey staff concerns to that doctor in a private conversation, which notably changed the physician’s demeanor. Mahboube et al. (2019) noted that collaboration between doctors and nurses, as well as creating “teamwork becomes particularly important in patients that require long-term care” (p. 3264). The authors conducted research investigating “doctors’ and nurses’ attitude” towards collaboration, teamwork, “caring as opposed to curing, physicians’ dominance, [and] nurses’ autonomy” (pp. 3264, 3265). The study revealed “the significant difference between attitudes of doctors and nurses in most factors associated with doctor-nurse collaboration” (Mahboube et al., 2019, p. 3266). Therefore, healthcare organizations’ management, administration, and nurse leaders must develop a mutually respectful working environment where personnel feel safe and empowered to express concerns and speak up if collaboration and communication between the staff of all levels and disciplines feel impaired.

Introduction

Disruptive and incivility behavior in healthcare workplaces is on the rise but is often overlooked. Organizational culture can legitimize or prolong incivility and disruptive actions, especially during restructuring or downsizing. This is hypothesized to be a result of the inherent ambiguity, value disparities, personal exposure, and power battles that arise inside companies during times of transition (Clark et al., 2011, pp. 324–325).

Civility in my Workplace

Clark’s piece on creating a civil workplace was interesting. After completing the survey, my employer received an 80. The office climate is satisfactory. To that extent, my workplace is one of the healthiest I have ever participated in. Since our company is structured as a corporation, I can only speak for the department I am employed in. My RN director has made it her duty to know each of her staff members. She realized that not all employees are managed in the same way. Some workers require constant praise to feel motivated, while others can get by with occasional constructive criticism. Influencing an organization’s culture is one of the most crucial roles a leader can play (Broome & Marshall, 2021).

Like any other work group, we occasionally find ourselves at odds. When people have arguments at work, they tend to let it go quickly and move on. We have less than thirty workers here, so it is a relatively tiny office. We have an excellent team dynamic. All of the workers hold one another in high regard. Employees’ interactions with one another can significantly impact the quality of care provided to patients, staff retention, and organizational loyalty (Clark, 2015).

Incivility in my Workplace

It has been about four years since I had an incident with incivility at my current workplace. They employed RNs in an experimental role as liaisons between clients and business development managers. I was responsible for informing local doctors about hospice care and elevating our organization’s standing in the eyes of those who could make referrals. I planned on pursuing my FNP, so I wanted to continue as a nurse case manager while in school to maintain my clinical expertise. I was given a new position and asked to simultaneously keep five patients under my care. The original five patients quickly ballooned to a total of 22. I hate to be that person, but when covid hit, and I was the only RN at my workplace escorting covid patients home to pass with their families, it was too much. When I told my director that I could not safely care for so many patients, she said I could not help until they found someone else to outsource the services to. After about two months, I realized I could not handle being the middleman between the company and the client, so I approached the company’s business development managers and informed them of my decision to resign. As I described my situation, they assured me they would do whatever it took to keep me in my current role because they saw me as an educational resource for the community. During our discussion, I was relieved of my case management duties but asked to stay on as a liaison and keep spreading the word about hospice’s many advantages to those in need. This turned out wonderfully and made my transition back to school a breeze.

Conclusion

For the creation and maintenance of a healthy work environment, nurse administrators must be extremely attentive and supportive towards the success of the nursing practice. Indeed, it has been demonstrated that promoting a positive organizational culture is a successful strategy associated with increased nurse manager participation in authentic leadership. As healthcare providers, we all have an ethical obligation to care for those who care for others. In particular, nurse leaders must create and foster a caring work environment. This includes promoting a culture of civility in clinical settings (Clark et al., 2011, p. 329). Any incivility within the company can have long-lasting repercussions and take years to fix. Communicating effectively and politely helps create a pleasant workplace, boosts teamwork, and ultimately benefits patient care.

My Work Experience Assessment

Based on completing the Clark Healthy Workplace Inventory questionnaire (Clark, 2015), my current workplace has a score of 57 out of 100, equating to an unhealthy workplace. I have only been working at this facility for about three weeks now but have gotten a sense of the workings of the facility. Unfortunately, I was not surprised by the results of the questionnaire and easily answered the questions because I agree and think the hospital, overall, has a poor work environment, at least for the adult care units. This suggests that my current workplace is not only unhealthy but suffers from issues of incivility as well because unhealthy conditions in the workplace promote and support incivility (Clark et al. 2011).

An idea I believed in that was confirmed by the assessment and information overall was that effective communication is important to achieve excellence in all the topics portrayed in the statements of the assessment and to foster a healthy work environment (Clark, 2015). Furthermore, adequate communication in the workplace creates a safe work environment that promotes respectful expression of opinions, speaking up and out when holding each other accountable in different situations, successful expression of ideas and team information exchange, and engaging in difficult conversations. Many of the issues that I have witnessed in this facility could be remedied if communication was better, whether that be communicating the needs of a unit to promote policy change or advocating for more efficient physician rounds. Communication, and effective listening, are essential.

The theory or concept I chose in relation to my assessment questionnaire is that incivility and disruptive behavior exists in nursing educational settings and persists into the nursing clinical settings, which is caused by several issues including high stress levels and lack of adequate education/skills, is mitigated by organizational structure and leadership, and can lead to an unhealthy work environment (Clark et al., 2011). Specifically, the stressors that cause incivility in nursing education are similar to those that cause incivility in nursing clinical practice. And communication and education about incivility are crucial to reduce incivility and promote civility. I chose this concept because I have witnessed and experienced this since I began my nursing journey and see signs of it in my current workplace. As Broome and Marshall (2021) discussed, it is important for there to be partnerships between academia and clinical practice to, for example, sponsor mutual respect, enhance skills and education for practice preparedness, and build trust; but, it is important to note that networking, building of relationships, improvement of skills, and increase in productivity cannot happen without adequate communication. Perhaps by recognizing that this partnership is important and that we need to improve our communication skills, many of the issues that I have recognized can be resolved over time.

Current Workplace (In)civility

As stated above, my current workplace would be labeled as unhealthy with a score of 57 out of 100. Again, an unhealthy work environment promotes incivility and vice versa. Because of this, I would say that my current workplace has issues of incivility. Clark et al. (2011) discussed that unhealthy work conditions and incivility create a vicious cycle in which they feed into each other; just as incivility can cause high stress levels, dissatisfaction, poor performance and outcomes, psychological and physiological distress and manifestations, and high turnover intention and rates, these things promote an unhealthy environment that feeds more into the incivility. I knew within my first two shifts at this hospital that there were issues with the environment being unhealthy and with incivility based on how I was oriented to the environment, things I overheard and were told, and even the lack of or conflicting information I received from seasoned staff when I asked questions. The hospital has symptoms of unhealthiness and incivility including numerous callouts each shift, reports of bullying, lack of adequate support from management, and travel nurses prematurely ending their contracts, to name a few. This hospital, like many other hospitals, has the potential to be great but has many obstacles to overcome.

Example of Workplace Incivility

Luckily, I have not been the target or subject of workplace incivility at this facility, but I have been told of instances of it by the nurses experiencing it. One instance involves a new graduate nurse. She reported that she only has four weeks of orientation left before being on her own but does not feel like she is being prepared properly. She clarified that when she asks questions she is brushed off, made to feel inadequate, or told that the task is performed a certain way because that is how it has always been; this is affecting her confidence and ability to critically think in the clinical space. There was no threatening behavior or speech, but she felt like she was not being supported adequately as a new nurse. I encouraged her to speak to management if she feels like her preceptor or the charge nurse are not preparing her well enough, and to communicate her needs so that she is successful when on her own.

Another, more troubling example involved a travel nurse who shared her experience during change of shift report. Prior to her lunch break, her newly admitted patient was complaining of pain and requested pain medicine. Based on the pain reported by the patient, recent medications administered, and the pain regimen orders available, the nurse administered Norco to the patient before being sent on her lunch break. While eating her food, the charge nurse comes into the break room and yells at the nurse because the patient’s pain had worsened and now the patient was screaming and yelling at staff. The charge nurse proceeded to tell the traveler that she has poor nursing judgement, and to stop eating her food to come back onto the floor and administer morphine. The nurse did as she was told and then returned to finish her break. The travel nurse was clocked out during this time, as it is required for breaks at this facility, and the charge nurse, who was covering her break, failed to care for the patient as she is trained to do. The staff nurses who witnessed the situation urged the travel nurse to file an incident report and stated that some nurses have had issues with this charge nurse in the past. This situation just happened a few days ago and I have not worked with this nurse since then, but I hope that she did file the incident report so that this issue can be addressed.

Introduction

            Nurses must provide a civil and healthy work environment to ensure that the patients are adequately and safely cared for. Incivility influences the staff and patients, and it also causes self-esteem issues, confidence issues, and causes poor judgment. If incivility is not taken care of it can cause detrimental errors and can lead to harm and death (Clark, 2019).

Results

            The results of my workplace were 82/100, which indicates a moderately healthy work environment (Clark, 2015). Most of my ratings were fours, except one three and two fives’. This score is not quite as indicative of the work environment I work in daily. Some petty things go on, like people talking behind others’ backs, being passive-aggressive, etc. This will be in just about anywhere you work, to be quite honest. The manager that we have, though, does not tolerate disrespect or immaturity. She expects that we handle things with one another in an adult manner, and then if there are issues, they are brought to her. One of the best ways to address incivility in the workplace is to stop and speak up at the time of occurrence.

Workplace Civility

Most of the time, as nurses, we can respectfully handle manners by discussing issues that may arise. Some in the clinic are passive-aggressive with comments and situations in general. When this happens, I talk civilly to the person, explain my end of things, and try to work it out (Clark, 2015). I would say the biggest conflict we have is being so busy in the clinic, and some nurses think they get stuck doing the “dirty jobs” or working in the same tougher clinics. They tend to get grumpy and think the others are lazy or not doing enough out of frustration. We are always encouraged to speak up and ask for help like grown adults should because otherwise, how are people supposed to know that you are drowning in work? So, I would say that the place where I work is a civil place to be. Otherwise, I know our manager would do something about it because she has a low tolerance for disrespect.

Example of Incivility

            Incivility can occur in many ways, such as verbal and nonverbal abuse, aggression, and bullying. To begin with, the best way to handle incivility is to refrain from tolerating it and educate staff on examples of incivility and how to handle it if it arises (Kisner, 2018). The best example I know of incivility since being at the place I work at was when a new employee was hired to work in the clinic, and the current nurse working there was not receptive to whom they hired and the fact that they hired someone in general. She, in my opinion, treated her poorly, didn’t show her the ins and outs of the job, and had to where the new nurse did not even want to share the office with her. From my understanding, the manager we had at the time had a couple of talks with the established nurse, but the new nurse quit after the ordeal. Looking outside, I don’t believe it was handled appropriately because if it had been, I don’t believe the nurse would have quit.

Patient care and the professionalism of the team as a whole can be jeopardized by a culture of disrespect. Bullying, passive-aggression, and other forms of passive-aggressive behavior are all examples of incivility. Establishments can combat rudeness by implementing a zero-tolerance policy and providing training in techniques like cognitive rehearsal, simulation, and mixed-intervention (Kisner, 2018, p. 24).

However, between 30 and 50 percent of new nurses will quit the field during the first three years of their employment, contributing to the nationwide shortage that the United States currently faces. The annual cost of workplace incivility is estimated to be $24 billion. All types of rude behavior result in unhealthy interactions between coworkers, which has been related to more turnover and poorer patient care (Kisner, 2018, p. 24).

In a Meta-analyses by (Wax et al., 2022) it is shown that negative workplace gossip is linked to more negative effects for individuals, relationships, and the workplace as a whole than positive gossip. Also, our results show that people who are the subject of negative gossip have worse job attitudes, emotional states, and relationships with coworkers than people who send or receive gossip. Unexpectedly, the results also show that people who send or receive negative talk may also have very bad experiences at work. In fact, the data showed that gossip participants’ well-being, engagement/performance, supervisor relationships, and organizational outcomes were all worse than those of their targets, although the direction of causality for these relationships has not yet been proven. Overall, our data show that organizations and managers should see negative workplace gossip as a threat to the health of the organization as a whole. On the other hand, positive rumors can be used to help the group (Wax et al., 2022).

All leadership should ensure that they are putting a stop to gossip as soon as it starts. And stopping the destruction that it can cause for the company (Broome & Marshall, 2021). In many situations, the best way to stop incivility is to say something about it when it happens (Clark, 2015).

Workplace incivility is an issue in any workplace, especially healthcare. Armstrong (2018) discusses incivility and states “It has the potential to cause emotional and physical distress in victims and potentially affects the quality of care provided”. Leaders must act quickly if they suspect someone is acting in a malicious or disrespectful manner as it can lead to workplace fatigue and create a high turnover rate. Most people that deal with this in the workplace don’t enjoy coming to work and it reflects in their work performance. This can obviously be detrimental in a healthcare setting.

After reviewing and scoring my workplace with the Clark Healthy Workplace Inventory in the Clark (2015) article I have found that my workplace is barely healthy, scoring a 67. I don’t feel like the morale of the employees has anything to do with this score. We all work well as a team and rarely have conflicts. The problem is more so with our leadership team and the lack of support we are offered. I work in a small rural hospital that is hard to staff so you would think they wouldn’t make us feel replaceable, but they do. We are understaffed and most of the time we are made to feel like we are complaining for no reason. Instead of trying to fix the issue we are told all hospitals are run this way and to basically just deal with it.

I experienced workplace incivility at my last place of employment. The Director of Nursing displayed the worst leadership style I have ever encountered. She would directly call anyone out for anything possible in front of peers. She would also discuss personal issues about team members with staff that had nothing to do with the situation. One situation, in particular, was when she informed me that one of the other nurses was telling everyone that I was working too slowly. The DON did tell me that she reviewed all of our patients for the day and that we all had the same amount, so she didn’t feel it was true therefore she didn’t approach me right away. It wasn’t until she had a personal issue with this staff member that she told me in front of other nurses. Broome & Marshall (2021) stated that “as a mentor, it is critical to develop a relationship that facilitates trust”. This director did not foster trust in any of her relationships with staff acting this way. She belittled employees in front of peers and patients all the time. This created a huge dent in the workplace dynamic and culture and ultimately the reason I left.

A healthy work environment includes authentic leadership, open communication, effective decision-making, meaningful recognition, and appropriate staffing.   After completing the Clark Healthy Workplace Inventory Questionnaire, my workplace scored forty-two, which is very unhealthy.   The results would have differed if this assessment had been performed six months ago.   However, with the current staffing and the little to no support from the administration, the work environment has transformed from civil to uncivil (Broome & Marshall, 2021; Clark, 2015).

The uncivil of the workplace comes majority from the current staffing of the emergency department (ED).   Adequate staffing is vital for a civil and healthy workplace.   My workplace is a rural hospital with a twelve-bed and three-trauma room ED.   We are supposed to be staffed with four nurses per shift.   We see a patient load of fifty to seventy patients per day.   Currently, we are the only staff with two nurses per shift.   There is no outreach of support from the administration, and when help is requested by staff, the request goes unanswered.   The ED went from twelve full-time staff nurses to five in the last eight weeks due to the organization not providing competitive salaries, benefits, or rewards. This is what created the current short-staffing problem of the ED.   I want to note that the only thing keeping the remaining five full-time nurses from leaving is contract obligation, childcare needs, and for myself being thirty-two weeks pregnant (Clark,2018).

Incivility in the Workplace

I am currently experiencing incivility in the workplace with the current staffing of the ED.   My coworkers and I address this by following the chain of command, effectively reporting and documenting the issues to the administration, and acting within our scope of practice to protect our nursing license.   The administration is addressing the problem by offering an incentive pay policy.   This policy gives nurses in ED five additional dollars an hour for working short shifts.   However, any pro re nata (PRN) nursing staff gets five additional dollars for any shift.   In contrast, the full-time staff only get the incentive pay for picking up extra shifts outside of the mandatory shifts, no matter if they work short-staffed on their mandatory shifts.   This policy has yet to be successful (Clark, 2015).

Description of Results

Culture is crucial in a workplace, the culture in a workplace involves the values, knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes that are shared within the group of people in the organization. The success of a workplace all comes down to the culture to give its purpose and its focus (Broome & Marshall, 2021). The results of the Clark healthy workplace for my work environment was 82, which falls in the moderately healthy category. I believe that my workplace is civil. My coworkers work very well with one another and communicate well with one another. We have a very low turnover rate and support each other in our personal and professional lives. At times I do feel like my workplace is too close. Work environments that communicate well with one another and manage conflicts in a healthy way are more civil. An organizations culture determines retention, communication, work environment, job satisfaction, and recruitment (Clark, 2015).

Situation of Incivility

I do feel that my workplace does not have resources or opportunities for professional growth and development. In the peri-operative department we have three permanent charge nurses. To get this position you must be trained to be a relief charge first and have some seniority in the department. There was a position open for one of these positions at the beginning of last year and I applied for it as well as two other nurses in the department. I had the most experience out of the three that applied and was strongly encouraged to apply by my manager. I ended up not getting the position and I feel like it was unfair because it was more of a popularity contest. The nurses who were on the panel that made the decision happened to be close friends with the nurse who got the position. The whole process of choosing was done very poorly in my opinion and very unprofessional. This is one of the reasons I decided to pursue my nurse practitioner when I did. I have always wanted to go back for my nurse practitioner, but this instance pushed me to do it sooner. When I told my manager I was going back to school she supported me eventually, but she took it very personal and was very unprofessional when I first told her. This instance changed my mind set about upper management and helped me to realize that I want more than just that position eventually. I want to keep learning and developing my skills. I do believe everything happens for a reason and am very thankful I have chosen this path.

Conclusion

The nursing profession has changed drastically in the last ten years that I have been a nurse. The number of patients with multiple comorbidities has increased as well as the number of sick patients to nurse ratio. When I first started nursing, floor nurses only had four patients to take care of at night. Now nurses are expected to take up to six patients a night and the charge nurses on the floors have only been in the profession for two years. Stress levels in nurses have increased as well as the amount of burnout they face. New graduate nurses are leaving the profession after six months due to high stress levels and because they do not feel supported. Newer nurses are getting bullied by older nurses and this has led to sentinel events and unsafe working environments. Nurse leaders play a big part in the environment of their teams and need to address incivility in their workplaces (Clark et al., 2011). Nurse leaders need to promote communication, define roles and expectations, and create a workplace that uplifts new graduate nurses.

Introduction

            The success of any organization is adversely affected by a lack of civility in the workplace. Toxicity in the workplace has become more prevalent, and many employees have come to accept toxic behaviors as the standard and have waved the white flag, surrendering, and believing there is nothing that can be done about disrespect, gossip, bullying, poor communication, and cultural insensitivity, to name a few in some working environment. Incivility in the healthcare industry can result in hazardous working conditions, subpar patient care, and higher medical costs (Clark et al., 2011). For safe workplace environments, leaders must seek to foster a culture of respect and adopt a zero-tolerance policy (Broome & Marshall, 2021). An organization’s culture can go from positive to toxic with just a few unproductive personnel, and while some individuals welcome and entertain these behaviors, improved healthcare outcomes, an outstanding patient experience, and a better working environment for employees and patients will result from upholding respect, decorum, and a healthy work environment. More than ever, workplace etiquette is essential because it encourages employees to perform at their highest level. As a result, businesses can grow by maintaining a stable work environment, which positively affects employee productivity and loyalty.

Work Environment Assessment

Before completing Clark’s healthy workplace assessment, I would be open to say I worked in a moderately healthy workplace environment; however, after completing the assessment with a score of 57, it revealed that I work in a barely healthy workplace environment which would suggest that my working environment is uncivil. The outcome is a consequence of a lack of and poor communication between employees and supervisors, which causes high turnover and more stress and dissatisfaction. The inability of the organization to treat staff as an asset to the facility rather than a liability and the lack of recognition and equity among staff are two additional reasons for working in an uncivil environment. These factors can sometimes make staff members feel underappreciated and uncelebrated, which lowers their morale and confidence. Organizations must make deliberate efforts to construct systems and cultures that will improve employee satisfaction and organizational performance to create a positive work environment (Owolabi, 2022). The lack of cultural sensitivity, racial biases, and inequality are among my organization’s deficiencies. Not striking a balance among all members of the team will result in further inefficiencies and inadequacy among the team.

Workplace Incivility

I remember working with a physician in the ICU whom I called attention to a patient with an abnormal heart rhythm. After interpreting the patient’s arrhythmias and having her re-evaluate the patient’s EKG strips, she dismissed my claims with a loud outburst and was condescending, disrespectful, and rude. I initially felt embarrassed as it was done openly amongst other staff and passersby relatives. In the initial encounter, I did not say anything to her; however, at the end of my shift, I pulled her aside, and I told her that instead of making the event a teachable one, she made me feel disrespected, embarrassed, and not wanting to approach her in the future. Her response was dismissive with no remorse, so I eventually did a Midas report on the situation and emailed my manager and other senior supervisors about the event.

After a few weeks, I heard nothing about what had transpired. I expressed my dissatisfaction in a letter to my manager, who assured me it was being handled and a detailed investigation was being conducted. A few months passed, and her contract was not renewed; she had openly stated that the organization was not interested in continuing her contract because nurses reported her as a bully and not facilitating learning among staff in the critical unit. She attempted to apologize to me before leaving the organization, but I was already over it by then and did not entertain her gesture.

Conclusion

Bullying, gossiping, disrespect, rudeness, and mockery should not be in the workplace. The level of incivility that is being tolerated should be dismissed and should never go unnoticed. By setting and upholding respect standards, training employees to have uncomfortable conversations, and emphasizing the importance of rest and recuperation, employers can prepare their staff to deal with inappropriate behavior (Advisory Board, 2022). Staff should try to change things, especially considering the increased stress brought on by staff shortages and burnout in the healthcare industry. Research has shown that working in a civil setting makes us more creative, helpful, cheerful, and healthier. Whether at work, school, home, online, or in our communities, we can all improve our working environments by being more attentive and acting to uplift others around us.

