LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

Commentary: Analysis of Leadership Development

Commentary: Analysis of Leadership Development

Background

During module 8, I had been allocated a clinical placement in nursing, where I took charge of the shift twice a week for four weeks. I have had a chance to observe my mentor and others, applying problem solving skills in decision making when planning, implementing and evaluating care to enhance quality of life for the patients and the carers. The mentors used efficient coaching skills to support less experienced colleagues, patients and their custodians. I have had the desire to master the leadership skills such as prioritising and decision making, while watching my mentors and others prioritising over the shifts and decision making when necessary. I also read about leadership skills in nursing. During my clinical placement, I had an aspiration to develop leadership roles focusing on the professional care for meeting health and social care needs for the patients with greater level of dependency.

The Commentary

Introduction

In this commentary, I need to reveal the situation that took place during my clinical placement. The situation reflects the leadership skills that I needed to develop, in order to maintain the therapeutic relationship with my patients and their custodians. The leadership skills I want to develop are Prioritising and Decision making skills. For this purpose, I will use Gibbs (1988) reflective cycle to structure my work. Gibbs framework is reflected through addressing the following six stages: Description of the situation, feelings that took place during the situation, Evaluation of the whole experience, analysis of the leadership skills, analysis of how these leadership skills helped enhancing patient care, conclusions on what else could have been done and finally, preparing an action plan.

Description

During module 8, I had a clinical placement for four weeks where I took charge of the shift twice a week. I was working along with a qualified nurse and healthcare assistant. I observed my mentors and others prioritising over shifts and taking decisions efficiently, when needed. I have had the motivation towards developing these skills: Prioritising and Decision making skills to maintain healthy therapeutic relations to develop ways for health and social care for the patients. During my placement, I observed that there are many tasks to perform at the same time and one cannot have the efficiency and energy to do all the things at once. One can be frustrated and stressed by performing all tasks, at once. Therefore, prioritising things can help get rid of the frustration. Prioritising increases the value of your work. Decision making and prioritising go side by side. During my clinical placement, I observed that at the start of the day we had been occupied by a lot of things that felt equally important, at once. However, if we examine closely, only some of the things were important to make a significant effect on our achievements for the day. Therefore, through effective decision making and prioritising of work, we can achieve our goals for the day (Foti, R.J., & Hauenstein, ...