PERSPECTIVES ON LEADERSHIP Discussion – Nursingthesis Help

PERSPECTIVES ON LEADERSHIP Discussion

PERSPECTIVES ON LEADERSHIP Discussion

we are attuned to the needs and concerns of others. We can quickly pick up on social or emo- tional cues in our environment and adjust our behavior. We understand the power dynamics in situations and respect different points of view.

• Relationship management is the ability to apply emotional understanding when dealing with others. We recognize the need to clearly commu- nicate with, inspire, and influence others if we want to lead effectively and manage conflict. When relationships are managed well, you can both give and receive constructive feedback. These four dimensions of emotional intelligence

are not only essential ingredients for effective nurs- ing leadership but might also affect the style of lead- ership a manager chooses to adopt. Spano-Szekely and colleagues found in their work that there was a strong positive relationship between a nurse manag- er’s emotional intelligence and her or his adoption of a transformational style of leadership.8

You can grow in your emotional intelligence skills and avoid letting your emotions hijack your behavior. Emotional intelligence is especially critical in leadership today with resource constraints and other environmen- tal forces that make care delivery more challenging. In 2015, Mackoff described the importance of a leader being able to stop the clock and put space between an emotionally laden situation and one’s response.9 Choos- ing your response to significant events can be very liber- ating. The following are actions you can take to assess your emotional intelligence and potential problem areas: • Seek feedback on your behavior to determine

how you are being received by others. • Evaluate all negative feedback and reactions to

your behavior to look for areas where you may have problems with emotional intelligence.

• Reflect on how you have managed your emo- tions in highly charged encounters that involved conflict and ask yourself whether there is room for improvement.

• Assess how you manage your stress level and whether this interferes with relationships with others.

• Conduct cognitive rehearsals when confronted with difficult situations to plan how you will

manage if you are losing control in an emotion- ally laden situation.

RESILIENCY An ability to remain resilient in the face of adversity is the final component of effective self-management. Taken from the Latin term for “leaping back,” resil- iency is the ability to bounce back from adversity.10 Leaders who are resilient view difficulties as chal- lenges, not paralyzing events. They are better able to maintain perspective. They don’t drift into catas- trophic thinking in times of crisis. This can be a challenge for some nurse leaders. In a recent survey study of resiliency in nurse managers, the lowest (self-reported) scores were in the area of maintain- ing perspective during adversity.11

Our experiences with adversity affect our resil- iency, as do our natural levels of optimism, the level of impact experiences have on our lives, our social support system, and our propensity to rumi- nate. Maria, a behavioral health director, is a good example of how one’s experiences with adversity can affect resiliency. As a young nurse in 1992, she was working on the day Hurricane Andrew hit the Miami area. Maria lost her home in the storm, as did many of her colleagues. It was an extremely dif- ficult time, but Maria rebuilt her life and today has a different perspective on adversity—she frequently counsels her young staff on the importance of resil- iency. Martin Seligman, a psychiatrist and national expert on resilience, believes that reframing how we explain setbacks to ourselves is the key to develop- ing resilience. Situations are rarely as bad or as good as we frame them.12 The following three-step frame- work is recommended by Roger and Petrie to evalu- ate challenging experiences13: 1. Describe the experience or event. When thinking

about an incident, it is important to be objective and stick to the facts. The information you’ll need includes when the incident occurred, who was involved, and where it happened.

2. Express your reaction to what happened. Reflec- tive journaling has been found to be helpful in promoting resiliency. When writing, consider how you reacted and what you were feeling at the time of the incident. You can then wait a few days and go back and read what you wrote; you may find that the intensity of your emotions was not warranted in the situation.

3. Identify lessons learned. There are lessons to be learned in any event, no matter how negative— or positive. Assess what you have learned from both the event and your response to it. Consider whether there are things you might do differ- ently to cope with such events in the future.

The good news is that resiliency is like a

muscle, it grows as we learn to navigate

negative situations successfully. PERSPECTIVES ON LEADERSHIP Discussion

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