Research Paper on "Comparison of a Nurse and Non-Nurse Leader"

Research Paper 7 pages (2188 words) Sources: 3

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Nurse and Non-Nurse Leader

Leadership does not have a delegated authority. Therefore, the leader has 'power' that comes informally from the people they lead. Leaders do the right thing while managers do things right, hence the difference between the two terms (Yoder, 2011). Therefore, leadership entails being a person who is an initiator, an example to the others, empowering, motivating and influencing them to act in line with their responsibilities. Leadership, therefore, is a calling; a service to the people the person is leading. Nursing as a profession requires a leader to initiate the decision-making and progress of the workmanship in the working environment (Yoder, 2011). Holistic nursing focuses on the wholesome integration of the mind, body and spirit of a person in the healing process, in relation to their environment. This dictates such a nurse should have leadership qualities.

The Contemporary leader

A leader needs to have personal traits that identify them uniquely. Over the centuries, leaders have come and gone, showing various forms of leadership and developing their leadership styles. As the definition of leadership notates, leadership in the basic form is power. It involves and occurs within group involvement, as a person cannot lead oneself only. Viewing from the perspective of personality, leadership bases on the ability to induce others to accomplish a task by means of influence from special traits and characteristics the person possesses (Post, 2005). On behavioral perspective, the leader can be directive, supportive, participative or achievement-oriented depending on the method the person chooses. Among the world's famous leaders and influential persons is Bill Clinton.

Born in the absence of a father, who died while his mother was expectant, Bill Clinton lived with his mother and sibling, went to school like any other young person of his time and pursued a career in law (Post, 2005). Notably, his mother, Virginia Dell Cassidy was a nurse. He joined politics at the age of 32 years, becoming the governor of Arkansas, the youngest governor at his time. Twelve years later, Bill Clinton went into the higher politics, where at his first time vie for the presidency, he won 43% of the votes. At the time of his inauguration as the president of the United States, he was 46 years old, the third youngest president of United States, and the second Democrat President to hold a tow term in the presidency office after since Franklin Delano Roosevelt. In 2004, Clinton got a nomination for a Grammy in the category of Best Spoke Word Album for "My Life." During his tenure, United States enjoyed the best economic times in her history.

Leadership style and effectiveness

The life of Bill Clinton from the plain view does not exhibit any signs of an extraordinary person. There is nothing unique, different from the life of a common young person, growing thorough school, into a successful career. However, a closer look at the background of his achievements, one will notice the factor that made Clinton as exceptional as he managed to achieve all these levels of success (Post, 2005). The first quality of a leader that comes out from the definition of the term is the ability to influence and induce change in the group one is leading (Parakala, 2012). Without a team to help Clinton accomplish his visions, he would not manage to accomplish all that he did. The question is, therefore, how he managed. The answer is clear from the achievement that he got in 2004. Spoken word welds a lot of power and influence. This is his greatest tool of leadership (Post, 2005). Clinton is a fluent speaker (Parakala, 2012). For instance, in a meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative, he spoke with such emphatic words, inspiring people in attendance, including President Obama to think about the global challenges and unanimously set a great ambition with the passion to combat these challenges.

Among his other qualities is the ability to connect with people. When Clinton speaks, he devotes his attention to every person, making the people in the group feel as though they are the only ones in the exchange. He uses simple yet insightful terms, leaving an impact in the people listening, a quality many refer to as charisma (Parakala, 2012). He is charismatic because he manages to convince people. He also has a genuine interest in people, without any prejudice. He can drop to any level, helping him engage and establish meaningful conversation, hence building trust. Clinton is also open-minded and a trust worthy leader. This is the reason he chairs and facilitates several sessions of world leaders meetings. His credible leadership helped him to establish credible organizations of world leaders. In simple terms, he leads even the other leaders. Lastly, he leads with optimism. He makes the hardest situations appear simple, providing room for others to see sense and a chance to make change in the situation. He inspires and induces action in the people he is leading. Bill Clinton is a person of action, whose leadership style bases on his personal attributes (Parakala, 2012). Clinton leads effectively from his qualities of passion, ability to connect with people, vision, charisma, effective communication and optimism. He is a true illustration of leadership in action.

A Nursing leader

A nurse leader presents the vision, skills and tools that the nurses need (Yoder, 2011). A nurse deal with several patients, therefore, an effective nurse has to have qualities that connect with the patients. A nurse should have effective communication skills, high levels of emotional stability and ability to show empathy. Among the world's historical nurses is Florence Nightingale. She is an Italian born in the year 1820, during the early years of civilization (Nightingale & McDonald, 2009). During the period of Crimean War, Nightingale along with a team of nurses worked in a British-based hospital, improving the unsanitary conditions, which significantly reduced the death count in the hospital by two-thirds. Her writings in the field of health sparked the development of the worldwide healthcare reforms. She also established St. Thomas Hospital in 1860 and the Nightingale Training School for Nurses. Her mother described Nightingale as being strong-willed, a character she exhibits through her life and world of achievements.

Leadership style and effectiveness

Holistic nursing focuses on the healing of the whole person, hence encompasses the totality of the human beings. Florence Nightingale believed in health care that focused on unity, wellness, and the interrelationship of the human beings and their environment; making her the first ever-holistic nurse (Nightingale & McDonald, 2009). Holistic nursing is not a theory of nursing practice, but rather an attitude and a philosophy of an effective, quality nurse. Therefore, Nightingale used this leadership style in her practice and leadership role. Among her leadership, qualities include being visionary. She was expectant of the nursing fraternity; hence, she always saw the need to develop better practice in the future. This is the reason she managed to establish the hospital and training school for nurses. Additionally, another attribute of her leadership as a nurse is her ability to provide effective leadership. For instance, on her arrival to London, her first job was to care for the ailing governesses in Middlesex hospital, in the early 50's. She served with such enthusiasm that she impressed her employer. The employer then promoted her to superintendent; hence, the beginning of her role as a leader. She always served even in her leadership position.

Another aspect of Florence's leadership was autocratic administration (Nightingale & McDonald, 2009). Because of her circumstances of work, dealing with wounded soldiers, she exhibited the character of being authoritarian. In nursing environment, the nurse needs to exercise compassion, however, in the case of Nightingale she managed to work with her autocratic leadership style helped her to run the hospital she set, as well as run the other duties in the hospitals where she worked. She also used her strong will to drive and initiate decision-making, which helped her to achieve success in attending to the patients. Florence Nightingale's leadership style focused on service to the people, hence the core reason she chose to do the nursing profession, she wanted to care for others. In providing this essential service to the people, she became the first nurse to practice holistic nursing, hence the reason she is among the world's most famous nurses.

Comparison of the nurse and non-nurse leader

Leadership is unique to every person that is in position of leadership. However, most attributes and abilities to lead are similar in all fields of operation. Comparing the leadership styles of Bill Clinton and Florence Nightingale, they are similar in some aspects, and they differ in others. In their leadership, they both were very effective, managing to achieve their visions and goals in what they set to establish. They are both are remarkably visionary, managing to set up various organizations or groups, which they propelled to success (Parakala, 2012). Additionally, they also exhibited the character of connecting with others, establishing effective and useful relations with the other people. This… READ MORE

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