Leadership Theories in Practice NURS 6053
Discussion 1: Leadership Theories in Practice
A walk through the Business section of any bookstore or a quick Internet search on the topic will reveal a seemingly endless supply of writings on leadership. Formal research literature is also teeming with volumes on the subject. Leadership Theories in Practice NURS 6053
However, your own observation and experiences may suggest these theories are not always so easily found in practice. Not that the potential isn’t there; current evidence suggests that leadership factors such as emotional intelligence and transformational leadership behaviors, for example, can be highly effective for leading nurses and organizations.
Yet, how well are these theories put to practice? In this Discussion, you will examine formal leadership theories. You will compare these theories to behaviors you have observed firsthand and discuss their effectiveness in impacting your organization.
To Prepare for Leadership Theories in Practice NURS 6053:
Review the Resources and examine the leadership theories and behaviors introduced.
Identify two to three scholarly resources, in addition to this Module’s readings, that evaluate the impact of leadership behaviors in creating healthy work environments.
Reflect on the leadership behaviors presented in the three resources that you selected for review.
By Day 3 of Week 4 of Leadership Theories in Practice NURS 6053
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.
By Day 6 of Week 4 of Leadership Theories in Practice NURS 6053
Respond to at least two of your colleagues on two different days by explaining how the leadership skills they described may impact your organization or your personal leadership, or by identifying challenges you see in applying the skills described.
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One of the key insights I found from the scholarly resources I reviewed is that effective leadership behaviors can have a significant impact on creating a healthy work environment. In particular, transformational leadership and emotional intelligence have been identified as important factors in improving workplace culture and employee satisfaction.
One study I reviewed found that leaders who exhibit transformational behaviors, such as inspiring and motivating their employees, tend to have more engaged and committed teams. This was demonstrated through increased productivity, job satisfaction, and decreased turnover rates.
In another study, emotional intelligence was found to be a critical factor in creating a positive work environment. Leaders who demonstrate emotional intelligence by being aware of their own emotions and effectively managing their reactions to others tend to have higher levels of employee satisfaction, lower levels of stress, and better communication and collaboration among team members.
In my experience, I have seen a leader who exhibited strong emotional intelligence and transformational leadership behaviors. This leader was able to create a positive work environment by recognizing and addressing the needs and concerns of their employees. For example, they frequently checked in with team members to ensure they had the resources and support needed to perform their jobs effectively. They also took the time to celebrate individual and team successes, which helped to foster a sense of camaraderie and motivation among team members.
Overall, I believe that the effective practice of transformational leadership and emotional intelligence can have a significant impact on improving workplace culture and employee satisfaction. However, it can be challenging to apply these skills in practice, especially in fast-paced and high-stress work environments. Leaders may need to invest time and effort in developing these skills and finding ways to integrate them into their leadership style.
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Submission and Grading Information
Grading Criteria
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Week 4 Discussion Resources
Required Readings
Leadership Theories in Practice NURS 6053
Marshall, E., & Broome, M. (2017). Transformational leadership in nursing: From expert clinician to influential leader (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Springer.
Chapter 1, “Expert Clinician to Transformational Leader in a Complex Health Care Organization: Foundations” (pp. 7–20 ONLY)
Chapter 6, “Frameworks for Becoming a Transformational Leader” (pp. 145–170)
Chapter 7, “Becoming a Leader: It’s All About You” (pp. 171–194)
Duggan, K., Aisaka, K., Tabak, R. G., Smith, C., Erwin, P., & Brownson, R. C. (2015). Implementing administrative evidence-based practices: Lessons from the field in six local health departments across the United States. BMC Health Services Research, 15(1). doi:10.1186/s12913-015-0891-3. Retrieved from https://bmchealthservres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12913-015-0891-3
Resources for the StrengthsFinder Assessment Tool
Rath, T. (2007). Strengths Finder 2.0 – with Access Code.
Purchase the access code from the Walden bookstore. Then follow the instructions in the document “How to Access the Strengths Finder 2.0.
Document: How to Access Strengths Finder 2.0 (PDF)
Required Media
Laureate Education (Producer). (2014). Leadership [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Moore Foundation. (n.d.). Nurses share lessons in leadership. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLopRJPO6GaifsYPGP_jcWXZzU10H3AaX7
Discussion 2: Your Leadership Profile
Do you believe you have the traits to be an effective leader? Perhaps you are already in a supervisory role, but as has been discussed previously, appointment does not guarantee leadership skills.