Upon completing the Clark Healthy Workplace Inventory Questionnaire, my hospital achieved a score of 76, indicating a Moderately Healthy workplace. While most categories garnered high scores, career advancement emerged as an area for development. To build a healthy organization, it is essential to foster shared values, organizational visions, creativity, good teamwork, and good leadership (Clark, 2015). Furthermore, promoting civility in the workplace can help to reduce negative behaviors and enhance overall positivity.

I personally put in great effort to develop my skills and seek opportunities for growth and advancement in the organization. Despite encountering resistance and indifference from my superiors, I decided to apply for an available position within my unit but was ultimately passed over for the promotion. My supervisor cited my pursuit of a Masters in Nursing Education as a potential reason for leaving the organization for a better-paying job. This action was viewed as unprofessional by me, and I decided to enroll in a Master’s program to become a Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) to further my education and career growth.

I was determined to not let the setback of not getting the promotion discourage me. I knew that furthering my education was crucial for my career growth and development (Clark, 2018). Eventually my enrolment in an FNP program would expand my skillset and knowledge base. The program was challenging, but I am holding on as I am looking forward to become a fully licensed Family Nurse Practitioner.

As a current student in a Masters of Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) program, I am keenly aware of the challenges that lie ahead in pursuing a career in this field. While I am excited about the prospect of becoming an FNP and providing care to patients in need, I am also aware of the competitive job market that exists for newly trained FNPs.

Despite the increasing demand for healthcare providers in the United States, many hospitals and clinics seem to prioritize hiring experienced FNPs over investing in the training of new ones. This trend can be disheartening for aspiring FNPs like myself who are seeking opportunities for career advancement and professional development.

I believe that organizations have a responsibility to invest in their employees and support their growth and development. By providing opportunities for training, mentorship, and career advancement, organizations can help attract and retain top talent in the field of nursing and improve the overall quality of care for patients.

While the job market for new FNPs may be challenging, I remain committed to pursuing my career goals and making a positive impact in the lives of my patients. With dedication and hard work, I am confident that I can overcome the obstacles that lie ahead and achieve success as an FNP.

In conclusion, my personal experience has taught me that career advancement is essential for a healthy work environment. Organizations should prioritize employee development and provide opportunities for growth and advancement. It not only benefits the employees but also benefits the organization as a whole by creating a positive and supportive work culture (Clark et al., 2011).

Findings

When I filled out the Clark Workplace Inventory, my workplace scored a 77, Mildly healthy according to the Clark guidelines (Clark, 2015). I was surprised to find the health level as low as it shows. I do agree that the level of respect fostered in our company could be higher. Our management does meet most of the definitions of respect put forth in Broome and Marshall (2021), but there is still room for improvement. Uniformity of outcomes and adherence to the workflow protocols sometimes overrides the “value of uniqueness” (Broome & Marshall, 2021). However, I would not say that this rises to the level of incivility.  Incivility can have a more significant impact on healthcare than just on providers’ attitudes. Incivility can cause self-doubt, leading to adverse patient outcomes (Clark, 2018).

Incivility in the Workplace

The most incivility that I have been subject to in my career was from a supervisor in home health. While working as the clinical supervisor, I received a call from a field clinician to ask for advice on patient treatment. I walked her through the treatment and went on about my other duties. Later that day, I received a phone call from our regional manager, who started the call by denigrating my education, questioning my competence, and threatening my job. All this before I was able to say much more than my name. After I could ask what the problem was, I was informed that the patient from earlier had called in a complaint about the fact that the field nurse needed to be walked through the treatment. I calmly informed the manager that the policy manual was followed and that he had signed off on the policy. I assured him that I would hold training for the field staff on that procedure on our next scheduled training day. It was hard to hold my tongue and not bite back during the interchange, but someone had to be professional. I later received a call from the district supervisor with an apology.

Conclusion

Experiencing incivility has a negative impact on a nurse’s ability to care for their patients (Alquwez, 2020). If the nurse does not feel safe in their environment, they will be unable to ensure the safety of those entrusted to them. My background has given me the ability to deflect and diffuse a volatile situation and have it not affect the work that I am engaged in. It does, however, affect my actions and attitudes when I am out of that situation. Proper training and practice in dealing with incivility can help mitigate the negative effects on the nurse (Clark, 2018). Good leadership can change the culture in the organization and its culture making incivility unwelcome and less prevalent (Broome & Marshall, 2021).

Work Environment Assessment

Healthcare workplace cultures have an essential impact on an organization’s ability to retain staff.  The American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) has five connected components to the culture of excellence in their Magnet Model: transformational leadership, structural empowerment, exemplary practice, new knowledge, innovation, and improvements, and, finally, empirical outcomes (Broome & Marshall, 2021). Incivility in the workplace threatens many aspects of this model and, if unchecked, creates an environment that is not conducive to a team-like environment. According to the Workplace Assessment Tool (Clark, 2015), my workplace is neutral. There are areas in dire need of improvement, such as competitive pay and manageable workloads, and areas where they are doing well, such as sufficient advancement opportunities and an environment that promotes teamwork.

Incivility in the Workplace

I have experienced many cases of incivility in the workplace. The first place I worked as a nurse was highly toxic. I worked as a tech while waiting for boards and helping a nurse with vitals. She got a drastically different temp than what I had and yelled at me in front of several staff about how I did not know what I was doing. As it turns out, there was an equipment issue, and the thermometer she had used was supposed to have been pulled and sent to Biomed for calibration. She used the equipment that was tagged for repair anyway. She never apologized; I only interacted with her when necessary until I left. Management sat us both down and never provided any resolution or discipline.

Kisner (2018) states that when conflicts of this nature arise, mediated conversations may be necessary to repair the relationship. These are known as crucial conversations, and this approach states that both sides present their side of the story, all facts are presented one at a time, and a solution is jointly reached (Kisner, 2018). My current workplace utilizes this method, and it has been helpful in repairing working relationships and moving forward with retaining the team environment.

Conclusion

Workplace incivility has a detrimental effect on the health of individuals, impacting various aspects of health, such as cardiac, gastrointestinal, mental, and emotional (Kisner, 2018). It is one reason many nurses leave the profession, and it is preventable by creating a positive organizational culture that does not tolerate incivility. Culture shifts can take time to make, but they are worth it for the health of your staff, the retention of staff, and even the organization’s financial health.

Workplace Environment Assessment
Every organization seeks to perform exceptionally in its field of specialization. As such, it is every employer’s dream to have the best performing human resource at their disposal. However, this is not always the case in every workplace. When employees are comfortable, there is the requisite optimal productivity, which translates to desirable organizational performance. Conversely, when the workplace environment is not conducive for the workers, performance is significantly affected. In this paper, we shall use Clark’s Workplace Inventory Assessment tool to examine the score of quality of my workplace environment regarding physical, social, psychological, and organizational health.
The results from the analysis indicated a score of 75 out of the possible 100, which is marked within the ‘moderately healthy’ position. Physical, psychological, and organizational health assessments registered commendable outcomes, whereas, there were notably pertinent concerns regarding the workplace environment’s social health. Most of the employees felt that they were sidelined and their opinions disregarded in the decision to implement the new language policy that has been viewed by many to undermine the employees’ privacy privileges.
According to the feedback I obtained from my colleagues, the entire human resource body could not make sense of the new language policy since the teams’ have upheld professionalism in all official commitments and the results of their performances are consistent and exemplary. Most of the maintained that it was uncivilized to formulate and implement such a controversial policy without seeking employees’ input. According to Muliira et al., (2017), such actions by the management demoralizes employees and could negatively impact staff turnover and retention.
In the article, Fostering Healthy Work Environments, Clark, C. M. (2016) provides a considerably comprehensive insight into how to create and maintain a healthy workplace environment. Her ideologies could be instrumental to bolster the fairly well-performing aspects, while also improving the poorly scoring attributes like social health and civility on the leadership side.

Assessment Findings

Based on the test provided by Clark (2015), my current workplace lands in the “mildly healthy” category with a total of 75 points. This makes sense in the context of my workplace. On my unit specifically, I think we do a great job of speaking to one another respectfully, but recognition is one thing that is lacking. There are certain people who have different communication styles than I do, and it’s taken me a while to learn how to communicate effectively with these individuals. At first, I would take things personally, but as I’ve grown both in my career and as an individual, I’ve learned that not everything is meant to be taken personally.

Incivility and Bullying in the Workplace

Unfortunately, I, as well as many other nurses, have experienced incivility in the workplace. Incivility is described as “rude or disruptive behaviors that often result in psychological or physiological distress for the people involved…” (Griffin & Clark, 2014). This sometimes can progress to bullying, most often with new nurses or nursing students on units (Clark, et al, 2011). We’ve all heard the saying that “nurses eat their young.” I believe this saying has come from decades of nurses bullying or otherwise harassing new graduates. Luckily though, I have seen this being phased out. Many newer preceptors and teachers have taken over and come from a place of wanting to educate rather than wanting others to conform.

I have had a few experiences of incivility in the workplace. Without going into too much detail, I was physically assaulted by another nurse while orienting to a unit. I was not a new nurse, just new to the unit. This was very troubling for me, and honestly still is to this day. I brought it up to my manager and was told I would no longer work alongside this individual. No corrective action was taken. This played a part in my leaving the position and moving away.

Incivility should be taken seriously, before it gets to the point of bullying and assault. Because we work such high stress jobs, it is imperative that we are able to depend on our team to be professional and cooperative.

Assessment Findings

My workplace Mildly healthy with a score of 70 on the Work Environment Assessment Template. The workplace has good camaraderie, but employees are often overworked and put in dangerous siturations to increase company profitability. The organization provides support for professional growth, but there is a disconnect between employees and management (Clark, 2015). I suggest mandatory time for managers to work on the unit and a monthly meeting for core unit staff to voice questions and concerns to improve communication and bridge the gap between employees and management. It is crucial for nurse leaders and managers to prioritize creating a healthy work environment and make employyee well-being a top priority, even in the face of financial pressures (Brito, 2020).

Incivility in the Workplace

Just recently staffing ratios were tight in my acute inpatient general adult psychiatric unit. With a full census of 24 patients 3 of them were 1:1 at all times. We had 4 Behavioral Health Associates (BHAs) 3 automatically gone to 1:1’s and the remaining on safety checks. That left the unit vulnerable to aggressive unstable patients. I was the charge nurse working with a new nurse who was still unable to sign into the medication dispense system. I asked for another med nurse and asked for relief from the geriatric unit which has 10 patients and 3 nurses. The nurse was unwilling to float to our more acute unit and was allow to go home sick. We were left in a tough situation where I was the more experienced nurse in the med room dispensing medication and not being utilized as charge nurse who now had to be a new grad with no experience. I would have liked to see more support by management with reprocussions to the other nurse for insubordination for walking out on an assignement and if that was allowed nurse managers needed to step up and make the unit safe. And provide a more supportive environemtn for health and healing for the patients (Clark et al., 2011).

As a leader our leadership can have a direct influence within the organization itself.    The culture of an organization is what I consider to be the most important feature or aspect of an organization, especially a successful one (Broome & Marshall, 2021).  As a travel RN, moving from city and organization to organization, I based my survey scores on my current assignment.

The results of my work environment assessment weighed in at a 73.  Which as we can see reveals that my current workplace environment is an extremely healthy one.  Based on this high score, the organization ranks high in includability and work at a highly civil level.  The workplace is civil, coworkers include everyone, as does management.  Their level of teamwork at all levels of the organization is outstanding.

Situation of Incivility 

As a nurse and a working professional, I pride myself in working as a team.  Especially when faced with life and death situation, it is important to know that other have my back.  Knowing and being confident that I can depend on my co-workers to act and work as a team in any and every situation is of utmost importance.  Through my years as a travel nurse, I have been at both ends of this spectrum.

In my current assignment I have only seen one example of uncivil behavior.  The scenario was simply a nurse refusing to take a new assignment.  Yes she had had two postpartum patients that consisted of couplet care.  So, her patient load was 4 patients total.  When census changed and she was needed to return to L&D due to an influx of laboring patients and needing to hand off her 2 couplet care patients to another nurse, she refused to take another patient.  She provided useless reasons for why she shouldn’t have to take a new patient load and refused to have to work in both departments in one day.

As you can imagine, this was the most childlike and unprofessional behavior to have.  When working in a unit, you are a part of a team.  All team members must work together no matter how small or large your patient load is.  There was no reason for her to behave in this manner, and she was reprimanded by managerial staff at the end of her shift.

Conclusion 

Providing a safe work environment where civility is a required asset of the units members is what must be done and expected to provide proper care of our patients (Clark, 2018).  We are bound and obligated by our Hippocratic oath to carry out this behavior.  When incivility is mismanaged or blatantly ignored dangerous satiations in the workplace occur.  These situations can include direct patient care or harm, nurse harm, or both.

As with the situation mentioned above, while I could see the level of unprofessionalism being displayed, I did not react to it.  Upper management stepped in and as a team player I offered my assistance in any form or fashion to help in the resolution of the conflict at hand.

While working on the Clark Healthy Workplace Inventory, I had to really stop and think about my answers. While I wanted our report to be good, in actuality the report did not fare well. The facility in which I work in scored a total of 42 which by grading standards is considered very unhealthy. Within the facility I work in, there is a lot of bad culture floating around and that is because all the staff that have been within the facility for extended periods have always been allowed to act the way they do. This type of culture is detrimental to a growing facility and while we may look good on the outside, once inside we see the flaws. Of course not everything or everyone is flawed within the system, otherwise I honestly would have left already, however it becomes a constant battle to try and win. In an article I found by Kisner (2018) she says, “When senior nurses role-model workplace incivility to novice nurses in the workplace, those behaviors are perpetuated and become the social norm. This is particularly alarming because a culture of incivility undermines patient safety as well as professional teamwork” (para. 5). While this particular statement is regarding senior nurses, I feel this also contributes to administration as well. This is the type of behavior I see within the facility often. I would say we are more uncivil than civil within our facility because staff are allowed to speak to other staff and even patients in ways that create tension and hostility. The culture within the facility is that anyone that has been a part of the facility for a long time standing can act and do as they please.

My own personal incivility encounter is with a nurse practitioner/certified nurse midwife within the clinic I work. This provider has been allowed to be rude, harsh, abrasive, and condescending to clinical staff numerous times. When she first came into the facility, she seemed very nice and fun to work with. As time continued, within 3-4 months her attitude quickly changed. Her nurse that was initially hired with her, quit because she could take being verbally abused any longer. I had gone to my administration staff on multiple occasions due to her coming to me, yelling aggressively, pointing her finger at me and telling me what I was going to do with her patient even though I am not her nurse and was in the midst of working with my provider. While I have zero issues helping and stepping up when needed, being asked to do so goes much better than pointing  your finger in my face and telling me what I am going to do. I brought this incident up to my admin staff who stated they would take care of it. I do not believe anything came of it due to never hearing from the provider with a simple apology.  I have always given the provider respect and used a calm voice while talking with the provider. According to Clark (2019) when we use respectful voices and tones, we speak with confidence and are prepared, we can confront incivility and hopefully put an end to it. Again, I do not believe that the incivility that I encountered and quite honestly continue to encounter ever gets taken care of truly because the culture within the facility is lacking and poor. I also believe that because the facility is a rural facility and admin has had a hard enough time finding providers, especially in women’s health, they do not want to lose or fire a provider. According to Broome and Marshall (2021) that while there are a lot of stressors within the facilities, we cannot fully eliminate conflict. I agree with this, however, addressing conflicts to ensure they are discussed can help decrease not only conflict but stress. The stress incivility has on staff as well admin can be detrimental to growth and better culture.

Introduction

The Clark Healthy Workplace Inventory is a tool that measures how well an organization’s work environment supports employee well-being. Developed by Dr. Sharon Clarke, it consists of 20 statements that assess aspects of a healthy workplace (Clark, 2015). It has been used globally and is valuable for employers prioritizing employee health and productivity. After completing the Clark Healthy Workplace Inventory assessment, my workplace scored a 78. According to Clark (2015), 78 is considered Moderately Healthy. Most statements scored in the completely true and somewhat true category; however, it is evident that communication, mentoring, and achievements are not strong suits. However, I still need to represent the civility of my place of work fully. For an organization to be healthy, it must have a standard set of values and visions shared among its members. Creativity, effective teamwork, and strong leadership are also essential (Clark, 2015). I highly recommend my organization to anyone in the medical career, as it represents all those and much more.

Incivility Experience

Incivility in healthcare can lead to unsafe working conditions, poor patient care, and increased medical costs (Clarke et al., 2011). When I think of workplace incivility, one incident comes to mind. I work at a small, rural family health clinic in Kansas with four physicians and three nurse practitioners. Each provider has a nurse; some have medical scribes and one nurse manager. You see, what I did not mention was any PRN nurses, CNAs, or CMAs. Without proper staffing, there is no backup help when a nurse is gone. Roughly one year ago, we had an incident where a nurse put in vacation time nine months prior and let out nurse manager, who oversees covering, know. Unfortunately, the nurse manager did not show much care, and no coverage was applied. When the time came for the nurse to take a vacation, I was told I would be covering for that provider, a different provider than I worked for. Lack of communication, preparedness, and laissez-faire leadership lead to staffing shortages, increased patient wait time, and decreased overall patient care. My provider told me I would not be pulled to cover for a different provider as that was not my responsibility. I am a very hardworking nurse and have no issue helping anyone out. The incivility comes from the nurse manager expressing little concern for patients, nurses, and providers. Ultimately, the nurse manager was told that she would be covering since she was not responsible enough to coordinate coverage.

Work Civility

As stated previously, in the Clark Healthy Workplace Inventory, a workplace with a score of 78 is considered civil, where employees are treated with respect and dignity and without tolerance for harassment or discrimination. My workplace is polite. Aside from the above scenario, my workplace fosters a sense of belonging, engagement, and overall well-being among its employees. There is always room for better communication. Though we scored lower on the assessment, it promotes open communication, collaboration, and teamwork, which are essential for a positive work environment. By creating a civil workplace, our organizations can improve employee morale, productivity, and retention, ultimately leading to increased profitability and success. In addition, my workplace also encourages creativity and innovation by providing employees with a safe environment to express their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation. It also promotes a healthy work-life balance that reduces stress and improves job satisfaction, as employees feel valued and respected and that their personal lives are meaningful. Broome and Marshall (2021) suggest that leaders must cultivate a respectful culture and adopt a zero-tolerance policy towards unsafe work environments. Our workplace strives to adapt better to a zero-tolerance policy.

Skilled communication, collaboration, effective decision-making, appropriate staffing, recognition, and authentic leadership are standards needed to create a healthy work environment (Clark, 2015). When employees receive these standards from management, they have more apperception for their job, and it increases patient good outcomes. Incivility in the workplace can cause workplace violence, and dangerous occupations (Clark, 2011). The purpose of this discussion post is to discuss healthy workplace environments how my workplace is civil or not civil, and a situation where I have experienced incivility in the workplace.

Work Environment Assessment

Based off my results of the Work Environment Assessment, my workplace is mildly healthy. Some of the areas that my workplace scored lower in are, Employees are viewed as assets and valued partners within the organization, I scored this statement lower because as of lately, it can feel like we are just a number as employees and can be easily replaced. Another area that scored low is, There is an emphasis on employee wellness and self-care, at times it can feel like leadership cares more about whether a shift is fully staffed or not then the well-being of our nurses. An area that scored high is, The organization provides competitive salaries, benefits, compensations, and other rewards, my organization offers great salaries compared to surrounding hospitals and large bonuses for extra shifts worked. I feel that for the most part my work place is civil, and the areas that scored lower are mostly due to current nursing shortages. The workplace environment and culture is important aspects of health and behavior (Broome & Marshall, 2021).

 Incivility in the Workplace

One time that my leadership acted uncivil towards me was, when I switched to PRN at my work because I had started school, I noticed I was always the one sent home early if there was low volume, even if other employees volunteered to go. I approached my managed about this, and she responded, “I care more about my full-time employees getting their hours then I do my PRN, you choose to go PRN, your hours are not guaranteed”. If I am being sent home due to a policy or procedure for order of people being sent home that is fine, I was just looking for a reasoning. After this conversation, my manager realized how she came off and apologized for the interaction and explained to me what the policies are for low volume.

Conclusion

To create a healthy work environment we must respect and take care of ourselves and respect and take care of others (Munro & Hope, 2020). Two areas I think my workplace can work on is treating employee as assets to the organization and putting an emphasis on employee health and well-being. One area that scored high for my employer is, they offer competitive wages and bonuses.

Workplace Environment Assessment

Incivility in healthcare can lead to unsafe working conditions, poor patient care, and increased medical costs (Clark et al., 2011). Following the conventions of formal etiquette and conducting oneself with decorum, such as by showing care for others, are examples of being courteous. Nursing can be dangerous because nurses are frequently more victims of workplace crime than other healthcare professionals. Increasing workloads, a more complex patient population, and deteriorating bedside interpersonal relationships all contribute to professional stress, one of the leading causes of workplace violence. A company’s culture may also normalize or promote rude and disruptive behavior, leading to increased stress, physical and mental suffering, job discontent, poor performance, and plans to leave the company. The objectives of this discussion post are to summarize the results of my evaluation, explain whether my workplace is civil, and describe an incidence of incivility I experienced and how it was addressed.

Work Environment Assessment

To assess the health of my workplace, I completed the Clark Healthy Workplace Inventory, which asked me to rate 20 items on a scale of 1 to 5, with one denoting utterly incorrect, three neutral, and five denoting absolutely true. The responses that most accurately reflect my opinion of my job showed that 12 of the 20 assertions received scores of 4, 8 of those statements had scores of 3, and one statement received a score of 2. According to the Clark Healthy Workplace Inventory’s result key, there are five different potential scores: 90 to 100 denotes a very healthy workplace; 80 to 89, moderately healthy; 70 to 79, mildly healthy; 60 to 69, barely healthy; 50 to 59, unhealthy; and less than 50, very unhealthy (Clark et al., 2011). According to the Clark Workplace Inventory, a score of 70 indicates that I thought my workplace was mildly courteous or mildly healthy.

