Good leadership qualities

SmilingBluEyes · Feb 21, 2005

INTEGRITY spells it for me.

integrity with self

others

job performance

the way one lives his/her life

w/o this, you have nothing if you ask me. You can't be an effective or good nurse or leader without it. And I see so many with a without it. It's about what you do when you think no one is watching.....it's everything to me.

mattsmom81 · Feb 21, 2005

I guess the answer depends on which 'side' is doing the evaluating; our staff may look for different leadership qualities than our higherups... and will judge us on different issues won't they?

Too many nurses go into leadership roles just wanting to be a 'boss' and don't posess any gifts of leadership IMO. They don't understand the difference.

It takes a special nurse who can get the job/work done and still have the respect of her coworkers at the end of the shift. Just look at all the anti management threads here and we can see how frequently these people do NOT have our respect.

Regarding the statement that 'experience isn't necessary': I cannot respect a boss telling me what to do who has never done my job, most probably cannot do it; and this ALSO happens too much in nursing IMHO.

mydesygn · Feb 21, 2005

I was fortunate through most of my clinical postions to have good, experienced managers. After numerous issues on one clincal unit, I know how to recognze the poor ones.

What good managers do ---

1) They listen without blame or criticism. They are interested in your side of the situation, not in justifying their own assumptions.

2) They delegate responsibly. No manager can do all things for any unit. Good managers recognize talent and know how to responsibly exploit it for the good of the unit.

3) They will always be approachable and friendly, but recognize they are not your friend. Often managers can become to concerned with not wanting to hurt "their friend", they don't act responsibly in bad situations. Too often this leads to feelings of favortism among staff on their unit.

4) They are organized and methodical. Anyone who has ever been in management knows you juggle a lot of balls, you need to know how to control them.

5) They recognize and enforce the power of the team. I have often seen nurses and mangers with the "that's not my job mentality". It promotes feelings of paternalism toward ancillary staff and ultimately undermines teamwork. If my manager can't empty a trash can but calls the overworked housekeeper, I lose a lot of respect for that person.

6) They personally communicate with staff. The best managers recognize you can't manage by email. It is important not only to have regular staff meetings, but also set aside time to talk to ancillary staff, new orientees and physcians.

What Poor Managers Do:

1) They approach problems with maximum power. Typically, if a complaint is made, they will seek to blame and criticize. They will not listen to nor remain interested in any other viewpoint. If every converstion you have with manager involves documenting what you did wrong --- Run away as fast as you can.

2) They display favortism. If and single group of nurses seems to consistently receive the best schedules, assignments, etc..without any good reason why, think why. Usually these managers now manage units they once were staff members from, not a bad thing as long as they remain objective and fair

3) They are consistently disorganized. Often it takes time to really get your feet wet, but at some point they should be able to do your evaluation within a reasonable time frame.

They are so many more, but my fingers are tired.

Simplepleasures · Dec 29, 2006

INTEGRITY spells it for me.
integrity with self
others
job performance
the way one lives his/her life
w/o this, you have nothing if you ask me. You can't be an effective or good nurse or leader without it. And I see so many with a without it. It's about what you do when you think no one is watching.....it's everything to me.

This says it all.