Category: Leadership

Objectives

• Discuss leadership styles, traits, and practices as a nursing professional.
• Discuss the importance of effective interprofessional communication as a leader in nursing.
• Explore the role of servant leadership in nursing practice.

Babajide

• Leadership Style/Traits:
  • My leadership style is transformational leadership. It involves influencing the followers towards the attainment of a particular goal (Lussier & Achua, 2016).
  • Some of the traits that I posses are collaboration, creativity, emotional intelligence, dependability and integrity(Lussier & Achua, 2016).
  • I practice transformational leadership by empowering followers by helping them overcome their weaknesses and encouraging them to articulate their ideas.
• Group Comparison:
  • The leadership styles that are being utilized by my group members are servant leadership, charismatic leadership and transactional leadership.
  • Charismatic and Servant leadership styles are effective at boosting followers productivity and motivation (Lin et al, 2015) while Transactional leadership increases productivity.
  • The group members possessed the strengths of self-confidence, effective communication skills and dependability that enabled them win the loyalty and trust of their followers.
  • The main weaknesses were lack of emotional intelligence and empathy such that they were unable to discern the needs of their members.

I use Transformational leadership style which focus on influencing followers attitudes towards the attainment of a particular goal. To be an effective transformational leader, I have to posses traits such as collaboration to facilitate teamwork, creativity to resolve problems, emotional intelligence to discern the needs of the followers, dependability and integrity. I exercise transformational leadership by helping followers resolve their weaknesses that hinder their productivity and urging them to voice their ideas including concerns.

Group members relied on servant, charismatic and transactional leadership styles. Servant leadership puts the interests of the followers first. Charismatic leadership involves persuading followers towards a particular vision and transactional leadership is based on giving incentives such as good pay for work done.

Strengths of the group members included self-confidence, effective communication skills and dependability. Through exercising these skills, they were able to lead their followers effectively. However, they lacked emotional intelligence leading to dominance that was interpreted as coercion by followers.

Wendy

• Leadership Style/Traits:
  • Transformational-
    • Excite team with shared vision;
    • Excited team members will want to do their best to accomplish the shared vision;
    • Want to see everyone succeed.
• Group Comparison:
  • Democratic-
    • Asks for input from subordinates;
    • Takes time;
    • Survey;
    • Vote;
    • Implement.

I believe that I am transformational, they have a positive vision for the future and engage those with the excitement in realizing the future that they would want to be a part of. My dad was a huge believer of PMA (positive mental attitude), with a positive mental attitude you can achieve great things. According to an article in Forbes (2016) they would characterize me as an idealist, unafraid to dream big dream, inspiring with the image of a positive future. Where they would caution one against such a style, is getting to pie in the sky, and not being able to reach such goals, could lead to discouragement and disengagement.

Democratic decision makers look to the team to bring forth the ideas. This is a great morale buster but it takes time and collaboration to implement which is fine for long term goals, but does nothing for a short term goal. It is important to understand multiple different leadership styles in order to be able to be most effective in your approach to reach the desired outcome.

Dawnia

• Leadership Style/Traits:
  • Transformational leadership style:
    • inspire the patient by her example;
    • collaborate with them to achieve the best possible outcomes;
    • anticipate their needs.
• Group Comparison:
  • Transformational leadership is popular among other group member as well;
  • Other members also possess democratic and servant styles;
  • Group members also try to encourage their patients and collaborate with them, but nobody mentioned anticipation as an important leadership trait.

My leadership style is close to transformational. I have been working in dialysis for 12 years where patients usually feel very anxious about their future and require psychological support from nurses. I believe that successful treatment of my patients is possible only if the patient and nurse work and overcome all the difficulties together. Many dialysis nurses try to get into the situation of their patients by simulating some of the consequences of their illness. For instance, I spent some days in the wheelchair in order to be in the same position as the patient. I also tried to be proactive, because patients in the dialysis unit are often embarrassed to speak about their condition.

Amy

• Leadership Style/Traits:
  • Democratic/Participative:
    • Sets boundaries;
    • Involves team members in all decisions;
    • Helps to build trust;
    • Struggles with response.
• Group Comparison:
  • Transformational- encouraging, inspiring, motivating.
  • Different from democratic/participative as transformational leaders as they do not need the upper hand on the group.

My leadership style is democratic/participative. I am not sure how I feel about it as it seems that this type of leadership is so specific with their needs and wants. These leaders set parameters and goals for the group while also including them in the information. Taking the quiz and reading all the characteristics of this type of leadership helps me to understand why I always jump first to be a group leader. It is so hard for me to not do so, sometimes it is frustrating for me. I like perfection and it can sometimes get in the way of things and hurt feelings. I wish things were different sometimes.

Syerenna

• Leadership Style/Traits:
  • Servant:
    • Provide nurses with education and tools needed to perform.
    • Help when able.
  • Democratic:
    • 3 Types of change:
      • Non-negotiable;
      • Partially negotiable;
      • Completely negotiable;
    • Staff feedback.
    • Accountability.
• Group Comparison:
  • Other group members are more transformational:
    • Inspiring;
    • Charismatic;
  • No group members have identified as Laissez Fair.
  • Some group members have identified weaknesses or emotional maturity.

I would define my leadership skills and Servant and Democratic. I identify with servant leadership because I want to help nurses by providing them with the education, skills, and tools they need to provide the level of care that is expected of us to the best of their ability and demonstrate that I am available if they need help. I will gladly provide hands on education to improve nurses experience and confidence levels. It is important to mentor behaviors that will strengthen and empower nurses to affect change. I also identify with the democratic leadership skills because I enjoy engaging the staff in process improvement as much as possible. There are some changes that must happen and are non-negotiable, like indicating last dose given and next dose due on PRN medications for discharge. Some are partially negotiable such as hourly rounding; we must do this, but how do you want the process to look, what works for you. Then there are the decisions that are completely negotiable. Do we want to change from our current product to this new product? And ultimately holding one another accountable.

Leadership Cognizance

• Ensures well-being of patients;
• Helps the nurse to adapt to surroundings;
• Helps to achieve goals;
• Improves outcomes;
• Creates and maintains relationships.

In the modern world, a successful nursing leader should have qualities that would allow her to adapt to the ever-evolving environment. According to Al-Dossary (2017), a model clinical nurse, among other things, should be a critical thinker, lifelong learner and be open to new ideas (p. 256). This means that if some nurse is aware of her leadership traits, she is able to compare them to desirable features and decide on which aspect of her personality, she may need to work. Even if a nurse is aware of her personal leadership style and traits, still it would be of little use unless she is familiar with specific leadership tools that can be applied in real situations. Leadership style and traits might be somewhat vague terms since they exist only at the conceptual level. However, practices can be seen in real life in the shape of peoples actions. Nurses need to be aware of leadership tools they can use because this knowledge may help them to achieve their primary goal. Dahlkemper (2017) emphasizes such nursing leadership practices as cooperation with the patient, complete attention to the client, and personalized care (p. 21). It might seem that these practices are rather obvious and are realized by nurses intuitively. Nevertheless, these tools are the foundations of nursing leadership because they focus on caring about the patient. Nurses should pay attention to whether the leadership practices they use are, in fact, aimed at patients. Therefore, nurses can analyze the tools they use in order to eliminate all those that do not pursue the goal of achieving the best possible patient outcomes.

Necessary Leadership Traits & Styles for Effective Communication

Leadership traits and styles are necessary to be an effective communicator include vision, integrity, motivation, optimism, collaboration, accountability and empathy.

Having a true picture of what to be achieved and understanding the feelings of other team members go a long way in leadership because leadership role enables leaders to put themselves in some members shoes. Empathy enhances the heart of all transaction called communication, and effective communication determines task outcomes. Leaders who are confident in their responsibilities and accountabilities will not struggle in performing their tasks; because they possess positive mind-set and inspiration. They also embrace self-relaxation otherwise called emotional stability in spite of or in the face of stress and frustration.

Communication and Collaboration

• Effective communicators possess emotional intelligence and good oratory skills. Emotional intelligence helps the speaker discern the needs of the audience. Good oratory skills help the speaker pass their message to the audience in a persuasive manner (Lussier & Achua, 2016 ).
• The leadership styles that foster effective communication are Transformational and Charismatic Leadership styles because they focus on motivating followers through oratory skills (Lussier & Achua, 2016).
• Leaders adapt different communication approaches to: Ensure that the message is communicated in a way that is appropriate for the specific audience ; Ensure that the leader achieves his/her goal of communicating which can vary from inspiring to offering information (Sparks, et al., 2014).