Civility of Workplace

I have confidence in the company and high expectations of them because they have vowed to be committed to worker wellbeing, patient-centered care, community spirit, self-advancement, diversity and inclusivity, and non-tolerance of workplace violence, which is exemplified by their guiding principles, their purpose, goals, and values, as well as their future aims. I was surprised to see the score reflect a moderately civil result. They claim numerous prospects for professional growth and promotion, but they scored low marks, which astounded me. Although incivility is not new, its types and frequency are increasing and have become severe. Nurse managers seldom address these issues, primarily because the organizational culture is not continuously assessed, and no steps are taken to improve its culture of incivility. They will tell you that you need proof from other staff before they can do anything. Disruptive behavior is also on the rise and frequently ignored in the industry. Employees occasionally feel undervalued and disrespected, which increases employee satisfaction. Individual leaders and staff behavior have also caused moderate to severe problems, including a breakdown in communication and a lack of transparency (Clark et al., 2011).

The employer has imposed upon its staff manual on-call hours that have robbed staff of their time with their families, from mental and physical rejuvenation and workplace stress. Sometimes the nurse lead shows favoritism among staff members and seems to be drawn more to charismatic individuals because they are likable, exude unwavering confidence in their arguments, and can captivate others with their magnetic personalities and charm. Introverts who prefer to focus on their inner thoughts and ideas rather than what is happening outside of themselves sometimes miss out on promotion possibilities despite having substantial experience and knowledge. Introverts rarely have the same opportunities as extroverts because of the fierce and often cut-throat competition. The option to progress will be offered to a newly graduated nurse who is more outgoing and charming than seasoned workers. There is substantial employee discontent, low engagement, and declining staff morale. Both understaffing and significant employee turnover are present. Some leaders in the organization lack cultural competence, and I have seen this play out for staff and patients of different backgrounds. The staff of different cultures is oriented differently and given less information. The organization’s procedure will dictate how the explicit information is provided; however, this distinction becomes more apparent when transmitting strategic knowledge gained via expertise, observation, and experience. According to Clark (2015), nurses and other healthcare professionals sometimes fail to speak politely and compassionately to patients and colleagues, which is true at my healthcare organization. Incivility is an unpleasant and disrespectful behavior less severe than bullying and aggressiveness but may still be destructive because it impacts individuals and businesses (Cates, 2021).

However, managing stress, regulating emotions, and behaving appropriately in social situations are essential to providing safe patient care. Interactions to create a civic culture can affect employees’ capacity to carry out their duties successfully, their dedication to the company, and, most importantly, their ability to give safe, high-quality patient care. Practice and education must work together to create this culture (Clark et al., 2011). Procedures and standards must encourage decorum, be generally adhered to, and provide quantifiable outcomes. Conscious leadership, professionalism, cooperation, teamwork, and ethics are also required. Daily routines should incorporate stress management and self-care techniques.

Incivility Experienced in Workplace

I witnessed a nurse getting irritated with a patient from a different background who spoke a foreign language. The patient requested to leave against medical advice (AMA). The nurse did not hesitate to provide the form or educate the patient on the risks of leaving AMA. I entered the patient’s room and attempted to figure out why she requested the AMA form. The patient stated that she requested not to be given intravenous morphine since it gave her a strange feeling in her head and that she preferred solely oral pain medicines for her discomfort.  The nurse did not utilize the translator because she assumed that she understood what the patient was saying and thought it meant that the patient did not want any pain medication. This caused the patient not to be given pain medicine, which caused greater agony and drove the patient to want to leave. The patient reported this to the leader, but no further action was taken.

Conclusion

Examining the workplace’s environmental features reveals how supportive it is of exceptional employee well-being, both in terms of a healthier and happier workforce and the general condition of the workplace. Once this is known, it is possible to identify the issues and develop a plan of action to solve them. An assessment of the working environment could reveal unforeseen expectations. One argument is that the healthcare industry has attempted to market its products and services as the best to recruit more clients and staff, but this may not accurately represent what was promoted. Assessments in the workplace might reveal a worker’s actual perspective based on their experiences, which can be upsetting and disheartening. Therefore, it is crucial to document instances of workplace rudeness so that comparisons may be drawn and the argument might be made more explicit. The fact that certain managers and other workers have been successful in fostering a hostile work environment because of their negative personality qualities is also notable. At the same time, many healthcare companies have worked hard to establish an atmosphere supporting productivity for staff and patients. Each worker is a representation of the hospital. Therefore, this is still detrimental to the workplace, and management should take all appropriate measures to rectify it.

Civility in nursing enhances work relationships and performance. People demonstrate civility in the workplace by maintaining mutual respect and standards for behaviors that promote a safe work environment. Healthcare organizations implement policies that direct employee conduct at work and establish actions taken when they display damaging behaviors (Hossny & Sabra, 2021). Incivility in nursing affects some personnel more than others. For instance, nurse graduates and female staff are more vulnerable than their experienced and male counterparts. From this perspective, excellent leaders should aspire to make the workplace civil and safe for all persons (Clark et al., 2011). The discussion post will describe civility in the workplace depending on my Work Environment Assessment findings. The post will also highlight a situation of incivility and how it was resolved.

The findings of the Work Environment Assessment revealed a total score of 99 out of 100. The outcomes confirm that the workplace is very healthy (Clark, 2015). The workplace culture of collaboration and transparent communication fosters the environment. The healthcare organization’s leadership emphasizes respect towards colleagues regardless of rank, patients, and other partners in care provision. As a result, the facility has enjoyed a long-term reputation for delivering quality healthcare. Besides, it is known as the best workplace by healthcare providers and professionals seeking employment. The facility has a history of retaining the workforce for a long time, which has contributed to its lasting performance and excellence in the field. The environment present at work plays a role in the cooperation between physicians and nurses. Thus, the professionals share responsibilities and participate in decision-making, which enhances improved patient care (Hossny & Sabra, 2021).

However, cases of incivility are inevitable in a diverse workforce because the staff has distinct beliefs and norms shaping their behavior and attitude towards others. An example of a case witnessed at work involved two interns. One of the interns was a male accused of harassing a female colleague. The accusations involved comments the victim alleged were ‘sexual’ because they were about her body size and shape. The incident was ugly because the two interns confronted each other without following the established policy. The Registered Nurse (RN) addressed the issue by summoning the two interns and explaining that the confrontation demonstrated incivility. The two interns and others enrolled in training to learn about the institution’s harassment policy to avoid repeating the scenario. Besides, the RN investigated the accusations and warned the offender (Bernardes et al., 2020).

Incivility at work has detrimental effects on employees and the healthcare organization. Leaders should ensure that the workplace culture and policies reinforce moral behaviors to avoid incivility. A civil environment promotes health and performance among healthcare providers, which translates to improved patient outcomes and excellence.

Post a brief description of your results from the StrengthsFinder assessment. Then, briefly describe two core values, two strengths, and two characteristics that you would like to strengthen based on the results of your StrengthsFinder assessment. Be specific. Note: Be sure to attach your Signature Theme Report to your Discussion post.

According to (Royal, 2019), “There are many implications for the use of the Strengths Finder in higher education, particularly across academic disciplines in which fields are influenced by norms, cultures, and values that both attract individuals to a field and socialize them to become functional members of the disciplinary community.” Upon taking the strengths finder assessment, my “top 5 signature themes”, were 1. Competition, 2. Activator, 3. Communication, 4. Consistency, and 5. Positivity. 

I have always considered myself a competitive person, so it would make the most sense to me that my #1 theme would be “competition.” I perform my best when I know that the goal of “winning” is at hand. Communication which was my #3 theme, has always been something that I’ve considered myself to “come by” quickly. Communication is essential to me as I feel that it is your #1 way of getting what needs to be done, done. According to (Finset et al., 2020), “Accurate and well-developed health communication can facilitate how societies handle uncertainty and fear, promote and accomplish adherence to necessary behavior change, and meet individuals’ fear and foster hope in the face of a crisis.” Communication had a significant impact on our world throughout the pandemic. Effective communication is essential to me, and I believe it to be one of my most potent strengths to have. My #2 theme was “Activator.” Although being an “activator” can be positive when making things happen and getting the task done, it can also be harmful in the form of patience. I will be the first to admit I grow impatient very quickly. It is something I try to practice as often as possible because it is essential, and I need to develop better at becoming.

Consistency was my #4 theme. I strive to “check the boxes” in my day-to-day living. I like having a consistent schedule and plan regarding how my routine goes. I hope to become more at ease when it comes to not everything always being consistent in my life. Consistency is great, but sometimes things don’t go as planned, and that’s okay—consistency and patience and what I want to grow to become more aware of. 

Overall I believe that all 5 of my themes were relevant to me as a person. I strive to grow better at having patience and not shutting down when consistency waivers. Self awareness is essential (Cooke, 2021), and this assessment revealed more about me than I knew about myself when it came to my strengths and I am happy to understand and it explore more about them.

Core Values

My two core values which is consistent with what the StrengthsFinder assessment revealed is communication and futuristic. I am always thinking about the future and what it has in store for me and my family. I like to plan ahead and be ready to change things to make our life better, hence going back to school to further my education. It is important to be forward thinking to look to the future and have a clear vision about the work you are doing (Broome & Marshall, 2021). A nurse leader that has a forward-thinking approach will not turn away from a problem but rather find ways to approach the problem (Broome & Marshall, 2021). Communication is key in any relationship or workplace. I find this to be a very important value for me. We need consistent communication in the emergency department amongst the staff in order to provide the best quality of care for the patients. The same holds true with home life. My husband has a very busy schedule, and we need to communicate often, so that we can plan our schedules accordingly for our children.

Strengths

Positivity is a strength of mine. I like to see the glass half full in most situations. I believe that if you see things in a negative way constantly, it is only causing you undue stress. I give praise to those that need it and I am quick to project my positive outlook onto others in order to brighten up their day. It can be as simple as telling someone when they did a good job at something. Positive reinforcement in a leadership role is important because it creates confidence in others (Broome & Marshall, 2021). My other strength is making people feel included. When you are working in a group, every member should feel included and feel like they are a part of the team. I accept everyone and do not cast judgments on people because I truly feel like putting up those walls would only make my life harder and more stressful. Many nurses can lead by inspiring and/or influencing. As a nurse leader, I would focus on inspiring others within my team to use their voices to empower them in making change (Collins, 2023). When I orient new nurses to our ER, I like to engage them in thinking for themselves. I ask them what their thoughts are on the patient’s care or how they would handle a certain situation. This helps them think on their own and makes them feel included in caring for the patients.

Characteristics to Strengthen

One characteristic that I think I could work on strengthening is the way I overthink things. My mind is constantly going and I am thinking about 20 different things at once. Some areas this could be good like when it comes to treating patients. I am consistently thinking of ways to help them or treatment options. When I have a critical patient in the ER, I constantly review their chart and care thinking of ways to help treat them. In my personal life, this may not be so good. The way I overthink things causes me some stress and difficulty sleeping at night. Another characteristic I could work on improving within myself is my confidence. I have been in a role as a nurse supervisor and continually questioned if I was doing a good job. I wanted my staff to feel like they could rely on me and I wanted their trust and respect. Nurse leaders can drive positive change in a workplace by admiration of their team and boosting morale (Bonatch, n.d.). This was always important to me. I wanted the morale of my department to always be good and sometimes it was quite difficult to keep it up.

Based on my StrengthsFinder results, my Signature Themes report outlined the top five areas where I excel are…

1. Belief
2. Harmony
3. Correctness
4. Consistency
5. Learner

If you want to make the most of the skills that have led to your triumphs, your “Signature Themes” are crucial. Success in life and work can be achieved through repeatable, near-perfect performance by honing in on your individual and combined Signature Themes.

Core Values

Two core values that strength Finder listed were belief and harmony. I am family-oriented, value responsibility, and believe in the high ethical value of myself and others. My entire life, especially as an adult, I have let my relationship with God guide my values and have always seen myself as a servant leader. It is very easy for me to put others’ well-being before my own. That is part of the reason I have always been successful in the healthcare field. I also try very hard to avoid conflict. Other options may be explored to ensure that working together as a team is easy.

Strengths

One of my strengths is correctness. It is described in the strength Finder as someone who believes we are all here to serve a purpose and nothing is a coincidence. I make sure every morning before I leave out of our house that we all pray and ask for guidance and to stay on the path that we should be on that day to help others. Following this plan makes my day less chaotic, and I can give all that needs to be given to my patients.

Another strength was being a learner. I have loved to learn new things throughout my entire life. This relates not only to my professional life but also my personal life. The more we know, the better we can share this knowledge with others. I was brought up that we never stop learning, and turning away from it would be foolish. Staff members look up to leaders who inspire and motivate them to do their best. When nurses are happy in their jobs, turnover rates go down, and retention rates go up (Robbins & Davidhizar, 2020).

Characteristics to Strengthen

One characteristic I would like to strengthen is the ability to set and maintain boundaries. As someone with a servant’s heart and letting my beliefs guide my life, I find myself having quite a difficulty telling others no. I take on more than I should a lot of the time. This leaves me feeling burned out, and I often need time off to recuperate. As I have gotten older, I have gotten better at telling others no or no at this moment. I just have to slow down and make sure I remind myself to do this on a daily basis.

Another strength I would like to improve would be trying to be something other than everybody’s problem solver. As someone that likes to live in harmony, I often see others dealing with problems and making them my own. I look for ways to assist them in managing the issue which puts more undue stress on me.

To be a leader, one must form lasting routines that benefit oneself and those around them (Broome & Marshall, 2021). To be the leader I know I need to be, I will spend a lifetime developing these skills and fine-tuning the strengths mentioned in the strength Finder assessment. Newer ideas stress the importance of the leader’s personality, working environment, and personnel quality in determining leadership effectiveness (Prezerakos, 2018).

Summary of my Report

The signature theme reports your top themes where one excels.  My top five were analytical, relator, consistency, futuristic, and deliberative.  I think the signature theme report accurately identifies my top strengths.  I am a very logical person who tries to remain fair and consistent.  Likewise, I also like to plan my tasks ahead of time by priority and enjoy being around close co-workers and friends.

Core Values

            While the signature theme report allows one to identify their strengths, it is also essential to work on your weaknesses. One of the execution competencies of becoming a successful leader is communication (Broome & Marshall, 2021). Therefore, one core value I would like to strengthen is communication.  According to my theme of the relator, I am very comfortable deepening relationships with people I already know, however, I need to work to become more comfortable in breaking the ice with newcomers. Another core value I would like to work on is empathy.  While I generally am a good listener, at times my relator and deliberative talent themes do not allow me to empathize as much as I would like.  Working on empathy and communication can help me become more emotionally intelligent which can help me become a more effective leader (Prezerakos, 2018).

Strengths

While trying to improve on weaknesses is essential to becoming a good leader, a leader must also identify their strengths and try and make them even stronger. One of the traits of an authentic leader is balanced information processing or in other words, being analytical (Broome & Marshall, 2021). While being analytical allows me to make logical conclusions and decision-making most of the time, at times it can be hard to separate emotions from decision-making.  I believe a strong leader must put emotions aside and rely on critical thinking and logical reasoning to form solutions. Similarly, another one of my greatest strengths that I would like to work on is consistency.  It is important that a leader treats everyone the same and does not show impartiality.  Perfecting this strength would help a leader gain trust among their subordinates that they are being treated equally.

Characteristics

            There are many characteristics that make a good leader such as being honest, competent, inspiring, forward-looking, intelligent, imaginative, fair-minded, courageous, and straightforward (Denehy, 2008).  While I already innately have a lot of these characteristics, there are some that I can improve on.  For example, one characteristic I can work on is being more imaginative.  Since I am analytical, I often look to facts and data to solve problems and do not necessarily think outside of the box.  This can be detrimental to a leader who wishes to gain valuable input from their team. Another characteristic I can work on is being inspiring to other people.  While I enjoy getting to know my co-workers, sometimes I find it hard to inspire others to do more than is required of them which is an important part of being a good leader.

Conclusion    

            Being an effective leader requires certain traits and characteristics. As nurse leaders, it is important we play to our strengths but also work to improve our weaknesses. My top five strengths are that I am analytical, consistent, deliberate, a relator, and futuristic.  While it is important to identify our strengths and how to improve on them, identifying my weaknesses like not being imaginative, not being inspiring, and communication is equally as important.

Gallup Strength Finder Assessment Results

The Gallup strength finder assessment is a tool that is designed to assist individuals in identifying their strengths. An individual’s strengths are vital to their personality (“Leadership in nursing – Briannie Falconer,” 2017). Based on the results of my Clifton StrengthsFinder assessment, I have identified my top five signature themes of talents as an arranger, developer, responsibility, including, and restorative. With this knowledge, I can leverage my strengths effectively and maximize my potential as a leader in my personal and professional life. Based on your StrengthsFinder assessment, you have identified five dominant themes that can be harnessed to succeed personally and professionally.

I possess two core values based on the themes: responsibility and inclusivity. As a responsible individual, I am deeply committed to meeting my goals and fulfilling my obligations. This value benefits many areas of my life, from personal relationships to work. As a result, I experience pangs of remorse if I fail at doing something I promised. Inclusivity involves respecting and valuing individuals’ diversity and differences, ensuring that everyone feels welcome and included. I lie around people who identify my strengths; therefore, I like to work and interact with others. This is very important in a nursing career where collaboration is key to success (Yeom & Moon, 2017)

Two strengths that I can leverage are my ability to develop and arrange. An arranger can easily coordinate resources and activities to achieve a specific goal. Being a developer means I have a talent for helping others and bringing out the best in others. Additionally, I like being surrounded by young and bright minds and derive satisfaction from every slight improvement I make.

Gallup Strength Finder Assessment

The two characteristics that I want to strengthen are our risk-taking and assertiveness. Risk-taking means I can be comfortable taking calculated risks and accepting uncertainty. This is essential in my nursing career, where there can be uncertainties occasionally. In addition, being assertive would help me communicate my needs and ideas more effectively, especially when working with others. Hence, as a nurse leader, I can speak my mind without fear of conveying my ideas to others. Overall, assessing one’s key strengths is important in identifying areas of excellence in order to be the best (Seltzer et al., 2017).

My Leadership Profile

Understanding your strengths and behaviors is key to becoming an effective and successful leader (Rath, 2007). It is important for nurse leaders to be aware of this so that they can hone in on their strengths to be able to lead others. Every leader is an individual and will have different strengths from others, so knowing your own personal strengths provides a sense of engagement and productivity (Janke et al., 2015). The purpose of this discussion post is to provide a brief description of my results from the StrengthsFinder assessment and to describe two characteristics that I would like to strengthen.

StrengthsFinder Assessment

The StrengthsFinder assessment is not what I was expecting it to be. I have heard of assessments similar to this before but have never completed one myself. My top five themes include futuristic, relator, individualization, discipline, and analytical. These top themes do not surprise me. The first being futuristic is probably the most accurate theme that I received. I am constantly thinking about the future and am making plans years ahead of time. Our book writes that nurse leaders need to be forward thinkers (Broome & Marshall, 2021). I like to think that I can use this theme in the nursing profession with success. The second theme I got was relator. The description is that the person enjoys close relationships with others and likes to see friends meet their goals (Rath, 2007). I also agree with this theme as I have helped a lot of my friends reach their personal or educational goals and enjoy the process. The third theme that I received was individualization. After some research, my interpretation is that this is someone who likes to see different people able to work together. At first, I was under the impression that this related to my own individuality but am surprised to learn more about the real meaning of the theme. The next theme in my top five is discipline. I definitely agree with this one as I am someone who thrives on routine and structure. I tend to become stressed out when there is no routine or structure is not being followed. The last theme that I got was analytical. I liked to learn more about this theme by reading the reports provided as I was uncertain about it at first. After some reading, I discovered that this strength is for someone who likes to think of all scenarios and possibilities and I can see myself in that.

Areas to Strengthen 

With all of these themes described, there are a few that I would like to strengthen. The first is futuristic. I am not shocked at all that this is the first strength that I had and have taken this opportunity to view it as a good thing. There have been many times that I have stopped myself from thinking too far into the future as many people have told me that it is not healthy. There have been instances where yes, I have gotten ahead of myself and caused some unnecessary stress that could have been avoided. Now, I want to practice tapping into this strength and using it in my leadership techniques as a way to motivate staff. Another area that I would like to strengthen is related to discipline. My working attitude is very rigid and disciplined and as I can see how it is positive, I would like to be a little more flexible. After reading through the reports, I see how this truly is a strength and am glad that I have this characteristic. On the other hand, I have seen how my lack of flexibility has impacted my work before and would like to practice being able to “go with the flow” a little bit more.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is important for nurse leaders to be aware of their strengths so that they can use them to their advantage when leading others. The StrengthsFinder assessment tool is great for nurses to complete to be able to identify their strengths. Since each leader will have different strengths, being able to tap into your personal top five will help lead in an effective way. Overall, strengths are something that is individualized to the person but also something that will impact everyone else around.

Description

One of the attributes of being a leader is having the energy and putting in the hours to make the organization/cause succeed (Broome & Marshall, 2021). When I was reading my StrengthsFinder assessment, I felt like it described me well. I strive to be a good example for my loved ones and have worked hard for my achievements in my career so far. If I don’t achieve something at the end of the day, I feel dissatisfied. It revealed that my top 5 themes of talent are achiever, communication, focus, futuristic, and strategic.

