ADMIRATION OF A NURSE LEADER1
Admiration of a Nurse Leader
Week One Assignment
Cynthia Hagerty
LEAD 580 Problem Solving for Today’s Organizations
April 6, 2014
Dr. Jim Morrison
Southwestern College Professional Studies
The Evolution of Nurse Leadership
Nurses dramatically influence the quality of care provided to patients, which in turn can positively affect the organization or health care system that they work in. Nurse leader’s today help develop models and strategies for the delivery of safer, quality care, which when coordinated with other care services, can increase patient satisfaction and reduce the overall cost of health care. Historically as well as today, nurses are one of the most trusted professions, and nurse leadership is evolving and will continue to evolve to meet the changing needs of health care now and in the future.
What organizationfounded by a single entrepreneur has grown to be one of the largest and most successful enterprises in the world? If you guessed Hewlett-Packard, Coca-Cola or Disney, you would be incorrect. Employing more than four thousand full-time workers, one million volunteer teens, operating in over one hundred countries, and raising billions of dollars in capital, it is Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity (Bose & Faust, 2011).
Dedication to a Simple Vision
Mother Teresa is one of the most highly respected and fascinating women leaders in the twentieth century. In 1948, she founded the religious order of nuns in Calcuta, India called the Missionaries of Charity. Through this organization, Mother Teresa dedicated her life to caring for children in orphanages, the sick, the dying, and the poor. Her charisma made her an iconic figure, symbolizing all that is holy and good to man. This meek and humble woman possessed the ability to inspire people to help others, regardless of race or status. She was confident and highly esteemed, displayed a strong sense of purpose, and listened to ideas from others, setting goals that secured her commitment to her followers. Due to her unwavering moral inspiration, she had the ability to support and engage people with only a few very simple words.
Leadership Attributes
For people to follow someone willingly they must believe that the leader is honest, forward-looking, competent, and inspiring (Kouzes & Posner, 2012). Mother Teresa had these attributes; she felt that honesty and transparency made a person vulnerable, but that it was necessary regardless. She experienced working with unreasonable, self-centered, irrational people, but she always preached to forgive them, and that being sincere and honest would pay off in the end. She knew that there were dishonest people that could destroy in a moment what a person might have spent years creating, but that should never stand in the way of a persons’ integrity built on a foundation of honesty.
Mother Teresa felt that as a leader you were the voice of the vision. Being forward-looking was continually seeking out opportunities to incorporate the vision into one’s daily routine, whether it was a one-on-one meeting, or with a group of the poor. The vision was to be front and center, transforming words on paper to words in the hearts of everyone. Mother Teresa was competent. Her leadership qualities were world renown, yet she presented herself as a meek and humble woman seeking support and assistance for “unloved and unwanted”, even having the confidence to approach billionaire executives with no hesitation to fund her projects. She was passionate about what she believed in, and spoke to others about her organization with sincerity and conviction. She lived the values that she preached, and shared a vision of a successful organizational alignment, which yielded measurable results.
Mother Teresa was the personification of inspiration, loyalty, generosity, and selflessness, which encouraged people to look closely at the needs of others and reach out to them. She also taught that the power of dreams could lead humans to accomplish great things (Bose & Faust, 2011). Her simple dream of helping the poorest of the poor changed our world and she encouraged others to have that same dream.
In 1979, Mother Teresa received the Nobel Peace Prize for her humanitarian work. She had a gentle spirit, a calming presence, and the ability to love everyone. Her life was a testimony of faith and her actions founded on showing love to those who needed it the most. Not all heroes’ seek fame and fortune, but live a life of integrity, influencing all that they meet along the way. That was Mother Teresa’s claim to fame.
How Does My Leadership Style Stack Up?
I am proud to say that I do possess some leadership attributes similar to those of Mother Teresa. She was a charismatic leader who inspired people to help those in need. The mission of my organization is my personal vision as a nurse leader as well. My leadership is built on the foundation to serve as a healing presence with a special concern for neighbors who are vulnerable, and the vision to build healthier communities and deliver a healthcare experience in the way of Christ, similar to the vision of Mother Teresa. The presence of the founding sisters may not be as strong as it was a decade ago, but the culture and environment of compassionate care delivery will never leave the organization that I currently am a nurse leader in.
Similar to Mother Teresa, I have a strong sense of purpose, and work diligently to “walk the talk” and communicate goals and ideas for the organization, with a strong commitment, inspiring others to do the same. I feel that I am competent as a leader. I am honest, and have the ability to listen to others, and make the dream and vision universal to everyone throughout the organization.
Improvement Plan
You do not have to be a saint to benefit from Mother Teresa’s leadership style (Boze & Faust, 2011). I have much to gain, from any shared insight that I learned about in one week’s time, reading about this fascinating woman. Her influence leads us to a higher standard of leadership. Whether in a simple or complicated way, I as a leader can have a positive influence on the lives of others through my nursing leadership, and then my purpose will have been accomplished.
Change can be overwhelming and frightening. I view change as a challenge and it is part of my job as a nurse leader to make sure that the meaning and purpose of the change is clearly understood with a strong sense of commitment. To experiment with, and shake things up takes courage, and this is something that I want to work on. I have always had the fear that if new things are tried, and they fail, then I fail. My new outlook is that I will treat my failures as learning experiences, and this will give me the courage necessary to take more risk. If I feel this way, I am certain others do as well. I plan to share this with my peer leadership group, and hold a discussion with my direct reports to listen to their ideas and feelings about courage.
I also want to continue to work on inspiring others by incorporating the vision more and more into my daily routine. If I can do this, over time I am confident that buy-in will spread, negative attitudes will be abolished, and the culture of the organization will hold the same values and principles, as Mother Teresa was able to accomplish and leave behind as her legacy. People who knew Mother Teresa were impressed with her cheerfulness;they said that it was infectious. She defined the kind of spirit that everyone wanted, and she emphasized three leadership points: first, “loving trust”, then, “total surrender”, and finally, “cheerfulness”! All of these points were intertwined throughouther personal and professional life (Maasburg, 2011).
This is a good starting point for me. A hero does not have to be a person in the spotlight constantly, but someone that is genuinely “normal” and lives a life of integrity, touching and affecting those that they meet throughout the course of their life.
References
Bose, R., & Faust, L. (2011).Mother Teresa, CEO: Surprising principles for practical leadership. New York, NY: MJF Books Fine Communications.
Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2012).The leadership challenge: How to make extraordinary things happen in organizations. (5th ed.). San Francisco,CA: Jossey-Bass, John Wiley & Sons.
Maasburg, L. (2011).Mother Teresa of Calcutta: A personal portrait. (p. 186). San Francisco, CA: Ignatius Press.