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Nursing Leadership Theory Paper: 

Transformational Leadership Theory 

Madison McClafferty 

Delaware Technical Community College 

NUR400-501 

Professor Ortiz 

February 19, 2023 

 
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Nursing leadership is vital to create not only a safe working environment, but a culture of

safety to adequately care for patients. The entire staff relies on nursing leadership to help guide

their unit and are essential as they offer stability in the ongoing changing environment that is

nursing (Scully, 2015). Nurse leaders notably use leadership theories to choose their leadership

styles and how they would direct their staff. Throughout many years, leadership theories have

been developed and updated for modern nursing (Finkelman, 2020).  

Transformational leadership theory is a modern nursing leadership theory that focuses on

fostering a positive environment at work which allows the leader to make a positive influence on

his or her staff (Finkelman, 2020, p.17).  One way the leaders can use this theory is by being

present and open to communication, which builds trustworthiness within their staff. The

transformational leader uses their influence on staff to create a vision which displays a change

that is wanted and/or needed for their workplace. With this vision, it allows the staff to see a

clear view of what change needs to be made and makes it easier for them to become involved in

creating the change (Finkelman, 2020, p.17).  

A transformational leader is deemed to be loyal and empathetic, and they empower their

staff to generate the change needed on their unit. When this leader empowers their staff, it

correlates with staff productivity and staff can accomplish not only their own personal goals, but

the goals of the entire unit (Finkelman, 2020, p.18).  The transformational leader will focus on

organizational collaboration and use the strengths of their staff to accomplish the created vision.

This leadership theory was developed to diminish the barriers to create change and to involve the

staff in the process of making change, with hopes of furthering opportunities (Finkelman, 2020,

p.18).  
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In my opinion, a transformational leader is one that will be able to drive more action and

involvement in change processes than other theories suggest. As a nursing leader, it is important

to motivate your staff to trust you and be involved in unit improvement. I feel that using the

transformational leadership theory would allow me to be the best leader I can be because I

believe some of my own qualities compliment this leadership style. I am a loyal and empathetic

person and I use that at my job to foster a more cohesive workplace. The wellbeing of a group is

positively affected by behaviors of leaders that use the transformational leadership theory

(Arnold et al., 2007). A transformational leader builds meaningful relationships with their group

which results in meaningful work and outcomes which is a goal for every group, including my

own.

In nursing, a transformational leader influences other nurses to “take ownership of their

roles and perform beyond minimum expectations” (Faubion, n.d.). To become a transformational

leader, the person must use a vital part of the theory of being an influence that is idealized. An

idealized influence is when a leader is looked up to from their group because of the trust and

enthusiasm the leader gives to the group (Bakker et al., 2022). For me to become an idealized

influence, I will communicate with my other coworkers effectively and consistently to do the

right thing so that others are influenced by my actions. As a transformational leader, I will set an

example by doing things such as always showing up on time and being a team player, which will

influence my other coworkers to do the same.

The transformational leadership theory does a great job at focusing on the positive

feelings of those in a group and how the leader can impact the psychological well-being of those

in the group. Using this theory, the leaders use inspirational motivation to use their own

confidence to build up the confidence of their own group (Faubion, n.d.). A way that I can build
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the confidence of my coworkers is giving them opportunities to learn new skills and perfect

them. When there is a newer nurse on the unit and a rare skill comes by with one of my patients,

I will allow the newer nurses to perform the skill to build their confidence up more which makes

me more of a trustworthy leader for my coworkers and one they can ask for help to go above and

beyond in perfecting new skills. The mentality of transformational leadership serves leaders as

working alongside their group as it inspires others to follow in the steps of the leader. This

certain mentality is something called servant leadership and it increases the best outcomes for

patients. The leaders put their own work aside and work with others in the group to empower

them to be better. (Faubion, n.d.).

A good leader uses the strengths of their groups and followers to make others more

proactive. When a leader focuses on what others already succeed in, the followers will take the

initiate to go out of their way to accomplish their tasks (Bakker et al., 2022). Work enhancement

has been seen to increase when personal strengths are used. An example of this is on the unit I

work on, there are certain people that excel in placing intravenous catheters, so we seek out these

people to help us place them. When we ask these nurses to place these IVs, it fuels their

enthusiasm and personal initiative making them focus and work harder. Transformational

leadership theory emphasizes the use of personal strengths to increase daily work performance.

With this emphasis, the leader enables those in their group to start and become a leader

themselves and turn what they learned into productive work for others. Transformational

leadership does a good job of transforming followers into leaders from the support of their leader

and daily performance increases as it enthuses the newly transformed leaders to lead others.

With the nursing profession, you not only are communicating with your patients and

coworkers, but you communicate daily with healthcare providers and even administrators. As
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many nurses have experienced, it can be a challenge to interact with other healthcare providers.