Core Values

Two core values that I believe the StrengthsFinder assessment picked up on are the traits: futuristic and focus. I tend to think about the future constantly and how I can improve it for my family and myself. I recently looked back at my nursing school portfolio and looked at 3 goals I set for myself. I have achieved 2 out of the 3 goals and the last one is becoming a nurse practitioner. When I started my education, I always knew I would eventually become a nurse practitioner and I am very proud I am achieving this goal. I want my kids and family to be proud of me and want to prove that I can do this while working and being a mother to two young children.

The theme focus also describes me very well. I am focused on achieving my goals and when I set a goal for myself, I complete it. I think about different options and things that will allow me to achieve my goals eventually. I feel like being focused allows me to be very efficient and keeps me from wasting my time on something. I do tend to give myself deadlines and am focused on personal and professional goals.

Two Strengths

One of my strengths is communication. I am not afraid to speak to new people and if I feel strongly about something I will discuss it. I am typically the person who presents information in a group and not typically the one who is behind the scenes. I love talking to people and discussing new ideas. I feel that being a good communicator has led me to being a charge nurse on my unit. Leaders that are successful drive engagement, this includes communicating expectations, motivating coworkers, helping to set achievable goals, being able to be trusted, help to develop strengths within a team, and being able to constantly seek to improve (Herbison, 2023). I can communicate with every one of my coworkers and speak up if there are any issues of concern. Charge nurses are the role models of the unit, they coordinate staffing, coordinate patient care, and must remain in constant communication with their team (Bateman & King, 2020). Being able to coordinate things effectively also explains my other strength which is being strategic.

I am strategic because I like to problem solve different obstacles to get to a solution. I believe I have done that my whole life. I typically think about all the different outcomes before I decide. I rely on my intuition and if I have a goal, I find a way to achieve it. I do the schedule for our unit because I like to problem solve and strategize shifts to maintain adequate staffing for out unit while also balancing employees requested time off.

Two Characteristics to Strengthen

I am too hard on myself at times. I tend to have a lot of self-doubt and have thoughts like, “Am I smart enough” or “What will people think If I don’t accomplish something that I have set out to do?” For example, this nurse practitioner program, I have had a lot of self-doubt as if I can complete it and still be there for my kids. I feel guilty at times that I am fully present when it comes to being with my kids every day. I try to remember that I am doing this for them and want to improve their own futures someday.

Another thing I need to work on is setting aside time for myself and relaxing. At times I get too consumed with activities and tasks that I need to complete that I don’t focus on my own self-care. I need to set aside time for fun such as having a date night with my husband or going out to dinner with my friends.

Week 5 Discussion 2 Module 3:

The following is a list of my top 5 strengths based on the result of the Clifton Strength Report:

1. Learner

2. Achiever

3. Responsibility

4. Restorative

5. Developer

Core Values

A leader must choose what values are important to them and live them visibly in everyday leadership.  Core values in nursing include: altruism, autonomy, human dignity, integrity, honesty and social justice (Poorchangizi et al., 2019).  Some core values common to organizations are: Transparency, accountability, trust, openness to new ideas, flexibility, caring,  and responsibility (Broome & Marshall, As I reflect on my strengths, my two core value strengths are responsibility and restorative.  Responsibility is an important asset to a leader.  As a leader, the responsibility to lead the team and be a role model to staff and the organization is of high importance.  With that being said, a leader must be prepared to take responsibility for good and bad happenings under her direction.  It’s the responsibility of a leader to lead by example and accept responsibility when her team fails and work together to fix the problem and formulate a plan to make a change.  This leads to my second core value, restorative.  Restorative mindset is a value that makes leaders solution-oriented and finding out what is wrong and resolving it (Gallup, 2023).  It’s in my nature to take responsibility even if it’s not my fault for the sake of recognizing what isn’t working and developing a new idea to improve processes and performance.

Strengths

Two of my strengths brought to my attention from the Strength Finder Report are: learner and achiever.  I wasn’t surprised by the revelation that being a learner is a strength of mine.  Many have asked me why I’m going back to school at the age of 43, I tell them because I want to continue to learn and achieve my goals.  A strong leader continuously learns from their mistakes as well as others and formulates new policies to improve processes (Broome & Marshall, 2019).  Not only do I enjoy learning more about healthcare in general but I also enjoy learning about myself and others.  As Beard (2017) talks about the importance of learning one’s strengths and weaknesses, I find myself constantly learning about myself and recognizing what I can improve on.  The same goes for learning others, I find myself analyzing the people I work with so I can find ways to improve our work relationship simply by learning their strengths and weaknesses and caring enough to customize my approach with them on an individual basis.  Being an achiever is another strength I attain.  As I learn about myself and others as well as learn new content, I use the learned information to achieve new ideas and plans.  I found it interesting that the description of a person who possesses an achiever theme describes themselves as practical and realistic (Gallup, 2023).  I’ve often been told I’m a realist and that is why people like me, I call things out the way I see them and then figure out a way to improve myself or something else I am unsatisfied with.  To me, a good leader is capable of seeing the situation, good or bad, for what it is and finding a solution to achieve a better outcome for all involved.  Sometimes that means having to achieve self awareness.  Being an achiever pushes one to set goals and plans in order to achieve what works best for everyone in the equation.

Characteristics to Strengthen

One characteristic I’d like to strengthen is my desire to always put other people’s needs first.  Although, I believe this is a great characteristic of myself, I also feel it’s a downfall too.  I forget to take care of myself, I’m always running a million directions trying to do for others and I neglect to take the time to do things for myself.  Recently I’ve treated myself to a massage every two weeks to allow myself an hour to relax and not worry about doing something for anyone else in that hour.  Being a mother and a nurse, I find myself frequently consumed with the needs of my kids and the patients I care for, it’s important to take care of myself  too and I’m slowly making progress but still could strengthen the characteristic of self love.  Another characteristic I feel I need to strengthen is decision making.  I struggle with making a final decision about anything because I fear it will be the wrong decision not only for  myself but for others as well.  A lot of pressure is put on one to make a decision, failure is hard for me to accept.  Having that fear keeps me hesitant of making decisions sometimes.  I’m learning to accept failure and looking at it as a learning experience  so that it doesn’t hold me back from being a confident decision maker.

Leadership is a balance of knowing one’s strengths and weaknesses in order to lead by example.  I’ve had leadership roles in the past and now I’m in a new position where I’m often the charge nurse leading the team for my shift.  Being new at the job makes me feel unsure of my ability to lead since I don’t know the policies and practices like I did in my previous roles.  Having the strengths of being a learner, responsible, achiever, developer, and restorative will help me to not be afraid to ask questions, recognizing what areas I need to gain experience in and take the initiative to learn, and use transparency to allow staff to know I am still learning and open for suggestions and insight.

My StrengthsFinder Assessment Overview

According to the StrengthsFinder assessment by Rath (2007), the five most dominant themes of the 34 total are important considerations in leadership style and skills because understanding them, both together and individually, can help us identify and magnify our individual talents and qualities that contribute to our successes. For me, these five signature themes were achiever (being productive and accomplishing achievements, whether major or minor, is important on a daily basis as well as during longer periods of time); relator (the relationships that I have forged are important to me, including investing in the growth of those relationships and being vulnerable enough to place trust in those individuals); competition (I look at my peers as sources of motivation to achieve excellence, competing to be the best in whatever area or focus is in question); focus (I place a lot of importance on setting tangible goals that drive me to reaching my desired destination or end-goal); and, lastly, harmony (I desire to promote commonality and acceptance in my life and among others so that we can minimize conflict while respecting each other’s views and opinions). Overall, I identify with portions of these themes as described and would work to improve myself in the ways that relate to my views of myself.

Core Values to Strengthen

The two core values I would look to strengthen would be focus and achiever. I believe that these two core values go together. To accomplish any achievements, initially what is to be achieved must be determined and then goals must be evaluated and set to create a path to arriving at those achievements. Overall, this process requires vision. Those who follow you or look to you for guidance as a leader expect you to know what path you are on so that you may adequately and articulately guide them as well (Broome & Marshall, 2021). Furthermore, to be effective in being visionary, a leaders must look at the big picture as well as the daily operations to adequately support followers at every level. I chose these core values to strengthen because when I look to leadership, I seek their support and their knowledge, and I trust that they will lead myself and all of us in the right direction so that we can be successful in our work.

For the achiever and focus themes, I identify personally and professionally with wanting to be efficient to stay on track and creating benchmarks for accomplishments by working hard and being consistent, but I do not identify with the parts of it that seem robotic and overly task oriented. In that way, I also wish to improve these core values by bringing more humanity and balance to the ideas of these themes to be more relatable and approachable as a leader and peer.

Strengths to Invest In

Relator and harmony are the themes related to the strengths I would like to invest in as a leader and a person. Specifically, to create better relationships and promote better understanding and mutual respect around those around me. I think of myself as open-minded and able to relate with others in ways that allow me to create relationships with them. During my travel assignments, I have created great relationships with managers and co-workers, and I think it is important to continue to do that. As a leader, these strengths are important as well because being approachable, relatable, and open-minded allow followers the confidence and comfort to come to you for support and answers. Broome and Marshall (2021) discuss the authentic leadership model in which there is transparency that promotes strong leader-employee relationships and integrity via seeking diverse perspectives; this empowers others and exhibits an optimism that shows followers that leadership is in place to be of service to them as well as the organization. Walden University (n.d.) discusses that one of the qualities of an effective leader in nursing, particularly in creating healthy work environments, is to participate in and facilitate collaboration. The themes of relator and harmony have a major role in collaboration because it requires creating and maintaining healthy workplace relationships as well as respect and understanding amongst those involved. Additionally, quality relationships between leadership and workers/employees are important because these relationships promote mutual engagement from both leadership and employees and, combined with other factors such as collaboration and good communication, improve the work environment (Shirey, 2017).

Characteristics to Sponsor

When reviewing my assessment report, I was surprised about portions of the harmony theme. Personally, I identify with looking for commonality among myself and others to promote understanding. However, I did not identify with keeping my beliefs or opinions to myself but can now see how there is truth in was stated by the theme. After reflecting more, the characteristics I wish to improve are being more communicative and confident. I wish to be more confident in my thoughts and opinions, in my ability to articulate my thoughts in spaces where there may be disagreement, and to be outspoken in a way that voices the needs of myself or those who follow me to promote any necessary change or improvements. In the leadership attributes trait theory, assertiveness and self-confidence are noted as important attributes of a successful leader (Broome & Marshall, 2021). Improving these characteristics will help me be a better leader that can thrive in areas of conflict and effectively express any needs or concerns of myself and my team.

According to Rath’s (2007) Strength Finder, my five strongest traits are “strategic, relator, input, responsibility, deliberative” (p.1). It was an interesting experience to go through the questionary and reveal surprising results. I was well aware of some traits, such as strategy and responsibility, while others were a discovery for me. However, as I read through detailed descriptions, I was surprised at how close these themes portrayed my personality. I also discovered that many elements of my character and ways of doing things could actually be helpful in the leadership effort and applied in leading or mentoring activities. For example, the Strategic theme description emphasizes the ability to “select the best alternative after having weighed the pros and cons in light of prevailing circumstances or available resources, […] uncover facts,” and “bring the big picture into view” (Rath, 2007, p. 3). Ferrada-Videla et al. (2021) attributed similar characteristics to the strategic leadership style in nursing by the ability of a leader to relate a vision to interrelationships and the environment of the organization, take “ownership of the strategic positioning to influence the quality of nursing care,” and make “strategic, systematic, and measured choices grounded in the quality of nursing care to guide its contributions to the institution” (Results section). Another strategic theme, Relator, emphasizes “much satisfaction from helping individuals improve personally or professionally” (Rath, 2007, p. 4). This theme also mentions people’s comfort and confidence to ask questions, which I noted on multiple occasions. These traits are beneficial in mentoring and coaching staff as a transformational leader. The study conducted by Gong and Li (2022) confirmed “that mentorship is associated with the mentors’ transformational leadership via the positive satisfaction of their basic psychological need” (p. 417). The authors noted that “mentorship is an efficient way to transfer knowledge and skills to the next generation;” hence, the better a transformational leader conveys knowledge, especially to staff members with “low levels of mindfulness,” the more satisfaction a transformational leader receives from completed work (Gong & Li, 2022, p. 417). Additionally, my personality traits described in the Input theme, such as feeling “restless until you have found a better way to describe the finer points of complicated procedures” and deriving “satisfaction from outlining the intricate steps of processes,” would also guide in teaching, mentoring, and clarifying goals and methods in the transformational leadership style (Rath, 2007, p. 5). The Responsibility theme is well known to me. Indeed, I strive to perform tasks “correctly,” with “accuracy and precision,” and apply “exactness” to achieve “high standards” (Rath, 2007, p. 6). Moreover, I expect others to perform assignments with “high standards,” which I try to instill in trainees’ habits when I act as a mentor of a transformational leadership style. Finally, the Deliberative theme of the Strength Finder described me as a person taking time “to methodically investigate, study, or think through things” and is “determined to examine the smallest details of processes, problems, regulations, plans, and contracts” (Rath, 2007, p. 7). I consider it a very accurate description as I’m not particularly eager to rush through things, and I believe that the best decision comes when you brush away emotions, weigh facts, and tackle a task with a calm and level-headed attitude. This thorough approach would be helpful in any management or leadership style in the nursing profession. Kitson et al. (2021), in an exploratory study that included nurse leaders from Australia, Canada, England, and Sweden, found out that nurse leaders successfully used a thorough, deliberating approach to embed evidence-based practice implementation (EBPI) into everyday routine, policies, and practices of healthcare organizations. The authors stressed that “conscious and deliberate” strategies of nurse leaders enabled them “to promote, influence and integrate EBPI approaches” (p. 2454). Moreover, deliberative techniques are “multifaceted and complex, relying on multiple networks and relationships to process information to promote optimal clinical decision-making” (Kitson et al., 2021, p. 2454). Therefore, the five top themes of the Clifton Strength Finder closely reflected my personality traits, and I find it beneficial to apply them as strengths in transformational leadership and mentoring.

CliftonStrengths

Gallup Strengthsfinder 2.0 is a survey used to help determine a person’s strengths and weaknesses. Rath (2007/2021) says we can only lead from our strengths, but our weaknesses keep us from reaching our potential. There are no correct answers in this survey; all of the answers are what one feels is the most accurate at the moment that they took the test (Rath, 2007/2021).  Based on the answers that I gave on the day I took the test, I have been given what it says are my top five signature themes. These are Deliberative, Analytical, Relator, Discipline, and Intellection. I find that I do see all of these characteristics in myself.

Core Values

Knowing these strengths allows me to examine how I relate to other people.  As a Relator, I have a few deep relationships but am wary of opening myself to others. This was no new revelation to me, but now I feel that it would be something I should work on in order to become a more successful leader. Another core value that I need to work on is Analytical. I do not see being Analytical as necessarily a bad thing. Using data to attack problems is a solid position to be in. However, it can sometimes limit the approaches available to solve problems. It may benefit me to try to see the human side of things more often. Adjusting both core values and seeking the perspectives of others would allow a more Authentic Leadership Model (Marshall & Broome, 2021).

Strengths

Discipline is something that I see as a strength in myself. I believe self-discipline is essential to overcome adversity and keep oneself on track to meet goals. I am a stricter disciplinarian for myself than on my staff. I try to set an example rather than give orders. Another strength is Intellection. I think a lot about what needs to be done and how to get it done. I probably could use a bit more focus, but given the time, I have been able to reason out how to get things accomplished.

Characteristics to Strengthen

The characteristics I would like to strengthen do not appear in the CliftonStrengths report. I focus on my weaknesses far more than my strengths. This negative focus can lead to a spiral and decreased effectiveness (Moore et al., 2021).  It would benefit me greatly to change the way I look at myself and focus more on what I can accomplish rather than my weaknesses. Self-reliance is a great thing. Not ever relying on others is a terrible way to be a leader. I would like to work on delegating and relying on others. I tend to take all the work on myself until I am at the edge of bursting. If I could learn to see strength in myself and others and give up some responsibility to my staff, All involved would be better off.

Strengths Finder Assessment Results

            My top five strengths were responsibility, realtor, deliberative, restorative, and consistency. Seeing responsibility at the top of my list was no surprise to me. Since I graduated high school and hit the world running, I’ve always been responsible and have had much to be responsible for. I find great pride in knowing I take care of my responsibilities and do not disappoint people. My second top strength was being a realtor. Realtors are most comfortable with ones they are already friends or acquainted with, although they are receptive to meeting and becoming friends with someone new. Realtors find happiness in surrounding themselves with their closest friends but, at the same time, try hard to strengthen new friendships (Rath, 2007).

Values to Strengthen

            Core values in leadership are being transparent, accountable, trusting, open to new ideas, flexible, caring, and responsible (Broome & Marshall, 2021). I want to focus on and strengthen two: openness to new ideas and transparency. I can tend to be set in my ways and sometimes black and white, with little to no gray area. In healthcare, you must have gray areas and be prepared for them. Also, I am not confrontational, so it is easier for me to be transparent if I am pushed to a certain point. I need to learn to communicate and discuss things before it gets to that point. As described in the section above about being a realtor, I value my current friendships, but I also have insecurities about meeting new people as it is sometimes out of my comfort zone. Making connections and meeting new people is a great way to leave that comfort zone. Who knows, maybe I could find some great jobs when I graduate by doing this.

Strengths to Strengthen

            The two strengths I would like to strengthen listed on this list are consistency and deliberation. It is very difficult to be consistent with such a crazy hectic life between school, work, my family, our farm, etc. There is only so much time left in the day to be consistent in activities. It is essential in leadership that consistency should remain the focus, and effective leaders will see processes through from beginning to end. As leaders, we should strive to improve daily and know that it will not happen instantly (Mallick, 2020).

Deliberation can be described as careful, vigilant, and private. Being deliberate can also mean identifying risks and taking necessary action (Gallup, 2023). This is certainly a strength, but I can strengthen it by focusing on making serious life decisions and drawing out the pros/cons and risks of the decision. I am sure that I am like everyone else in this program, where I have to take things one day at a time and not make too many serious life-changing decisions.

Characteristics to Strengthen

            I have always been extremely responsible, and that also comes with consequences. I want to see the world more lightly sometimes, as it adds immense pressure if I do not complete something on time and just right. One day, when life is not so busy, I can work on giving myself a little more grace and acceptance when I do not do everything just so, and it is okay not always to please everyone and do everything perfectly.

Lastly, another strength on my list was restorative. Sometimes I spend so much time and energy trying to fix myself and everyone else. Restorative leaders want to be problem solvers and solve problems and find out why (Rath, 2007). One can also drag themselves down trying to fix everyone and everything. My goal is to learn to let go of what cannot be changed and focus my attention on the positive and what is not consuming negative energy.

StrengthsFinder Assessment Results

The StrengthsFinder assessment helps one build on their strengths. This assessment can help one find areas where they have the most significant potential to develop strengths. My top five themes are analytical, winning others over (woo), positivity, connectedness, and individualization. I want a plan backed by facts, and I believe everything happens for a reason. However, I love to bring out the best in my team and praise what makes each team member unique. Also, I always have words and can naturally start a conversation with strangers (Broome & Marshall, 2021; Rath,2021).

Values, Strengths, and Characteristics

    Two core values that I would like to strengthen are positivity and individualization. I want to continue strengthening my positivity core values because working in healthcare can be very draining for the staff and patients. I make it my goal to shine a light on everything that is going well and bring energy to bring everyone up, make them smile, and enjoy the simple things that life offers. The following core value I would like to strengthen is individualization. I need to enhance individualization because everyone brings unique skills to the team and should be recognized for their input. This will improve productivity and the quality of care given by the team (Rath,2021; Shirey, 2017).

Two strengths I would like to strengthen are analytical and woo. The strength of analytical means using facts and logic to solve problems or make plans. This is a positive strength in the medical field. However, I can strengthen my analytical skills by practicing and remembering to respond appropriately with my facts and logic. I should always see where my team member is coming from their point of view and respond with compassion with my option. Another strength that I would like to strengthen is woo. Woo is a strength that I use daily. It helps me connect with others and improves my patient care. However, I would like to enhance this strength because making a personable connection with my teammates and patients is vital to how I deliver care and lead (Rath,2021; Shirey, 2017).

Two characteristics that I would like to strengthen are adaptability and self-assurance. These two characteristics were outside my top five strengths. However, I need to strengthen my adaptability and self-assurance to become a better leader and team member. Being analytical, sometimes it is challenging to go with the flow. However, I need to be able to take life and decisions as they come and not get thrown off when an unforeseen detour emerges. Next, self-assurance is something I have struggled with for years. I depend more on facts and logic than my skills. I need to strengthen my self-assurance and form a balance between it and being analytical (Broome & Marshall, 2021; Rath,2021; Shirey, 2017).

StrengthsFinder Assessment Results

The StrengthsFinder assessment helps one build on their strengths. This assessment can help one find areas where they have the most significant potential to develop strengths. My top five themes are analytical, winning others over (woo), positivity, connectedness, and individualization. I want a plan backed by facts, and I believe everything happens for a reason. However, I love to bring out the best in my team and praise what makes each team member unique. Also, I always have words and can naturally start a conversation with strangers (Broome & Marshall, 2021; Rath,2021).

Values, Strengths, and Characteristics

Two core values that I would like to strengthen are positivity and individualization. I want to continue strengthening my positivity core values because working in healthcare can be very draining for the staff and patients. I make it my goal to shine a light on everything that is going well and bring energy to bring everyone up, make them smile, and enjoy the simple things that life offers. The following core value I would like to strengthen is individualization. I need to enhance individualization because everyone brings unique skills to the team and should be recognized for their input. This will improve productivity and the quality of care given by the team (Rath,2021; Shirey, 2017).