Essential traits to be an effective communicator are good oratory skills-to express oneself properly and emotional intelligence- to determine the needs of the audience. Transformational and charismatic leaderships styles are crucial to developing effective communication because they rely on using language to influence and motivate followers. Leaders have to alter communication approaches to pass their message effectively and to achieve their goal of communicating.

Servant Leadership

• Listen;
  • Actively, not passively;
• Empathy;
  • Being fully present;
• Healing;
  • Not problem solving;
• Awareness;
  • General and self-awareness;
• Persuasion;
  • Belief in a shared vision;
• Conceptualize;
  • Keep daily & long term goals in balance;
• Foresight;
  • Proactive not reactive;
• Stewardship;
  • Doing what is right for the whole;
• Commitment to Growth of Others;
  • Not just as employees but as Human Beings;
• Building Community;
  • Celebrate volunteerism, build staff as community regardless of hierarchy (Gandolfi & Stone, 2018).

Servant Leadership was first defined by Robert Greenleaf in 1970, this type of leadership is rooted in the golden rule, and is simply stated as servant first. It is easy to see where this could be seen as a religious connotation as we are all servants of God. However we must look as these tenets as serving our neighbor, fellow human beings. The American Nurses Association (Nd) states when there is someone in need of care, nurses work tirelessly to identify and protect their needs, so it seems only natural that nurses would respond positively to a leadership that holds the same values. Nursing is a unique profession and one that is growing daily, having positive role models is imperative to the continued innovation and growth. Servant leadership is active, provides a shared vision that empowers and inspires by serving the needs of those in their charge ahead of their own needs.

Successfully Leading Others

• Strong Understanding.
• Balancing Act.
• Putting others first.
• Trust building, investing, participating.

Servant leaders who have a strong understanding of their personal leadership traits can be more successful leading others and navigating the challenges of health care by providing support and assistance to their staff and coworkers in practice, information sharing, and collaboration. Decisions, changes, and interactions are balanced with moral and ethical consideration and part of that consideration is that the staff have the necessary tools and education to meet the expectations of the organization and the clients. A servant leader will put the needs of the staff ahead of their own (Norris 2017). For example, if the nurse manager has been instructed to improve call light response time. First the nurse manager would need to be on the floor answering lights and assessing what the actual practice of staff is, then create discussion and open dialogue to explore ways it will be possible to meet the goal, then begin with the easiest to institute that has the highest probability of success. It is more important that the staff understand the goal, can participate in the solution, and have the needed tools to achieve success rather than the ability of the nurse manager to return in x amount of days and report improvement. Leading by example is also a very important trait of the servant leader (Carter 2014). Leading by example serves multiple purposes including trust building, investment and participation in the goals and relationships with coworkers, and modeling expected behaviors and attitudes while providing professional support. If you are cutting dangerous corners in your practice as the example you provide to your staff or you are backhanded and not truthful with compassion in difficult situations your credibility and cooperation from staff will be very poor and the organization and the staff in it will suffer.

References

• Al-Dossary, R.N. (2017). Leadership in nursing. In A. Alvinius (Ed.), Contemporary leadership challenges (pp. 251-264). London, UK: IntechOpen.
• American Nurses Association (Nd) What is nursing. Web.
• Carter, D. danonrcarter@gmail. co., & Baghurst, T. tbaghurst@live. co. (2014). The Influence of Servant Leadership on Restaurant Employee Engagement. Journal of Business Ethics, 124(3), 453464. Web.
• Dahlkemper, T. (2017). Nursing leadership, management and professional practice. Philadelphia, PA: F.A. Davis.
• Gandolfi, F., & Stone, S. (2018). Leadership, Leadership Styles, and Servant Leadership. Journal of Management Research (09725814), 18(4), 261269. Web.
• Lin, P., Maclennan, S., Hunt, N., & Cox, T. (2015). The influences of nursing transformational leadership style on the quality o nurses working lives in Taiwan: A cross-sectional qualitative study. BMC Nursing, 15(33).
• Lussier, R. & Achua, C. (2016). Leadership: Theory, Application & Skill Development. Boston: Cengage Learning.
• Norris, S., Sitton, S., & Baker, M. (2017). Mentorship through the lens of servant leadership: the importance of accountability and empowerment. NACTA Journal, (1), 21. Web.
• Sparks, J., Song, Y., Brantley, W., & Liu, O. (2014). Assessing written communication in higher education: Review and recommendations for next generation. ETS Research Report. Web.

Outline

Leadership qualities are important in that, they create a chance for the leaders to evaluate the effectiveness of any suggestion proposed to them by the members of the team they are leading. Research indicates that, ideas cannot flow without control in any organization. It is therefore important for a leader to have a heart that is good in order to deal compassionately and be fair with people. It is also important for a leader to be God-fearing in order to be guided by Holy Spirit therefore, avoiding hurting the feelings of others. Teamwork is also very important especially if it has undergone all the stages of development because it enables the leader even to delegate some of the roles to the subordinates with a high level of trust. The following is a brief of some of my personal experiences that have enabled discovery of areas of strength and weaknesses in regard to leadership.

Introduction

I was a very active member in our local church when the youth patron announced that the group was in dire need of a new leader. I was almost sure that I would be chosen since I was very active and could organize the rest of the members in the absence of our patron. Votes were cast and I emerged as the winner which to my surprise was unopposed and I immediately started to work as most of the projects were halfway while others were just proposals. I strongly believed that I could lead because those projects were very important hence worth the effort. One of the experiences was very successful where funds were needed to complete a building that was to be used as a hall for church meetings.

A successful leadership experience

According to (Dubinsky, 1995), leaders are supposed to be hardworking, getting actively involved in whatever they are leading other than just sitting back and waiting for things to happen. Therefore, I called upon youth group members and asked them to get into three different groups where I was not involved in choosing who is to get into what group. We then brainstormed to get tasks for each group with group 1 getting the task of raising funds by organizing a concert where they would charge all attendants of the concert. Group 2 was supposed to bake small cakes which would be sold to the congregation after church services all through the month while Group three would sell notebooks to the congregation before bible study services through that month. I also went ahead to give out some money to help prepare for the three tasks and since all group members were involved in decision making, they became very enthusiastic about project participation.

Group leaders delegated responsibilities to each member, for example in Group two, some were supposed to bake cakes while the rest would sell them and roles were interchanged until the exercise was over. This exercise was of great help to me as well as the youth members as it helped build skills of leadership in them. I also worked together with each group taking roles that motivated them since they felt like they werent under supervision but working together to achieve a main goal. For effective leadership it isnt appropriate to ask people to perform a task they cannot or wouldnt perform (Tead, 2003). All groups cooperated and were able to raise the amount set which even exceeded with an amount enough to buy chairs for that hall.

I learned a lot about leadership from this particular experience which included the value of faithfulness, respect as well as cooperation. I was able to show the youth group members that, there wasnt a task too menial to be performed by a leader; in turn they learned that there wasnt a task that wasnt important. Each group recognized the effort of the other in the accomplishment of the whole mission building respect among them. Leaders are supposed to acknowledge members of their teams and appreciation may be in form of an article with appreciation message on it, a verbal message telling how thankful one is for their cooperation, or even flowers. The amount or size of what is given for appreciation doesnt matter but the feeling by those appreciated is what is important as they feel of much value. (Bower, 2000)

An experience of failed leadership

Although we were able to collect a lot of money, there were problems with Group 1 which was organizing a concert as they did that at night allowing everybody inside the church compound provided one had paid. More and more people crowded in the compound and since I trusted them so much, I didnt follow them up in what they were doing. Therefore I did not notice that, they had let in drunkards who made a lot of noise interrupting what was going on which forced us to call police officers to control them leading to an embarrassment as this was not supposed to be happening in church. As the policemen were trying to get rid of the drunken gentlemen, some people found their way into the concert without being charged. (Tead, 2003).

