Style II: Shepherds

(people-pleasing, spontaneous, informal, sharing and participative, sensitive, accommodating,

procrastinating, emotional, conflict-avoiding, contemplative)
Shepherds are relational like commanders, but they prefer to facilitate (guide, encourage, equip)
ministry members rather than to overly direct them.
Style III: Maintenance Managers
(organized, efficient, politically-sensitive, closure-oriented, concern for routine, planner, formal,
detached, information-focused, detail-intensive)
Maintenance managers use formal, official policies and procedures to efficiently direct ministry
activities in a way that permits independent action and decision-making, minimizing the need for
group deliberation and participative management. They favor orderly, routine operations run by
the book.
My management style was a tie between Shepherd and Maintenance manager. I feel that
both styles suit me well and tend to compliment each other in several ways. I focus quite a bit on
trying to be organized and I work better when I have a plan in place. Being spontaneous is
something Im sure Ill encounter quite a bit in the nursing field because things dont always go
as planned in the healthcare setting. I would like to think and believe myself to be open-minded
and I enjoy seeing others succeed. My idea of a good leader and something I would strive to be is
someone who has earned that position by way of experience, hard work, and respect for others
along the way. A good leader would also be able to remember where they came from and apply
that knowledge in the way they lead and guide their followers. To me there is nothing worse than
a experienced nurse who thinks they know it all and refuses to share the wealth of knowledge
with those just coming on board. We all, as nurses had to start in the same place, as a nursing
student, and remembering that in our treatment of others just coming up I believe, would
strengthen our profession.
According to Laschinger, Wong, & Macdonald-Renez (2013), Resonant leaders provide
positive role models by being more sensitive to the personal and job requirements of their staff,
which engenders respect and admiration in their staff. A resonant leader is someone with a
particular quality that strongly affects someone else. I guess that could be a good or bad quality
and that would determine the type of leader that person is. Building off of that, a good follower
would be someone who has trust in their leader, is driven by the same vision, & yet can critically
think for themselves in times of crisis.
In the past couple years of this program I have seen a variety of leadership styles come
into play and of course not all of them were effective. I agree that one of the most effective of
styles is coaching and affiliative as stated in the article Leadership Styles in Ethical Dilemmas

When Head Nurses Make Decisions (2013). These two types of leadership styles especially in
nursing, has a positive effect on communication and teambuilding and create a friendly work
environment with an attempt to prevent strife (Zydziunaite, Lepaite, & Suominen, 2013).
Nursing involves collaborative care with other healthcare professions and people are more likely
to work well together for the good of the patient in an environment that is relatively free of
dissatisfaction and disagreements.
My plan to strengthen my managerial style would be to, like most of my classmates,
finish my BSN. Also beginning in the nursing profession as an entry level RN I would hope to be
able to work with some great nurses that I could learn from and model after. According to
Laschinger (2013), nurses that are exposed to excellent nursing leaders who are positive about
their roles may be more likely to see themselves in these roles and take advantage of leadership
development opportunities. If a follower has no respect for their leader, the vision being worked
for becomes distorted by hard feelings and frustration and in our case as nurses that would
compromise the care we provide for our patients. Superior patient care and satisfaction is what
the nursing profession is all about today. Helping patients to help themselves and be participants
in their own healthcare is what we strive for as nurses and the very reason we wanted to be a
nurse in the first place. Working together, agreeing to disagree, but in the end putting the patient
first is one way of achieving that goal. In all I believe great leaders are made, not born. Having
leadership qualities doesnt make someone a leader, putting those qualities to use does.

References:
Spence Laschinger, H. K., Wong, C. A., Macdonald-Rencz, S., Burkoski, V., Cummings, G.,
D'amour, D., & ... Grau, A. (2013). Part 1: The influence of personal and situational predictors
on nurses' aspirations to management roles: preliminary findings of a national survey of
Canadian nurses. Journal Of Nursing Management, 21(2), 217-230. doi:10.1111/j.13652834.2012.01452.x
Zydziunaite, V. V., Lepaite, D. D., & Suominen, T. T. (2013). Leadership styles in ethical
dilemmas when head nurses make decisions. International Nursing Review, 60(2), 228-235.
doi:10.1111/inr.12018