Two strengths I would like to strengthen are analytical and woo. The strength of analytical means using facts and logic to solve problems or make plans. This is a positive strength in the medical field. However, I can strengthen my analytical skills by practicing and remembering to respond appropriately with my facts and logic. I should always see where my team member is coming from their point of view and respond with compassion with my option. Another strength that I would like to strengthen is woo. Woo is a strength that I use daily. It helps me connect with others and improves my patient care. However, I would like to enhance this strength because making a personable connection with my teammates and patients is vital to how I deliver care and lead (Rath,2021; Shirey, 2017).

Two characteristics that I would like to strengthen are adaptability and self-assurance. These two characteristics were outside my top five strengths. However, I need to strengthen my adaptability and self-assurance to become a better leader and team member. Being analytical, sometimes it is challenging to go with the flow. However, I need to be able to take life and decisions as they come and not get thrown off when an unforeseen detour emerges. Next, self-assurance is something I have struggled with for years. I depend more on facts and logic than my skills. I need to strengthen my self-assurance and form a balance between it and being analytical (Broome & Marshall, 2021; Rath,2021; Shirey, 2017).

Core Values

After completing the StrengthsFinder skills assessment, my top five strengths were revealed: Futuristic, Significance, Relator, Restorative, and Individualization.  These top five strengths were pulled from 34 strengths and can help recognize weaknesses (Rath, 2007). A couple of core values I associate with my results are inclusivity and responsibility. In leadership, managing personal and professional life requires much responsibility. Part of that responsibility to either yourself or your career often results in someone being upset, which will happen no matter what you do or say (Broome & Marshall, 2021).

Strengths

My top strength, futuristic, is one that I was not surprised with at all. I have always been one to set goals, see the vision for the far future, and be able to paint the picture for those that struggle to see it. The unit I work in has a future yet to be determined. There is a facility that our hospital has an association with, that the rumors say we will be taking over fully this summer. It is a behavioral health hospital, and I am in a crisis observation unit that essentially holds these patients until they have inpatient placement.  The other way the unit could go is to remain to function as it is and be a “feeder” unit for the associated inpatient hospital.  Either way, I can see how it could continue functioning and anticipate future needs should that time arise.

The next strength, individualization, is a crucial personality trait for me. I like to find each person’s strengths and find a way to help them grow those strengths by putting them in roles that allow them to dig in. Another thing Rath (2007) mentioned was finding the perfect gift for someone. Usually, every Christmas, one person gets a very personally tailored gift. Sometimes two, though it has become the running thing on both sides of my family who got the special gift this year.

Those with the same strengths tend to be drawn toward each other and may use those strengths in very different ways (Soria et al., 2019). For example, another person may use their futuristic strength more creatively than a dreamer might. A person with the individualistic strength would take note of that and may pull them in to work with a focus group to help bring fresh eyes to a problem.

Areas to Improve

Strength areas that were not on my top five that I would like to improve would be positivity and communication. I have to work at positivity more than others at times. I make jokes a lot, and those are often taken as negativity. Communication feeds into that one as well. I tend to say things very directly, which comes across as harsh, especially to newer staff. I have been making myself pause two to three seconds before responding, and that has helped to adjust my responses in a way that is better received.

StrengthFinder Assessment Results

It is important for nursing leaders to have the courage and vision to be able to move healthcare forward (Broome & Marshall, 2021, p. 5). The strengths finder assessment revealed my five strengths being relator, restorative, analytical, futuristic, achiever. I find this is quite accurate because I am always thinking about how I can be in the best position for my future and look at the big picture opposed to instant gratification. I will do all in my power to ensure success of a project, activity or course as revealed by my strength as an achiever. I also thrive in the event of a problem and love finding new solutions as revealed by my restorative strength. I find comfort in relating to others and find a strong connection allows for improved communication and teamwork. I love collaborating with other and am analytical with new problems and want proof for reasoning when there may be some differences of ideas for solutions.

Two Core Values

Two of my core values as a leader would be teamwork and Empathy. I find teamwork to be crucial to the success of a common interest. If all team members feel valued and have input there is more collaboration and opportunity for success and positive outlook for future problems (Schuler et al., 2021). Being empathic allows leaders to put themselves in others shoes. As a leader one should be careful when deligating tasks to other and not abuse the power. If I feel my staff is overwhelmed I will actually tell them to take a break or I will do the task with them side by side or help in some way. There needs to be some empathy when asking others to do something and leaders should be careful not to delegate too much of a task that they would not want to do themselves.

Two Strengths

I find my strengths are accountability and continuous learning. I feel it is always necessary for leaders to take control and accept responsibility for their team. I appreciate the need for continuous learning to bring evidence based data into practice and encourage teams to do what has been proven to work best. Accepting accountability for mistakes allows opportunity for growth and development and leaders need to be able to see where improvements need to be made and need the humility to do so (Crath & Rangel, 2021).

Two Characteristics to Strengthen

I feel I need to improve my listening skills. At times of change or if there is a problem that needs attention sometimes I let my experience get in the way. I like to listen to other people but as seen in the strength finder assessment I appreciate analytical values and if a suggestion cannot be backed up by evidence or a logical explanation than it is more difficult for me to agree to their views. I would like to strengthen my sense of courage as well. A lot of times it is very difficult to stray from the norms and people go with the flow with organizational culture. Sometimes organizational culture could be ineffective or does not address all of the patients needs and a good leader needs to have the courage to be able to change a culture when in need.

How StrengthsFinder Results Have Developed Leadership Potential

From the StrengthsFinder assessment, the top five strength themes include Restorative, Responsibility, Achiever, Relator, and Learner (Broome, M., & Marshall, E. S., 2021). These themes give me insights into my predisposition to offer different skills and qualities in leadership. 

The core values show a commitment to making a difference and ensuring quality in all that is done; the Restorative and Responsibility queries reflect the desire to make things work, figure out issues, and prioritize the order of what needs to be done. The focus on Achiever fuels leadership ambition and emphasizes a goal-focused approach (Broome, M., & Marshall, E. S., 2021). Relator trait drives one to be loyal and to build strong relationships. Learner keeps one inquisitive and eager to explore new concepts and ideas and gain more knowledge, which is advantageous for leading. 

 My strengths consist of being Restorative, Achiever and Learner. My Restorative theme allows me to be energized by problems instead of dismayed by them. I enjoy the challenge of identifying the cause of the problem and developing solutions (Mike, 2015). Similarly, my Achiever trait compels me to achieve something tangible every day in order to feel good about myself, and my Learner trait drives me to learn new topics.

My weaknesses disproportionately show a lack of Focus and Futuristic, affecting my time management skills, ability to be at ease with change, and ability to think ahead. I am seeking ways to improve my Focus and Futuristic.  I can practice managing my time better and allocating activities to stay within the designated timeframe (Simon & Schuster, 2017). Additionally, I can research and learn more about adapting to change to manage change-related stress better and use my Strengths to determine the best ways to achieve success. Implementing a structured plan can also help me to envision the future and keep ahead of the game. 

Overall, my StrengthsFinder results have given me insight into my core values, strengths, and weaknesses, which in turn help me to capitalize on my leadership potential. My strengths rely heavily on Restorative, Responsibility, Achiever, Relator, and Learner, which will help me drive results in the present and plan for the future. With focus and Futuristic in mind, I am determined to open the door to further develop and hone in on my leadership capabilities and build on my strengths.

Leadership Profile

Great leaders seek to improve or enhance their power by using strategies like organization, flexibility in their job, and expanding their visibility (Broome & Marshall, 2020). It is important for leaders to be aware of their strengths and weaknesses, so they can improve their leadership skills. The purpose of this post is to discuss my results of the strength finders test, and core values, characteristic, and strengths that I would like to strengthen.

StrengthsFinder Assessment

My first strength is focus, this is important in leadership because it helps to focus and complete tasks that with help to achieve my goals and filter out tasks that won’t. In leadership, it is necessary to focus on yourself while focusing on others (Kurpisz, 2017). The next strength is self-assurance. This means I have faith in my strengths and I know what I am capable of. Another strength of mine is command. Command leads me to take charge and I have no problem telling others my opinions. Another strength is Deliberative, this means that I am careful and vigilant. My last strength is analytical, which means I like to analyze things and find a logical solution.

Values, Strengths, and Characteristics

Two values I would like to strengthen are empowerment and positive reinforcement. Instead of keeping all the power to yourself it is important for leaders to empower others (Wooll, 2021). Two characteristics that I would like to strengthen based on my results are self-awareness and focus. It is important for a leader to be self-aware of how they are acting and the message they are sending. Two strengths that I would like to strengthen based on my results are communication skills and command. Communication is key for any leader, but we must learn to communicate in a way that is effective and command in a way that encourages teams.

StrengthsFinder Assessment Results

Based off the results of my StrengthFinder assessment my top five themes were competition, individualization, futuristic, command, and focus. Being aware of your personal strengths can increase motivation, confidence, morale, and performance (Suner 2020).

Two Core Values

My top two identified core values are competition and individualization. I’m a hard worker, driven to be better than my past mistakes, compare myself to others, and strive to acquire numerous status symbols. On the other hand, I receive satisfaction from helping others in need, can see thing from others perspective, and overall, just want the world to be a better place and will help as much as possible to help others set and achieve goals.

Two Strengths

One strength I have is setting my own goals and doing everything I can to achieve them without help from anyone else. I always have a plan and a back up plan because I like to remain focused and strive to have the best future as possible. Another strength I have is being able to be a team leader, influence others with my creativity and suggestions, and tend to bring more to the table than my peers do.

Two Characteristics I’d Strengthen

One characteristic I would strengthen is seeing everyone as a rival and believing that only one person can be the best. I strive for that person to be me. At the end of the day, winning isn’t everything. Being able to participate and try is worth more than winning in most cases. Another characteristic I would strengthen is although I love helping people, I tend to neglect myself to make sure the people around me are okay. I constantly remind myself “you can’t pour from an empty glass”.

Conclusion

A good nurse leader demonstrates respect for others, empathy, service oriented, self-awareness, motivational, and promotes development (Faubion 2023). Based on my StrengthFinder assessment results, I have what it takes to be a competent nurse leader. I am aware of some of my weaknesses, but it’s important to focus on the positives to increase my motivation to make changes instead of dwelling on the negative (Suner 2020).

Based on the StrengthsFinder Assessment my five strengths are:

1. Responsibility – People who are especially talented in the Responsibility theme take psychological ownership of what they say they will do. They are committed to stable values such as honesty and loyalty
2. Relator – People who are especially talented in the Relator theme enjoy close relationships with others. They find deep satisfaction in working hard with friends to achieve a goal.
3. Input – People who are especially talented in the Input theme have a craving to know more. Often they like to collect and archive all kinds of information.
4. Learner – People who are especially talented in the Learner theme have a great desire to learn and want to continuously improve. In particular, the process of learning, rather than the outcome, excites them.
5. Analytical – People who are especially talented in the Analytical theme search for reasons and causes. They have the ability to think about all the factors that might affect a situation.

The five strengths noted are truly fitting for me as an individual. The two core values I would like to strengthen would be innovation and communication. I feel like being creative and having the ability to adapt to new situations and or develop new ideas don’t come easy for me. I would also like to improve my communication skills to better myself as a future leader. I value honesty and integrity and feel that when those values are breached, I don’t always communicate in a manner a leader should. Nurse leaders who are authentic are able to be honest and open in their relationships with individuals to whom they report, as well as those who work for them (Broome & Marshall, 2021).

The two strengths I feel like I should strengthen as a leader would be learner and influencer. As a leader it is essential to be able to provide your staff with the best most up to date EBP for nursing. I am the type of person that always researches the cause and effect of everything. I need to understand why we do what we do and what the consequences are. I feel like that is important in guiding people as well. As an influencer, you help motivate staff to achieve not only the goals for the organization but theirs as well. It is crucial to be able to motivate people to work to their full ability in order to complete any goal, objective, or project. I really strive to match the transformational leadership style. According to Pishgooie et al. (2019) “The transformational and transactional leadership styles can reduce nurse’s job stress and intention to leave, so nurse leaders can use combination of transformational and transactional leadership for improving job satisfaction and quality of nursing services”.

Main Post

Having the drive and dedication to work long hours to see the organization thrive is one quality of a great leader(Broome & Marshall, 2021). To become a successful and more effective leader, it is essential that, as professionals, we understand our strengths and our weakness which could help us capitalize on what we are great at and make the necessary improvement in areas that need improvement. After completing the strength finder assessment, my top five themes are; Learner, Responsibility, Futuristic, Arranger, and Achiever. Understanding this report will help leaders do more of and be more of their best selves.

Brief Description of the Results

            According to the report, as a learner, I am drawn to the learning process, which is energized by the gradual and intentional transition from ignorance to competence. Adult learning is something I do, and I do well in challenging work contexts. This learner theme does not necessarily indicate that I aim to become a subject matter expert or want the respect of having a certain title in my field of study or job.

Aligned with the futuristic theme, the report describes me as a visionary who treasures the dreams of what may be. It noted that futuristic people have meticulously crafted their sentences to paint a vivid image of the future, inspiring others and boosting their spirits.

The report’s description of the “responsibility” theme emphasizes the need to assume psychological responsibility for my commitments and make amends to the other party. This meticulousness, passion for doing things correctly, and unwavering moral character work together to establish a reputation for dependability.

The assessment defines me as an arranger who can easily lead complex situations. Whether it is last-minute changes to trip plans or assembling the ideal team of individuals and resources to complete a new project, it describes me as a shining example of effective flexibility. Since there are no established norms or procedures to fall back on, I am at my best in dynamic situations. Instead, I dive right into the chaos, coming up with fresh ideas, looking for new ways to move slowly, and forming new alliances.

According to the assessment, I am an achiever who constantly feels like I need to accomplish something and that every day is a fresh start. It went on to say that to feel good about myself, I need to accomplish something concrete; otherwise, I will feel unsatisfied. I must learn to live with this nagging feeling of unhappiness since I am an Achiever, yet it has advantages. It gives me the energy to work long hours without getting tired and serves as my group’s power source as I set the pace and production standards.

Core Values

My two core values consistent with the StrengthFinder are being a learner and Futuristics. One phrase that stood out to me as a learner in the assessment is, “Your thirst for knowledge causes you to explore many topics of study or specialize in one particular subject.” According to Shin and Kim (2019), it has been established that curiosity and the pursuit of information are powerful motivators of learning, creativity, and subjective well-being. Growing up, I was always hungry for knowledge to know things so that I could communicate effectively and reason rationally. My dad would frequently have me around his group of friends to discuss politics, money, war, music, or any topic one could think of, and being in that environment and constantly being stimulated by my father to read and read widely gave me the drive always to want to learn more. Also, being in the nursing profession, where we have many areas of specialization, I was intrigued to be in the know. I would spend a year or two in one specialty and then move on to another specialty to be well-rounded.

To become an inspirational leader, futuristic thinking is of utmost importance. A futuristic leader can envision their desired outcomes and build a path. One of the phrases that stood out to me as a futurist is, “Your goals and aspirations motivate you to keep moving forward.”  My friends often asked me what my secret was or how I kept pushing, and my only response was my drive to improve myself daily.  I am never thinking about the now but always planning and making my next step before that time approaches. It is an excellent quality to have as a leader, as it allows you to plan and prepare for any unseen events to come.  Developing a futuristic mindset requires regular practice, which includes studying, being curious, and, most crucially, being open to the unknown (Singhel, 2022). These are excellent traits of a great leader because they enable you to make the best decisions for the now and organize yourself for the future; it also correlates to the learner theme that always has that thirst for new knowledge.

Strengthens

Under the futuristic theme, the phrase “you are preoccupied with what you can do and refuse to be distracted by what you cannot do” is my number one strength. I am always focused on my goal, and I have always been a person that is thinking about the next achievement with or without resources. Excuses are made to limit you, and seeing the glass half full instead of half empty and not focusing on the what-ifs will propel you toward your goal. I never get distracted by any obstacles, and I am always inspired, motivated, and challenged, less fearful of what is coming next, and more excited about what might be possible. As leaders, we should envision a positive outcome and lead without fear to develop trust and support from our team. Forward-thinking should be the norm and not an exception for leaders; it should drive a team so that planning and creation for the next event or opportunity that still needs to be actualized are in the process.

Another strength highlighted by the strength finder under theme responsibility is my reliability. The phrase “Because of your strengths, you bring an exceptionally mature perspective to your team. Most people regard you as the dependable one.” Being committed and taking responsibility and ownership to do what I set out to do is always something I take pride in. it is essential. When someone else is counting on you to do what you say you would or just relying on you to show up, it is vital that you do. According to research, leadership dependability plays a critical role in performance because dependable leaders are more likely to ensure the timely completion of strategic activities (Schroeder, 2023).  It further stated that leaders set the tone for what actions are desired and permitted in the company, and Leaders who are dependable in their work thus send a message to others that meeting deadlines is a desired trait they should share. Being in the nursing profession, where you can be tossed into any role at any given time, being responsible is essential.

Characteristics to strengthen.

            A leader must establish enduring habits that benefit both themselves and everyone around them(Broome & Marshall, 2021). While the statement indicates a balance between one’s personal and professional lives, it is a flaw I have yet to overcome. There are times when there is no justification, and this habit of being driven frequently exhausts one.  Under the theme achiever, the phrase “Driven by your talents, you might expend more physical or mental energy doing your job or pursuing your studies than some of your peers do.” Even though this could be a strength, it is a weakness. Working and thinking ahead is something I consistently do. Sometimes it takes away from personal relationships and other personal opportunities. I would want to cut back on it and create more time for myself, my family, and other recreational activities outside work and school.

Another weakness highlighted in the report under the futuristic theme is, “By nature, you spend a lot of time and energy contemplating what the coming months, years, or decades can offer you.” This phrase can be viewed as a strength, but it is a weakness because being consistently driven and not taking the time to reflect on a task that is completed before moving on to the next can set one up for failure. Therefore, slowing down and focusing on a little less at a time will help professionally and personally.

Conclusion

By completing this self-evaluation, I have been more conscious of the reasons behind my actions and have gained insight into my strengths and limitations, allowing me to alter my behavior as needed to advance.

Core Values

Harmony and empathy are two core values I identified in my report. I do believe that I exhibit these traits in my day to day life and as a leader. I value harmony and calm in my personal life. As stated by my signature report, little can be gained from friction or disputes. So, I try to find the common ground and work from there to find a solution.  I also am a very empathetic person, sometimes to a fault. I sometimes feel shame about my level of empathy, but my signature report says that this makes me powerful, which is really nice to see.

Strengths

Two strengths I have identified are intellection and how I value input from others. I like to approach things logically, with all of the necessary information in mind. One of the strengths of intellection is that I am a reasonable, logical person. I can truly enjoy and benefit from my alone time. As stated by R (2020), we enjoy alone time spent thinking. I also highly value other people’s input on current events and issues. After I spend my time thinking about issues and coming to my own conclusions, I seek out other’s perspectives. I think I have a good balance of the two.

characteristics that you would like to strengthen

I would first love to strengthen my confidence. I find myself to be a very self-conscious person in almost all aspects of life. I incessantly worry that what I did was not correct or “not good enough.”  Howell (2021) states that this can come from a variety of reasons or experiences ranging from childhood messages to previous experiences in the workplace. She goes on to states that confidence can be practiced and learned through connecting with yourself, practicing confident body language, among other things (Howell, 2021).

I would also like to strengthen my communication skills. I think I have pretty good communication skills, but there is always room for improvement. I’d like to improve my clarity and transparency, both of which are important skills for leadership (Landry, 2019). I feel that sometimes I over explain myself or situations with my patients, making everything confusing for both the provider and myself.

I enjoyed taking this test and getting some insight into my own strengths.

Core Values

The two core values I found consistent with the Strengths Finders assessment were learner and responsibility. I am a lifelong learner. I’m always seeking more to learn to better myself in my career. As for responsibility, I am one to follow through with what I say that I will do. When I commit to doing something, I feel that it is essential and my responsibility to do so. According to Broome and Marshall (2021), leaders who understand their beliefs and can act upon those beliefs while understanding the mission of the organizations are essential when it comes to responsibility (p.185)

Strengths

My two strengths were being an achiever and an arranger. As an arranger, I work to be organized but with the ability to incorporate flexibility as things are constantly changing. As an achiever, I always strive to work hard and do my best. Self-awareness as a leader is essential as it is a way to monitor strengths and weaknesses (International Institute for Management Development, 2023).

Characteristics to Strengthen 

            My two characteristics for strengthening are being a learner. I say this because sometimes I feel like I’ll never want to stop learning more. I wonder if I will ever have enough. The second would be responsibility, as sometimes I struggle with taking on too much. Both of these qualities are important but can have room for improvement.

StrengthsFinder Assessment Results

Comer et al. (2019) described The Clifton StrengthsFinder 2.0 Strengths Test to identify an individual’s personal talents and potential for developing strengths. This assessment has been validated as a tool for personal development in both the work and academic settings. When answer the questions and analyzing myself, I found it was important to consider my strengths and how they are applied in different situations. My first strength was positivity. Positivity describes me well as I like to to maintain a can-do attitude and inspire optimism in others. Secondly, strong communication skills suggest that I can convey my ideas effectively and listen actively to others. An includer trait portrays that I have a way that is accepting of others, and I always try to try to create a sense of belonging. Consistency suggests reliability and the ability to establish routines and systems to promote efficiency. I am very big on routines and consistency. Having set consistencies has always been beneficial to me at achieving tasks or goals. Lastly, a woo strength is known to be charismatic and able to persuade and influence others. As Beard (2017) talks about the importance of learning one’s strengths and weaknesses, I found that understanding each of these strengths provided further insight into the character within myself and predict how I might behave in different scenarios.

Two Core Values

Based on the strengths described above, two core values that I could focus on strengthening would be empathy and teamwork.

Firstly, empathy can be strengthened by combining more characteristics from the includer strength and the communication strength. Though I am always accepting of others and can effectively communicate with them, focusing on developing a deeper understanding of their needs, emotions, and perspectives would lead the great empathy. As I would grow to become more attuned to the experiences of others, I would be able to respond in a deeper and more compassionate and supportive way.

