26 Feb Characteristics of Powerful Leaders

Leaders who learn, practice, and improve the following skills, may develop into powerful leaders.

Self-manage – they prioritize their goals, maintain self-control without being rigid, and balance their time.

Strategically act – they are open-minded, flexible, positive, and always looking forward.

Effectively communicate – they listen well, are able to involve people from different levels, and they know when not to talk.

Are responsible and accountable – they use their authority appropriately, balance different perspectives, hold themselves accountable, and expect the same of their team members.

Persist to achieve clear goals – their goals are clear, and they pursue them in a determined fashion.

Develop a clear vision for the future – confidently, optimistically they inspire enthusiasm about the future vision.

Manage complexity – they are problem solvers, recognizing quickly moving trends, and responding accordingly.

Foster innovation – they nurture creativity, encouraging team members to explore new ideas.

Create teams and promote teamwork – they value diverse individuals who bring different skill sets to the mix.

Build Lasting Relationships – they are effective at networking, building a large diverse network.

Are agile – they can adapt quickly when circumstances change, are curious, always learning and growing.

Leadership Skills

Summary and References

Personalized Strategic Planning

Strategic planning is a useful tool for the development of personal leadership skills, as well as a future career path as a nurse leader. It may be thought of like a road map of sorts. Strategic planning generates a direction for the nurse leader’s practice, gives structure to everyday decisions, helps the leader to maintain a clear vision, and maximizes the leader’s opportunities for positively influencing outcomes. Dynamic in nature, the plan may start out as very precise and later evolve into something that looks quite different. And that’s okay. Plans should evolve as the leader grows. There are many methods for developing a strategic plan. Several will be presented, and the nurse leader will incorporate those found to be most useful individually, into the development of the leader’s personal leadership strategic plan.

Explore: Developing Transformation Leadership Skills

Before looking at methods for developing a personalized strategic plan for a career in nursing leadership, read this article about the development of transformational leadership skills.

Fischer Developing Transformation Leadership SkillsDownload Fischer Developing Transformation Leadership SkillsDownload Fischer Developing Transformation Leadership Skills

Fischer, SA (2017). Developing nurses’ transformational leadership skills. Nursing Standard 31 (51): p. 51-64.

Estimated time to complete: 20 minutes

Keep this content in mind as the various processes for strategic planning are explored. The nurse leader should understand the leadership process model and explore various methods for determining strengths and opportunities, as well as for developing a strategic plan.

Consider: Leadership Process Model

Leadership Process.jpg

The leadership process model addresses the key elements playing roles in leadership, assisting the nurse leader to develop an

Understanding of how each element has an impact on the others. The leadership process includes the leader, the followers (or team members), the context and the outcomes. The context is the environment or the circumstances surrounding the tasks required of the team. The outcomes are naturally the result of the work of the leader in conjunction with the team. The leader’s behaviors, the followers’ work and behaviors, and the context will all influence the outcome. The influence flows in all directions, the outcome may exert an effect on the leader, the followers, or the context, just as any of the elements may impact any of the other elements at any point in time. As a process, change is natural. And the nurse leader’s strategic plan may change over time.

To function best within the leadership process model, the leader should:

Provide quality feedback to team members in an ongoing and regular fashion.

Develop self-awareness and self-mastery in order to be aware of own actions and reactions.

Provide transformational leadership honestly, ethically, and authentically

Ensure team members’ strengths and skills are used on a regular basis through appropriate task allocation

Focus on relationship development by becoming emotionally intelligent.

Watch: How to Perform a SWOT Analysis

A SWOT analysis is an examination of strengths weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. It is useful to complete the analysis, prior to beginning the strategic planning process and can serve as the first step.

Discover: Strategic Planning

SWOT.jpg

The goal of strategic planning is to provide a guide for future success. It is often used by corporations and institutions of higher learning to provide a direction for the future. It may also be used by nurse leaders to determine a plan for the development of leadership skills and a path toward future career goals. Many different outlines for strategic plans exist, and 2 of them are noted below.

5 steps:

Determine vision

Determine mission

Perform SWOT analysis

Develop specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, time-limited goals

Monitor progress

6 steps:

Determine core mission

Develop future-focused vision statement

Identify priorities

Build a plan

Hold yourself accountable

Review

Additional readings:

McCarthy, D. (2017). 7 elements of a strategic planLinks to an external site.Links to an external site.

Vernon, C. (2017). Create your personal strategic planLinks to an external site.Links to an external site.

Summary and References

Unit 2 : In order to begin personalized strategic planning, the nurse leader must first understand the mutual influences of the elements of the leadership process model. Conducting a personal SWOT analysis related to current leadership traits and future career choices as a nurse leader should be the beginning step of the strategic plan. Moving forward with strategic planning includes vision and mission development, as well as the creation of goals. In an ongoing fashion, the leader will review the plan, making adjustments as necessary.

References

Dunham, R. B., & Pierce, J. L. (1989). Management. Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman.

Fischer, SA (2017). Developing nurses’ transformational leadership skills. Nursing Standard 31 (51): p. 51-64.

Harrison, J. P. (2017). Essentials of strategic planning in healthcare (2nd ed.). Chicago, IL: Health Administration Press.

Pierce, J. L., & Newstrom, J. (1989). Leaders and the leadership process (6th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill.

Quast, L. (2013). How to conduct a personal SWOT analysis. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/lisaquast/2013/04/15/how-to-conduct-a-personal-s-w-o-t-analysis/#1ab43ece28d8

Virtual Strategist. (2016). How to perform a SWOT analysis. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_6AVRGLXGA

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