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insecure to able, willing, and confident. The leader’s behavior will focus on appropriately fulfilling the followers’ needs, which are identified by their readiness level and the task. Leader behaviors will range from telling, guiding, and directing to delegating, observing, and monitoring. Where did you fall in this model during your first clinical rotation? Compare this with where you are now. In the beginning, the clinical instructor gave you clear instructions, closely guiding and directing you. Now, she or he is most likely delegating, observing, and monitoring. As you move into your first nursing position, you may return to the needing, guiding, and directing stage. But, you may soon become a leader/instructor for new nursing students, guiding and directing them. Transformational Leadership Although the situational theories were an improvement over earlier theories, there was still something missing. Meaning, inspiration, and vision were not given enough attention (Tappen, 2001). These are the distinguishing features of transformational leadership. The transformational theory of leadership emphasizes that people need a sense of mission that goes beyond good interpersonal relationships or an appropriate reward for a job well done (Bass & Avolio, 1993). This is especially true in nursing. Caring for people, sick or well, is the goal of the profession. Most people chose nursing in order to do something for the good of humankind; this is their vision. One responsibility of nursing leadership is to help nurses see how their work helps them achieve their vision. Transformational leaders can communicate their vision in a manner that is so meaningful and exciting that it reduces negativity (Leach, 2005) and inspires commitment in the people with whom they work (Trofino, 1995). Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had a vision for America: “I have a dream that one day my children will be judged by the content of their character, not the color of their skin” (quoted by Blanchard & Miller, 2007, p. 1). A great leader shares his or her vision with his followers. You can do the same with your colleagues and team. If successful, the goals of the leader and staff will “become fused, creating unity, wholeness, and a collective purpose” (Barker, 1992, p. 42). See Box 1-1 for an example of a leader with visionary goals. Moral Leadership A series of highly publicized corporate scandals redirected attention to the values and ethics that underlie the practice of leadership as well as that of patient care (Dantley, 2005). Moral leadership involves deciding how one ought to remain honest, fair, and socially responsible (Bjarnason & LaSala, 2011) under any circumstances. Caring about one’s patients and the people who work for you as people as well as employees (Spears & Lawrence, 2004) is part of moral leadership. This can be a great challenge in times of limited financial resources. Molly Benedict was a team leader on the acute geriatric unit (AGU) when a question of moral leadership arose. Faced with large budget cuts in the middle of the year and feeling a little desperate to figure out how to run the AGU with fewer staff, her nurse manager suggested that reducing the time that unlicensed assistive personnel (UAP) spent ambulating patients would enable UAPs to care for 15 patients, up from the current 10 per UAP. This is leadership on the very grandest scale. BHAGs are Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals. Coined by Jim Collins, BHAGs are big ideas, visions for the future. Here is an example: Gigi Mander, originally from the Philippines, dreams of buying hundreds of acres of farmland for peasant families in Asia or Africa. She would install irrigation systems, provide seed and modern farming equipment, and help them market their crops. This is not just a dream, however; she has a business plan for her BHAG and is actively seeking investors. Imagination, creativity, planning, persistence, audacity, courage: these are all needed to put a BHAG into practice. Do you have a BHAG? How would you make it real? box 1-1 BHAGs, Anyone? Adapted from Buchanan, L. (2012). The world needs big ideas. INC Magazine, 34(9), 57–58. 3663_Chapter 1_0003-0016.indd 7 663_Chapter 1_0003-0016.indd 7 9/15/2014 4:36:37 PM /15/2014 4:36:37 PM Process Cyan rocess CyanProcess Magenta
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