Secondly, teamwork can be strengthened by combining the consistency strength and woo strengths. From past experiences I have been told to be rather reliable. With this, I can establish routines and systems effectively as a team player. Being one that is well counted on by others to deliver consistent results, results in the ability to increase confidence amongst my patients and colleagues.  Additionally, a woo strength can connect with others and build relationships. When reading the results of my strength assessment, this strength made me the proudest. I have always had the ability to promote cooperation and collaboration within a team. By strengthening empathy and teamwork, I can become more effective in my personal and professional relationships, as well as contribute to a positive and supportive social environment.

Two Strengths

Two strengths that could be strengthened based on the above strengths are creativity and problem-solving.

Firstly, creativity can be strengthened by combining the positivity and includer strengths. The combination of positivity and an includer results in optimism and deeper acceptance of others. Strong creativity can create an open and supportive environment that encourages new ideas and perspectives. By maintaining a positive attitude, I can overcome the potential obstacles that could stifle creativity and innovation.

Secondly, problem-solving can be strengthened by combining the communication and consistency strengths. Effectively communicating establishes routines and systems that can develop a problem-solving approach that is both structured and collaborative. By involving working to strength my problem-solving skills with processing and communicating clearly throughout. With this, I would arrive the effective solutions that benefit the team or organization.

Two Characteristics to Strengthens

A skilled leader not only learns from their own mistakes but also from others and uses this knowledge to create fresh policies that enhance processes (Broome & Marshall, 2019). One characteristic that could be strengthened is emotional intelligence. When I am feeling more level-headed and am able to be fully accepting of others and communicate effectively, understanding that the benefits of managing my own emotions as well as empathizing with others I would develop a deeper an understanding of their own emotions and how they impact others, leading to greater emotional intelligence.

Another characteristic that could be strengthened is innovation. This could be achieved by drawing on the creativity and problem-solving strengths. I have never been one that is extremely creative. By strengthening creativity, there would be a more efficient approach to problems with structure and collaboration to identify new and innovative solutions. By being open to new ideas and perspectives and communicating effectively throughout the problem-solving process, I would develop an innovative mindset that can lead to creative and effective solutions.

Leadership Profile

As the caliber of an organization’s executives directly impacts its success, assessing leadership potential is crucial. Each personality type has the potential to excel in leadership or inspire others to achieve. Also, spending time and energy on the team’s success is one of a leader’s traits (Broome & Marshall, 2021). Making better judgments and using skills might result from reflecting on strengths and flaws. The Gallup StrengthsFinder assessment may help people working in teams uncover their talents, helping them to increase productivity and morale.

Description StrengthsFinder Assessment

The top 5 hallmark talents themes —achiever, connectedness, responsibility, context, and strategic—emerged after taking the Clifton Strengths Finder evaluation. My achiever theme shows that I am a high achiever who puts up much effort to reach my goals and possesses a fire within me that motivates me to work more and achieve more. Constantly feeling dissatisfied with my last accomplishments serve as my motivator and causes me to work nonstop without becoming tired and stay committed to the team’s production standards.

My connectedness theme demonstrates my belief in the collective unconscious as a larger entity to which we are all connected and constrained by the obligations of not harming others, not taking advantage of oneself, and exhibiting compassion, care, and acceptance. I promote interpersonal contact and comfort people by illustrating that life is more than just a routine.

My sense of responsibility makes me feel emotionally responsible for following through on commitments. I apologize to the other party because I believe my reputation will be jeopardized if I cannot complete my duty. People can trust me because of my thorough attention to detail, obsession with doing things well, and uncompromising moral integrity. I must, however, proceed with prudence and avoid granting more than is required.

The context theme emphasizes the importance of looking back to understand the present since it can only be stabilized by knowledge of the past. It demonstrates how I may grow more self-assured and capable of making better judgments when I recognize repeated patterns. I create better partners because I know how my coworkers change into the people they are now and can see the seeds of the future being sowed in the past. I must wait for the responses and ask questions to confirm my conclusions.

The strategic themes describe me as able to sort through difficult situations and choose the optimal course of action. Others may just see intricacy, but because of the way I think differently than other people, I can see patterns. I consider the possibility of this happening and creating possible consequences. This helps me make decisions and evaluate potential obstacles so I can avoid them on the way forward.

Description of Core Values

I am motivated by loyalty and connectedness since I esteem them highly.

Loyalty

Loyalty is a virtue that denotes dedication to another person or group (Herrity, 2023). This principle mirrors how I conduct myself professionally since I am dedicated to completing any task I pledge to by setting goals and working towards them no matter how simple they look. Listening to another person’s point of view could increase loyalty because those who feel heard are more likely to remain around since they believe their thoughts and feelings are essential. If people feel that their ideas are valued and are part of the team, they will feel more at home. Support may be shown by emphasizing strength over weakness (Cates, n.d.).

Connectivity

The underlying basis of the value of connection is investing time, effort, and attention in connections that help me grow and support me. Value networks are interactions between people or between people and organizations that benefit the group. Members in a value network can exchange commodities, services, and crucial information (Robert Half, n.d.). where ever I go I try to make new connections, especially with those who share similar interests. To develop a strong network of professional friends, be open, honest, and genuinely invested in their causes; ask open-ended questions and get to know them as people first and sources of help second; stay in touch; leverage influential connections; stay positive; and invest time in business networking over time (Robert Half, n.d.).

Strengths

Strengths are the knowledge, abilities, skills, and talents people use to complete tasks, engage with others, and achieve their goals. Knowing one’s strengths and weaknesses enables one to have a better understanding and how one should operate.

Driver/achiever

Being an achiever involves a strong desire, motivation, and resolve to use one’s time productively. An achiever is continuously active, engaged, or working on multiple projects (Schubring, n.d.). I work diligently to get tasks done regardless of the effort to do it. I never stop until it done. Using my achieving abilities daily at work, home, and elsewhere is an excellent way to develop them. Working with achievers, tapping into my motivation, creating challenges, and making objectives and deadlines will help me to succeed. It is vital to be cautious not to sacrifice quality in your hurry to do more tasks. Goals should include deadlines and metrics so that effort results in clear progress and measurable results (Gallup, n.d.).

Committed

A commitment is a readiness to support a specific cause, group, or idea. A group’s commitment serves as its platform and is crucial to its impact. A person’s ability to persuade others increases with their level of commitment (Community Toolbox, n.d.). I will find opportunities that will help the group to meet its goals. To improve commitment, leaders should provide new team members personalized welcomes, conversation starters, and a feeling of worth. I would avoid portraying commitment as a burdensome obligation and instead provide an example of dedication through attitudes and behavior. This will improve connectivity and provide the resources needed to assume responsibility and uphold commitment over time.

Characteristics

Demanding

Excessive expectations of oneself and others can lead to stress, concern, anger, fury, discouragement, and a sense of failure. Sometimes I tend to expect people to get things done as fast as I can, regardless of having limited time to complete such tasks. A sense of success, enjoyment, encouragement, and a boost in confidence can result from having low expectations. People are more likely to be involved when they work together, make decisions together, support one another’s leadership, enjoy one another’s company, play together, overcome obstacles, hold one another to a high standard, value and respect one another, challenge one another to take the next step, develop relationships, experience success, learn from failures, and look up to their leaders as role models for willingness (Newroads Counselling, 2021).

Agreeable

The ability to put other people’s wants ahead of one’s own is what makes a person pleasant. Very nice people are frequently sensitive, love to aid others and get along well with those that need more support (Thomas, 2022). The best prospects for management positions or more important team duties are affable personnel. I will opt to agree or pick an alternative course of action to reduce others’ stress when it is safe to do so and we will both achieve the same result. I must manage this personality in a way that strengthens my tendency to be nice in order to make the most of it. I will fulfill my entire potential and the potential of the company by providing workers with nice personalities with training opportunities, chances for cooperation, increased responsibility, and a route for professional progress (Thomas, 2022).

Conclusion

The assessment tools from StrengthsFinder assist people in discovering and developing their core values, highest priorities, most extraordinary talents, and any other quality that identifies them. Effective leadership depends on understanding one’s personality and leadership style since it will determine which actions will come more readily and which will need to be cultivated. Recognizing one’s innate leadership qualities is acceptable so long as they are not seen as a guarantee for less successful leadership actions.

The outcomes of the StrengthsFinder revealed my top five strengths. The findings are a surprise because I was not aware of some abilities. The report generated from the assessment provides a foundation for this discussion. This post will highlight the signature themes identified from the survey, including belief, relator, includer, positivity, and responsibility.

The theme of belief confirmed I have core values that make me more oriented to spiritual and family life. Besides, the quality identifies my preference for high ethics and accountability. The relator theme reveals that I love meeting and forming associations with new people. The theme of includer disclosed a passion for working in groups and assisting group members to achieve team goals. The attribute of positivity revealed that I like appreciating others with encouraging words. The theme of responsibility motivates me to be accountable for my actions and commitments (Rath, 2007).

Some core values consistent with the identified themes include being dependable and the commitment to high ethics. Scheffelaar et al. (2018) indicated that dependable professionals could be relied on and were usually available when called and make follow-up on promises. The core value of commitment to high ethics enables me to make good judgments and decisions within the laws that govern nursing. Two strengths identified are being a good team player and a responsible professional. Teamwork and coordination among nursing professionals are associated with better quality of care. Effective teamwork helps reduce medical and nursing errors, improving healthcare and greater patient satisfaction. It also results in a happier workplace that helps reduce professionals’ burnout (Costello et al., 2021). Taking responsibility as a professional makes me accountable for my work environment and patient safety.

Nevertheless, I need to work on two core values: volunteering and conscientiousness. Besides, I should work on two strengths ethics and intimacy. Characteristics that I would like to strengthen include accepting others and enthusiasm (Rath, 2007). Working on the identified areas will empower me with competencies in evidence-based practices that enable nurse professionals to achieve healthcare goals (Tlili et al., 2022). For instance, improving the values of conscientiousness and volunteering will enhance cognitive response to nursing circumstances and ensure the application of evidence from reliable sources to resolve emerging issues (Duggan et al., 2015). Improving the strengths of intimacy and ethics will enable me to maintain work relationships with clients and provide care within the scope of practice to abide by the ethics code. Furthermore, enhancing enthusiasm and accepting others will promote quality leadership characterized by transformational qualities (Broome & Marshall, 2021).

The findings of the signature theme report confirm there is room for growth. Leadership involves continuous learning to acquire skills to manage change and improve performance. Therefore, the knowledge obtained from the activity will facilitate skill-building to maintain professional and personal development.

After taking the assessment I discovered my top 5 strengths are Empathy, Developer, Includer, Connectedness, and Positivity. I found these to be quite accurate for myself and I enjoyed reading about each one. I believe learning more about each of our strengths is way to ensure that we understand how we work, what we are good at and what can do better at. According to Soria, et. al (2019), “Strengths-based approaches are founded upon the idea that individuals who focus on remediating their weaknesses may only be able to achieve, at best, mediocre performance levels” (p. 116 para. 2).

Core Values

I believe that my two core values that represent me well and that I stand by are Empathy and Includer. While I feel as though all five of my strengths really are correct, my empathy and being includer are towards the top for me. Being empathetic has allowed me to connect with not only friends but patients. Working in the Ob-Gyn clinic, at times we have to give patients some of their worst news such as a miscarriage or potential cancer diagnosis. Being empathetic helps me understand the patients feelings and can build a rapport with the patient. In one study I found by Moudatsou, et. al (2020), it was found that when providers or healthcare professionals are empathetic with their patients, the less stress, depression and or burnout they undergo. My other being an includer has always been a part of me even as a small child. I have never sat back and watched others be considered outsiders and be picked on for who they are. I think being an includer has helped me in a lot of ways become the person I am today.

Strengths

My strengths are again includer and I say this because in the field of work of healthcare it is important for all persons to feel included and well cared for despite their race, age, gender, sexuality, etc. Being an includer also means making sure patients feel they are included in their care decisions and have the opportunity to speak up as they desire. Another strength of mine is positivity, I have always felt as though I am a half glass full person and will always attempt to find the positive in all situations. Even when something has gone wrong, I try to find the positive to show others that yes, ABC happened, however look at what we did right. How can we grow and learn from this situation. Positive reinforcement is a leadership quality that can be overlooked but can make great changes according Broome and Marshall, (2021).

Characteristics to strengthen

While there are many different characteristics I could strengthen, I believe two of my bigger ones are assertiveness and focus. While I am an outgoing person in general I struggle with being assertive in the working world. I tend to let others walk all over me, I keep things to myself and allow things to fester or allow people to talk down to/on me. I have been told by the doctor I work with that I need to speak up for myself and not allow others to treat me the way they do. While I do know this, it is difficult for me because I do not want others to be upset with me if I speak up. I tend to like to keep the peace. As far as focus goes, I have always had issues staying on one simple task such as cleaning. When I clean, I squirrel and get distracted to clean another area before the first is done. This creates issues because instead of taking 30 mins for one area, has now taken me several hours. This happens too with school, studying, and at times at work.

Based on my results from the StrengthFinder assessment I am strong in the areas of restorative, positivity, input, learner, developer. I agree with the majority of the assessment as those are areas that I strive to be proficient in. I know that I have many areas in which I still need to progress and strengthen, and those areas are something that I truly work on in a daily basis. I would attest that I am truly a learner, I always work to improve my knowledge base and love to be educated on everything, even if it is something I feel as if I know. Another one of my top areas and something I think I strive in is that of restorative. “You love to solve problems. Whereas some are dismayed when they encounter yet another breakdown, you can be energized by it”(Gallup, 2019). One of the areas I do feel as if I need to improve on more, would be that of positivity. I used to describe myself as a more positivity person but throughout the years I feel as if I have to make myself aware of my actions and push myself to be more positive in aspects, I am positive when it comes to other people but less positive when it comes to myself. I think the key to anything in life is working on the areas that we struggle in, if we aren’t striving to be better in my opinion I feel as if we aren’t living up to our full potential. I am aware that as humans we view things differently so while that may be my view point it may not be the view point of others.

Post two key insights you had from the scholarly resources you selected. Describe a leader whom you have seen use such behaviors and skills, or a situation where you have seen these behaviors and skills used in practice. Be specific and provide examples. Then, explain to what extent these skills were effective and how their practice impacted the workplace.

Leadership Theories

One of the keys to outstanding leadership lies in getting those we try to lead to follow. Marshall and Broome (2021) lay out theories of leadership. Unfortunately, I have personally experienced many of them, from the authoritarian Theory X, situational style, the path-goal approach, and servant leadership. I find that the one which gets the best response from those I have worked with is Servant Leadership. When the leader wants to serve others rather than gain power, those being led gain empowerment and motivation (Marshall & Broome, 2021).

Leadership Style

Leadership should be concerned with the outcome and the ethical effect on the workers (Nguyen et al., 2021). Many studies have been done on the impact of ethical leadership on performance and organizational accountability. It has been shown that an organization that exhibits ethical leadership is seen in a better light than those whose leaders do not display these traits (Nguyen et al., 2021).  Ethical leadership can and should be a component of other leadership styles.

Al Khajeh (2018) states that the desirability of leadership styles is a function of the desired outcome from the organization. Transactional and charismatic leadership have been shown to be the most effective in many settings (Al Khajeh, 2018). In my opinion, these two styles blend into the servant style of leadership to achieve maximum buy-in from the followers.

Impact of Leadership on the Workplace

I have had experience with many leadership styles as both the leader and the follower. I have used differing leadership styles depending on the situation and desired outcome. When working in the Emergency Department, I used the techniques taught me in the military: do what I say, do it now, and do NOT question me. I realize that this autocratic style of leadership does not garner acceptance from my staff, but I only used it when life was on the line and time was of the essence. Running a code on a cardiac arrest is not the time to obtain buy-in from all in the room.

My usual way of leading my staff is through a combination of servant and transformational leadership styles. I will work with my staff to create a feeling of team. I will show them the respect they have earned by walking the same healthcare path I have. I support my nurses when they need it and give them the space to make decisions independently. I have seen where this combination achieves the desired organizational outcomes as well as empowers my staff to succeed on a daily basis. This has led my team to exceed the expectations of my supervisors at every turn.

Conclusion

In my experience, there is no one perfect leadership style. One must take into account the people you are working with, the desired outcome of the actions, and the timeframe being worked in. The leader must treat the employee with respect and humanity. If one does this, the employee is happier, and the outcomes improve for all.

Leadership Theories

There are several theories in the field of leadership, depending on personalities and the business, some theories work better than others in leadership.  In healthcare, many personalities make up the diverse field so trying to find a leadership style that works for everyone is a task that can be tedious and exhausting for leaders as well as staff.  The historical overview of leadership theories starts with the management theories developed during the industrial revolution that focus on productivity; next, behavior or trait theories developed around the mid-20th century which shifted from organizational type leadership to focus more linear , compartmentalization, functional work process orientation, clear and fixed job requirements, and predictable effects; examples include worker style theories and leader trait theories; then, we move to the situational/contingency and constituent theories that focus the leadership style around the behaviors of the workers; last, transformational leadership which focuses on influencing others by changing the understanding of others of what is important (Broome & Marshall, 2021).

Leadership Style and Work Environments

The first study focused on the link between leadership style and structural and measurable outcomes in intensive care units during the outbreak of COVID-19 (Kiwanuka et al., 2021).  This was a time of high stress and turnover in all areas of healthcare, especially ICU in hospitals caring for critically ill patients with COVID-19.  Studies show a link between strong leadership styles and job satisfaction on units, therefore, proving organizational need to support modern leadership styles such as transformational, exemplary, considerate, and trusted leadership (Kiwanuka et al., 2021).  Transformational and authentic leadership are shown to be effective with nurse retention and positive work environments; whereas dissonant leadership styles are shown to lead to undesirable impacts on the working environment and nursing workforce (Kiwanuka et al., 2021).  Transformational leadership produces a more desirable outcome for all involved including leaders, staff, and patients.  Dissonant leadership, especially in high stress environments, leads to a hostile work environment leading to poor nurse retention and unfavorable staffing and patient outcomes.  

The second study placed emphasis on the well-being of leaders and the effect their well-being has on staff and patient outcomes.  In a meta-analysis done by Niinihuhta et al. (2022), evidence shows that emotional exhaustion of leaders can reach as high as 29%.  This means that leaders are trying to be in a position to make a positive difference but they are emotionally spent leading to poor leadership and an unfavorable work environment.  Furthermore, a strong organization provides supportive resources for leaders to prevent leadership burnout and mental exhaustion (Niinihuhta et al., 2022).  I’ve seen this myself and it is true, when you have leaders that are burnt-out and under emotional distress, their leadership is strongly hindered by their own emotional well-being.  In an article by Beard (2017), emphasis is placed on getting to know one’s personality traits in order to find out your own weaknesses and strengths.  I feel this is relevant to this article because it’s important for leaders to know their own personality so they can recognize when their stress level is rising and recognize before emotional exhaustion occurs.  

Leadership in Practice

In the last 16 years of my nursing career, I’ve experienced many different types of leadership and felt the effects of good and bad leadership.  One example that comes to mind is a nurse manager I experienced that practiced an authoritarian leadership style.  She would target staff, micromanage, and follow around staff members on their heels barking orders.  Mornings were always high stress times because we were prepping several patients for surgery and had the surgeons waiting on us to get them ready.  They wanted the patients prepped right now but there was fear placed on nurses to not miss any steps of pre-op.  This highly stressful time called for a leader who would support staff and be a helping hand, instead we had one that did nothing but cause increased pressure.  Most nurses strive their entire career to get a job that is Monday-Friday 0600-1430, no holidays or weekends.  To me, this was perfect after 9 years of working 12 hour shifts including holidays and weekends, yet I was ready to quit and several other nurses did quit.  Long story short, she quit the position and a new manager took over who was the total opposite.  The new manager practiced transformational leadership with a laissez-faire approach that encouraged staff to have autonomy but was always available if help was needed, she didn’t micromanage and bark constant orders and call out wrong doing in front of everyone, and she educated staff on policies and changes so we were aware of change instead of springing it on us and not caring how anyone felt.  The moral of the unit was greatly improved and retention improved drastically.  

In conclusion, leadership style can definitely lead to good or bad work environments.  Leaders are in a position to promote a work environment supportive of staff.  There is a fine line in leadership of being too authoritative and on the opposite extreme of being too laid back.  Self awareness is an attribute leaders should focus on to be a better, supportive leader.  Positive leadership skills are a must to promote a work environment others want to be a part of.  

Leadership Theories

Leaders must be grounded in a set of core values or ethics that guide their actions.  There are many leadership theories and styles.  For example, there are behavioral and trait theories that focus on people over the organization and promote linear thinking, functional work, and clear job requirements.  There are also worker-style theories that moved the focus to the concept of leadership leading to styles such as authoritarian, democratic, and laissez-faire. Lastly, leader trait theories focus on the leader themselves learning and developing their emotional intelligence to be effective (Broome & Marshall, 2021).  All of these theories have merit, but evidence suggests there are certain actions leaders do that promote healthy working environments.

Leadership Style and Work Environments

A systematic review was conducted to determine the relationship between leadership styles and job satisfaction, commitment, and performance.  The studies reviewed show that transformational leadership, which involves effective communication and individualized consideration, has a strong positive effect on job satisfaction and performance.  Likewise, authentic and resonant leadership styles showed similar outcomes.   Similarly, perceived respect and staff involvement during decision-making promoted positive outcomes as well (Specchia et al., 2021).  This study suggests that certain leadership traits and styles promote a healthy work environment.

Another study was conducted to determine which leadership styles are effective in organizational performance as a whole. This study found that transformational, autocratic, and democratic leadership styles had a positive influence on organizational performance.  On the other hand, transactional, charismatic, and bureaucratic leadership styles had a negative influence on organizational performance (Khajeh, 2018).  This study suggests not only that certain leadership styles have a positive influence, but that some leadership styles can actually negatively impact an organization.

