[Sharon]

Pick one of the Leadership characteristics in the chapter you read above that you feel is the most important in a leader. Describe a personal situation about yourself or a leader that supports why you feel that characteristic is the most important.

[Cecilia]

I feel that competence is the most essential characteristic of a leader. As a nurse, I have had the opportunity to work with student nurses on shift. You must be competent in your skills before you can teach and lead others. You want those following in your footsteps to learn correctly to minimize the risk of error. Knowing the policies and procedures and completing the tasks properly is essential to the quality and safe patient care. If you do not have the knowledge and skill competence it could lead to serious mistakes. ie. med errors, properly utilizing transfer techniques to prevent injuries. Student nurses are not allowed to perform any medical task alone and must be supervised by an experienced nurse.

[Tamara]

I agree with you Cecilia.
I have had the opportunity to work with the occasional student nurse in the past 14 years. You definitely need to know your stuff when teaching someone else.
It’s unfortunate though that in Primary Care we don’t have a lot of students. I quite enjoy having them and wish we had the opportunity to have more.

[Tamara]

I am picking competent as one of the most important characteristics of a leader.
I think being competent in your job/position instills a good work ethic in others.
I believe working with a leader who is hands on, very knowledgeable and is willing to do the work creates an environment of being inclusive and makes people want to be involved.
I previously had a manager (who I believe was not qualified) of our primary care team.
She was hierarchical which is not how a competent leader should operate.
She was not a medical professional and when I would question anything I was labeled difficult.
With not having a medical back ground she didn’t quite understand how as nurses we have a governing body that we answer to.
It made work very difficult and an unhappy place to work.

[Jeanette]

I am really having a hard time picking just 1 characteristic that is essential as a leader. I feel Competency is very important as well as Honesty. When you show your are competent in you skills/work as a professional it invites people to work with and alongside you, but if they can’t trust you because they have reason to believe that you’ve been dishonest then competency won’t matter.

I had a co worker who portrayed she had all the knowledge and skills and therefore everyone thought she was a great leader and that she would would be great in a training role. Meanwhile she would have to ask me direction on everything from vaccines to give to me doing venipuncture and she taking credit for it.
She had many people fooled with her dishonesty but it eventually it caught up with her. I knew it would but it was very hard to listen to all the lies.

I would have to say I believe honesty is my most important characteristic of a good leader!

[Susan]

I couldn’t agree more Jeanette,
I had so much trouble trying to just pick one characteristic. I found them all so important, because each one builds off the others and they are entwined with one another.

I also feel that honesty is the most important one to me.

[Susan]

After reading the chapter I am going to have to say that one of most important characteristics to me is honesty. I realize this is one of the top 4 and all the other ones I use regularly as well but this is the one, I hold the most to myself. We have gone through a lot of changes to our schedules and our clients and because of this some of our staff get worried when they lose a client from their workload. As a leader I share that we have referrals coming in that I still need to follow up on to help fill the loss. I listen to their concerns and try to discuss what is going on so that they feel heard and sometimes instead of giving an answer we try to work together to come to a workable solution. I use honesty when figuring out the vacation coverage for our clients and ask my team members if they would like to cover the shift instead of surprising them with the new shift because this could cause a large disruption for them. We strive for a good work-life balance, and it is really felt by the staff because they have some autonomy over their schedules. I am also honest with the Care partners I work with because if we cannot support them through a visit, I would rather not lie to them. Honesty has always been the virtue I have held truest to myself, and I try to bring it daily into my work. Because I am open with our staff and ask for coverage vs telling them and talking to them about their concerns with their workloads, I have built an exceptionally good rapport over the last 5 weeks.

[Jeanette]

Susan, it sounds like your honesty has built a good repour with your co workers and clients.
I agree with you that if you are honest with people they respond and it builds a better working relationship.
All good relationships are built on honesty!