How can you evaluate your own leadership skills and behaviors? You can start by analyzing your performance in specific areas of leadership. In this Discussion, you will complete Gallup’s StrengthsFinder assessment. This assessment will identify your personal strengths, which have been shown to improve motivation, engagement, and academic self-conference. Through this assessment, you will discover your top five themes—which you can reflect upon and use to leverage your talents for optimal success and examine how the results relate to your leadership traits. Leadership Theories in Practice NURS 6053
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Completing the StrengthsFinder assessment can be an effective way to evaluate your own leadership skills and behaviors. This assessment can help you identify your unique strengths and talents, which can then be leveraged to enhance your leadership abilities. By focusing on your strengths, you can increase your confidence and motivation, leading to improved performance and greater success.
Once you have identified your top five themes, you can reflect on how these strengths relate to your leadership traits. For example, if one of your top themes is communication, you may be well-suited for a leadership role that involves frequent interaction with others, such as managing a team or working in customer service. Alternatively, if one of your strengths is strategic thinking, you may excel in a leadership role that requires long-term planning and decision-making.
By understanding your strengths and how they relate to your leadership style, you can become a more effective and authentic leader. Rather than trying to fit into a particular mold or imitate someone else’s leadership style, you can leverage your unique talents and strengths to lead in a way that feels natural and authentic to you.
Overall, completing the StrengthsFinder assessment can be a valuable tool for evaluating and improving your own leadership skills and behaviors. By identifying and leveraging your strengths, you can become a more effective and confident leader, leading to greater success in your personal and professional life.
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To Prepare:
Complete the StrengthsFinder assessment instrument, per the instructions found in this Module’s Learning Resources.
Please Note: This Assessment will take roughly 30 minutes to complete.
Once you have completed your assessment, you will receive your “Top 5 Signature Themes of Talent” on your screen.
Click the Download button below Signature Theme Report, and then print and save the report. We also encourage you to select the Apply tab to review action items.
NOTE: Please keep your report. You will need your results for future courses. Technical Issues with Gallup:
If you have technical issues after registering, please contact the Gallup Education Support group by phone at +1.866-346-4408. Support is available 24 hours/day from 6:00 p.m. Sunday U.S. Central Time through 5:00 p.m. Friday U.S. Central Time. Leadership Theories in Practice NURS 6053
Reflect on the results of your Assessment, and consider how the results relate to your leadership traits.
By Day 3 of Week 5
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. Leadership Theories in Practice NURS 6053
By Day 6 of Week 5
Respond to at least two of your colleagues on two different days by making recommendations for how they might strengthen the leadership behaviors profiled in their StrengthsFinder assessment, or by commenting on lessons to be learned from the results that can be applied to personal leadership philosophies and behaviors.
Submission and Grading Information
Grading Criteria
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Assignment: Personal Leadership Philosophies
Many of us can think of leaders we have come to admire, be they historical figures, pillars of the industry we work in, or leaders we know personally. The leadership of individuals such as Abraham Lincoln and Margaret Thatcher has been studied and discussed repeatedly. However, you may have interacted with leaders you feel demonstrated equally competent leadership without ever having a book written about their approaches. Leadership Theories in Practice NURS 6053
What makes great leaders great? Every leader is different, of course, but one area of commonality is the leadership philosophy that great leaders develop and practice. A leadership philosophy is basically an attitude held by leaders that acts as a guiding principle for their behavior. While formal theories on leadership continue to evolve over time, great leaders seem to adhere to an overarching philosophy that steers their actions.
What is your leadership philosophy? In this Assignment, you will explore what guides your own leadership.
To Prepare:
Identify two to three scholarly resources, in addition to this Module’s readings, that evaluate the impact of leadership behaviors in creating healthy work environments.
Reflect on the leadership behaviors presented in the three resources that you selected for review.
Reflect on your results of the CliftonStrengths Assessment, and consider how the results relate to your leadership traits.