A focus with transformational leadership theory is the use of collaboration with all members of

the healthcare team to improve outcomes for all patients (Transformational Leadership in

Healthcare, 2021). Not only does transformational leadership, but it also decreases patient

mortality as it makes everyone in the healthcare team work together. This leadership theory helps

to build relationships with the members of the healthcare team because it seeks to build

confidence and communication using compassion and positivity to bring everyone together

(Transformational Leadership in Healthcare, 2021).

Using transformational leadership theory in a way forces providers to work

collaboratively with nurses in the field. The leader uses their positivity and empathy to create

stronger relationships with other providers so that providers will follow in their lead to

strengthen the healthcare team relationship. The focus with the provider relationship is everyone

envisioning a certain desired outcome. The transformational leader chooses the change they want

to improve patient outcomes and brings this to the attention of all healthcare providers thus using

their influence to drive the change throughout the entire group (Transformational Leadership in

Healthcare, 2021). This theory shows a leadership style that uses motivation to keep change

ongoing to benefit a patient’s health outcome.

One of the most important skills that nurses use for patients is advocacy which focuses on

helping to educate patients to make the most informed decision about their healthcare (The Joint

Commission, n.d.). Without patient advocacy, there can be serious decline in patient outcomes

which is why it is so critical for nurses to use their voice and advocate for all their patients and

even their coworkers. Nurses help to clarify information to patients and serve as an in between
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from the patients and providers by communicating with providers if a patient should not or does

not agree with the assigned treatment plan.

Advocacy goes directly with the transformational leadership theory. This theory helps

leaders to use their influence to show their other coworkers how patient advocacy increase

patient outcomes. By using their transformational leadership, the leader can communicate their

goals and what patients want to advocate with other patient providers to accomplish the patients’

goals. Also, these nurse leaders model the way they want their group to follow. In this case, these

leaders demonstrate how to advocate for their patients by showing others in their group that they

can advocate for their patients by speaking with providers, making hourly rounds on their

patients, and attending to their needs. With the influence of a transformational leader, advocacy

is increased on the unit as it causes the followers to become advocacy leaders.

Being a transformational leader causes a positive correlation between patient outcomes

and work enhancement. Unlike other leadership theories, this theory influences the followers to

transform into leaders by embracing the taught change of their leader. This theory is an important

one for nursing as it emphasizes the importance of empowerment and communication for

everyone in the nursing staff to care for their patients. In nursing, working together with all your

staff is vital to success and a transformational leader can use their leadership to make sure the

staff is influenced to work all together.

In the future, I will use transformational leadership daily in my workplace to improve

patient health outcomes. Being able to utilize my coworkers’ strengths and empower them will

allow my coworkers to better care and advocate their patients. I will lead others by modeling the

types of behavior and skills that others can follow and continue to push positivity in my

workplace to enhance the work we do with our patients. Also, I will set goals with my patients
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and assure that I am advocating for my patients as this inspires better collaboration between

myself and other healthcare providers. In my research, I realized that transformational leadership

is very important in the nursing field and without it, it can lead to not only negative outcomes but

there will be no influenced change to benefit patients and their care.

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Resources

Arnold, K. A., Turner, N., Barling, J., Kelloway, E. K., & McKee, M. C. (2007).

Transformational leadership and psychological well-being: The mediating role of meaningful

work. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 12(3), 193–203.

https://doi.org/10.1037/1076-8998.12.3.193

Bakker, A. B., Hetland, J., Kjellevold Olsen, O., & Espevik, R. (2022). Daily transformational

leadership: A source of inspiration for follower performance? European Management

Journal. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emj.2022.04.004

Faubion, D. (n.d.). How to Apply Transformational Leadership in Nursing? How to apply

Transformational leadership in nursing? (with examples). Retrieved February 23, 2023,

from https://www.nursingprocess.org/transformational-leadership-nursing.html

Finkelman, A., (2020). Leadership and Management for Nurses: Core Competencies for Quality

Care, 4th Edition. Pearson Education

The Joint Commission. (n.d.). Use an advocate or be an advocate for others. The Joint

Commission. Retrieved February 23, 2023, from

https://www.jointcommission.org/resources/for-consumers/take-charge/use-an-advocate-

or-be-an-advocate-for-others/#:~:text=The%20overall%20goal%20of%20a,system%20as

%20smooth%20as%20possible.
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Scully, N. J. (2015). Leadership in nursing: The importance of recognizing inherent values and

attributes to secure a positive future for the profession. Collegian, 22(4), 439–444.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.colegn.2014.09.004

Transformational leadership in Healthcare. Texas A&M International University Online. (2021,

September 14). Retrieved February 23, 2023, from

https://online.tamiu.edu/articles/mba/transformational-leadership-in-

healthcare.aspx#:~:text=Overall%2C%20transformational%20leaders%20in

%20healthcare,all%20stakeholders%20into%20their%20vision.