Top 12 Critical Competencies of Successful Nurse Leaders

Nurses are the heart of healthcare.  Modern nursing, because of its constantly evolving nature, may hold the potential to revolutionize healthcare. Having a strong nurse leader in a healthcare setting often plays a vital role in a nurse’s decision to either stay or leave an organization.  As a nurse, you have the vision, the creativity and the critical thinking ability. You are trained in instant decision making and critical thinking at the bed-side. It is high time, you as a nurse began developing your leadership skills. These skills can be learned and developed, contrary to the popular belief that leaders are born and not made.

One of the major strengths of a successful nurse leader is a good nursing team; a team that feels supported, motivated, and inspired.  Staying strong under pressure, an effective nurse leader will create solutions to ensure the best bedside care, patient safety, budget constraints, and staffing shortages.   Developing and adhering to these leadership competencies will ultimately lead to improved retention and greater job satisfaction among the sub-ordinates.

Develop the Important Competencies Necessary to Become a Great Leader:

1. Self-motivated

1. As a leader, it’s important to be able to motivate yourself to take action to move forward toward your goals – whether they’re personal or team goals. Leaders are driven to get things done and they lead their team to do the same.  A self-motivated leader will motivate his/her team to achieve newer heights in patient quality and safety.   They advocate to create innovative solutions for strategic planning while leading the team to long-term success in day-to-day practice

2. Self-awareness

1. . Recognize your emotional reaction to changes, know your values and don’t let success go to your head. Your feelings of power can interfere with your willingness to learn from mistakes. Take time out to review the thoughts and feelings connected to your work. 

Begin your successful nursing leadership today. Here’s how you can develop awareness about your own self.  Seek feedback on a routine basis.  It doesn’t hurt to ask your team after a meeting; how did the meeting go?  Was it as you expected it to be?  Is there anything I could have done better?

Ask for feedback that describes the situation in which you were observed, what you did and how it affected the person giving you feedback

3. The ability to delegate

3.. You can’t do it all yourself. The most effective leaders surround themselves with skilled people, define their responsibilities, and then get out of the way. A single person is quite limited, but many hands can get a lot done. Learn how to share your workload.  Knowing how to incorporate a healthy balance of managing people and processes into your daily routines, timely applause for a job well done and   constructive feedback will go a long way in ensuring the tasks are completed in a timely manner.

Download this free resource with 25 unique prompts designed to help you lead effectively

4. Communicate effectively.

  Communication and inter disciplinary collaboration are key competencies that equip nurse leaders with the tools they need to improve clinical work environments. Effective communication helps in resolving conflict, establishing collegial and collaborative relationships, enabling effective adaptation to change, and promoting a workplace that enhances job satisfaction and nurse retention. You might clearly envision in your mind of what you’d like to see happen. Unfortunately, no one can read your mind. A leader is responsible for sharing his vision and making his desires known.

• People can give you what you want when you can communicate clearly what needs to be done.

• As a nurse leader you have the responsibility to listen to what the nurses on the floor have to say. Listen to what they say and look for cues into knowing what is left unsaid. Listening is the key. Use that data as part of an ongoing assessment of your unit/ the organization.

• Build personal connections.  Let your team see you on the floor, leading, encouraging and boosting their morale. You cannot achieve your goals of motivating, guiding, influencing and persuading others without communicating effectively.

• As a thoughtful, conscientious leader, who cares for his/her sub ordinates, use conscious listening as a skillful assessment tool, and then with intent and precision employ language that avoids shame and blame. Thus, a style of communication is employed that is an example to all in its fairness and kindness.

5. Develop others

• Provide status updates and keep everyone on the same page. Employees lose motivation when they don’t understand the current situation fully.Being a leader isn’t just about utilizing others to reach your goals. It’s developing those around you. From a more selfish perspective, the more skilled your employees, the more they can assist you and the company.

• Share your expertise and help everyone around you to grow.
• What are some of the things you as a nurse leader can do to build or develop your team?

6. Be committed

You can’t expect greater commitment than you’re willing to provide. A leader sets the ceiling. Everyone else settles in somewhere below that point.   As a nurse you are committed to patient care.  As a nurse manager or a leader, you are committed to your team’s development.  Set equal priorities for both. Set the ceiling high and show them what true commitment looks like.  Initiate unit and health care agency wide projects and assume responsibility for their success.   Engage in conversations with patients to determine satisfaction with nursing care and services.

7. Inspire others.

A great leader knows how to inspire others to do their best work. It’s not always easy to inspire those content to simply show up each day and collect a paycheck, but it’s possible. A nurse manager or an executive who tells employees what to do, when to do it and where to develop may think that they are leading others, while in a real-world scenario, they are instructing deaf ears.  Let your team share your burden.   Team members appreciate guidance when their input is considered.  Involve them and gather their input.

 Show your motivation and commitment. 

1. Even if you’re only able to inspire a few people to do their best, it will make a positive difference.
2. Build a 1:1 relationship with each staff member.  Know your people.  Know what motivates them and keeps them going.
3. Show your appreciation when a staff member picks an extra shift or is willing to make schedule adjustments to suit the unit needs.

8. Have a clear focus

If you don’t know what you want, you won’t get it. Leaders are clear on their vision and readily share it with others. A clear vision serves as a roadmap. Employees can easily ask themselves if their actions are contributing to the attainment of your vision. Know your focus and communicate it effectively.

As an aspiring nurse leader what is your vision for your team?  Take a moment or to reflect on your vision.  Write it down and begin working on it.

9. Show respect

To respect your sub ordinates is a critical leadership competency. Strive to treat everyone fairly and avoid playing favorites. Everyone is worthy of a basic level of respect. How do you demonstrate your respect to your teammates?

To respect is to listen.  People feel respected when their voice is heard.  Take time to listen to your teammate’s viewpoint, their ideas and their experience.  It conveys that you value them; even if you later choose to follow a different angle.

Respect is not necessarily the absence of disrespect.  Just because you are not rude to someone does not mean that you respect them.  Respect is a conscious act.  You show respect in your speech, in your actions, in your behavior.  Respect is offering a genuine apology if and when warranted.

10. Confidence

It’s natural to be drawn to others with confidence. You are viewed as more capable and trustworthy when your confidence level is high. Be comfortable with your skills and your plan.

• A lack of self-confidence will limit the ability of others to trust your vision and judgment.

11. Decisiveness

Decisiveness. Leaders make the tough decisions fearlessly and take responsibility for the outcome. It’s easy to make quick decisions when you’re clear on your values and those of the company. If you can’t make up your mind, your leadership skills will be called into question.

• Practice by making small decisions quickly and following through on them. It gets easier with practice. You’ll be surprised by how much more you accomplish when you’re able to make a clear decision.

12. Financial Management

I know of a lot of nurses who fringe at the thought of finances.  As a nurse manager or a leader, your units/facilities finances are your responsibility.  To make this easy on you, track and assess your staffing, equipment and supply expenses throughout the year.  Get the timely repairs done.  Learning to utilize resource’s in a judicious manner is a competency that potential employers often look for when hiring a nurse manager.

Conclusion

Leaders are necessary in any organization. Great leaders share common characteristics that you can develop in yourself. Even if you don’t feel you currently possess these qualities, you can grow your capacity to be an effective leader. Adapting these competencies will successfully transform the way your team influences quality outcomes at the bedside. Additionally, these leadership competencies will help your facility to select, develop, and promote talent with your organization’s strategic priorities.