[Erin]

I think that Credibility is one of the most characteristics a good leader can have. In my nursing role and in my role as a mom I always try to “practice what I preach”. I want to set a good example for my children and my colleagues.
In my current role as a lead I have a colleague who will constantly say they will do something and rarely follow through. It has caused delays in communicating changes and now staff are having trouble accepting the changes I am trying to implement as they have previously not had anyone that would follow through with what they say they will do.
I am trying to show that I am credible and that they can come to me with input and questions and I will ensure I follow up with what I say I will. It takes time to build trust with people who have been let down in the past due to no credibility in leadership

[Lindsay]

Hi Erin,

I’m totally with you when you say credibility is the most important characteristic. I’m also a mom, and can relate in that way as well. You have a challenge ahead of you trying to prove to others that you are credible when these people have been previously let down – but you can do it! If you have not done so already, I think having a conversation with your followers about how you understand that it may be difficult for them to trust you as a leader due to lack of credibility in previous leaders could help. I think it could open up a good conversation and let them know that you are there to listen to their concerns and committed to being a strong leader.

[Makenzie]

I think most of the characteristics from the readings are very important, however if I had to pick one I think it would be broad-minded. A leader should be able to see past their own beliefs/opinions and be able to listen, communicate, and collaborate with others. I am involved with a pharmacy working group at my employer, we have a lot of residential counsellors that work in other homes and give medications. There has been a concern recently among staff that some of the new hires don’t know what any of the medications they are giving are. It was under my suggestion that a drug reference guide be bought for each of the group homes to use for staff to look up medications they were unsure of instead of using an unreliable source/nothing at all. My suggestion was immediately shut down by one of the upper managers, if they were more of a leader they would have established more of a conversation regarding why or why not it would or wouldn’t be effective.

[Maximo]

On the same note, I do believe that a leader must be broad minded; that she must be receptive to other’s suggestions/ideas, or she must be able to ‘think outside the box’.

By always thinking of new and creative ways of solving problems, a leader truly paves the way for others to follow.

[Erin]

I agree that being Broad-Minded is one of the most important qualities a great leader should have. A leader would’ve listened to your ideas and have discussion and even if they have a difference of opinion or another plan in place they should still be open to discussion around it instead of just shutting you down. I think when our managers/bosses/leads due that it makes staff less likely to come forth with ideas and suggestions. Why bother if they don’t want to listen ? (and regarding meds dispensed- I think that suggestion of a drug reference guide is a great idea- it is added safety step for the group home clients receiving the meds and the workers dispensing the meds and also your boss who will be having to deal with errors or critical mistakes- makes sense to me and that takes courage to speak up )

[Maximo]

In my area of practice ( surgical/peri-operative), there is no doubt that competence comes in first. Every one trusts that the person next to them has the requisite knowledge and skills. The peri-surgical environment is a well-oiled machinery , that essentially all the parts must know what they are supposed to do. Having fundamental competence also builds trust among the team members.

What makes one stand out as a leader though, is when one can think outside the box. Being broad minded means considering your team mates suggestions and ideas, or formulating your own novel and creative ways on how to solve an unexpected problem/situation.

[Lindsay]

I believe that credibility is the most important characteristic among the ones listed. This is because you can possess any of the other characteristics as well (even for a short period of time) but if you do not follow through with the actions that exemplify those characteristics, then they are ruled out. However, if you possess credibility, meaning that you can prove time and time again that you possess certain skills or qualities through your actions then your followers will have complete trust in you and feel safe taking your lead.
An example of a credibility in a leader in my professional practise is my manager who always follows through on her promises. Whether it’s ordering medications for the next day, going out of her way to deliver supplies we are short on at our satellite location, or always picking up the phone if I have a practice-related questions – she is no doubt a woman of her word which makes her a wonderful leader.

[John-paul]

Hi All!

Great responses this week. I found it interesting that so many people presented in table 1.2 of the chapter had very similar responses; it makes sense why we had a similar trend in our discussion!

I also found interesting that “Forward-looking” was not chosen amongst our group, however it’s listed as second on the list. A response is not required, however I would be curious to hear your thoughts: Why did you pick your #1 instead of forward looking? There is no right or wrong answer!

[Tamara]

For me I am more of a get the job done kind of person and the leaders in my organization are somewhat the same.
We have specific staff who are the more forward-looking. More so the managers. Because we are non-profit we need to look to the future for funding reasons to be able to provide our clients the care that we do.

[Susan]

Hi JP,
Forward looking is really important and skill I use as well. In my forward looking I saw myself taking this course and exploring ways to become a stronger leader.

But, I chose honesty because it is a core value that has always resonated inside of me. From the time I was young I was told that honesty was the best policy. I was told to tell the truth and stand by it. Treat others how you would want to be treated was the other. So when I treat others with honesty, I expect the same treatment in return and am usually returned with that.

[Author]

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