1.       Leadership requires personal mastery – Nurses demonstrate personal mastery in many different aspects. In order to practice, nurses must pass a standardized exam.  In order to work effectively on a hospital unit, or some other area of work, nurses have to master skills such as giving medication, placing catheters, placing IVs and so on.  
2.       Leadership is about values –  The company I work for has listed five essential values for caregivers to emulate. They are:

• Integrity: We are principled, honest, and ethical, and we do the right thing for those we serve. Nurses do this by doing what they say they are going to do.  They don’t chart false information and they are honest.
• Trust: We count on and support one another individually and as team members. In order for nurses to work effectively, we have to rely on one another to do our jobs well and to ask for help when we need it.
• Excellence: We perform at the highest level, always learning and looking for ways to improve. Nurses are always learning and trying to improve.  We attend trainings, do skills pass offs, and complete online learning modules.
• Accountability: We accept responsibility for our actions, attitudes, and health. If a mistake is made, nurses accept responsibility and vow to improve.
• Mutual Respect: We embrace diversity and treat one another with dignity and empathy. Nurses treat all kinds of patients from all kinds of different backgrounds.

3.       Leadership is about service – Nurses are constantly serving.  We often go above and beyond the minimum of what is expected to care for our patients.  
4.       Leadership is about people and relationships – Nurses possible have the most interaction with patients.  We often get to know them as people and care for them as people.  We also work as a team and strive to get to know each other.
5.       Leadership is contextual – Leadership does not have a one size fits all meaning.  Nurses can be leaders in many different contexts. There are nurse managers that are leaders for their units, charge nurses for the shift, and even a new grad nurse like myself can be a leader by following my leaders.
6.       Leadership is about the management of meaning – I believe this is referring to universal meanings in the workplace.  An example of this is the lists of approved abbreviations. It is what is meant by what is said. This is very important in nursing because miscommunication can have potentially fatal consequences.
7.       Leadership is about balance – Nurses have to learn to have balance in their lives to avoid caregiver fatigue.  Balance between giving too much of yourself and not giving enough. The best nursing leaders I know have found a good balance in this.
8.       Leadership is about continuous learning and improvement – Nursing is constanting changing and improving.  We have staff meetings and in services to help teach and assist in in this change and growth.  
9.       Leadership is about effective decision making – Nurses have to develop effective decision making especially in patient care. Nurses are constantly making decisions, whether or not to call a doctor, whether to give a medication, who needs to be seen first, how should I prioritize my day and so on.
10.   Leadership is a political process – There are a lot of politics involved in nursing. Nurses have how to navigate the system to implement change.
11.   Leadership is about modeling – Nurses are examples in how they do their jobs.  They are often hard working team players. They try to make things better for the oncoming shift.  They show what to do by doing it.
12.   Leadership is about integrity – Nurses do this by doing what they say they are going to do.  They don’t chart false information and they are honest. They admit to when a mistake is made.

 

 

This week we were required to take the DISC Personality test.  I have always enjoyed taking personality tests because I think they can shed some insight on how I think and act which can be a powerful thing.  Understanding how you see and understand the world can be very useful in helping you make your way in the world.  Some Personality tests can help you identify your strong points and your weak points.  This can be beneficial because the more you know, the more you can control.

On the Disc test I got 7 in column one, none in column 3, and 4 in columns 3 and 4.  This means, according to my perception of myself and this test, that I have dominant personality.  Which I don’t find surprising because I am the oldest of 7 children.  I am used to having my own way and being in charge.  The test describes the dominant personality as being generally is a direct, positive and straightforward person, all of which I would agree with.  I do not appreciate passive aggressiveness and I like to to both be told and to tell what is wrong.

I have always been independent and I like to solve my problems on my own without help.  However this does not translate to the work place, I cannot think of anything more hellish than working in sales or being an entrepreneur.  It is true that I value my own goals over the goals of an organization I work for.  I also found that when I work with another dominant personality I tend to become submissive so long as I have strong feelings otherwise.  I am also married to a dominant personality and it leads to some loud discussions at times, but I find it invigorating to be challenged.

I find it difficult to consider how this will affect my leadership because I don’t currently hold any leadership positions.  I do think that I can be a leader as a follower.  I can choose how I respond and I can have an affect how others respond.  I believe that being direct is important for a leader, but being direct with kindness is essential to be an effective leader.  Passion can be a powerful tool as a leader, however, it must be controlled and used appropriately.  I also understand that I value my own goals above the goals of the unit, which can be disparaging for the unit if they conflict; which, at the moment, they do not.  If I find that they do conflict, I would like to think that I will be willing to speak up and let my manager or charge nurse know what I am thinking and see if I can find resolution.

I am not sure if this test gave me any special insight about myself that I did not already know before.  What did surprise me was that I did not score any in Influential column.  I know that I can become very focused on myself and what I am doing.  I very rarely stop to think about how I can affect others.  I think this something I would like to improve on.  I would like to learn to stop and think about how my actions and words can affect those around me.  I want to use the information to better myself.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=images&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjRk7eM8uffAhXLna0KHRH0CK0QjRx6BAgBEAU&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.personality-insights.com%2Fthe-d-personality-style%2F&psig=AOvVaw1Gu33gsehIODTI89_faLkj&ust=1547370324516827

My name is Olivia Farnworth, I am a registered nurse at American Fork ICU and I am currently enrolled in my last semester for the BSN at UVU.  I absolutely love my job. I find it challenging and exciting and I learn new things to make me a better nurse all the time. I have an amazing and supportive team that I work with and I can’t imagine working anywhere else.  

The purpose of this blog is to reflect on what I have learned in a leadership class for my BSN.  This is where I will make posts about what I have learned, what my thoughts are and how I feel about things learned during the weekly modules.  Someone once told me that there are three methods of learning, first is reading about something, second is doing something and third is reflecting on something.  When you read something, you can learn about other people’s experiences and ideas and therefore learn from them. This is probably the the most common form of learning that people utilize.  By doing something, you learn how to put knowledge into practice and become skilled at it. Lastly, by reflecting on what you have read and what you have done, you internalize and retain and understand what you have read and done.  I don’t believe that anyone of these is more important that the other, simply that they each have their place in the learning process.

This blog will be used to help complete the learning process for each of the weekly modules for my leadership class.

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton