Picture source: 16 Personalities
My Leadership Philosophy
I have always aspired to help, lead and guide others, Not because of the title of leader, but because I love building others up and I enjoy having projects on the go which will benefit my friends and colleagues. But when people call me a leader, I feel a need to rebuff it. And why’s that? Imposters Syndrome, perhaps? I don’t see myself as a leader. I don’t think others see me as a leader either, and I have a bit of a flaw when it comes to taking on board what others think of me.
I haven’t had any formal leadership lecturing, at times, I don’t have great confidence, but what I do have is passion! Passion for nursing! And passion for helping people develop! When it came to planning this blog, I really felt like I’m at a crossroads. Could this be the place in which I start to changes who I am, becoming more confident in my abilities and skills? Can I write about my leadership style & what type of leader I want to be? Or do I write about my insecurities and my strong feelings of why I am not a leader? It’s tough because I need to choose my mindset.
So, by following the links from Brian’s blog, and answering the questions truthfully, these are the results I got & how I feel about it. My personality type is ‘Protagonist ENFJ-A’. I use my intuition & feelings. I am a Firm Believer in People! I genuinely believe in the best of people and that each individual person has something to offer and knows something I don’t. Every individual has something they bring to a team, it’s sometimes just a case of unlocking that potential.
In another quiz from the VeryWell Mind website, it says my leadership style is democratic leadership, which is also known as participative leadership. I agree that I am more of a democratic leader as opposed to an authoritative leader. As a leader, I like to make decisions based on the input of each team member. However, I also like the ‘Affiliative Style’ of leadership. It can be described as a "People come first” approach. The “Affiliative Leadership” approach is when the leader pays attention to and supports the team members in an emotional way. During my time with The Student Nurse Project, I found that this approach worked best as we were all student nurses, all with a lot going on. I felt it really important to at least try & have an ‘open door/open dialogue’ approach which allowed people to come and talk if they needed too.
My personal philosophy as a leader is that I believe people will work towards making a project successful if they feel like they can take ownership. The best leaders are ones that care and can take an individual approach with each member of their team, knowing not one size fits all. As a leader, I always want to hear people’s ideas! I recognise that I don’t know everything and that it helps sometimes to act more as a coordinator, to bring all the ideas together and then talk about them. When I take leadership roles, it’s not to take credit, but to act on my passion and belief that we can be & do better for each other and our patients. I prefer to come to a joint decision with those who I work with within a team, however, I am also not afraid to take responsibility for decisions made. I like to use some of the work done by NHS Health Education England in the ‘Mind The Gap’ report, which summaries what people born in different eras are motivated by. For example, I know that I do well when receiving mentorship. Even when I don’t have a project I am leading, having mentorship can help give me with guidance and provide a focus. One of my biggest challenges has been trying to remain feeling relevant & worthy to be a role model since I left The Student Nurse Project.
As the future approaches, I’m confident that I’ll have opportunities to lead and guide teams, whether in an official management role or otherwise. I recognise that I need to find my confidence because I believe in my core leadership philosophy! I also need to remember that I do not have to be heading up a project or in a specific role to lead, because leading is about setting the right example, and in nursing, we should put our patients first whilst also prioritising our team!
Thanks for reading!
Dann is a Staff Nurse working in the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit in a Birmingham hospital.
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