Topic 14: Servant Leadership Paper

Topic 14: Servant Leadership Paper

Servant Leadership

My practicum practice has been instrumental in equipping me with important leadership skills required in a healthcare setting. I have been working with nurses within our facility to improve patient education and develop a positive healthcare team. These projects have been significant in understanding my team and creating a structure that meets the needs of each person (Neubert et al., 2021). In the past few weeks, I have observed numerous things connected to healthcare leadership. The flow of activities from the nurse leaders to the nurses has been essential in comprehending the importance of having better leadership skills in health. Therefore, the purpose of this paper will be to reflect on the seven servant-leadership principles and how to integrate them into leadership roles.

In the bible, the word “power” has been used 118 times which conveys the meaning of force or strength. Again, the word is used to refer to ability or capability. In the bible, the word defines the ability of one to influence people and things. The healthcare setting has been borrowing the same analogy by gaining the power to influence people and things. Healthcare leaders would have more power to influence and lead changes within the healthcare setting when they have the power to influence healthcare workers (Cottey & McKimm, 2019). The value of a leader is measured by their ability to rally a team towards meeting the desired change. The dynamic nature of healthcare requires servant leaders that can have a great influence on their employees. Such leaders focus on the inspiration and motivation of the employees to register the required success in the healthcare setting. Therefore, I believe that gaining the power to influence employees has a positive impact on meeting the desired patient needs in a healthcare setting.

While power is the ability to influence people and things, authority is the legitimate right to practice the influence. As such, power and authority also have a positive impact on healthcare. These principles have a critical function in a healthcare organization, and it requires a good leader who can balance their emotions and those of the subjects. A servant leader earns authority and power within the healthcare setting. This is opposed to the situation where healthcare leaders demand power and authority (Mostafa & El-Motalib, 2019). The power of servant leaders comes from the association they develop with the employees. The success of the healthcare institution starts from the relationship that a leader develops with the subjects. The respect and authority developed among the employees would allow the leader to lead the employees to the desired goal. Servant leadership qualities should bind the organization in one accord and rally all subjects toward meeting the desired goals.

The principle of rule in servant leadership has been discussed at length in the bible (Mathew 20:25-28). The verse talks about a leader becoming selfless and not taking advantage of their position to exploit others. This principle is applicable in healthcare, especially in guiding the conduct of leaders towards their employees (Cottey & McKimm, 2019). While other leaders use their selfishness to drive goals, such leaders fail to understand the design behind their power and authority. These are the types of leaders that would always lead in contrast and face intense rebellion from their employees. In my practicum practice, I realized that exercising selfish rules on healthcare workers would only raise a rebellion and poor communication between workers and nurse leaders.

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The headship principle in servant leadership focuses on a chief shepherd defined in 1^st Peter 5:4. Jesus used the imagery of a shepherd to describe his leadership style. The duty of a shepherd is to care for the sheep, provide protection and nurture them. In a healthcare setting, a leader should treat employees as sheep (Hean & Tin, 2020). They should nurture, protect and care for the healthcare workers. In my practicum setting, I realized that focusing on the social welfare of employees has a positive impact on employees. Such leaders would have a contractive talk about family and relationship problems affecting nurses and suggests some of the best ways to solve such family issues. While these duties are additional roles of nurse leaders, most leaders fail to focus on other measures that affect the output of employees. Such nurse leaders lead by providing all aspects of care to nurses to push them to meet the desired patient outcome.

The humility principle is significant in understanding employees. In my practicum, I realized that employees always differ in performance. While some nurses are perfect at dealing with the geriatric population, others are good at dealing with pediatric patients. These differences imply that all the nurses in our unit had their areas of weakness and strengths (Cottey & McKimm, 2019). However, it takes a humble nurse leader to study employees and align them with the tasks they can perform to the best of their abilities. Managing nurses in healthcare institutions entails developing a close relationship with them, as this would be important in understanding the strength and weaknesses of each nurse. I would see our nurse leader showing love and friendship to us. For instance, the leader would always correct nurses without shouting and encouraging us that mistakes are possible, but we are looking forward to reducing errors in this industry.

The practicum lesson was significant in comprehending the true meaning of headship and ruling. Servant leaders do not need to prove to their subjects that they possess strength, courage, and dedication to their subordinates. However, their actions would show the actual definition of a servant leader (Cottey & McKimm, 2019). These principles teach that leadership is about directing a team or an organization toward a shared goal while serving as a role model. In healthcare, it entails motivating, inspiring, and coordinating health providers and other support staff toward improving patients’ experience and clinical outcomes. The ability to rise to levels of leadership in healthcare is about adopting suitable strategies and skills to win the loyalty and trust of colleagues and senior management.

Acting as examples and servants for the subjects is important in leading by example. While healthcare professionals would need the theoretical concept in nursing, the practical work is all about following examples from mentors (Mostafa & El-Motalib, 2019). Health care leadership is pivoted on the capacity to recognize priorities, offer tactical direction to numerous players within the health organization, and fashion commitment across the health segment to attend the primacies to enhance health services.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the servant leadership style plays a pivotal role in healthcare as it promotes unity in healthcare delivery. The seven principles of servant leadership define the seven traits that a servant leader needs to portray in healthcare settings. Incorporating these principles in the healthcare setting defines an effective leader who would rally employees toward meeting the desired patient outcome. Positive clinical outcome is possible with the increased communication and relationship between the leaders and the healthcare workers.

References

Cottey, L., & McKimm, J. (2019). Putting service back into health care through servant leadership. British Journal of Hospital Medicine, 80(4), 220-224. https://doi.org/10.12968/hmed.2019.80.4.220

Mostafa, A. M. S., & El-Motalib, E. A. A. (2019). Servant leadership, leader–member exchange and proactive behavior in the public health sector. Public Personnel Management, 48(3), 309-324. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0091026018816340

Neubert, M. J., Hunter, E. M., & Tolentino, R. C. (2021). Modeling Character: Servant Leaders, Incivility and Patient Outcomes. Journal of Business Ethics, 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-021-04783-7

Hean, L. L., & Tin, L. G. (2020). Accentuating servant-leadership in Singapore leadership mentoring. Global Servant-Leadership: Wisdom, Love, and Legitimate Power in the Age of Chaos, 225

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Topic 14: Servant Leadership
Objectives:
1. Summarize your practicum experience in relationship to the seven servant- leadership principles.
2. Identify strategies to implement servant-leadership principles in a leadership role.

Topic 14 DQ 1
Assessment Description
You have now viewed videos on the seven servant leadership principles (power, authority, rule, headship, servant, example, humility). Reflect on your clinical/practicum and summarize your experience in relation to these seven principles. Discuss strategies you could use to integrate these principles into a leadership role.