Another area where I experienced failure was with Group 2 which had some of their members picking on their relatives as well as friends who were attending the services giving them free cakes which reduced the amount that would be collected from the sale of cakes. Members of the other groups were affected since they wouldnt access those cakes to give to their friends and relatives which deprived trust of Group 2 members as a whole though not all did that. Group 3 did a good job without any complain setting a good example to the rest of the groups. (Dubinsky, 1995).

I learned a great deal from the failures as I realized the need to make youth group members feel accountable for their every action good or bad. Absolute trust without a bit of follow up may make people being led feel so much in charge, sometimes diverting from the set goal like what was done by members of group 2.Such a lesson was so great as I became more careful on the subsequent tasks of leadership where I allowed them to take charge but to a certain level emphasizing on accountability just as an effective leader should do. (Tead, 2003)

References

Bower F. (2000): Personal Qualities of Effective Leadership: WB Saunders Co pp 45-48.

Dubinsky A. (1995): linkages between personal characteristics and dimensions of transformational leadership: Springer pp 37-42.

Tead O. (2003): The Art of Leadership: McGraw-Hill Education pp 29-34.

With the current innovative changes in information technology, there has been an equally significant change in the expectations, motivations, and emotions that drive individuals to greatness in their day-to-day activities.

As a result, studies note that when the emotional needs of workers are satisfied through various aspects of information technology such as social networking, enhanced interaction, and productivity tools, there is the need to change the existing leadership skills to accommodate the ever-changing work environment. This phenomenon of adjusting ones leadership skills relative to different environmental requirements is better referred to as environmental leadership^[1].

Accordingly, most psychologists note that each person has the potential to bring out different aspects of personal identity relative to various environmental needs by changing ones emotional perceptions of a particular situation. Here, it is worth noting that environmental leaders are individuals who create avenues such as educational programs whereby other individuals get to satisfy their emotional needs by interacting with others.

Moreover, through such interpersonal interactions, people get to realize when and how they are bound to influence the emotional requirements of other people at a personal or team level^[2].

As a result, environmental leadership entails creating a favorable environment within which individuals get to bring out their best through encouraging them at an individual and group level. Subsequently, environmental leadership promotes a culture, which inspires individuals to do what is best for the greatest number of the larger population.

Additionally, environmental leadership does not entail leading others to do what is required, but to develop environments that enable individuals to bring out certain skills and qualities, which support a large group of people to realize the end result^[3].

While keeping the principles of environmental leadership in mind, this research paper reviews the activities of the Environmental Leadership Program (ELP), which is a group of professionals who train environmental leaders from diverse backgrounds, and encourage these leaders to pursue a common goal for the benefit of the community and the country as a whole.

Here, the essay looks at the effectiveness of ELP in articulating its goals and objectives by considering the programs short- and long-term goals from a historical perspective.

The Environmental Leadership Program (ELP) began way back in 1997, and since then the group has remained committed to promoting environmental leadership in the environmental community. In a nutshell, ELP is an educational program aimed at training and instilling environmental leadership in persons drawn from diverse ethnic, professional, cultural, and geographic backgrounds.

ELP as a whole recognizes the linkage between leadership and relationships, and as a result, the programs vision entails developing certain personal skills, which are very important in creating strong linkages or networks between diverse groups of people^[4]. The end result of the program is thus influenced by the collective ability of the networks created between the participants.

Subsequently, ELP recognizes the role diversity plays in terms of influencing the successes or failures in public leadership. As a result, the program encourages the development of environmental leadership groups reflecting the countrys diversity besides encouraging the leaders to develop certain individual skills, which promote cohesion and reconciliation.

Furthermore, ELP encourages its members to take note of the fact that leadership at both environmental and community levels, entails professionalism whereby environmental leaders should be able to take calculated risks relative to complex situations^[5].

With the guidance of the above-mentioned principles, ELP aims at developing a diverse community comprising of environmental leaders endowed with effective leadership skills, which enable them to work across professional, ethnic, cultural, and regional differences. The programs top management includes an executive director, a board of trustees, and the advisory committee.

Under this framework, the program aims at training fresh environmental leaders with various attributes such as effective communication skills, innovation, diversity, and collaboration^[6]. Here, the program targets eligible participants from different set-ups such as non-profit organizations, business communities, academia, and government institutions.

These participants are given training and learning opportunities, which allow them to develop or expand their leadership qualities through the fellowship program. Under the fellowship program, fresh leaders are linked with their senior fellows through various regional and national associations.

Furthermore, the new fellows are linked with senior fellows through interactive networks and other mentoring programs. Finally, the program content and elements are informed by the needs of the larger environmental communities, which require environmental leaders with relevant skills to deal with complex situations^[7].

As a result, to satisfy the communitys requirements for environmental leaders, the fellowship program entails an annual selection of about 15-20 leaders, who are given training and learning opportunities at the regional level. Here, the participants are drawn from different professional and personal settings since the program aims at broadening diversity within the environmental leadership movement.

Another requirement for the program involves selection of fellows with at least ten years experience in different professional areas such as business, academia, non-governmental organizations, and government institutions. After selection, the fellows take part in a total of three overnight retreats for 11 days in a one year course.

Each of the three retreats is designed to instill different leadership skills and competencies, which include strength-based leadership, diversity, coalition building, and interpersonal communication^[8].

Here, course assignments include development of individual leadership plans, which also serve as roadmaps in the fellows professional and personal career. Additionally, the training entails participating in networking workshops and bringing the fellows to work together in forums, events, and conferences addressing issues of public interest.

As a result, from the foregoing discussions, there is evidence to suggest that ELP offers the participants the opportunity to develop lifelong skills and competencies through collaborative peer support. Furthermore, after training, the fresh fellows graduate into senior fellows who can take part in training other leaders using online materials, events, partnerships, and other mentoring courses within ELP^[9].

Using this approach, ELP fellows have achieved the programs short-term goals, which include expanding the regional networks across the larger Delaware Valley including Eastern Pennsylvania, the Greater Boston region, Southern New Jersey, the Southeast regions, the New England states, and the Mid-Atlantic region. Conversely, ELP wishes to expand the program to a national level by designing unique training programs and networks suitable for all U.S. Territories^[10].

Overall, the paper has presented an elaborate discussion regarding the Environmental Leadership Program in the Delaware Valley and the surrounding regions.

And from the foregoing discussions, it is worth noting that ELP is run by senior environmental leaders who have realized the need to satisfy different human insufficiencies by bringing persons with different skills and competencies together, and encouraging them to fight the common goal.

As noted earlier, an individual becomes satisfied emotionally upon interacting with other individuals in an environment favorable enough to encourage each individual to bring out his or her best.

As a result, the ELP program comprises of individuals drawn from diverse ethnic, professional, cultural, and regional set-ups. Thus, the idea of interlinking these people aims at creating an environment whereby every member of a particular group works towards achieving the common good for all regardless of their political, cultural, ethnic, or professional inclinations.

Reference List

Carmazzi, Arthur F., Environmental Leadership: The new leadership style of the not so distant future, Directive Communication, n.d. Web.

Environmental Leadership Program, Environmental leadership program: About us, fellowship program, news and events, and ELP all community retreat, Environmental Leadership Program, n.d. Web.

Footnotes

1. Arthur, Carmazzi F., Environmental Leadership: The new leadership style of the not so distant future, Directive Communication. Arthur, Carmazzi F., Environmental Leadership.
2. Arthur, Carmazzi F., Environmental Leadership.
3. Environmental Leadership Program, Environmental leadership program: About us, fellowship program, news and events, and ELP all community retreat, Environmental Leadership Program.
4. Environmental Leadership Program, Environmental leadership program.
5. Environmental Leadership Program, Environmental leadership program.
6. Environmental Leadership Program, Environmental leadership program.
7. Environmental Leadership Program, Environmental leadership program.
8. Environmental Leadership Program, Environmental leadership program.
9. Environmental Leadership Program, Environmental leadership program.
10. Environmental Leadership Program, Environmental leadership program.

Individuals need to possess a set of some unique attributes for them to be ideal rulers. The perfect leader can delegate duties without bias, be self-confident, visionary, and efficiently communicate with the members (Baker, 2019). I will maintain a positive attitude in my future leadership plans even if the prevailing circumstances are not good. As the ruler, I will always inquire and never assume that they are aware of everything. My aim is never to be afraid of making mistakes and to believe in getting feedback on creating future improvements. As the groups leader, my priority will be to concentrate on developing the organizations members. This will significantly improve my members confidence and the trust put in me as their ruler. This paper will examine me as an ideal leader, what students dislike if I am a poor leader and nursing student leadership.

