Introduction
It is important to note that nursing leaders are the ones who promote and support interprofessional teamwork. When it comes to interprofessional teams, they can be considered instrumental in improving outcomes. Transformational leadership style, or TL, lies at the core of the interprofessional team leadership plan. The focus will be put on organizational culture, team member support, and engagement. It should be stated that the latter will be achieved through stimulation, inspiration, and motivation. These efforts will lead to better communication, collaboration, and professional development.
Leadership Theory to Guide Work
The identified leadership theory is the transformation leadership (TL) style, which is about changing social systems and individuals through support and transformation. A study suggests that “transformational leadership mediated the effect of leaders’ agreeableness and conscientiousness on group performance, perceived leader effectiveness, and leadership emergence” (Prochazka et al., 2018, p. 474). In other words, my personal compatibility with the framework of transformational leadership is a prime reason why the leadership development plan chose the given leadership style. In other words, TL will guide my work by emphasizing the criticality of support and employee growth over strict adherence to direct commands.
Fostering Teamwork
The efforts of fostering teamwork of the interprofessional team will be conducted through trust and mutual respect. The three basic approaches relevant to the case include simulation, education, and mindful communication (Campbell et al., 2020). When it comes to the former two elements, training will serve as the most effective medium to build the qualities of mutual trust and reciprocal respect. However, mindful communication will be built by me as a leader in order to provide an example of effective and supportive communication.
Potential Issues
Any leadership plan will face some challenges and barriers, which need to be dealt with effectively and appropriately. The most relevant barriers include organizational culture, employee dissatisfaction, and poor quality of care (Edwards & Saltman, 2017). It should be noted that all three barriers are interconnected in some shape or form because a dysfunctional organizational culture creates poor quality of care, which forces the management to undertake stricter measures, leading to employee dissatisfaction.
Addressing the Issues
The most critical principle to address the issues is to focus on the transformation of the employees. Therefore, the bottom-up principle will be utilized, where healthcare professionals will be worked with, supported, and developed to invoke a change on an organizational level. The result is that such a shift will result in a better quality of care, employee satisfaction, and improved patient outcomes.
Although the current state of the organization is not necessarily undesirable, there is massive potential and opportunity for more improvements. The focus will be put on the nurses and multidisciplinary team members specifically because they are the ones who interact and provide care to patients. Therefore, their performance most accurately reflects on and determines the quality of care, patient satisfaction, and the overall image of the organization. As a leader, direct communication and transformation of the team need to be conducted on an individual level. The emphasis will be put on identifying the points of dissatisfaction and mismanagement to improve adherence to the quality standards.
Strategies for Collaboration, Communication, and Changes
In order to encourage collaboration, communication, and positive changes, I will use the strategy of empowerment. The leadership strategy of empowerment is positively influenced by the transformational leadership theory as well. A study suggests that “the linkage between transformational leadership and work engagement is partially mediated by structural empowerment … by enabling access to information, opportunities, support, and adequate resources” (Amor et al., 2019, p. 169). In other words, being an effective transformational leader is impossible without the approach of empowerment, which is a necessary ingredient in improving engagement among the followers. The given strategy is tightly tied to leadership knowledge and knowledge-sharing, where increased access to information, as well as support, creates positive changes in a group or organization.
Professional Development
It is important to note that I would engage in professional development through stimulation, inspiration, and motivation. It is stated that transformational leadership “is characterized by the ability to stimulate, inspire, and motivate followers. Transformational leaders focus on building relationships with people and creating change by emphasizing values” (Giddens, 2018, p. 117). In other words, the key efforts will be directed towards these three transformative measures.
Team Professional Development
On the basis of the information provided above, stimulation, inspiration, and motivation will be applied to the team members while addressing the key issues since they are interconnected. Therefore, by transforming the health professionals of the interprofessional team, organizational culture will create a positive and healthy workplace for development, which will be the stimulation input done by the leader. The next phase will focus on inspiring through the betterment of work conditions, regular training, and redesigned protocols of care to improve employee satisfaction, and it will further enhance professional development. As a result, the personnel will be motivated to provide a better quality of care, and receiving reinforcing feedback will reciprocally lead to continuous professional growth.
Leading the Team Effectively
In my future role, I, as a leader, will drive change by directly and profoundly affecting the organizational culture. However, the most important aspect of the transformational leadership style is the fact that it is about change at its core (Prochazka et al., 2018). In other words, the sole purpose of my approach will be focused on causing positive change leading to performance improvements, which is why it is potent and powerful at overcoming problems related to organizational culture.
When it comes to team management, “transformational leadership indirectly influences objective team performance through the mediation role of team cohesion, and this indirect effect is more prominent when the level of previous performance is higher” (Mach et al., 2021, p. 662). Therefore, transformational leadership can have a positive effect on team management, which translates to better teamwork and performance.
Conclusion
Thus, as a leader with a future advanced practice role, it is important to be skillful at empowering the followers both individually and structurally to increase their involvement, motivation, and engagement within the process or task of achieving the common goal. The first and most important tool of managerial influence on human resources is motivation, or the formation of a motivational spirit in the team. Motivation helps the leader to explain, convince, and prove to employees the need for changes in the organization. The motivational model is closely related to the development of employees in the organization and their self-esteem, which will be effective in cooperation with each other. A high degree of charisma in a transformational leader has a direct impact on employees since, at this stage of organizational transformation, their organizational behavior changes.
References
Amor, A. M., Abeal Vázquez, J. P., & Faíña, J. A. (2019). Transformational leadership and work engagement: Exploring the mediating role of structural empowerment. European Management Journal, 38(1), 169-178. Web.
Campbell, A. R., Layne, D., Scott, E., & Wei, H. (2020). Interventions to promote the teamwork, delegation, and communication among registered nurses and nursing assistants: An Integrative Review. Journal of Nursing Management, 28(7), 1465-1472. Web.
Edwards, N., & Saltman, R. B. (2017). Re-thinking barriers to organizational change in public hospitals. Israel Journal of Health Policy Research, 6(8), 1-11. Web.
Giddens, J. (2018). Transformational leadership: What every nursing dean should know. Journal of Professional Nursing, 34(2), 117–121. Web.
Mach, M., Ferreira, A. I., & Abrantes, A. C. M. (2021). Transformational leadership and team performance in sports teams: A conditional indirect model. Applied Psychology, 71(2), 662-694. Web.
Prochazka, J., Vaculik, M., Smutny, P., & Jezek, S. (2018). Leader traits, transformational leadership and leader effectiveness: A mediation study from the Czech Republic. Journal of East European Management Studies, 23(3), 474–501. Web.