Write a reflection of 750-1,000 words in which you identify your strengths and weaknesses
related to the four content areas below:
- Personal and professional accountability
- Career planning
- Personal journey disciplines
- Reflective practice reference behaviors/tenets
Discuss how you will use your current leadership skill set to advocate for change in your
workplace.
Identify one personal goal for your leadership growth and discuss your implementation
plan to achieve that goal.
While APA format is not required for the body of this assignment, solid academic writing is
expected and in-text citations and references should be presented using APA
documentation guidelines, which can be found in the APA Style Guide, located in the
Student Success Center.
This assignment uses a grading rubric. Instructors will be using the rubric to grade the
assignment; therefore, students should review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment
to become familiar with the assignment criteria and expectations for successful completion
of the assignment.
Nursing Manager Skills
Introduction
It is undeniable that nurse managers have a critical influence in shaping healthy work
environments since they have the most direct impact on the services and care required by
patients and families throughout their experience in health care (Fatchett, 2012). This is mainly
because nurse managers perform leadership functions of decision-making and governance with
specific responsibilities such as budgeting, staffing, as well as day-to-day operations of the
nursing unit (Golding & Gray, 2006). Thus, for optimal contribution by nurse managers, they
need to refine and well-hone their leadership skills through professional development plan which
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enables acquisition of leadership skills and knowledge both for career advancement and for
personal development. The Nurse Manager Inventory Tool is used to in self-evaluation and
reflective learning to facilitate professional development plan (Jasper, 2006).
A reflection on my identified strengths and weaknesses related to the four content areas
A reflection on my strengths and weaknesses on the four content areas discussed below was done
on the basis of self-rating using the Nurse Manager Inventory Tool which has the capacity to
capture the behaviors and skills that are envisioned for a nurse manager who is professionally
successful. This reflection is enabled by performing of a self-evaluation which can play a crucial
role in the creation of an individualized professional development plan. However, my reflection
will focus on four areas of leadership skills in nursing management as shown below:
Personal and professional accountability: A reflection on this aspect of leadership skills which
consists of four main parts I identified various strengths and weaknesses. For instance, I
identified various strengths; first, I am currently undertaking the necessary activities towards
personal growth including future career planning, continuing education, as well as doing annual
self-assessment and taking appropriate action plans (Golding & Gray, 2006). My second
identified strength is that I strictly adhere to ethical behavior and practice that supports nursing
standards together with the scopes of practice. My third identified strength is that I am a member
of the association of nursing students at the university.
Moreover, through a critical reflection I also identified a number of my weaknesses under this
area. My first weakness is that I have neither achieved certification in an appropriate
specialty/field nor began education advancement which aligns to nursing management which is
my future career path (Jasper, 2006). The other weakness that I have identified is my minimal
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involvement in professional associations which could act as an avenue for my professional
development and networking (Fatchett, 2012).
Career planning: A reflection on this content area I realized that my rating was relatively
satisfactory. For instance, I identified that I have two main strengths in this area which include:
1) Explicit knowledge of my role in career development and improved leadership including a
proper understanding of the description of my job market entry job and its requirements; and 2)
Having a proper plan for my future career which I determined through the career path I have
already developed where I envision to reach the position of a director of nursing in one of the
country’s leading nursing facilities (Golding & Gray, 2006). However, I also identified one
weakness in this area where my developed career path does not offer flexibility and capacity for
adaptation to future scenarios in case my current future career path fails (Jasper, 2006).
Personal journey disciplines: A reflection on these skills which are helpful in developing my
strengths as a leader I rated poorly. This is because I identified a single strength only in this area
and two major weaknesses. The strength I identified was the ability to engage in reflective
practice as a leadership behavior (Jasper, 2006). However, the first weakness I identified are the
lack of skills and knowledge to manage councils which are essential for the promotion of shared
leadership while the second weakness that I identified in this area is the lack of “action learning”
techniques use to solve problems (Fatchett, 2012).
Reflective practice reference behaviors/tenets: Through a reflection in this area I identified my
various strengths and weakness. For example, the strengths that I identified include: I am able to
hold the truth; I appreciate diversity as a vehicle to wholeness; I am able to hold multiple
perspectives without prejudging; I am able to discover the potential in me and others; I have
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quest for learning new things and also I am able to use reflective learning and translate it to the
work at hand (Jasper, 2006). However, I also identified some of my weaknesses in this area
which include: inability to appreciate ambiguity; inability to nurture the emotional self as well as
failure to keep some commitments to myself (Golding & Gray, 2006).
A discussion of how I will use my current leadership skill set to advocate for change in my
workplace
My key leadership skills that can be applied in my workplace are able to advocate for change and
achieve it within a short period of time. For instance, my appreciation of diversity would be
essential in creating an ample working environment for all as well as promoting coexistence
(Golding & Gray, 2006). Also my ability to discover the potential in me and others would be
essential to improve performance. Moreover, my ability to use reflective learning together with
translating it to the work at hand would be helpful in solving difficult problems and enhancing
open-mindedness among colleagues which would go a long way advocating for change in my
workplace (Fatchett, 2012).
One personal goal identified for my leadership growth and a discussion of my
implementation plan to achieve that goal
The one personal goal identified for my leadership growth is to develop my emotional self. My
implementation plan to achieve this goal involves buying several books on emotions
management as well as enrolling in a short course about management of self emotions and
emotional events (Fatchett, 2012).
Conclusion
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It is undoubtedly evident that through self-evaluation/rating and reflection, the Nurse Manager
Inventory Tool has helped me to explicitly identify my strengths and weaknesses in leadership
skills.
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References
Fatchett, A. (2012). Social Policy for Nurses. London: Polity.
Golding, L. & Gray, I. (2006).Continuing professional development for clinical psychologists: A
practical handbook. The British Psychological Society. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.
Jasper, M. (2006). Professional development, reflection, and decision-making. Oxford:
Blackwell Publishing.