1. Democratic
Democratic style of leadership in nursing enhances the participation of junior employees in the decision making of the organization. Although, the final decision is that of the leader, s/he collects information, feedback and ideas from all the staff members before finalizing.
This type of leadership in nursing is quite effective as all the employees feel valued and due to this, they attempt to give their best. Input of an organization’s employee is of foremost importance when it comes to the growth of the firm. This is one of the best for clinical settings as skills and abilities of all the professionals contribute equally to the success of the organization.
Though, this management style in nursing has its disadvantages too like getting everyone’s feedback is a time-consuming process. Also, the confident members in the group tend to give suggestions mostly whereas apprehensive employees may never get opportunities to provide their feedback.
2. Affiliative
Affiliative leadership may not be the cup of tea of every individual. To make this style successful in an organization, the leader must be great at making relationships. This leadership works best when there is a need to fix a bitterness in the group or when there is workload or stress; as these leaders are the best option to motivate other members.
Basically, affiliative leadership is extremely effective when there is a need for harmony in the team, augment morale or rebuild trust. Moreover, it also increases interaction and communication among members.
Despite the numerous positive aspects about this style of leadership, there are some disadvantages too. This style cannot be used as the only source and it can also lead to poor performance that may go uncorrected.
3. Transformational
Transformational leadership style in nursing is also by encouraging the employees to give their best at work and also motivating them to remain positive while performing various tasks. This is obtained through a common mission and vision.
Transformational style result in engaged and productive teams. To make this leadership work for the organization, there should be an inspiring and a smart nurse leader. This style may fall in a contemptible manner if the one who handles everything lacks in any of the essential traits required to make transformational leadership successful for the health care setting.
4. Authoritarian
Authoritarian or Autocratic leadership style in nursing is where the nurse manager or leader decides everything, give orders and directives to all the team members. Employees just need to follow what they are asked. The manager supervises every staff member and their individual input is not considered while making decisions. Subordinates are not even permitted to ask if they have any questions about the validity of a directive.
This kind of leadership style is perfect for places such as prisons and in the military where, it is a must for employees to work as exactly as they are directed. They are even reprimanded if they don’t comply to the rules. Mistakes are completely intolerable here and often individuals are blamed instead of faulty procedures.
The only advantage of this leadership is that it is the most effective in case of emergencies or perplexed situations where there is very less time for discussion. It is a poor idea to use this management style in nursing for routine operations as it fails to promote communication, trust and teamwork.
5. Coaching
In coaching leadership, the leader concentrates on the development of personnel. They work to make the team members understand their strengths and weaknesses, set targets for development and help them achieve goals.
This leadership style is great to groom the employees both professionally and personally. If implemented correctly, it gives long term results. But along with the benefits, it also has some drawbacks such as it will only work if the workers are receptive and it needs time to take effect, especially at the beginning.
6. Transactional
For Transactional leadership style in nursing, the leader either give a reward or punishment to the employees respective of the way in which they complete the task. It concentrates on the importance of supervision, leadership, organization and performance of the group. It completely relies on the transactions held between the workers and the nurse manager because it is based on the fact that employees are motivated both by discipline and by rewards.
Nurse managers who follow this kind of leadership style do not focus on the performance of the organization in the near future; rather, they look for the best that can be done to keep everything perfect at the present. Moreover, these leaders pay special attention to the deviations and faults made by the staff members. Transactional leaders are usually needed when certain tasks need to be carried out in a specific manner.
7. Situational
Situational leadership is very flexible and transforms according to the existing working requirements and needs of the clinical setting. Management is not based on the basic skills and abilities of the manager, rather s/he modifies them according to the requirement of the organization.
This kind of management style is easy to imply as the leader needs to analyze the present situation of the organization and adopt the ideal strategy to get the best outcome from the organization. Thus, this style works best only with the right leader. Nurse managers are free to take decisions and modify management styles as per the need.
One of the major drawbacks seen in this leadership styles of nursing is that situational leaders are often seen diverting from the long term goals and strategies of the organization compared to the other leadership models.
8. Laissez-faire
For Laissez-faire leadership in nursing, employees are encouraged to undertake a hands-on approach and are allowed to work in a way that they like to, without any kind of supervision or guidance of the nurse managers. Only minimum directions are provided by the leaders and it permits the workers to handle various tasks on their own.
Employees are responsible for the decisions made by them, setting their goals and solving all the issues that arise while working. This kind of leadership style in nursing management is successful only in cases where the staff members are highly skilled, educated, motivated and are ready to give their best for results.
Using this with workers who don’t know how to manage time, who are not skilled or inexperienced can result in negative outcomes. Laissez-faire nurse managers are mostly new leaders or the ones who are at the end of their careers.
9. Visionary
Visionary leadership is similar to transformational style. The only difference is that these leaders are much concerned about the future and they guide the employees to stay focused on what they need to achieve in the upcoming years. The nurse manager motivates the employees to pursue a common target and vision by providing proper guidance on how to go on about it and with proper stepwise procedure on how to reach there.
Smart, visionary leaders exchange information to impart knowledge in their subordinates that they require to be successful within the organization. This health care leadership style works best when the clinical facility is new and need directions to initiate the health care.
10. Servant
For success of the organization, nurse managers often opt this type of leadership style in health care. This particular kind of leader looks after those who serve the patients and work hard to gain positive outcomes, i.e., the staff members. They pay special attention to their needs and ask the employees if they want any kind of help. All this is done for the professional and personal development of the workers.
They facilitate engagement and offer a healthy working environment to their subordinate nursing professionals. A good servant leader is an active listener, aware, persuade others, build community, empathetic and is great at conceptualizing everything. It is a caring style of leadership and is often implied to build trust among the employees.