The first step of myself becoming an ideal student leader encompasses understanding my style of leadership. The ruler needs to assess his areas of weakness and focus on the areas he needs to improve (Thompson & Miller, 2018). My focus is to encourage creativity among the group members. Influential rulers provide the right environment for their members to realize these goals. I will serve as a role model that the group representatives can emulate and always be dependable. Transformational rulers show excellent examples that their followers can easily emulate. Passion about spearheading the organization in the right direction will be my top personal goal. My attention will have to listen and communicate efficiently with my followers. I often would do encouragement of the stakeholders and share the organizational consciousness with my members. In this way, I can quickly become a transformational leader who is enthusiastic, energetic, and passionate about his stakeholders. My effort would not just be helping the group achieve its goals but maximize each members potential.

Leaders actions can determine whether students prefer them or develop a negative attitude towards them. I must aim at being a leader with desirable qualities that will encourage students ruled to love me. Nursing students are integrating transformational leadership in their current daily practice (Fischer, 2017). In the clinical setup, the lecturers grouped use into ward round groups, each having ten students. The members choose me as the nursing student among the ten to be their leader. In my leadership, I encouraged my colleagues to reach high levels of gaining knowledge during ward rounds. It produces a valuable change within the group members, aiming to grow into future influential group leaders like me. I challenged the group members to go above and beyond what people expect from them, helping them become better future nurses. The leader creates a vision for the team and encourages them to make the dream a reality.

The desirable qualities offered by transformational nursing student leaders make it easier for them to be likable leaders to their colleagues. I understood that rulers helping colleagues solve clinical problems by quickly linking them to the lecturers makes the students prefer such people. Such leaders form an integral part of their groups, making their colleagues work hard to become better future practitioners (Fischer, 2017). This good relationship between the nursing scholars and their group leaders leads to a positive relationship between students and patients. I noted that the patients level of trust with the students significantly improved under my leadership. This good relationship also improves the satisfaction among the nursing scholars, consequently leading to improved students psychological well-being. I noted that positive mental health among the students directly correlated to their overall enhanced academic performance. Thus, an ideal leader influences determining the overall academic performance of his colleague.

One group reported having an unfavorable student leader, and the students disliked the leader. The leader showed poor communication skills and lacked the self-awareness of how to lead the group properly. There was poor relaying of information from the leader to his fellow group members, and even some ended up missing some ward rounds. He was lazy and lacked the focus he needed to put in his study. There was a poor relationship with the patients during the clinical, and thus students felt the incompetent leadership (van Diggele et al., 2020). The members of the group and I were dissatisfied with the administration and appointed another person they believed could drive the group to the destined heights. When a leader is not acting diligently in his duties, remaining silent about poor guidance is wrong. The members should find the right solution, even if it means evicting the ruler to find a competent one. The lecturers supported the idea of the student deciding to find a transformative leader who could drive them to the destined goals.

I demonstrated exemplary leadership within the student-based group that I was chosen to lead. Poor management elevates the dissatisfaction of the learners towards their student leaders, while a transformational ruler will encourage both the members and groups success. I was a transformative leader that listened to my followers, and I offered guidance to my members in terms of crisis. A poor ruler may aggravate the anger of colleagues and even end up removing the officer from power. A good relationship between the leaders and students directly correlates in improving the nursing students clinical and academic performance. As a transformative ruler, I made tough decisions for the sake of the people I ruled to benefit them.

References

Baker, C. (2019). What makes a good leader. Early Years Educator, 21(7), 3334.

Fischer, S. A. (2017). Transformational leadership in nursing education. Nursing Science Quarterly, 30(2), 124128. Web.

Thompson, S. A., & Miller, K. L. (2018). Disruptive trends in higher education: Leadership skills for successful leaders.Journal of Professional Nursing, 34(2), 9296.

van Diggele, C., Burgess, A., Roberts, C., & Mellis, C. (2020). Leadership in healthcare education.BMC Medical Education, 20(S2).

Introduction

As Benner (2001) points out, senior nurses are likely to engage in a range of leadership activities in their daily routine and some may find the concept hard to understand. Leadership in nursing is an art that involves quality delivery of care and facilitating positive nursing growth among other nurses. Leadership skills and capabilities among nurses can be judged by their ability to manage time, organize the team under them, and maintain professional ethics. It is also judged on the basis of how well they can solve problems and make decisions in the face of a crisis. As a nurse, adhering to professional ethics and acting with integrity is key in developing leadership skills.

My leadership skills

As a registered nurse for 11 years and a master of science program, my practice and experience has put me in situations where my leadership skills have been constantly put to test. Currently, I have adopted an effective leadership style that allows me to exercise basic leadership duties such as offering proper instructions to the nurses I work with. My responsibilities include coordinating the day/night shifts of my team and supporting them by giving directions. It is also my responsibility to help the new nurses fit into the system and grow their careers through effective training. However, I realize that an effective leader needs more than the ability to give instructions and supervise those under him/her. It is for this reason that I intend to work on having better leadership skills in the years to come.

Leadership skills in the nursing industry are categorized into different classes. They include organizational management, creation and vision, communication and strategy. The first step towards being a good leader is realizing that leadership roles are different from management functions (Benner, 2001). By realizing this, a good leader is willing to stay in touch and in line with the management and follow the hospitals policies and regulations. As a leader, I intend to work on being more visionary and equip myself with the required strategies. Such qualities will help me direct my team and services to a better future in the industry. To be an effective leader, I also intend to work on my problem-solving skills and develop my group.

Looking at the future, I desire to be a dynamic and a passionate leader and seek to inspire my team. Managing time and managing information are part of the process. In the nursing profession, time management is of essence and could make a difference on the quality of care accorded to patients. This is also in consideration to the fact that leadership in nursing involves caring for the safety of patients. Safety is ensured when patients are attended to on time, given medication on time and followed up in a timely manner.

Conclusion

As Benner (2001) points out, leadership for senior nurses is primarily about making decisions, delegating appropriately, resolving conflicts and acting with integrity. My experience and skills as a leader allow me to manage the schedules and shifts effectively and ensure that patients are well cared for. The elements I intend to add to my leadership capabilities will enable me effectively develop my team and serve patients under my care in a better way. As a senior nurse, I also intend to develop my leadership skills through mentoring and coaching interventions. Part of the process will include training, attending leadership conferences and furthering my studies to give me a more professional approach to my career.

Reference list

Benner, P.E. (2001). From novice to expert: Excellence and power in clinical nursing practice. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall.

Media Selection and Content

Media Selection and Account Planning

For advertising, two social networking services were chosen: Facebook and Twitter. The selection decision was based on the availability of media (which determines potential reach), simplicity of use, and feedback capabilities (Levinson, 2014). First of all, Facebook and Twitter are among the most popular social networking services in the world with millions of users. It was expected at the advertising planning stage that most members of the target audience, i.e. persons eligible for joining the club, have access to either or both services. Moreover, it was expected that they check their Facebook accounts or Twitter accounts or both for notifications and updates at least once a day, using social networking for their purposes as well as studying- or profession-related purposes.

Second, advertising media should be simple and convenient for advertisers to post advertisements and for audiences to access them. In this regard, Facebook and Twitter provide vast opportunities, as the content can be easily created, accessed, and shared from anywhere where there is an Internet connection. Finally, it was recognized from the very beginning that an important component of communication in general and advertising in particular in the modern world is feedback. Messages should not be merely conveyed to targets; instead, targets should respond, interact with the advertisers as well as among each other, and thus promote advertising messages and demonstrate their attitudes and needs, which should be taken into consideration by advertisers when creating new content in the future.

For this campaign, accounts were created on Facebook and Twitter to not only convey content to targets but also manage advertising efforts on a higher level by attracting new audiences and managing communication. Managing communication involves constant monitoring of how certain advertisements are received and responded to and reacting to what Facebook and Twitter users have to say about conveyed advertisements. The two selected social networking services are also convenient in terms of tracking progress and success: it is possible to obtain statistics and analytics on how posts are received and promoted (see Results of the Advertising Campaign), which allows evaluating the effectiveness of advertising efforts.

Content

The tagline of the National Society of Leadership and Success (NSLS) is Empowering, motivating, and inspiring students to their utmost potential. All the advertisements created and distributed by the NSLS pursue following this pivotal theme. A press release issued on February 7, 2017, guests to the NSLS 2017 Orientation that would feature international guest speakers. A quote by the Brand Manager Daniel Lim was written in a separate block in a different font to be a noticeable part of the press release. It read, This time of year, we bring new members into an out community that brings exciting new perspectives.

This is to show that the NSLS does not only have a lot of interesting things it can offer to new members, but it is also interested in what new members can bring to the community. This wording is intended to attract guests by expressing the idea that their perspectives if they are willing to share them, will be highly appreciated. The press release also prompted readers to follow the NSLS in social media and take a look at the Societys YouTube videos.

Four ads were chosen to be addressed from the content analysis perspective within this advertising summary. The first one is a factual ad (see Appendix 1). It contains the logo of the NSLS, two photographs from the clubs presentations depicting members, a quote, contact information, some factual data, services summary, and a fact written inside a large orange block: 99 % of Society members believe the program is worth the time spent.

The quote by Jim Rohn reads, Take advantage of every opportunity to practice your communication skills so that when important occasions arise, you will have the gift, the style, the sharpness, the clarity, and the emotions to affect other people. This is to emphasize that perfecting communication abilities is one of the advantages that society offers to its members. Factual data include indicating that the Society has 705,824 members nationwide. Services are summarized in one sentence to state that the NSLS provides benefits of scholarships, exclusive events, insurance, and more. The ad is to give audiences a general understanding of what the Society is, what it does, why someone could be interested in joining it, and how to contact it for membership.

The second ad is emotional (see Appendix 2). This is to convey the idea that individuals may have a frustration that can be overcome by joining the NSLS. The ad consists of two parts. The first part depicts a young man holding his head in front of a computer with books scattered chaotically on the desk. The man looks frustrated with the overwhelming amounts of studying or work he has to do. The second part, placed beneath the first one, depicts the same man smiling and calmly reading a book at the same desk. There is now the logo of NSLS on his monitor, and the books on his left are organized into neat piles.

Written on the first part of the ad is Before NSofLS, and written on the second one is After NSofLS. The first part is black and white, while the second one is in color; this is done to strengthen the feeling of frustration the man had before joining the Society and the image of overcoming it after joining. The ad also delivers the same statistics as the factual ad (about the 99 percent of Society members thinking the time at the NSLS well-spent) and an appealing reading, Feeling hopeless and lost? Gain your spark by joining our community of leaders and scholars. The ad aims for emotionally appealing to persons who may be overwhelmed by the pressures of studying and pursuing career goals. It is to deliver the message that the NSLS can provide a solution.

The third ad is Valentines Day ad (see Appendix 3). It is done in pink, with hearts on it, reading, JFK once said, Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction[.] Cupid agrees. This Valentines day, LEAD with your heart, LOVE what you do. NSofLS. The ad is intended to be somewhat amusing and light to simply remind members and potential members that there is a club that appreciates the values of leadership and success and is devoted to them in everything they do. It is expected that people are likely to be more positive toward organizations that they are part of or organizations that they might join if those organizations congratulate them on holidays, thus personally appealing to them.

Finally, the fourth ad is a collaboration ad (see Appendix 4). It is done in cooperation with Katipunan, a Pilipino student club. The ad features an artwork that combines the logos of the NSLF and the Katipunan club placed against the background of a nebula with a hand reaching for the logo from the bottom of the ad. The text above the logo is, Aim far beyond the stars[.] Well get you there. This was used to inspire potential users and show that being part of the two clubs provides opportunities for extraordinary achievements.

Roadblocks to reception

In communications, there used to prevail the understanding that messages delivered to masses through channels such as television or newspapers affect individuals directly, prompting to do certain things and adopt particular attitudes or behaviors implied in those messages. However, the understanding has changed toward recognizing that audiences perceive mass communication messages indirectly through a prism of their backgrounds, existing beliefs, and experiences. In todays world, this recognition went even further.

With the many-to-many model of communication brought by the emergence of social networking services, it is acknowledged that it is not as much that mass communication messages affect people directly or indirectly, but there is an environment where information is constantly generated, shared, and responded to in a way that it is hard to describe the process in linear terms. This is important for communication professionals, including advertisers, to analyze how the content they produce achieves or fails to achieve its goals.

One of the components of the present-day understanding of how mass media works is the concept of roadblocks to the reception. The notion of roadblocks to effective communications was first proposed by Thomas Gordon in the context of family relations (Kimberlee & Coles, 2011). However, it has come since then to be an influential model in communication studies applicable to various spheres, including advertising. The model shows how different aspects of communication can get in the way of delivering messages to audiences as intended.

There are twelve roadblocks described overall and several recommendations to address them. What can be taken into consideration by advertisers is that effective communication is hindered by commanding, threatening, moralizing, judging, and diverting. What should be recognized in the audiences is their autonomy and capability to make own decisions. Respect comes from this recognition. Instead of persuading aggressively or imposing certain behaviors, advertisers should convincingly demonstrate the benefits of doing something they offer (buying a product, supporting a candidate, or joining a student club) and respectfully encourage targets to do it for their good.

However, with social networking services, there are also additional roadblocks to the reception that were not issued for communication practitioners twenty years ago or before. On Facebook or Twitter, users scroll down their feeds, often without intensive attention. To make sure that they even notice a certain ad, advertisers need to make the ad visually outstanding.

This was pursued in the ads described above through the use of colors and images. Second, the content should be succinct, as social media users may not be willing to spend more than ten seconds or so on reading a post. Third, the content should be discussable, i.e. it should leave some space for users to make comments, which will encourage them to share the content. Besides, by reacting to a post, users make it visible to other users among their followers and subscribers. Finally, the messages should be clear and simple because social media do not necessarily imply profound exploration; users are rather willing to consume short and simple pieces of content when they scroll down their feeds. All these considerations were incorporated into planning the designing stages of the advertising campaign for the NSLS.

Results of the Advertising Campaign

Based on the analysis of the statistics generated by Facebook (see Appendix 5), the most successful ad was a post from February 13, 2017, reporting an event organized by the Deans Office. The event was a talk held by Mark Rampolla, a former CEO of Zico Coconut Water, who discussed his success in the business world and experiences of maximizing the impact (see Appendix 6). The success of the post can be measured quantitatively. First, it reached the largest number of people on Facebook among all the recent posts by the NSLS32 people (with an average of 16 people per post).

It received three post-click (with an average of 2.9) and six reactions, including comments and shares (with an average of 4.4). From the qualitative perspective, the post was to deliver to the audience the message that the NSLS is devoted to the ideas of success and optimal performance, which is why the talk was an important event for the Society, and the Society wanted to share with its subscribers the value of this event. From this perspective, the post is part of the Societys effort to attract new members by demonstrating what is important for it.

Measuring awareness and participation is challenging because social networking services analytics is hardly capable of analyzing actual attitudes and motivations of users who were reached by particular content or reacted to it. However, it can be assumed that the ad about Mark Rampollas talk was successful in terms of raising awareness because it was not concentrated on the NSLS.

Instead of advertising itself, the Society reacted to an event organized by the Deans Office to demonstrate that it is interesting for its members to attend meetings on how to make it in the business world and to share it with the audience afterward. The ads perceived success is also justified by the fact that there are people in the University who might have attended the talk but are not aware of the NSLS. They can react to the ad, thus becoming potentially interested in other contents generated by the NSLS and in the Society itself. However, to estimate the increase in awareness or participation more reliably, it is necessary to collect feedback from users.

Conclusion

Advertising is a complicated process that should be designed with a large number of considerations. It is not enough to simply put contents out there saying, for example, how something we produce should be bought (for businesses) or how we should be joined (for student clubs). In creating advertisements, the content and delivery should be planned and analyzed according to the audiences needs and preferences. It is summarized above how the NSLS addressed appropriate media, account planning, contents, and possible communication complications to design the most potentially successful advertisements. Their success was estimated based on analytics provided by social networking services, and the results are deemed satisfactory, although there are still opportunities for growth, as there are more people to reach and persuade to join the club for their benefit as well as the benefit of the NSLS.

