ESSENTIAL LEADERSHIP QUALITIES
Leadership is not a position or title but rather a role that is achieved through respect, relationships, attention to detail, diligence, accomplishments, mentoring, and, finally, the development of new leaders. To be an effective leader, one must possess emotional intelligence. There are 5 essential components of emotional intelligence including self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills.1 Leaders cannot succeed without social skill and interactions with team members. An important aspect of being an effective leader is day-to-day demonstration that the team is valued and supported by the leader. Maxwell2 identified 5 levels of leadership starting with position, permission, production, people development, and the pinnacle. This article will focus on the 4th level of leadership, people development, as well as describe 3 strategies to develop people, which include preceptorship, mentorship, and managing up staff.
PRECEPTORSHIP
Precepting is a foundational principle of health care education.3 The nursing profession has emphasized that serving as a preceptor is an obligation for the training of future nursing. A good preceptor requires preparation, interest, and dedication. The essential qualities of a good preceptor include desire and willingness to teach, ability to motivate your staff, and the ability to assess learner's developmental level.4 Patience and enthusiasm are key qualities that distinguish a strong preceptor as not all learners progress at the same pace. Although the words preceptorship and mentorship are used interchangeably, the concepts are very different. Preceptorship is usually performed for the short term, and has a limited period with defined objectives and outcome metrics that are related to a specific role or technical function. The student or trainee is evaluated on clinical competence and assessed with an evaluation tool at the conclusion of the predefined interval. The goal of preceptorship is to increase the learner's knowledge, improve confidence and efficiencies, and help gain independence.3
Preceptors are typically the clinical experts within the department. These individuals meet all the professional requirements and hospital standards, are well respected among their peers, and have strong interpersonal skills. To prepare for the preceptor role, one must assesses the learners including the developmental level, previous clinical experience, and level of expertise. The preceptor must understand the goals and objectives of the rotation. The next step prior to the preceptor experience is scheduling a one on one in-person meeting to ensure that the preceptor and learner are personally compatible and that a rapport is established prior to the first clinical experience. The preceptor must set clear expectations such as dress code, preparation, and logistics such as time of arrival, location, and any additional instructions specific to the service or department. There must be a clear discussion regarding any generational difference that will impact the relationship such as communication styles. The preceptor may prefer one on one in-person communication and the learner maybe more familiar or comfortable with texting or instant messaging. The last essential step is a discussion of the evaluation process including the manner and timing of feedback.
The role of the preceptor can be rewarding and personally satisfying to the leader but there are barriers to achieving the goals including time constraints, increased stress from workload demands, lack of preparation for the role, and additional responsibilities.3 It is essential that leaders continue to be involved in this process to reduce these barriers and provide necessary resources such as training on adult learning methods and leadership, reduced clinical assignments, and opportunities for compensation or credits.
A specialty area of nursing such as trauma is a particular area of interest with loss of experienced nurses through retirement and health care cost reductions. The new graduate is often required to care for complex injury patterns with underlying psychological issues and lack of adequate resources after discharge. The profession needs experienced and qualified trauma nurse leaders to provide clinical guidance and support to ensure competency when caring for high-acuity patients while reducing burnout and turnover of younger generation of trauma nurses.
In summary, preceptorships give professionals the opportunity to role model positive behaviors such as strong work ethic, dedication, passion, and commitment to nursing profession. Preceptors also experience increased job satisfaction by knowing that they have impacted someone's life, and potentially many other lives. If the experience for the learner is a positive one during this time, that person will more likely serve as a preceptor in the future. Preceptorship is a professional obligation and commitment to pass along wisdom, experience, and effective leadership qualities to future generations of trauma nurses.