Leadership in Practice         

            Throughout my nursing career, I have had four or five different supervisors and leaders.  One of my leaders was very authoritarian in nature and micromanaged every aspect of her subordinates’ day.  Likewise, she would give people write-ups in their performance log which could affect their performance evaluation. This created a very toxic work environment where employees were not motivated to do their job.  In contrast, my current supervisor has a mix of authentic and transformational leadership styles.  He genuinely cares about his employees and their career development, he helps out and works late when needed, and he encourages shared-decision making.  Even though my current work environment is very stressful, his leadership style has created a very supportive atmosphere.

Conclusion

The evidence suggests that leadership styles such as transformational, autocratic, democratic, authentic, and resonant have positive outcomes on job satisfaction, commitment, individual performance, and organizational performance. It is clear that leadership styles that value the individual workers’ development, honesty, and shared decision-making are superior to those that value the organizational procedures and processes and those that are authoritarian in nature.

Leadership Theories in Practice Reflective Report

Over my nursing career, I have worked with several leaders who demonstrated emotional intelligence and transformational leadership qualities. While considering the impact of these qualities on the workplace, one leader, in particular, comes to mind. Sarah, my charge nurse, possessed high emotional intelligence and transformational leadership qualities. Sarah’s ability to remain calm and composed in stressful situations is evidence of her emotional intelligence (Overby, 2019). She would approach every issue with empathy and understanding, putting herself in the shoes of patients and staff members to better understand their points of view. This ability aided in the reduction of tensions and the creation of a positive work atmosphere.

Sarah also demonstrated transformational leadership qualities in her ability to inspire and motivate her workers. She consistently articulated a clear vision and established high standards for her staff. She would also attempt to understand each staff member’s goals and aspirations by getting to know them personally. This individualized approach aided in instilling a sense of ownership and accountability among the team (Moore Foundation, n.d). Sarah’s leadership abilities made a significant difference in our company. Secondly, her ability to remain calm and composed in challenging situations helped to lessen staff tension and worry. As a result, the team’s communication and teamwork improved. Furthermore, her emphasis on building a healthy work atmosphere promoted a sense of community among employees, enhancing job satisfaction and reducing staff turnover.

Furthermore, Sarah’s transformative leadership behaviors significantly impacted employee motivation and performance. Sarah contributed to the team’s sense of purpose and direction by clearly conveying a vision and setting high standards. This, paired with her customized approach, aided in instilling a sense of accountability and ownership among employees (Duggan et al., 2015). As a result, our team routinely outperformed expectations and delivered high-quality treatment to our patients.

In conclusion, I have witnessed the efficacy of emotional intelligence and transformational leadership in healthcare administration. The leadership abilities of Sarah had a tremendous impact on our workplace, enhancing communication, collaboration, job happiness, and employee performance. It is apparent that these talents have real implications in the workplace and are not merely academic concepts. I believe that firms that prioritize developing these talents in their leaders will have an advantage in attracting and maintaining high-performing employees.

Leadership Theories in Practice

Leaders are those who exert authority and persuade others to follow them. The qualities of a successful leader include the ability to instill trust and motivate followers to take action. The importance of emotional intelligence in making a good leader is becoming more widely acknowledged. Leaders with emotional intelligence are self-aware, able to control their emotions, empathetic, and skilled at building and maintaining relationships (Broome & Marshall, 2021).

Leadership Insights

Leadership styles and their effects on organizational effectiveness are the focus of Al Khajeh’s research. Only six leadership styles (transformational, transactional, democratic, charismatic, bureaucratic, and autocratic) were discussed. Organizational performance was positively affected by transformational, autocratic, and democratic leadership styles while negatively affected by transactional, charismatic, and bureaucratic leadership styles in the studied organizations. This research shows that different leadership styles have varying impacts on organizational performance (Al Khajeh, 2018).

Compared to task-focused leadership, relational leadership is associated with better outcomes for the nursing workforce and related organizational outcomes, according to the results of a Cummings et al. (2018) systematic review. Critical implications for healthcare organizations to support relational leadership practices for improved nursing staff outcomes and client care are drawn from this review, which shows that nurse leaders can positively affect the health and well-being of their nurses through such practices (Cummings et al., 2018).

Effective Leadership and its Impact on the Workplace

My managers have provided me with transformational and rational leadership throughout my nursing career. My first nursing position after nursing school was in neurology; to say I was intimidated would be an understatement. My nurse manager made it a point to meet weekly to discuss my work. She would make an effort to listen to my problems thoughtfully. She always made it a point to highlight the positive things I had done over the week and to find constructive ways to help me meet the obstacles I was presenting her; she always made me feel as if I could do anything. She did this with our entire unit and ensured that we were focused on achieving goals that would positively impact the unit while promoting evidence-based practice to ensure that our patients received the best possible treatment.

My current supervisor encourages growth and development by encouraging fresh ideas, learning about employees’ strengths and areas for improvement, launching projects to target those areas, implementing change strategies, and assessing the results. She excels at pinpointing the source of the problem and coming up with creative solutions. Due to her direction, we have maintained perfect CHAPS scores for over a year. Our workplace has seen significant transformations due to her leadership, and staff members now have the freedom they need to accomplish their jobs well.

Conclusion

The healthcare organization’s leadership is responsible for maintaining order and creating a long-term strategy. Training, communication, and leadership are essential for effectively developing the work culture. It has been demonstrated that leaders who continue to enhance their emotional intelligence have a favorable impact on healthcare companies. A good leader always considers how they may positively influence their staff and implement changes that benefit others.

Main Posting

An effective and competent leadership team should have knowledge and support quality improvement, consistently communicate missions and performance standards, and encourage participation in decision-making (Duggan, et al., 2015). I believe there is a difference between leadership and management. Managers control where leaders influence (Broome & Marshall, 2021). I have seen many different leadership and management styles over the course of my nursing career, and I have also been a part of a leadership team. My style was always to stand by my staff, weather the storms with them, and never use my authority over them.

Key Insights from scholarly resources

A strong leader is defined by the way they impact their staff, not their position of authority (Bonatch, n.d.). A person in the position of management should not just focus on using their authority. I think this creates more tension from the staff towards management. The staff doesn’t want to feel like just a number, they want their voice to be heard. One of the biggest factors that influence nurse retention and maintaining a positive work environment is shared governance. Leaders should allow their staff to have a voice and provide an environment that makes them feel like their voice is heard (Dans & Lundmark, 2019). This is another way to foster a positive work environment. Leaders should allow their staff to express themselves without consequences. Many places I have worked, most staff don’t want a manager hovering over them, they want a leader to show them the way. They want to feel as though their presence means something. This is how you retain staff and maintain a healthy workplace.

Leadership in Practice and its Impact on the Workplace

One leader that I have seen use a positive leadership style and focus on creating and maintaining a positive work environment was a unit manager in the emergency department I worked for. She consistently met with staff on a weekly basis to seek suggestions, inform us of staffing changes and policy updates, and allowed the staff to have a voice for the unit. When a new policy was adopted and sent out to staff, she made sure to have a presence on the unit to see how the new policy was working. She was the voice between the staff and upper management with new ideas, suggestions, and barriers to practices and policies. I believe this is a true leadership style. Her style showed the difference between someone leading a department and someone just managing a department. There was very little turnover with nurses and the unit retained a lot of the seasoned nurses because she allowed us to work alongside of her.

I was a nursing supervisor in a medical department for a correctional facility. I frequently would look to my husband for leadership strategies and advice on how to handle certain situations because he gained a lot of leadership experience in the Army. He gained the respect of his soldiers and in return he was able to carry out protocols and give orders without any resistance. He showed his soldiers that he stood with them and wasn’t just an authority over them. I took a lot of his advice and what I learned from my previous nurse manager and use those skills with the nurses I supervised. Having a good leader with jobs isn’t just about that present time, it can carry with your staff throughout their career like mine did. I had some resistance from staff when I first started that supervisor position. It wasn’t until I showed the staff that I wasn’t there to use my authority over them, but to stand by them and maintain a healthy workplace. I frequently would listen to their concerns or suggestions and be their voice to upper management. This was when I started to gain their respect and trust. Shared decision making and advocating for your staff is just one trait a good leader should have.

Leadership Theories in Practice

Effective leadership is integral in the nursing profession as a strong leader correlates to quality care for patients (Sfantou et al., 2017). There are six main styles of leadership seen in the nursing field that all have their own pros and cons. The purpose of this discussion post is to describe leadership behaviors and skills I have seen firsthand and to explain their effectiveness and impact in the workplace.

Leadership Behaviors and Skills 

The most impactful leader that I have experienced while working in healthcare is my current Director of Nursing. I see many different styles of leadership being used by my director. She has a combination of behaviors and skills that align with transformational, task-oriented, and relationship-oriented leadership. I think the reason she has been successful in this position is the fact that she takes the pros from multiple different leadership styles and forms them into one. This creates variety and combinations of the best aspects of these leadership styles that the staff is most receptive to. Our book mentions the importance of emotional intelligence, writing that emotional intelligence creates self-awareness and provides a leader with the skills to be able to control their own emotions, though they are still empathetic, being able to build and maintain relationships with staff (Broome & Marshall, 2021). A specific example of this is when the unit was consistently short-staffed. A lot of nurses were burnt out after COVID and the morale of the unit was very low. Different managers had come and gone and eventually left the unit with no manager and no charge nurse. The Director of Nursing took this time to become more available and present in our unit with the goal to make changes and motivate staff members. She was much more present in the nursing station and scheduled one on one meetings with each staff member to check in and see how each person was being impacted. She acts as a mentor to many staff members and through the combination of leadership styles, is approachable and understanding to her employees.

Effective Leadership

The combination of transformational, task-oriented, and relationship-oriented leadership styles proves effective from the example mentioned above. Specifically, transformational leaders have effective communication skills, charismatic influence, and individualized consideration that they use to optimize the results of shared goals (Specchia et al., 2021). These types of leaders improve morale and increase job satisfaction scores by motivating staff to be able to do more than they initially thought they could (Specchia et al., 2021). The task-oriented leader plans work activities, clarifies role descriptions, and sets objectives while monitoring progress (Sfantou et al., 2017). This type of leadership is very effective when it comes to the completion of changes and tasks in the unit. The relationship-oriented leader combines support, development, and recognition (Sfantou et al., 2017). This leader has a great rapport with the staff and is approachable and understanding of employees’ needs. The Director of Nursing at my healthcare facility incorporates all three of these styles of leadership as well as emotional intelligence to effectively lead our unit. The workplace is an enjoyable and positive place due to this.

Conclusion

In conclusion, since there are many different styles of leadership, a nurse leader must choose to lead their staff in a way that is effective and received well by the unit. There are upsides and downsides to each leadership style and a combination of some have shown to provide desired results. The nurse leader should act with emotional intelligence as this has been revealed to be key to maintaining effective relationships. Overall, each unit will have different needs and the nurse leader should adapt their leadership style accordingly.

Often, we try to understand why some individuals become leaders. Leadership is often considered an admirable position to take on; however, not everyone can take on the role of a leader. Leadership takes skill, hard work, and commitment, and people that take on the part are seen as powerful and know what they are about. Great leaders should be positive and radiate such energy that boosts their team morale and productivity; they should have a proactive attitude and exudes behaviors that take on a problem-solving approach and work hand in hand with their team to achieve a common goal. Great leaders are emotionally intelligent; they delegate tasks appropriately, understand that not all tasks can be done alone, and trust their team to do the job. According to Broome & Marshall (2021), Emotionally intelligent leaders are adept at managing their emotions, self-aware, sympathetic, and understand the meaning of maintaining and building relationships. They are open to criticism, can regulate emotions, and think before acting.

Leadership Insights

This study examined how transformational leadership impacts employee behavior, burnout, and job outcomes. According to Khan et al. (2020), four things are necessary for transformational leadership: idealized influence, inspiring motivation, brain-stimulating ideas, and individual care. This study demonstrates that transformational leadership increases employees’ intrinsic motivation by improving their connections, helping them think positively about themselves and their work, and fostering fair, respectful, and encouraging cultures (Khan et al., 2020). The study further showed that employees are more productive and efficient under transformational leadership because intrinsic motivation is increased, and the leadership encourages intrinsic motivation, leading to less burnout and increased motivation. Intrinsically motivated employees were likelier to work hard and participate in the organization. Social loafing and transformational leadership have a strong negative correlation, while their indirect connection through intrinsic motivation is insignificant.

Another study aimed to investigate the relationship between transformative leadership, organizational innovation, psychological problems, employee creativity, and performance in SMEs in Pakistan. The study showed that challenge stresses, transformational leadership, and employee inventiveness positively and significantly impacted employee performance. According to Nasir et al. (2022), organizational innovation, challenge stressors, and transformational leadership styles can inspire employees to nurture creativity. Employee creativity also enhances employee performance.

Leadership in Practice       

Throughout my nursing career, I have had the opportunity to work with many leaders with various styles. Some were authoritative, laissez-faire, transformational, and democratic; however, the Leader that resonated with me the most was the one that used the transformational leadership style.  A leadership approach known as transformational leadership focuses on assisting team members in supporting one another and giving them the encouragement, direction, and support they need to work hard, perform well, and remain obedient. It creates good changes in those who follow (Cherry, 2023).

After working with Althea for over five years, I was empowered to provide the most excellent nursing care to all my patients. Even when absent from work, she supported her team because she was the kind of Leader who was constantly engaged. She made the workplace more fun and exciting; even when things changed, she always saw the positive side of things. She never passed judgment, and whenever mistakes were made, she was ready to assist her team in resolving them and learning from them. When I first began my nursing career and worked with her, she offered me the chance to develop and think for myself; she never made me feel inferior to any of her more seasoned nurses. Her team’s development and growth were always priorities, and she was frequently willing and ready to assist. She constantly motivated me to work hard and achieve the most excellent possible outcomes for my profession; ultimately, she gave me the drive I needed to desire to be the best nurse I could be.

Conclusion

As a result of my experience working with a transformational leader and the positive effects she had on my career and the company where I previously worked, I believe that if all leaders possessed these qualities, it would not only improve the care we give to patients but also boost team morale and encourage nursing advancement. We should select leadership trajectories that will make us feel comfortable as current and future leaders in the nursing profession. We should ensure we provide the utmost support for the benefit of our team, avoid bias and showing any favoritism, and strive to be the best and most encouraging leaders we can be.

The satisfactory performance of a healthcare organization and orchestrated actions of the staff directly depend on administration, managers, and leading nurses’ leadership abilities. Duggan et al. (2015) noted that leadership is one of the administrative evidence-based practices domains, alongside “workforce development, partnerships, financial processes, and organizational culture and climate,” that ensures successful healthcare organization function. The authors outlined the broad spectrum of leadership qualities that incorporate leaders’ skills and background, values and expectations, such as “support of quality improvement, national performance standards, evidence-based decision making, innovation,” employee involvement, and broad staff participation in “non-hierarchical decision-making” (Duggan et al., 2015, p.2). The ability to involve staff in organizational decision-making and development is one of the transformational leadership attributes. Marshal and Broome (2021) pointed out that transformational leaders “influence others by changing the understanding of others of what is important” (p. 15). Additionally, transformational leaders set up “high expectations with a sight toward the desired future […] and instill others with optimism, a sense of meaning, and commitment to a dream, goal, or cause” (Marshal & Broome, 2021, p. 17).

One key insight of the transformational leadership style is to develop the staff’s ability to act proactively, applying wisdom and trying to prevent worsening the situation before it starts. McCormick et al. (2019) pointed out that the contemporary, complex environment of healthcare organizations demands employees’ ability “to exhibit proactive behaviour in order to successfully achieve both individual and organizational outcomes” (p. 31). The authors stressed that “a positive relationship exists between transformational leadership and proactive behaviour,” which is, in turn, “related to numerous positive outcomes such as career satisfaction and success, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, job performance (overall, task, and contextual), psychological empowerment, perceived autonomy, self-efficacy, and organizational knowledge” (pp. 35, 33). For example, when I started working as a nurse novice in a long-term care facility, I encountered multiple situations where an insightful approach would have helped prevent unfavorable or adverse conditions. My nurse supervisor and mentor at that time cultivated a strong habit for me to start the shift with rounds and assess more thoroughly all patients that I consider unstable or suspicious at first sight and then circulate often in the ward with routine rounds, keeping all patients in the eyesight. These strategies allow for determining patients with deteriorating conditions and hospitalizing them on time, avoiding code-blue situations. Additionally, this strategy greatly facilitated fall prevention and reduced the actual number of falls. Another proactive strategy I was taught is the lab review at the beginning of the shift in the search for critical lab values. If most lab tests can be reviewed with physicians at any time, critical lab values addressed at the beginning of the shift prevent patients’ rapid deterioration and induce timely treatment or hospitalization. Today, working in one of the leading positions, I coach nurse novices with the same principles of insight and proactivity.

|Another critical insight of the transformational leadership style is the ability to exercise emotional intelligence as an essential skill to balance professional yet trustworthy relations with colleagues and patients. Apore and Asamoah (2019) identified emotional intelligence skill as “the capacity for recognizing our own feelings and those of others, for motivating ourselves, and for managing emotions well in ourselves and in our relationships” (p. 602). The authors stressed that emotional intelligence “is a skill that deserves to be given credence in nursing for its potential benefits to patient care and staff welfare” and “the ability of nurses to manage their own emotions and to understand those of their patients is an asset in providing care” (Apore & Asamoah, 2019, p. 602). I have witnessed the emotional intelligence skill of my direct supervisor on multiple occasions. For example, in constant staff shortage, when minimal staffing is scheduled for a shift, and somebody suddenly calls out, it creates an additional workload on remaining nurses and nursing assistants. If an assignment is allocated unevenly, the staff members caring for a greater number of patients demand a nurse supervisor to re-evaluate and change the assignment, often with increased and unnecessary agitation. Additionally, patients and their family members tend to express their frustration with prolonged call-light waiting time with raised emotions and voice tone. My direct supervisor appears very reasonable in any situation, able to listen to all parties, never talks back or argues, and is able to compromise or find temporary solutions.

The transformational leadership skills of proactive thinking and emotional intelligence create a more effective working environment, positively impact the workplace by making the working effort more efficient, and facilitate staff interactions and communication, which eventually reflects in patient care. The study conducted by Alwali and Alwali (2022) confirmed that “emotional intelligence is significantly and positively related to job performance,” which “implies that employees with greater emotional intelligence can perform their works effectively relative to employees with lower emotional intelligence” and “job satisfaction has a significant mediating role on the relationship between emotional intelligence and job performance” (pp. 941, 942). My direct nurse supervisor acts as a mentor and role model, transferring qualities of emotional intelligence and proactive thinking to her trainees. For example, in the long-term care facility, controlled drugs for pain management are not readily available in the house stock. A nurse needs to obtain a prescription from a physician, fax it to the pharmacy, and the pharmacy will deliver a package with medications the next day. When medication from this package is finished, a nurse has to start the procedure all over again, delaying pain management for a patient. Many nurse novices tend to deplete a medication up to the last pill, pushing the ordeal of obtaining the new package and communicating with the patient and family to the nurse on the next shift, which creates complete patient dissatisfaction since many residents recovering from surgeries, such as total hip or knee replacement, and require timely pain management. Additionally, this situation builds up tense relations between nurses of different shifts. To avoid similar issues, my direct nurse supervisor instructs new nurses to work proactively and reorder medications two-three days prior to their completion. Additionally, she encourages timely communication with physicians to describe the resident’s medical and surgical history, the current pain level, and obtain a needed prescription. Finally, she trains new nurses to communicate possible pitfalls between nurses in shift-to-shift reports, work on potential problems together, and act as a team, not as rivals, in providing direct patient care. Therefore, the approach of transformational leadership combined with proactive thinking and emotional intelligence significantly facilitates the working environment, improves patient care, enhances teamwork, and increases job satisfaction.

Theories

There are many kinds of leaders and ways to lead. Leadership is important in nursing because we need leaders to direct healthcare workers to help with patient care, clinical education, research, and administration. Leaders need to use their knowledge and skills to collaborate with other leaders in healthcare to help come up with solutions to the problems and changes that happen in healthcare every day (Broome & Marshall, 2021). Nursing leadership is very important in health care so that the decisions that are made are backed by evidence and so that there is representation for nurses in policy development (Kiwanuka et al., 2020).

Leadership Styles

A study I found studied different leadership styles that have had success in healthcare.  Transformational leadership, considerate leadership, exemplary leadership practices, and trusted leadership styles have shown to have the most success. Transformational leadership is a desired and favored leadership style. Transformational leadership has been shown to retain nursing staff and shown to report nurses who favor their working environments (Kiwanuka et al., 2020).

Another leadership style that has been studied amount healthcare organizations is servant leadership. Servant leadership has been shown to decrease burnout amount nurses and increase job satisfaction. This leadership style focuses on empowering workers and encouraging employees to make decisions and receive recognition. Servant leaders focus on finding ways to decrease workload on employees and focus on teamwork (Westbrook et al., 2022).

Leadership I Have Experienced

The manager I have where I work currently in the peri-operative area, I believe uses a servant style of leadership. She encourages each of her employees to be active in committees. She has check in meetings with all of use individually quarterly to make sure if we have any concerns that we can voice them. We have employee voice surveys quarterly and she addresses each area that is scored low. I believe her style of leadership has been effective because we have retained the same staff for many years. We have nurses that have been in the department for 15 plus year

Key Insights

            Leadership in nursing is vital, and the quality of it influences the satisfaction of the employees, the health of the employees, the environment, and ultimately turnover. Positive leaders in healthcare contribute to employees’ overall health and positive outlook on their job. It has been said that how leaders interact with their staff is more important than their ability. Transformational leaders are role models to their staff, challenge them to be better, add meaning to their work, encourage their staff to learn and add new ways to solve problems, are concerned about their staff’s needs, and are mentors (Vidman & Strömberg, 2020).