The Assignment (2-3 pages):
Personal Leadership Philosophies
Develop and submit a personal leadership philosophy that reflects what you think are characteristics of a good leader. Use the scholarly resources on leadership you selected to support your philosophy statement. Your personal leadership philosophy should include the following:
A description of your core values
A personal mission/vision statement
An analysis of your CliftonStrengths Assessment summarizing the results of your profile
A description of two key behaviors that you wish to strengthen
A development plan that explains how you plan to improve upon the two key behaviors you selected and an explanation of how you plan to achieve your personal vision. Be specific and provide examples. Leadership Theories in Practice NURS 6053
Be sure to incorporate your colleagues’ feedback on your CliftonStrengths Assessment from this Module’s Discussion 2.
By Day 7 of Week 6
Submit your personal leadership philosophy.
Submission and Grading Information
To submit your completed Assignment for review and grading, do the following:
Please save your Assignment using the naming convention “WK6Assgn+last name+first initial.(extension)” as the name.
Click the Week 6 Assignment Rubric to review the Grading Criteria for the Assignment.
Click the Week 6 Assignment link. You will also be able to “View Rubric” for grading criteria from this area.
Next, from the Attach File area, click on the Browse My Computer button. Find the document you saved as “WK6Assgn+last name+first initial.(extension)” and click Open.
If applicable: From the Plagiarism Tools area, click the checkbox for I agree to submit my paper(s) to the Global Reference Database. Leadership Theories in Practice NURS 6053
Click on the Submit button to complete your submission.
Grading Criteria
To access your rubric:
Submit your Week 6 Assignment draft and review the originality report.
Module 4: Communication and Relationship Building (Weeks 7-9)
Laureate Education (Producer). (2018). Diagnosis: Communication Breakdown [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Learning Objectives
Students will:
Assess work environments for workplace civility
Analyze strategies to address workplace incivility
Analyze evidence-based theories for promoting organizational health
Recommend strategies for improving workplace environments
Due By Assignment
Week 7, Days 1–2 Read the Learning Resources.
Compose your initial Discussion post.
Week 7, Day 3 Post your initial Discussion post.
Begin to compose your Assignment. Leadership Theories in Practice NURS 6053
Week 7, Days 4-5 Review peer Discussion posts.
Compose your peer Discussion responses.
Continue to compose your Assignment. Leadership Theories in Practice NURS 6053
Week 7, Day 6 Post two peer Discussion responses.
Week 8, Days 1-7 Continue to compose your Assignment.
Week 9, Days 1-6 Continue to compose your Assignment.
Week 9, Day 7 Deadline to submit your Assignment.
Photo Credit: [Steve Debenport]/[ E+]/Getty Images
Learning Resources
Note: To access this week’s required library resources, please click on the link to the Course Readings List, found in the Course Materials section of your Syllabus.
Required Readings
Marshall, E., & Broome, M. (2017). Transformational leadership in nursing: From expert clinician to influential leader (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Springer. Leadership Theories in Practice NURS 6053
Chapter 5, “Collaborative Leadership Contexts: Networks, Communication, Decision Making, and Motivation” (pp. 121–144)
Chapter 9, “Creating and Shaping the Organizational Environment and Culture to Support Practice Excellence” (pp. 247–278)
Chapter 10, “Building Cohesive and Effective Teams” (pp. 279–298)
Select at least ONE of the following:
Clark, C. M., Olender, L., Cardoni, C., & Kenski, D. (2011). Fostering civility in nursing education and practice: Nurse leader perspectives. Journal of Nursing Administration, 41(7/8), 324–330. doi:10.1097/NNA.0b013e31822509c4
Note: You will access this article from the Walden Library databases.
Clark, C. M. (2018). Combining cognitive rehearsal, simulation, and evidence-based scripting to address incivility. Nurse Educator. doi:10.1097/NNE.0000000000000563
Note: You will access this article from the Walden Library databases.
Clark, C. M. (2015). Conversations to inspire and promote a more civil workplace. American Nurse Today, 10(11), 18–23. Retrieved from https://www.americannursetoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/ant11-CE-Civility-1023.pdf
Griffin, M., & Clark, C. M. (2014). Revisiting cognitive rehearsal as an intervention against incivility and lateral violence in nursing: 10 years later. Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing, 45(12), 535–542. doi:10.3928/00220124-20141122-02
Note: You will access this article from the Walden Library databases.
Document: Work Environment Assessment Template (Word document)
Required Media
TEDx. (2017, April). Jody Hoffer Gittell: The power of a simple idea [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7nL5RC5kdE
Laureate Education (Producer). (2009a). Working with Groups and Teams [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Discussion: Workplace Environment Assessment
How healthy is your workplace?