MENTORSHIP
Mentorship is a continuous process whereby an experienced individual provides guidance, counseling, and advice to a less experienced individual. A mentor shares knowledge, wisdom, and experience with mentees and contributes to the personal growth and career development through role modeling of behaviors, attitudes, guidance, and social support.5-75-75-7 On the other hand, a mentee or protege is an individual who is being mentored by a more experienced individual.8 Both the mentee and mentor have equal responsibilities to ensure that the relationship is a success. The mentee is responsible for taking initiative, willingness to learn, accepting constructive feedback, and reshaping behaviors to achieve success. The mentor must be willing to provide genuine guidance and be enthusiastic and willing to provide feedback to the mentee.
The process of mentorship can be formal or informal as the relationship may be prearranged by an organizational body or occur spontaneously through environment proximity. The interval for mentoring can be short or long term depending on the mutually agreed upon goals and anticipated outcomes. Further, the relationship can be formed to enhance professional or personal aspirations or both.
The main objectives of mentoring are to build confidence, identify strengths, increase experience, expand professional networks, develop professional leadership skills, and improve employee retention and job satisfaction.6 It is well documented that individuals who have been in an effective mentoring relationship have improved morale, less job turnover, higher career satisfaction, more promotions, increased compensation, and stronger academic careers.5
The most important factor when developing a mentoring relationship is the selection of a mentor. Selection criteria include someone who is approachable, available, and enthusiastic, with strong interpersonal skills. In addition, the mentor-mentee relationship is enhanced if the participants share common values and are personally compatible.6
The most successful mentoring relationships are ones that are achieved through mutual selection. If the mentee is assigned a mentor via a formal mentor program, the individuals must meet one on one to ensure compatibility. After mentor selection, the mentee must schedule time to discuss values, goals, communication styles, and expectations that clarify understanding of the relationship and outcomes of the interactions. To be an effective mentor, one must have several essential qualities such as the ability to actively listen, value the opinion of the mentee, ability to provide constructive feedback, and be trustworthy and encouraging. The mentor must be unselfishly focused on the growth and development of the mentee. The mentor must be secure and mature in the leadership role to ensure that the focus is on the mentee's success, especially professional and personal growth.
After a qualified mentor is selected there are 5 phases of mentorship, which must be assessed and well defined.
* Establish relationship
* Set expectations
* Define goals
* Action and milestones
* Reevaluation and accountability
Establishment of Relationship
The relationship-building phase sets the tone for the entire interaction. The encounters must be a face-to-face interaction to discuss background, common interest, and motivation.9 The mentee must be prepared to discuss personal or individual goals and aspirations. If there are barriers to achieving the goals, the mentee must identify them early in the discussions. It is important to discuss communication styles and identify any generational gaps that can impair the relationship or its success. Currently, mentors are usually professionals from the Baby Boomer generation and mentees are from the Generations X or Y. The mentor and mentee must recognize differences in work ethic, communication styles, and core values. The gaps must not be ignored and a frank discussion should ensue during this initial interview.
Set Expectations
The roles of mentor and mentee should be defined and ground rules for the interactions should be set so that the relationship can be effective and goals accomplished with measurable and realistic endpoints.
Actions and Milestones
The action and milestones should be discussed and clearly identify who is responsible for achieving those goals. The mentee must accept responsibility and be prepared to discuss timelines for completion.
The mentee should provide a regular status update on achievements. The mentor should hold the mentee accountable for completion of tasks or assignments and the mentee should report any barriers to achieving the goals.
In summary, mentorship is an effective tool for career advancement and professional development but it can have significant challenges if the mentor-mentee relationship is not structured appropriately. The top-most common failure in mentorship is ill-considered selection of mentor. Other factors that contribute to this failure include the lack of identification of generational gaps, mistrust or lack of confidence in the agenda of mentor or mentee, workload and overburden of mentor resulting in lack of commitment, and lack of experienced mentors within the professions due to aging workforce.8
Mentorship is an essential quality of an effective leader and is the ultimate service to nursing profession. The ability to provide guidance, direction, passion, and motivation is necessary for their success. The benefits of serving as a mentor are the ability to make a positive impact in a person's life and practice, personal fulfillment, and organizational and professional contributions.6 The trauma profession is in need of leaders with experience who are willing to accept this role, and have the time to devote to development of new trauma leaders through the generations. A mentor can volunteer to be involved in a formal mentorship program such as through Society of Trauma Nurses or informal relationships within local organizations. The call is to be involved as a mentor, and, "Pay it forward."
