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Transition to Leadership Scholarly Paper: Transformational Leadership

Grace McCluskey

Department of Nursing, Trent University

NURS 3004: Nurse as a Leader and Advocate

Professor Kim English & Professor Cathy MacDonald

October 15, 2023

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Leadership, although simply defined as the ability to be in charge of or guide others to

accomplish a desired goal or outcome (Malik & Azmat, 2019), encompasses a variety of

complex processes, theories, behaviours, and attributes. A vision is cultivated through

motivation, inspiration, and communication between all parties involved, incited and encouraged

by an effective leader. Labelling a leader as ‘effective’ has less to do with who that individual is

and revolves more around the leadership style that coincides with who they are (Price-Dowd,

2020). For some, this may signify concentrating their leadership on transformation: using

creativity when discovering new areas that growth can stem from, and possessing attributes like

loyalty, respect, and commitment to inspire their team to succeed (Davis & Thilagaraj, 2022).

Throughout this paper, I will introduce and analyze the concept of transformational

leadership theory and its relation to nursing practice, patientcare, and team engagement. I will

discern the connections between this leadership theory and my personal area of growth in the

workplace. This analysis will present me the opportunity to conceive a SMART goal parallel to

the prior connections made, reflect on this goal, and generate an action plan that will allow me to

become a transformational leader.

Transformational Leadership Theory

The transformational leadership theory was coined in 1978 by James Burns, who was an

authority on leadership studies. On the topic of this theory, Burns determined that leaders that

placed a heavy emphasis on the significance of personal growth in terms of improvement were

what society considers an effective leader (Linger, 2023). Based on this, there are four facets that

aid in increasing a team’s sense of empowerment and encouragement: clarification of intrinsic

motivation, understanding and development of moral values, promoting the importance of self-

sacrifice in situations when the good outweighs the bad, and maintaining one’s ethical standards
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(Linger, 2023). Central to this theory as a whole are behaviours and attributes associated with

being a transformational leader that support beneficial employee outcomes as well as overall

performance: personal considerations, stimulation of the mind, and encouragement of inspiration

among others (Linger, 2023).

When considering transformational leadership theory and its relationship to a nursing

workplace social capital, Jia-Min Xu et al. explains how there are further impacts through this

connection than solely influencing the social capital (2022). A primary reason for this is that

transformational leaders pay attention to physical and psychological health and well-being of

their team members. By narrowing the focus to this attribute, cultivation of a welcoming,

positive environment is put into play while also promoting balanced social capital relational

networks (2022). The Five Practice Model was created subsequent to analysis and data retrieval,

which is five behaviours or practices that would produce an exemplary leader: “modelling the

way, inspiring a shared vision, challenging the process, enabling others to act, and encouraging

the heart” (2022). ‘Modelling the way’ is the primary factor and first step of gaining a team’s

trust and respect. This step is achieved by demonstrating respect for every member of the team

and working towards goals that everyone shares to model the respect that the leader desires as

well. ‘Inspiring a shared vision’ begins when there is a connection between the leader and team

members, and when the leader can wholeheartedly believe in each member. This allows each

member to have confidence in their ability to generate ideas and guidelines for future projects.

‘Challenging the process’ involves taking every opportunity to address unexpected challenges,

requiring the leader to be able to take responsibility for mistakes and make the necessary changes

to learn and grow from them. ‘Enabling others to act’ stems from hosting an inviting

environment which encourages team members to work together, as well as maintain and value
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their own self-determination. Finally, ‘encouraging the heart’ requires the implementation of two

attributes: encouragement and motivation. Striving to encourage team members to achieve the

greatest professional productivity that they can, while also making time for the celebration of

achievements cultivates a sense of acceptance among each member (2022). Delving further into

the relationship with this theory and nursing as a practice, obstacles such as the nursing shortage,

overcrowding, and lack of resources illustrates the need for transformational leaders (Ferreira et

al., 2020). Poor leadership has been observed to directly correlate with a decline in satisfaction of

staff and patients alike, and thus a decline in how healthy the work environment is.

Transformational Leadership & Learning to Rise

Based on the Daring Leadership Assessment I completed, I discovered my strengths and

opportunities for growth in terms of leadership. The area that has the opportunity for the greatest

growth for me was learning to rise (Brené Brown, 2023). This leadership quality focuses on how

to reset after facing a failure or setback of some sort in a constantly changing workplace

environment. A key point of this area of growth is to take these setbacks and transform them into

learning moments; working on improving this skill would aid in my overall courage and would

allow me to create a blueprint for the future based off of what I learn from each mistake (2023).