References

Kimberlee, R., & Coles, J. (2011). Participatory communication. In B. Oliver & B. Pitt (Eds.), Working with children, young people and families (pp. 69-85). Chicago, IL: Leaning Matters.

Levinson, P. (2014). New new media (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.

Appendix 1

Appendix 2

Appendix 3

Appendix 4

Appendix 5

Appendix 6

Course Description

Personal and Team Leadership is the suggested title for the proposed course for development. In this e-learning form of teaching and learning, one aims at providing essential leadership knowledge and skills, focusing on such aspects as motivation, inspiration, talent management, and influence on individuals and teams. This course aims at explaining how to create a shared vision and lead people effectively. The paramount goal is to educate students to set clear goals and communicate them in a way that enables teammates to succeed. The second goal refers to clarifying how to ensure high levels of engagement and motivation based on goals and objectives as well as the working environment. The third goal is providing a specific place to allow students apply their acquired knowledge aligning theory and practice.

Target Learners

The target learners are students exploring business specializations and planning to work for small or large companies. It seems that a leadership course would be rather beneficial for them from the perspective of receiving a unique course aimed specifically at meeting their needs and expectations in the educational field. In particular, among their needs, one may note a lack of motivation in many organizations and the subsequent decreasing levels of their efficiency. Therefore, online learners need to have valuable tools to address the mentioned challenge. Understanding individuals and teams needs is another challenge encountered by learners. Even though it seems that the problem is merely in inappropriate leadership and management, the situation may turn out to be more complex and requiring a comprehensive approach, including the context, internal and external factors, some implicit issues, etc. Therefore, it is of great importance to help students to identify the causes of challenges and eliminate them.

At the same time, the course under development may be useful for learners of other specializations as a way to promote their leadership skills and apply them in practice. For example, teachers, User Experience managers, and others may be interested in the given course. It is also possible to suggest that the course may be a starting point in ones career when a person attracted by the course content would decide to develop his or her skills further, as noted by Rodriguez (2012). In this regard, the third need is associated with the opportunity to meet the expectations of an average online learner.

Expected Outcomes

By the end of the proposed course, students would be able to examine and resolve complex issues associated with leadership. One of the key outcomes of this course is the ability to set relevant goals and properly communicate them to teams or individuals so that each of the message recipients understands the core idea. The second learning outcome is the responsibility to create and communicate the visualization as a visionary leader. By determining the course of development, it is possible to achieve greater results and maintain the successful operation (Swan, Matthews, Bogle, Boles, & Day, 2012). As for the third outcome, students would acquire understanding of human needs and challenges that are critical to motivate others.

Furthermore, online students would learn how to align behavior and rewards, since the former not necessarily depends on the latter. The learners would be explained how to use feedback on performance and drive team experience, thus benefiting both employees and organizations. In addition, the course learning outcomes assume that the students would learn basic theories and motivation tools to select the most appropriate ones for a specific situation. Last but not least, students would learn to integrate their leadership knowledge and skills and apply them in practice, thus proving the value of the proposed course and facilitating their career opportunities.

Primary Learning Theories to be Used

The proposed course for development would build on behaviorism, cognitivism, and socio-constructivism. As stated by Holmes and Gardner (2006), the above theoretical underpinnings are rarely utilized in a discrete manner since they compose the integrity of e-learning. It seems essential to briefly identify each of the mentioned theories and provide a rational for their selection. Responsible for practice and tutorial, behaviorism in e-learning would be used for the instructional design based on its key assumption that knowledge is objective. Cognitivism as an approach focusing on the internal mind processes and their analysis would be used to teach problem-solving skills beginning from the simplest tasks and ending with the complex ones.

In turn, socio- constructivism theory suggests that learners consider their experience and then design their own specific comprehension of the world (Holmes & Gardner, 2006). Accordingly, the course would target the mental analysis and the subsequent accommodation of new experiences via the use of hyperlinks and hypermedia. The above theoretical underpinnings allow overlapping the proposed course and ensuring that online learners would achieve the stated outcomes. They pull together experiences along with cognitive and social factors to create and enhance skills and knowledge, attitudes and values. The application of these theories would help an educator to understand how students learn in the given conditions, including the structure of the course, teaching, and other educational processes (Rudestam & Schoenholtz-Read, 2010). Thus, the mentioned theories were selected to ensure effectiveness, a high-quality, and the adherence to the instructional design principles.

Potential Ways of Motivation

While several ways may be used to motivate students to stay in an online environment, it is essential to consider the most powerful of them. The facilitation of the intrinsic motivation of learners is the first strategy, the paramount idea of which is to show them that an educator understands their values and goals and is ready to assist (Giesbers, Rienties, Tempelaar, & Gijselaers, 2013). Acting as a coach rather than a manager and carefully listening to students, it is possible to increase their motivation and promote their own role in learning. The rational for selecting the above strategy lays in the fact that it helps an educator and learners to collaborate and maximize the internal motivation.

Another way to increase students motivation is to enable them to monitor their learning progress. Utilizing the portfolio method, an educator would allow students to compile all their assignments and truck the evidence of learning. More to the point, discussions and group projects would also be available online. In this way, students are likely to feel in control of their learning progress and become more responsible (Giesbers et al., 2013). The course assumes that students would participate in the curriculum creation by suggesting their ideas and themes. Integrating students ideas, an educator would preserve the structure yet adjust the content of the course. In this regard, the above way would help to achieve the common goal and learning outcomes stated earlier.

References

Giesbers, B., Rienties, B., Tempelaar, D., & Gijselaers, W. (2013). Investigating the relations between motivation, tool use, participation, and performance in an e-learning course using web-videoconferencing. Computers in Human Behavior, 29(1), 285-292.

Holmes, B., & Gardner, J. (2006). E-learning: Concepts and practice. London, UK: Sage Publications.

Rodriguez, C. O. (2012). MOOCs and the AI-Stanford like courses: Two successful and distinct course formats for massive open online courses. European Journal of Open, Distance and E-Learning, 15(2), 1-13.

Rudestam, K. E., & Schoenholtz-Read, J. (2010). Handbook of online learning (2nd ed). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Swan, K., Matthews, D., Bogle, L., Boles, E., & Day, S. (2012). Linking online course design and implementation to learning outcomes: A design experiment. The Internet and Higher Education, 15(2), 81-88.

The media that I decided to use for the leadership analysis is the Lost TV series (Wagner, 2021). It depicts the life of people who found themselves on the seemingly uninhabited island after the plane crash. While they wait for help from the outside world, everyday challenges require some form of organization. As a result, two men of different ages and backgrounds, namely Jack Shephard and John Locke, establish themselves as informal leaders.

Overall, the narrative describes how individuals build their lives on the island far from civilization seeking to escape it or sabotage any attempt to do that. As such, this piece resonates with me because it had a major impact on my personality. It showed me that the right decisions are usually not the easy ones, taught me to be understanding towards people who may not seem good at first, and taught me how to encounter lifes difficulties.

Jack Shephard is the first one in the series to reveal ones leadership abilities. Although his position as the main decision-maker remained until the end of the series, it never was formalized. Jack has several positive leadership qualities, such as openness and truthfulness in communications, being the first to embrace the unknown and risks instead of exposing his followers, responsibility, and desire to serve others. For instance, at the end of the plot, he volunteers to sacrifice his life to save other people on the island (Rudoy, 2020).

Being a spinal surgeon, Jack adopts a scientific worldview based on facts which can be regarded as an advantage and shortcoming at the same time. On the one hand, this principle guides his practice as a doctor and often leads to success. Yet, on the other hand, it prevents him from believing in ones intuition which sometimes fails. For example, ignoring ones gut feeling, Jack leaves the island, which he subsequently regrets.

John Locke is the second prominent character in Lost with strong leadership abilities. His management style is often considered the opposite of Jack Shephards. The fact that Locke experienced the miracle on the island made him a strong believer in destiny. He is convinced that the plane crash is not a coincidence and that all that has happened to him and other passengers has some greater purpose. Therefore, John devotes his time primarily to discovering the secrets of the place and interpreting the signs. Additionally, he can attract and unite some people under his vision. In this regard, John Locke can be viewed as a transformational leader (Collins et al., 2019).