You may think your current organization operates seamlessly, or you may feel it has many issues. You may experience or even observe things that give you pause. Yet, much as you wouldn’t try to determine the health of a patient through mere observation, you should not attempt to gauge the health of your work environment based on observation and opinion. Often, there are issues you perceive as problems that others do not; similarly, issues may run much deeper than leadership recognizes. Leadership Theories in Practice NURS 6053
There are many factors and measures that may impact organizational health. Among these is civility. While an organization can institute policies designed to promote such things as civility, how can it be sure these are managed effectively? In this Discussion, you will examine the use of tools in measuring workplace civility. Leadership Theories in Practice NURS 6053
To Prepare:
Review the Resources and examine the Clark Healthy Workplace Inventory, found on page 20 of Clark (2015).
Review and complete the Work Environment Assessment Template in the Resources.
By Day 3 of Week 7
Post a brief description of the results of your Work Environment Assessment. Based on the results, how civil is your workplace? Explain why your workplace is or is not civil. Then, describe a situation where you have experienced incivility in the workplace. How was this addressed? Be specific and provide examples.
By Day 6 of Week 7
Respond to at least two of your colleagues on two different days by sharing ideas for how shortcomings discovered in their Assessments and/or their examples of incivility could have been managed more effectively. Leadership Theories in Practice NURS 6053
Submission and Grading Information
Grading Criteria
To access your rubric:
Assignment: Workplace Environment Assessment
Clearly, diagnosis is a critical aspect of healthcare. However, the ultimate purpose of a diagnosis is the development and application of a series of treatments or protocols. Isolated recognition of a health issue does little to resolve it.
In this module’s Discussion, you applied the Clark Healthy Workplace Inventory to diagnose potential problems with the civility of your organization. In this Portfolio Assignment, you will continue to analyze the results and apply published research to the development of a proposed treatment for any issues uncovered by the assessment.
To Prepare:
Review the Resources and examine the Clark Healthy Workplace Inventory, found on page 20 of Clark (2015).
Review the Work Environment Assessment Template.
Reflect on the output of your Discussion post regarding your Assessment of workplace civility and the feedback received from colleagues.
Select and review one or more of the following articles found in the Resources:
Clark, Olender, Cardoni, and Kenski (2011)
Clark (2018)
Clark (2015)
Griffin and Clark (2014)
The Assignment (3-6 pages total):
Part 1: Work Environment Assessment (1-2 pages)
Review the Work Environment Assessment Template you completed for this Module’s Discussion.
Describe the results of the Work Environment Assessment you completed on your workplace.
Identify two things that surprised you about the results and one idea you believed prior to conducting the Assessment that was confirmed.
Explain what the results of the Assessment suggest about the health and civility of your workplace.
Part 2: Reviewing the Literature (1-2 pages)
Briefly describe the theory or concept presented in the article(s) you selected.
Explain how the theory or concept presented in the article(s) relates to the results of your Work Environment Assessment. Leadership Theories in Practice NURS 6053
Explain how your organization could apply the theory highlighted in your selected article(s) to improve organizational health and/or create stronger work teams. Be specific and provide examples.
Part 3: Evidence-Based Strategies to Create High-Performance Interprofessional Teams (1–2 pages)
Recommend at least two strategies, supported in the literature, that can be implemented to address any shortcomings revealed in your Work Environment Assessment.
Recommend at least two strategies that can be implemented to bolster successful practices revealed in your Work Environment Assessment. Leadership Theories in Practice NURS 6053
By Day 7 of Week 9
Submit your Workplace Environment Assessment Assignment.
Submission and Grading Information
To submit your completed Assignment for review and grading, do the following:
Please save your Assignment using the naming convention “WK9Assgn+last name+first initial.(extension)” as the name.
Click the Week 9 Assignment Rubric to review the Grading Criteria for the Assignment.
Click the Week 9 Assignment link. You will also be able to “View Rubric” for grading criteria from this area.
Next, from the Attach File area, click on the Browse My Computer button. Find the document you saved as “WK9Assgn+last name+first initial.(extension)” and click Open.
If applicable: From the Plagiarism Tools area, click the checkbox for I agree to submit my paper(s) to the Global Reference Database. Leadership Theories in Practice NURS 6053
Click on the Submit button to complete your submission.
Grading Criteria