Considering my greatest weakness and returning the focus to what is now understood

about transformational leadership theory, the component that resonates with my need for learning

to rise would be to engage in learning constantly; remaining open to educating myself and my

team members portrays growth, development, and transformation (Dixon, 1999). Not only is this

something I would benefit from working on learning as an individual, but also for the teams I

will be leading. In an article by Elisabeth Raes et al. (2012), a team learning from past mistakes

can lead to implementation of learning outcomes with higher quality and higher social
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acceptance which are crucial when striving for organizational change in a workplace. There are a

number of behaviours I could implement as a leader that would encourage the entire team to

learn from their mistakes. These behaviours include asking for feedback, sharing information,

speaking up when you require help, confronting situations that you recognize should be

improved upon, and experimenting (2012). Leaders that follow the transformational theory have

been observed to communicate insights, challenge assumptions, and place emphasis on the

concept of ‘thinking outside of the box’ when it comes to how to learn from mistakes and

failures. This specific leadership theory is also connected to increased effectiveness of

brainstorming and finding methods to explore newfound knowledge (2012).

Learning from mistakes in nursing practice is most often looked at under the concept of

‘reflection’; I am continuously asked to reflect upon my clinical placements, my labs, my

seminars, my own work. This is explained in an article by Lauren Caldwell and Claudia Grobbel

(2013) that makes reflective practice in nursing a focal point. Nurses that implement reflection in

their daily lives and experiences are able to provide better quality nursing care and possess a

deeper comprehension of their personal actions. These together aid in the development of

professional skills as a whole. This is made possible because when you practice reflection you

are able to thoroughly analyze your actions and experiences for the purpose of improving your

practice and knowledge (2013). The act of reflection calls for complete open-mindedness, self-

determination, courage, and acceptance and action related to criticism. In a study completed with

98 nursing students where each participants perceptions on reflection were analyzed, the

majority of students declared that reflection further developed their practices and presented them

with a chance to view their experiences from various angles (2013). This aided in the

identification of each individual learning style and thus caused an improvement in their confident
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decision-making. This study gave students the opportunity to cultivate a greater sense of

accountability and responsibility in their nursing practice, which are key qualities of a

transformational leader (2013).

SMART Goal

Combining all of the information discussed pertaining to transformational theory,

learning to rise, and the relationship of both to nursing practice, I was able to generate a SMART

goal that will benefit me in all aspects. My SMART goal is that after each clinical placement

shift this semester, I am going to keep a diary and write down my experiences whether they are

positive or negative and reflect back on them to learn from my mistakes or setbacks and

implement growth until the placement is complete. I ascertained this as my goal, because

throughout my research I have come to learn the benefits of using setbacks and failures as

learning lessons that will ultimately help me improve in my nursing practice once I am able to

understand them. Once I implement this reflective practice, I will be one step closer to becoming

a transformational leader in the workplace which is what I desire to be. I decided to limit this

SMART goal to one semester, as I would like to take the time to look back and see if I have

made any improvements in my practice prior to the next clinical placement. I value striving to be

the best version of myself that I can be in all facets of my life, especially my career, and it is

pertinent to me that I continue to learn about myself, my strengths, and my areas of growth.

Action Plan

With my SMART goal in mind, there are a few extra steps that can be taken to put my

plan into action. This involves taking a look back at the Five Practice Model that was discussed

in the transformative leadership theory section of this paper. To implement the stage ‘modelling

the way’ I would focus on respect and having goals similar to my team’s. I could achieve this by
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establishing therapeutic relationships with each of my clinical group members, and initiating

conversations with them surrounding how we can all work together to help each other meet our

goals. For the next stage, ‘inspiring a shared vision’, I could initiate a discussion at our breaks

tailored to taking the prior conversation a bit further; we could brainstorm ideas to implement

into our clinical routines to meet our goals which adds on to the conversation surrounding what

we could all improve on. This would create the belief that each and every member has something

to contribute or some way to help everyone improve. For ‘challenging the process’, I would

incorporate my diary entries here. Keeping a record of mistakes that have been made, or

situations I wish went differently, I can analyze exactly how to make the desired changes for

future scenarios. Switching focus to ‘enabling others to act’, I would use this stage to ensure I am

working as a group member but also using my self-determination to achieve my goals. I would

inquire ways that I could support my group members that they feel would benefit them, and I

could also write down my own list of ways I can help myself. Finally, for ‘encouraging the

heart’, I would see if everyone would be interested in discussing strengths or ‘wins’ at debrief.

Although we already discuss our strengths and weaknesses, I think it would be interesting to not

only acknowledge personal strengths, but also group strengths or other individual’s strengths to

gain further insight.

Conclusion

Through researching for this paper, I was able to learn a good deal about myself: my

personal goals, values, strengths, areas of growth, and how I know I can improve. These are all

transformational leadership skills that not only can affect my career eventually, but also my

everyday life. Understanding this has allowed me to become open-minded to failure, as it’s not

always a negative experience.

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