In contrast to Jack, John is quite reserved, which, however, does not negatively affect his authority. Indeed, one of his first followers  Boone Carlyle  rarely questioned any order of the latter when they were trying to open the hatch that they found in the ground. Although Johns reliance on intuition proves to be true many times, it also does not save him from making mistakes. For instance, his belief in the island made him a subject of manipulation by Man in Black  the series main antagonist  who skillfully used Johns lack of critical thinking and reliance on intuition.

In my opinion, the traits of both fictional leaders discussed above can be adapted by nursing professionals. Similar to Jack Shephard, most of the decisions that medical workers make must be based on scientific evidence. Moreover, making serving others one of lifes purposes and being able to embrace responsibility should be at the core of the profession, which enables us to provide the best healthcare service possible. Still, at the same time, the example of John Locke reminds us about the importance of trusting ones intuition. Additionally, what many nursing leaders can learn from this character is the importance of creating a vision that would unite all the employees. For example, that can be the desire to ensure that the voice of each patient is heard and respected (Cedars-Sinai, n.d.).

References

Cedars-Sinai. (n.d.). Mission, vision, values and philosophy.

Collins, E., Owen, P., Digan, J., & Dunn, F. (2019). Applying transformational leadership in nursing practice. Nursing Standard, 35(5), 59-65.

Rudoy, M. (2020). Lost: 5 times Jack was the better leader (and 5 times it was Locke). Screen Rant.

Wagner, H. P. (2021). A history of British, Irish and American literature (3^rd ed.). Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier.

Introduction

This essay shall analyze the article titled Spirit-Led Leadership, which is authored by Sister Regina Bechtle; the journal is titled Human Development and was published in the winter of 2008. The author who is sixty years of age is associated with being a theologian, retreat director, and spiritual director. Sister Regina Bechtle attended Fordham University for a Ph.D. in theology and currently serves in a non-profiting organization as a board member. This article is the authors reflection based on a spiritual-led leadership viewpoint on her won account and beliefs. In this article the author attempts to take the reader through spiritual leadership and discloses the challenges that are associated with leadership and society today. The universal norms that have engulfed leadership which lead to moral crossroads which has made it lose the fundamental good that once governed leadership and filled with greed and corruption (Bechtle, 2008).

This article takes the reader through a spiritual transformation that is aimed at offering spiritual skills that are essential to leadership. According to Markham (2006), the basic leadership concept is well outlined and elaborated through spiritual guidance on the authors occurrences in her life and the journeys that her life has undergone. Also, the spiritual hunger that may host and yet the leaders are unable o unveil is covered by this article.

Summary of Article

In this article Sister Regina Bechtles main mission is to unveil the leadership complexities in the practices and nuances that are associated with modern leadership from a spiritual angle. She articulates in this article how it can be made knowledgeable and executed by those who are under the subject and the learning students.

The article is well laid out with interactive and engaging sections that have the rich and deep spiritual context that underlines the benefit associated with practices of spiritual leadership and the hurdles that are associated with todays kind of leadership. The articles section is designed and formulated in ways that would guide the pursuant through the facet of spiritual personal exploration and transformation which is engaging and encouraging through some personal spiritual enlightening, observation, and reflection based on the authors perception of leadership in the modern era.

Issues addressed by the article Bechtle (2008) in the introduction part takes the reader through her definition of her physical being and her nature of religion. Her take on the kind of governance and the bias norms that are associated with leadership the challenges that are posed through leadership and spiritualism in these transitional times is based on her understanding and concept about leadership.

The author engages the reader through the hardship that is adapted by the post-modern kind of leadership. To this, she articulates how an institution that once had dignity and honor have lost their universal norm of serving the society they were formulated to serve and have engaged in schemes that only oppresses. This failure the author links it with the leaders failure in all aspect of governance form the religious facets to the secular ones (Whyte, 2001). However, in this aspect, the leader claims that they harbor constructive facets that mainly search to interconnect the societies and nations. The fundamental aspect attributed by the author here is to have a common agenda of assessing and generating a common agenda in an evolution manner which the author coins The Great Turning, this she articulates that it calls for alertness as there are danger signals all over and therefore there ought to be a significant task that should be formulated to combat this facets.

The author spiritually defines leadership based on the spiritual writer Parker Palmer concept, that a leader is someone who has incomparable ability to propel others quality of high profiled competence. To this, she articulates that those who are appointed to lead should possess this quality that is associated with the skilled ability to bring out the best on those they are appointed to lead (Chittister, 1995).

However, the author adds that according to the doctrines of Palmer, this kind of leadership is an interconnection of the leadership ability and the communion that one has with his/her inner being (Markham, 2006). This she emphasizes that spiritual guidance and relation is the driving force for a high-level profile leader. The spiritual dimension that sister Bechtle takes one through is based on the concept of the leaders will and submission to the spiritual world which she bases on the Christian tradition.

The author offers an example based on her personal leadership attributes based on diminishing women congregation leadership in the United States. She narrates the frustration that the diminishing women congregational leadership is associated with as the numbers become less the existing sisters in the spiritual leadership are overcome with fear, anger, and denial and the authors narrate how they had to overcome this hurdle. The author takes the reader through her eight years of leadership which she reflects as being the journey to Emmaus. She concludes that through this journey she acknowledged that all her revelations, purpose and plans were put to test and left her feeling inadequate and irresponsible while wrestling her spiritual and external forces. Sister Bechtle at this point in the article narrates that she was confused and even started questioning the will of God as time became more complex and challenging (Bechtle, 2008).

The will to overcome the facets that were holding the author down opened doors that revealed that it was not her inadequacy, but the renewal that the community she was appointed to lead needed. From this she articulates that the fundamental lesson learned from her experiences helped her sort and acknowledge the real meaning of leadership, and also its real quality values based on spiritual viewpoint. To sister Bechtle (2008) leadership is more composed of spiritualism than skills; there is an interrelationship of person, society and community in the transformation journey. She lastly acknowledges that the spiritual leadership journey is a progression of non-ending chores.

The author offers the reader her own reflection on the responsibilities that are coupled with spiritual kind of leadership. This is based on a Catholic point of view which is based on fabricating the Body of Christ as the greatest foundation of might. This author articulates that will be achieved through reflection of the love of God in hard and merry times (Whyte, 2001). The fundamental facets that the author uses are by possessing the power of forgiveness and this she acclaims that would make peace with the pursuant of this doctrine if they practice it and the ultimate prize of joy and bliss unveils itself to them.

The author distinguishes the fantasies that people harbor about leaders distinguishing illusions from realities from the visions of leadership. From this sister Bechtle incorporate the story of the Savoir in seeing the opposite of what other saw. The author takes the reader through discipline that is associated with own body as a leader, tending o its needs and listening to its plights this is in a spiritual dimension (Markham, 2006). She later incorporate tending of the own body with the community, balancing these two facets are coined to enable the body to function in unison as one organism. From these factors the author claims that the pursuant will benefit and gain the gift of a content heart.

The theoretical basis for the article

The theoretical basis that is in the article mostly relates to the ideology of the transformational nature which leadership should generate by Christianity. The hard part of this idea is that perseverance is the hardest thing for a leader and the follows lose faith when the leader. Leadership significant visions are explained and are not expounded or detailed how they can be affected leadership in a secular world (Whyte, 2001).

Reflection and Personal Evaluation

This article although has some minor theoretical facets, it is the most enlightening article about spiritual leadership. Sister Bechtles writing style is well blended with the kind of information and intersection of Christian values and morals that support spiritual led leadership. The input of reflections and questions anticipates the reader of this article to understand and gain positive motivation of the importance of this study. The material is very enriching as it differentiates between secular simplistic leadership approach and spiritual led leadership approach by bridging the gap that encroaches the objectives of effective leadership. The issues that confuse followers are well elucidated and evaluated by theories based on personal, society and communal experience with the agenda of providing leadership that serves the people, not to the leaders gains (Chittister, 1995). I think that the practical implementation of these principles could improve contemporary society significantly. Nowadays most leaders use their power for satisfying their personal needs, which causes numerous conflicts in society, though most of them could be prevented. I think that a person can succeed and become a good manager only on the condition of taking into consideration the interests of other members of the community. The fact is that every leader needs the support of the surrounding people following the person and accepting his/her leadership.