MANAGING UP YOUR STAFF
The last strategy for development of people is through managing up. Managing up is an essential function of leadership and provides support, new opportunities, encouragement, recognition, and positive and timely feedback to the team.10 These techniques will require one of the essential emotional intelligence components of leadership, which is effective social skills. The key social skills required for successful leadership are active listening, effective verbal and nonverbal communication, insight and personal reflection, and the ability to build relationships. Effective leaders create relationships.11(p814) The leader supports the team by caring, showing empathy, and recognizing the needs for motivation. Motivation can be different for every member of a team. Motivation can be either internal or external. Internal motivation is the personal drive, passion, or feeling of accomplishment when completing a task.11 External motivation is the tangible reward and recognitions such as monetary gifts, trophies, and promotions. Individuals may be more driven by external factors than internal factors.
A strong leader must recognize what drives and motivates a team to succeed. A leader must be willing to have a conversation with team members to hear what personally motivates them everyday, for example, sense of empowerment, and sense of achievement or a feeling of accomplishment. The leader must then be willing to provide assistance to by identifying new opportunities for professional growth in team members. Leaders must be willing to facilitate success for team members by opening doors that have been closed in the past, identify new projects that are challenging, and model positive behaviors such as a strong work ethic. For individuals driven by external factors, leaders provide verbal encouragement, publically give awards and recognition for accomplishments in front of peers and senior leadership of the organization, and develop healthy competitions within the department to encourage achievement. According to John Maxwell,12 a private compliment turned public instantly and dramatically increases in value.
The key factors for effective leadership include being a good listener and understanding what factors, internal or external, motivate them. The role of the leader is to support and encourage goals, aspiration, and personal development. The team needs to know the leader is genuine and truly interested in the success of team members. To be worthy of the responsibility of leadership, a person must have insight into the human heart and the capacity to form authentic and trusted personal connection with each member of the team. Team members must feel that the leader will make time to provide this support without interruptions.
The corporate world is busy with multiple interruptions and expectations of quick response and time-sensitive response. It is essential that leaders remember that people are the most significant reason for a successful team, organization, and units. Team members are validated through attentiveness, caring, and sensitivity. A leader's sensitivity toward the hopes and dreams of team members is essential for understanding their motivations.13(p51) Give the team credit for work that has been completed, show that all constructive opinions are valued, and provide constant and timely positive feedback.
To summarize the role of the leader, one must be able to actively listen, understand motivations, identify strengths and weaknesses of the team members, and provide encouragement, praise, and empathy.
CONCLUSION
Service to people is a key component of an effective leader. The ability to serve as a mentor, preceptor, and leader encourages professional development of staff, builds trustworthy relationships, and develops clinical skills, confidence, and independence. It is essential that leaders are willing to build relationships with individuals, show trust, acknowledge their strengths and aspirations, and foster and grow the professionals. The future generations will be dependent on the current trauma leadership's ability to role model through preceptorship, mentorship, and managing up the profession.
KEY POINTS
* Leadership involves strong skills in personal and professional development of people.
* Precepting, mentoring, and managing up staff are essential strategies to being an effective leader.
* Trauma leaders must be dedicated to supporting, training, and mentoring the next generation of nurses.
Acknowledgments
Grace S. Rozycki, MD, MBA; Willis D. Gatch, Professor of Surgery and Associate Chair, Department of Surgery for Indiana University School of Medicine, and Director, Indiana Injury Institute; and Kathy Hendershot, MSN, RN, CEN, ANP-BC, Director Clinical Operations, Emergency Services Indiana University Health Methodist Hospital are gratefully acknowledged.
REFERENCES