Self Analysis of Leadership Abilities

Assignment 1: Self Analysis of Leadership Abilities

The primary goal of Assignment 1 is to increase your awareness of your current leadership strengths and areas for improvement. The secondary goal is to familiarize you with a variety of leadership assessment tools.Assignment 1 involves the following steps:

• Select two leadership ability/style self-assessment tools. These are readily available on the Internet. Below are links to some tools that you may use. You are not limited to these particular tools. If you find other tools designed to assess your leadership abilities from other sources you can use these for this exercise. Caution � look for assessment tools offered free of charge from reputable sources. If you are not sure about an assessment tool you locate check with your tutor before proceeding.

Leadership Style Survey http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/survstyl.html

Bolman and Deal’s Four Framework Approach to Leadership: Leadership Matrix http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/matrix.html

• Complete two self-assessments and score yourself.
• Write a 2-3 page summary of your findings, excluding title and reference pages, and compare what you discovered in the two assessment tools. Identify areas of leadership strength and make suggestions for improvement. The title and reference pages for the assignment are not included in the page count. Use APA format (6th ed) for the references. Make sure you reference the websites where the assessment tools used are located.
• Submit your assessment scores and the summary of your findings to your tutor via the Assignment 1 Dropbox.

Assignment 1 is due after you have completed Unit 4.

Assignment 2: Becoming Influential

IntroductionAs a nurse you have a role in increasing the public visibility and credibility of your profession. You are developing the skills and knowledge to influence public opinion and actions related to issues of the health and well-being of society. All nurses have some responsibility to be �leaders� and to influence the thinking and action of others on matters of health in a positive way.

The goal of this assignment is to give you an opportunity to practice some of the key skills of effective nursing leaders such as communication, advocacy, and negotiation. In other words the goal of this assignment is to give you practice at becoming influential.

Directions

1. Before you begin, review Chapter 12 (Telling Nursing�s Story) in Becoming Influential (Sullivan, 2013).
2. Decide on your message. Chose an issue, quality, concern, or characteristic related to the profession of nursing about which you would like the public to know more. You might get inspiration from your experiences in the program or from reading you have done.
3. Determine how you could best share your message with the public and which sector of the public would be most appropriate to share your message with. Who is the most appropriate target for your message? For example, is your message about a particular concern related to health care that you could share with your MP or a national lobby group in order to influence legislation or public policy? Is your message related to a local health issue that might be most appropriately shared through a Letter to the Editor of your local newspaper?
4. Based on your thinking from point 3 write your message in an appropriate form to the agency or person you have selected.
5. Summarize your process in a 3-4page double-spaced paper, excluding the title and reference pages, that includes the following headings:

Deciding on My Message

How did you select the issue, quality, concern or characteristic about the profession of nursing that you wanted the public to know more about? What is the theme of your message? Why do you think this message is important? What do you hope to accomplish by sharing your message?

Deciding on How to Share My Message

How would you share your message to have the most influence? Describe how you would choose an appropriate target for your message. What person, agency, or institution would you select and why? What considerations would influence the format, timing, and follow-up of your submission? What obstacles might you face and how would you overcome these? What negation and advocacy skills would you need to get your message out?

My Message

Append your message in the format you have chosen. NOTE: please do not actually send your message at this point.

What I Learned From This Assignment � Discuss what you learned from this assignment. Why do you think that nursing is seldom mentioned in media discussions related to health care? How do you think you can become more influential in this regard? What will you do to increase the visibility and credibility of your profession in the future?

Assignment 3: Scenario Analysis – Filling your Toolbox

DirectionsReview the following scenarios. After reviewing the scenarios record your critical analysis of one scenario in a total of 4-6 pages double-spaced (excluding title and reference pages) . References must be in APA format (6th ed). Your analysis should include references to current literature on nursing management and leadership. For example, for the situation you select choose an appropriate tool that can assist you in analyzing and solving the problem. You may select a problem-solving tool, a decision-making tool, a conflict resolution tool etc. Your textbook is a good source but you may also search for other related references.

1. Workload Worries

You are a newly hired nursing unit manager whose responsibilities include the day-to-day operation of a thirty-two bed pediatric care unit in a large tertiary care facility. Among other things, you are responsible for staffing, ensuring quality patient care and evaluating staff performance. The staff of the unit includes 15 RNs and 22 LPNS � a mix of full-time, part-time and casual staff. Your first day on the unit you become aware that some staff are unhappy with the workload. You overhear Jenny Marlone LPN complaining in the hall to Kelly Morris RN that whenever she is assigned to Team 2 she has to work twice as hard as when she is on Team 1.Further, Kelly remarks, �I am always on Team 2!� It is well known that your predecessor resigned out of frustration because he lost the support of the staff (as indicated by frequent sick calls, tardiness and lack of productivity) primarily due to what they perceived as inadequate pay for the workload.

Discuss the steps that you would take to resolve this issue.

2. Parking Protest

You are the nursing manager of a community health unit in the inner city. At the monthly staff meeting a very vocal RN, claiming to represent all employees, complains about the lack of appropriate parking for staff. Mandy, the spokesperson states, �We need our cars close by so that we can get to our community visits. It is ridiculous to have us park in a lot six blocks away.� Further Mandy threatens, �If this situation isn�t resolved to our satisfaction immediately we are going to get the union to help us.�

Discuss the steps that you would take to resolve this issue.

3. Staffing Setback

You are a manager in a small rural hospital in Northern Alberta. The August long weekend is approaching and Friday morning two RNs scheduled to work evenings over the weekend call in sick. You suspect they will both be off for at least the next three shifts. You contact all the casual staff but no one is available to work. Without replacement you will be down to one RN on evenings. Sitting at your desk you wonder out loud, “Now what am I going to do?”

Discuss the steps that you would take to resolve this issue.

Submit assignment via the Assignment dropbox � Due at the end of Unit 10

Assignment 4: Design Your Own Healthcare Organization

IntroductionCongratulations! You have spent the past few months reading the course material related to Management and Leadership in Nursing Practice (Nursing 432) and hopefully you have gained some new knowledge and understanding. Now, you have been given the opportunity to apply some of what you have learned in a �real-life� exercise where you will design your own health care workplace. You were the successful candidate for the following job ad�

Wanted

A hard-working, intelligent nurse manager/leader who has current knowledge of the principles of leadership and management. The successful applicant has read the course readings and has successfully completed the unit objectives for Nursing 432. The incumbent has the opportunity to create a new health care unit or organization. This new unit or organization can be a new nursing unit in a large urban hospital, a community health facility, a remote rural health clinic, or another type of health care organization where nurses are employed.

The board expects a written submission of approximately 10-12 typed double-spaced pages, excluding title and reference pages, at the completion of this project. The final submission should include references to current literature on nursing management and leadership. References must be in APA format (6th ed).

Sections to Include in Your Project

1. Determine the type of unit or organization you are developing. Give your organization a name. Describe the mission statement and values of your organization.
2. Draw an organizational chart for your organization including yourself (the head person) in the chart.
3. Describe yourself at the head of your unit or organization � will you be a leader or manager? What attributes or characteristics will you have or seek to develop? How will you go about developing them?
4. Describe five strategies you will use to empower staff members.
5. Describe one team that will function in your organization � include a description of your rationale for forming this team and describe how you will ensure the group will function effectively.
6. On the first day your new unit opens you come across two nurses having a heated debate in the hallway related to how supplies are ordered for the unit. Describe how you would handle this situation.