Conclusion

The leader should have an ideal intention to be able to practice transformational kind of leadership in their responsibilities of leadership, the sacrificing facets that look over others and makes them overcome their inadequacies and empowering them with spiritual guidance. The spiritual leadership journey that the author takes the followers is enriching and transforming catering for the plights of the followers first.

References

1. Bechtle, R. (2008). Spiritual-Led Leadership. Human Development Journals. 29(4), 56-72
2. Chittister, J. (1995). The Fire in These Ashes: A Spirituality of Contemporary Religious Life. Kansas, KS: Sheed & Ward.
3. Markham, D. (2006). The Leaders Mantle: Creating Connection in Chaotic Times. Human Development. 24(4), 56  87.
4. Whyte, D. (2001). Crossing the Unknown Sea: Work as a Pilgrimage of Identity. New York, NY: Riverhead Press.

Introduction

If the leaders start with the right question, students achievements at the high-poverty school can raise. It is not the amount of resources that matters, but the procedure of utilizing them. It is evident from the article of Budge and Parrett (2009), on leadership in high-poverty/high-performing schools, that the leaders of schools such as Dayton and Granger have realized the importance of a working budget.

They ensure utilization of crucial resources through collaboration with the staff to ensure everyone focuses on the priorities as the only and best option to a better level. Budgeting ensures zero cut on the critical resources, which can be jeopardy of the hard-won gains. The top leaders must take the initiative to prioritize the challenges faced, due to poverty levels (Budge and Parrett 2009).

The leaders actions, perception and, utterances influence the turning point from low to high performances in high-poverty schools. Many schools have alleviated the status quo of high-levelled poverty to achieve students success. According to Budge and Parrett (2009), the critical message reverberating from the successes is the ability to overcome the pervasive and powerful effects of poverty on learning.

The commitment of leaders and strategy of beginning the implementation procedure through inquiry (asking the right questions) are some of the aspects required for success.

I agree with the notion that tough questions can assist leaders find right answers for required achievements because difficulties in the present times are causing managements to react negatively other than confronting the issues at hand. For instance most businesses are today facing hyper competition, job insecurities, unknowledgeable future or equivocation.

This is causing them to cuts on expenses and lay off workers. In a close relation to Gamorans writing (2007). These are the worst business strategies because they are defensive. Tough times require people to act positively in fight of the intensified senses of exposure through expansion and find new ways of putting such times to good use.

Secondly, the notion that tough questions can assist leaders find right answers for required achievements concurs with the explanations that adverse circumstances exerts heavier weight, According to Budge and Parrett (2009), this works as an opportunity to learn readiness and the leader has the opportunity to show that it is possible to learn during tough times.

People have always had the thought that learning would occur best during the times of calm and easy flow. This has not been the case and in most instances, periods preceded by success actually breed inertial, inattention to details and, immoderation. The questions leaders have to ask in their aim of achieving success regardless of the poverty levels, involves the need to build necessary management capability.

The other important domain involves the staff duties, which ought to focus upon the students daily work, professional performance as well as the entire system of learning. The learning environment should be safe, healthy and, supportive for those involved (Bascia, 2005). The questions that the leaders ask as noted in this paper are for provision of valuable guidance for other school leaders facing similar challenges and bringing out the wrapped opportunities for prosperity.

Leadership

What are the right questions regarding the leadership style? There is need to find out whether there exists a data system in support for classroom and school leaders. Various schools studied by Budge and Parrett (2009), shows the importance of data systems acting as a guide for decision-making procedures. The data system also fosters a caring relationship and an appraisal to establish measurable goals.

There is need for well-established time lines that ensure better achievement. This calls for proper interactions between the teacher and parent through the school managed goals and plans. For instance, school staff members can opt for weekly contacts with the parents or guardians and ability to put up with the responsibility of reporting the progress to relevant authorities within the organization.

The other question on the subject of leadership is elimination of practices and policies that lead to poor performance. All schools have documented policies that guide on issues of funding, tracking, and, assignment to special educational needs (Gamoran, 2007). There is need for faculties to have strong believes regarding achievements and foster them to the students.

When the failure mentality is eliminated, the teachers are able offer extra help to failing children in the aim of achieving the set credence. The underachieving students are not failures but responsibilities, which need extra teachers instructional time to catch-up on the higher achievers. This calls for extended tutoring time or introduction of vocational classes as catch-up lessons.

There is equally the need to re-organize time in support of professional education. There ought to be enough investment on personnel through reorganized or rescheduled time that is accommodative of professional development.

The grade level teams made of teaching staff can offer review of data concerning the classroom assessment, discuss the plans and come up with strategies for improving individuals performance. This enables them to turn up with excellent teaching strategies and a just-in-time support where required.

Learning

The questions leaders require answers for in their aim of achieving success regardless of the poverty levels, involves assessment procedures and literacy levels. For a high-poverty school, there is urgent need for well-established learning targets though properly formulated competency-supporting procedures.

The activities include support for individual educational standards, having public presentations of achievements and plans, compilation of achievement cases and, having brooding amendments through conferences led by students. There is need for development of classroom focused assessment procedures that pursue parental an administration support.

Educational leadership require an analysis of whether each pupil has acquired the required level of proficiency. In the question over proficiency, the management ought to ensure achievement of literacy skills such as analysis of unique needs of students that assures improvement over reading.

According to Neuman (2008), the leaders need to establish the factors that influence or hinder reading achievements through analysis of the individual students. The students ability to speak and write language is a great influence to other subjects involved thus the need for all teachers to consider the responsibility of language assistance.

Teachers need to question the students ability to meet the targets. The students data especially pertaining performance level provide the basis for establishing those who need extra guidance or coaching/tutoring.

This is achievable as before, during or after school activity, as a group work, individual couching, face-to-face, or technological academic intervention and, as support offered through added assessment time. There is need to establish the literacy skill at an early age through assessment of proficiency for individuals.

Learning environment

Lastly is the need to focus the assessment by questioning the learning environment. The safety standards are crucial and prerequisite for learning. Management has to ensure safe structures and implement procedures that place the accountability of actions or else behaviours or practices to the students as a way of promoting the safety.

There is urgent need for leaders to understand the influence of poverty on education. They ought to support achievements without relating failure to poor environmental conditions of family settings as has been the case in the past (Gorski, 2008).

The leaders must develop skills to understand the socioeconomic and cultural diversity and their influences to the students performance. Leaders are also in a position to seek family support in the aim of enhancing common goals (Budge & Parrett, 2009). High achievements are possible when students are tightly bond to the school objectives regardless of their social settings.

Conclusion

A school is a communal possession, thus it cannot achieve the objectives without involving the parent especially in a high-poverty social setting. Various factors can influence the performance, thus the need to have counter measures of avoiding them and build a positive thought or relationship.

There is need for engaging the outside stakeholders, to foster communication between families and the institution using the school as a community centre. Enhancing relationships requires enough engagement from the staff. The leader therefore faces the challenge of engaging staff in decision making to gunner their support before involving the outsiders.

Having proper staff-students ratio, ensuring the safety and, remunerations ensures the performance success as a continual journey. Whether it is survival of costs, seeking funds, or soliciting performance support from stakeholders, the questions leaders seek answers for concern high performance in high-poverty schools through ensured sustenance and supports students success, as a guideline for all the related education sectors.

Conversely, today a number of leaders are against tough questions posed during the tough times on the argument that the employees level of skill is in direct competition with others globally. This means that the procedure of figuring out the right algorithm for a routine performance is gradual and procedural as opposed to the rapid automation due to urgency.

Educationally, global research indicates that the high level of education required ample preparation in reading, writing, language, science, history, arts and other indispensable subjects at the foundation level. All these entities are eventually based on competence, greatest creativity and innovativeness. This call for one to vary abilities over the top to bottom level of professional performance over learning time and not just when requirements get tough.

References

Bascia, N. (2005). International handbook of educational policy. Volume 13 of Springer international handbooks of education. Springer Publishers.

Budge, K., & Parrett, W. (2009). Leadership in high-poverty/high-performing schools.Educational Leadership, 67(2). Web.

Gamoran, A. (2007). Standards-based reform and the poverty gap: lessons for No Child Left Behind. Brookings Institution Publishers.

Neuman, S. (2008). The mediating mechanisms of the effects of poverty on reading Achievement. Baltimore: Brooks Publishing.