Nursing leaders can foster or be detrimental to work environments. Effective leaders set the tone for the culture in the unit for both the patients and the environment. In a workplace with effective leadership, leaders want their nurses to learn new things and develop skills to improve, and in the end, it creates smarter nurses and increases patient care. The organization needs to support the nurse leader by providing educational opportunities, encouraging good decision-making, recognizing them for a job well done, allowing them to staff units how they see appropriate, and allowing them the finances for a healthy environment. Nurse leaders clearly understand what a healthy environment looks like, set standards to create and maintain it, and are role models to their staff members (American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, n.d.). Nursing leaders are essential in health workplaces. They assist in developing new processes and promote the overall health of stressed-out nurses. Leaders concerned about completing the job will not receive the best patient outcomes (Cummings et al., 2018).

Leadership in Practice

            The best example I have currently of a leader is our new nurse manager in the clinic. She has worked in clinics and surgery for years, but this is her first management position. She is always about doing the right thing in any instance I can think of. She fosters positive approaches to staff and patients. She has been an encourager for my education and has encouraged me to seek assistance when needed. She always appreciates staff being independent and allows us to do so. It is nice to have a manager you feel does not have a thumb on everything you do. Lastly, she is always concerned about the work environment and our comfort level and is available to debrief. In general, she is a wonderful human being, which is important in a managerial role.

How They Impacted the Workplace

            The positivity for independence and autonomy flourishes in a lighter work environment, and having a manager available to help if we have any further questions is great. She demonstrates care for staff’s stress levels and mental health overall as she comes over on days that she knows we are busy and makes sure that she can’t help in any way and that we are doing all right. This helps boost our trust in a manager who cares about our stress levels and well-being. Not that it makes our jobs any easier, but we know she genuinely cares and is concerned. I feel as if the staff enjoys their job, the environment, and their coworkers because it is a positive environment where people are encouraged to learn and not shamed for their mistakes.

Two Key Insights into How Leadership Behaviors Create Healthy Work Environments

The leadership of your workplace can be the deciding factor of whether you see the organization as a long-term home in your career or just a stop along your career path. Although organizational objectives and values can affect the workplace, the person or persons that directly lead you and those around you can sponsor a healthy or health-oriented work environment. Two key insights regarding the role of leadership and leadership behaviors in the curation of a healthy work environment is that it is not enough to just have leadership physically present, but the quality of that leadership greatly affects the workplace, and that leadership should be dynamic and specific to the context of the specific environment as well as healthcare overall in this instance.

Overall, quality of leadership and leadership behavior affect job satisfaction, turnover rates and turnover intention, employees’ perception of empowerment in the workplace, stress and burnout, resources available to employees, and employee health (Bregenzer et al., 2020; Jiménez et al., 2017; Vidman et al., 2020). Leadership style and behavior sets the stage for employee-leadership dynamics and how communication will occur. According to Bregenzer et al. (2020), communication techniques and listening skills of leadership play an important role in employee satisfaction, employee retention and turnover rate, and employee commitment to the organization. Good communication and listening skills are important because they create a mutual sense of respect and trust between leadership and employees as it sponsors an environment rooted in mutual appreciation, lack of judgement, and increased relatedness to both leadership and the organization. Additionally, quality leadership provides the resources and support for employees to effectively manage workplace stressors and promote healthy work conditions including a healthy workload, fairness in the workplace, and a sense of community inclusive of leadership and employees, improving employee satisfaction and reducing risks of turnover and burnout (Bregenzer et al., 2020; Jiménez et al., 2017). There is also the importance of management promoting health in the workplace via self-care and being perceptive of and attentive to the needs of those employees working beneath them (Jiménez et al., 2017).

Secondly, different leadership styles and approaches can affect the workplace environment and employee performance differently (Vidman et al., 2020). Two common perspectives of leadership are that it is relationship-based (that the attributes and behavior of leadership influence the relationships formed with employees and that those relationships are important to the work environment) or contextual (that the context of the environment as well as leadership style shape the work environment, relationships, and communication dynamics between employees and leadership). Ultimately, leadership in healthcare must incorporate all perspectives and be uniquely based on the context and needs of social work or healthcare – rooted in an environment of caring – instead of based on the business model of corporations (Vidman et al., 2020). Also, leadership in healthcare must be able to be trustworthy, knowledgeable, and proactive while communicating with respect, being supportive without interrupting or disrupting workflow, and being competent in their role.

Personal Experiences with Leadership Behavior

One of my favorite managers to work with was at a Kaiser Permanente facility in the Los Angeles area. The best way I can describe him is that he practices what he preaches. He holds his employees, both staff and travelers, to a high standard and himself as well. He manages without micromanaging, advocates for and supports staff, and will be one of the first people to help out on the unit and answer call lights. Also, and very importantly, he is fair and communicates with respect with all staff. For example, I was having a rough shift and had one patient that I felt was unstable compared to the previous day, but I could not get the physician to take the situation seriously even after the family expressed concern as well. I ultimately had to call a rapid response for the patient and both the respiratory therapist and physician, both whom I had been speaking with throughout the shift regarding this patient, seemed annoyed and asked why I called the rapid response. The manager overheard the interaction and advocated for the patient and myself, even speaking directly with the rapid response nurse separately to push for more interventions to be done. The patient was stabilized more and was taken for more testing. Unfortunately, when I returned the next day, I found out that the patient coded in the middle of the night and died; the manager praised me for being perceptive to the needs of the patient, for handling the situation well, and that the family appreciated the care I provided the patient.

I believe that the support this manager provided and how well they communicated with staff created a great work environment. The unit could be difficult at times due to patient acuity and staffing but this manager, and all the other members of leadership for the unit, led with fairness, compassion, and competence in their positions. Their management style made the unit a great place to work despite any other stressors. As a result of how well leadership performs on that unit, many travel nurses stay for extended contracts and eventually return to work again if they leave to travel to other areas. This is one of the few hospitals I look forward to working at again and the management of that unit play a significant part in that decision.

Leadership Theories in Practice

Healthcare is similar to other organizations, needing strong leadership to achieve its objectives. The skills of a successful leader should include the capacity to comprehend, inspire, cooperate, and respect their team members. They should also know how to bring out the best in people as they work together. Good company operations require effective leadership, but this does not always come naturally, but people can be taught to become leaders (Moore Foundation, n.d.). It is crucial to understand the many leadership theories and how they affect management and different leadership styles (WGU, 2020). The focus of leadership theories is on the traits and behaviors that people may acquire to improve their leadership capacity, which impacts the performance of an organization, as well as how and why certain people become leaders. There are several perspectives on what makes a successful leader, how leadership functions, and what traits influencers possess. The effectiveness of a manager’s leadership style should vary depending on the team they oversee and the sector they operate in. Unfortunately, implementing leadership theory is not always straightforward (Moore Foundation, n.d.).

Key Insights Evaluating Impact of Leadership Behaviors

This study explores the relationship between leadership, employee turnover, work happiness, and health. It was discovered that the effects of different leadership ideologies on output, job satisfaction, and health varied. Performance is impacted by task-oriented leadership, whereas relation-oriented leadership encourages job satisfaction. Relational leadership is a sort of leadership that is employed in the healthcare sector. Setting an example for followers, providing work meaning and challenge, encouraging creativity and original problem-solving, paying attention to each follower’s needs, and providing coaching and mentoring are all examples of transformational leadership. This has been shown to raise the level of care offered in the healthcare sector and employee happiness and well-being (Vidman & Stromberg, (2020).

This article shows that transformational leadership empowers individuals to create and affect change via flexibility, employee ownership, business culture, and authenticity. Transformational leaders inspire and excite their people without micromanaging, empowering them to think creatively and solve challenges. The essential components of transformative leadership are idealized influence, trust, transparency, respect, inspirational motivation, and individual consideration. For employees to feel connected to and committed to the organization’s goal and to be able to contribute to the business, leaders foster an environment that welcomes expansion and supports digital change. They also customize their coaching and mentoring to help employees achieve their goals (White, 2022).

Leader Behaviors and Skills Practice

P.J. is a former nursing leader who displayed bureaucratic, autocratic, democratic, laissez-faire, and charismatic leadership at various times. The transformative leadership style stood out most, depending on the project and the circumstances. Transformational leaders can inspire and encourage their team members to take actions that cause significant change, resulting in a productive workforce committed to a company’s long-term success. (CFI Team, 2022).  P.J.’s leadership style matches this description.
P.J. was always eager to assist, a good listener, and a creative problem-solver. P.J. inspired and motivated the team to exceed their comfort zones and accomplish far more.  She continually inspires the team to keep up the fantastic job since she demands the best of her staff. She would describe the aims, the timeline, and the objectives for every new project. She would constantly demonstrate our success, for example, in keeping patients safe and preventing falls during the current month.
P.J. always gives examples of why something is essential and stresses the need to work as a team to accomplish goals. She was reliable because of her emotional intelligence, empathy, and effective communication abilities. When P.J. would advise the team to further our education or obtain a certification, she would say that team should empower themselves because nurses are leaders, which is what leaders do. She was kind and considerate of others, calling workers to see how they were doing when they weren’t feeling well. No matter how little the issue, she was an attentive listener who gave her full attention while also encouraging and offering guidance. She often gave motivating speeches about the terrific team the staff was in since she was highly driven. She communicates well and speaks up for herself, her team, and the patients. She was dependable, and accepted responsibility for her actions; she always followed through on her commitments. She would constantly make plans in advance and take steps to stop issues before they started. She would show that she has solid problem-solving abilities by demonstrating that occasionally when there is a dispute on the team, she would handle it professionally.  She motivates the team members to keep raising the bar and accomplish feats they never imagined possible. She continually inspires the team to keep up the fantastic job since she demands the best of her staff.

Effectiveness of Skills and Impact on the Workplace

These skills such as adaptability, active listener, motivation, and emotional intelligence possessed by transformational leaders are effective because those who follow this leadership path learn to handle various situations in a company to increase productivity by enhancing team members’ self-efficiency, and these leadership abilities are successful. It also promotes the development, health, and morale of employees. This leadership style depends on matching an employee’s talents, interests, and motivations to the team’s and organization’s goals to motivate them to accomplish their own (Indeed, 2022).

Improvements in organizational culture, structural empowerment, greater employee retention, stability, and cost-effective turnover have all been associated with transformational leadership in nursing units. Moreover, it supports community-based prevention programs and community health education activities and increases healthcare equity. It also encourages connection development and collaboration. It promotes engagement and work satisfaction, which elevate productivity, improves treatment quality, and improve patient health and safety (TAMIU, 2021).

According to (Brown, 2019), the transformational theory emphasizes the importance of vision, inspiration, and motivation in effective leadership. Transformational leaders can inspire and motivate their team members to achieve great things and are known for their ability to create a compelling vision of the future. I have experienced the utilization of transformational leadership through my job at Southern Ohio Medical Center, working in their ICU. SOMC is known for being the only magnet-status hospital in our local area. They prioritize their nurses and how we are felt, seen, and heard. Our nurse managers often do team meetings where we can give input on new equipment introduced and our staffing ratios and are rewarded regularly with free lunch at the hospital for both day and night shifts. They also participated in competitive pay rates and gave their nurses an 11% pay increase in 2021. According to (Eliyana, 2019), “An organization with more satisfied employees tends to be more effective and productive. Besides, employees with a high level of satisfaction will have fewer turnovers.” This is true from personal experiences with management practicing the transformational leadership theory. 

Behavioral theory is another formal leadership theory that focuses on the actions and behaviors of leaders rather than their inherent traits (March 2021). According to (Khan et al., 2020), Organizational culture is the process of the behaviors, values, beliefs, and habits that direct individuals’ behaviors in an organization. Effective leadership can be learned through training and practice, and specific behaviors are associated with successful leadership, such as delegating tasks, providing feedback, and setting goals. I also have had personal experience with management using this type of formal leadership. Our healthcare facility is extensive on “see one, do one, teach one.” This not only “forces” us to learn but also allows for a more organized approach to providing care to our patients. I need to work for an organization that prioritizes positive organizational culture for its providers and staff. 

Overall utilizing a form of formal leadership is essential, but it can vary on which practice is best depending on what employees respond to best with their job.

Leadership Theories

There are many different leadership theories. They can be broken down into a few main types- traditional management theories, environment and worker needs theories, behavioral and worker style theories, situation and constituent relationship theories, and transformational leadership (Broome & Marshall, 2021). Each subtype has many different approaches. Transformational leadership is made up of four factors: idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individual consideration (Wysocki et al.,2020). According to Harvard Business Review (2016), the top quality of a leader is high ethical and moral standards, the third being communicating clear expectations. This is vital to creating an environment of safety and trust in the workplace.

Leadership Theories in Action

I am a supervisor in my unit and directly report to Julie. Julie has a phenomenal ability to create organizational change and provide growth opportunities. She does this by giving leadership opportunities to new ones, providing opportunities for certification paid for by the company, facilitating getting the materials and setting up courses, and looking for ways to ease the burden on staff nurses organization-wide. She asks many questions and urges staff to put aside their preconceived notions and “stay curious.”  She is a truly transformational leader.

A healthy work environment is essential for a productive work place and this starts with leadership. The behaviors of leadership directly affects the quality of work environments, and the health and well-being of the nursing workforce (Cummings et al., 2018). Not only can good leadership help to create a healthier work environment, but it also helps to retain staff, increase job satisfaction, reduce burnout, and create better patient outcomes. The purpose of this post is to discuss how leadership behaviors can create a healthy work environment, how skills can affect this, and behaviors and skills used in the workplace that impact a healthy work environment.

One key insight from the scholarly articles that I reviewed was, creating an open and respectful interaction between leaders and staff, helps to develop trust which contributes to a healthy work environment (Vidman & Strömberg, 2020). Having this open relationship allows employees to feel like they are able to communicate with leadership about concerns or suggestions. Another key insight is providing feedback, from the leaders and the staff member. It is important that the employee gives leadership feedback about what is and isn’t working on the unit, leaders can not fix something that they are not aware is broken. The same goes for leadership, they should be giving employee feedback on performance and offer support were needed.

In my current department, we have leaders that help to create a healthy work environment. One thing leadership does in my department is quarterly check-in’s, this gives employees an opportunity to communicate things that are and are not working, discuss their performance and career goals, and receive feedback. This is effective and impactful on the department because it allows for open communication and feedback on both ends which leads to a healthy environment for all. Another action my department uses is quarterly meetings, this is another opportunity for staff to discuss things that need changed or make suggestions. This is helpful because some may be more inclined to speak up when they are in a group setting and know they will have the support of their co-workers. This impacts the work place by again creating a relationship between management and staff that allows for communication and change when needed. Lastly, our leadership creates a healthy work environment by coming out and working with us on the floor when needed. We work in a busy emergency room, when things start to get backed up, they come out and start helping where its needed so we can keep the emergency room flowing. This kind of behavior shows that they are a team player and willing to step in and help when needed.

In conclusion, the skills and behaviors of leadership can positively or negatively affect the work environment. Leaders should give support, removed barriers, give direction, and provide resources to help create a healthy work environment (Broome & Marshall, 2021). Creating a healthy work environment can help to retain staff, increase job satisfaction, and create better patient outcomes. Some things that leaders at my work place do, that impact my work place are, quarterly meetings and check ins, and stepping in when support is needed on the floor. These behaviors and skills positively impact a healthy work environment and creates better relationships between leadership and staff.

The current nursing practices integrate evidence-based decision-making in providing safe and quality patient care. The process involves incorporating the best evidence from research trials, patient values, and preferences with professional experience. Leadership in evidence-based practice includes leaders’ expectations, values, and participatory decision-making. It is important to note that leaders intentionally promote evidence-based practice in clinical settings (Duggan et al., 2015). This discussion post will highlight two critical insights from scholarly resources about the role of leadership in enhancing evidence-based practice. It will also describe a leader using the skills and behaviors observed in a clinical setting, their effectiveness, and their impact in the workplace.

Harvey et al. (2020), in their article titled ‘Leadership for evidence-based practice—Enforcing or enabling implementation?’ argued that leadership is a crucial determinant in the successful implementation of evidence-based practice in nursing. Hu and Gifford (2018), in their article’ Leadership behaviors play a significant role in implementing evidence‐based practice,’ had sentiments similar to Harvey et al. (2020). Hu and Gifford (2018) asserted that leadership behaviors play a role in successes and failures experienced in evidence-based practice implementation. The learning from the two resources is that success in evidence-based application in clinical settings depends on leadership skills, behaviors, and styles leaders adopt.

From personal experience, the concept of leadership behaviors was observed in practice in the pediatric department. The unit introduced the machine learning strategy to improve predictions of preterm infant survival. The strategy’s effectiveness is supported by research findings comparing it to logistic models (Podda et al., 2018). The evidence-based practice strategy required changes to care delivery in the pediatric unit. The nurse leader in charge of implementation employed servant leadership to influence fellow nurses to adopt the new care approach. Examples of initiatives by the nurse manager included enrollment in training to understand how to use machine learning and data interpretation. The leader’s behavior motivated other nurses to learn, and the technology was adopted in routine care with time. The leadership approach was practical because the leader chose to be a role model, which helped to overcome change resistance by other nurses. It is usual for nurses to resist change because of the anticipated impact on their behavior and beliefs (Cho et al., 2021). Implementing a machine learning strategy enhanced neonatal care because the clinicians detected poor outcomes in time to apply corrective measures. Therefore, the incidence of preventable deaths decreased among preterm neonates.

A review of the scholarly articles confirmed that leadership is essential in successfully delivering patient care in nursing. Nurses should modify their behaviors to influence followers and achieve nursing goals. Further inquiry is necessary to establish the leadership behaviors with a positive influence and those that result in adverse outcomes.

Effective nursing leadership is crucial in all aspects of healthcare. An effective leader can enhance patient care, boosts staff morale, and offer direction through the difficulties of healthcare administration. There are many types of leaders that bring different qualities to their teams. Nurse leaders who are authentic are able to be honest and open in their relationships with individuals to whom they report, as well as those who work for them (Broome & Marshall, 2021). Poor leadership skills can contribute to a high staff turnover rate and contribute to nursing burnout.

Specchia et la., (2021) discuss the leadership styles in detail naming six different types of leadership. The styles of leadership are transactional, laissez-faire, servant, resonant, passive-avoidant, and authentic. I have experienced many of these styles working in nursing. The two types of leaders that I will reference had transformational and passive-avoidant styles of leadership. The leader that made the most impact on me was the one with the transformational approach. Transformational and authentic leaders can foster nurse engagement, improve nurse satisfaction, and reduce nurse burnout, which ultimately promotes patient quality of care and outcomes (Wei et al., 2020). She was a great educator, and mentor, and lead by example. We had several issues within the office and she was able to advocate for her staff and provided great feedback to us on how to fix the issue.

The other type I have experienced was the passive-avoidant style. This type of leadership was not effective at all. This place of employment had a high nurse turnover rate and the culture was severely affected by it. This leader avoided taking responsibility for her actions and would confront coworkers in front of peers. This happened to me on my first day working at this facility. I wasn’t given a proper orientation due to being understaffed so I was a little bit slower than she would have liked. Instead of discussing it with me in private at the end of the shift, she confronted me in front of everyone. She blatantly said, “why are you so slow”? This was my first job in a pre-op/PACU environment and although I knew how to take care of patients safely, I was not getting them out of recovery fast enough for her. This type of leadership ruined the entire culture of this facility.  Khajeh (2018) states “The leadership style influences the culture of the organization which, in turn, influences the organizational performance”.

Key Insights  

   In the ever-changing world of healthcare, effective leadership is vital. Effective leadership gives a healthcare organization a sense of loyalty, shared goals, and increased employee productivity. Two leadership key insights are clear and open communication and approachability. Clear and open communication is a crucial leadership insight because it ensures staff has vital information needed to perform their job duties, promotes a positive work environment with areas for growth, and eliminates inefficiencies. Approachability is a key insight for leadership because it improves relationships and interactions with staff, makes collaborating and networking more effective, and builds a good and trusting relationship with the team members (Al Khajeh, 2018; Broome & Marshall, 2021; Specchia et al., 2021).  

Leader and Impact on the Workplace  

   Doctor (Dr.) Greg Myrick, former George Regional Health System’s Emergency Department (ED) Director, displayed these two key leadership insights: clear and open communication and approachability. During his time as ED director, the ED was fully staffed, and the staff was updated on all changes. He used these two key insights to lead a smooth transition from the old eight-bed ED to the new twelve-bed ED. First, he allowed every ED staff to voice their opinions and input for the new ED setup and must-haves. Then, he performed biweekly and monthly meetings of how the ED move will take place. Everyone had clear directions regarding their job duties during the move and how the patient care flow would be. At the time of the move, everyone was prepared and performed their duties without affecting patient care. His leadership during this time helped the staff and made the transition smooth for patients and the community George Regional serves. Most importantly, the ED staff felt valued, appreciated, and part of a team with Dr. Myrick in charge (Al Khajeh, 2018; Broome & Marshall, 2021; Specchia et al., 2021). 

Positive leadership can be transformative for nursing. Having strong leadership is imperative for the future of nursing. According to BRADY GERMAIN and CUMMINGS (2010) the two most important factors in nursing leadership are autonomy and working relationships. Autonomy allows nurses to practice to the full extent of their license, a nurse leader should encourage this and help her nurses feel empowered. Positive working relationships are also important because it empowers nurses and encourages teamwork.
With the different generations now entering the workforce, we must rely on transformational leadership. As stated by STANLEY (2010), “Understanding the different generational groups may allow nursing leaders and managers to consider what drives, motivates or hinders nurses from different generations.” Different generations may respond differently to different leadership styles, which is why we must identify what motivates the current generation and adapt leadership styles to match.
One of my nurse leaders works very well with different generations of workers and understands different motivators. For example, she allows us to work overtime when desired, but doesn’t push for it when it’s not necessary. She leads by example when interacting with providers and patients.