Leadership Test, Leadership Styles

Leadership Test – Psychometric Tests

Understand the outcomes of effective leadership

Pink (2009) identified key factors which contribute to leading high levels of motivation and performance. These are Mastery, Autonomy and Purpose (MAP), Mastery is about knowing your job and related subjects thoroughly, autonomy is about having minimal direct supervision and latitude for independent decision making: whilst purpose is about valuing the reason for the work you do. Herzberg (2009) identified recognition and achievement as the top two motivators which should be straightforward to apply.

Working as a first line direct manager there are challenges keeping the Emergency department (ED) team members engaged and motivated to ensure high performance from all individuals. The ED provides different challenges, for example some members prefer working within the acutely challenging resuscitation area whereas other prefer the consistency and in general predictability of minor injuries/walking wounded. However from a manager’s perspective all members of the multidisciplinary team must be competent to perform in any given area, dependent on the varying acuities of the patients (for example dealing with multiple traumas/critically ill patients).

Ideally I would promote individuals intrinsic motivation by enabling them to choose in which area of the department they would like to work and this gives them all autonomy and purpose. I encourage the co-ordinators ( junior sisters/charge nurses) to enable this process when delegating tasks/team nursing, as I believe this does enhance performance and engagement, yet there must recognition from all team members that this choice should ensure they are proficient with individual performance in all areas.

Raymondson (2011) demonstrated this with The Psychological Content, where there may be an imbalance between the organisation’s expectations and the individual’s expectations.

Within the ED the Psychological Contract has links to many theories of motivation, performance and engagement. Managers must recognise that team members will have individual expectations from myself and within the organisational structure.

An example within the National health Service (NHS) and predominantly within the ED would be that all patients should be seen, treated within a timely manner. For example when a decision has been made to admit (for example an acutely ill patient with pneumonia) onto a ward and there is a delay of hours in some cases up to twenty four hours, rightly so this causes demotivation, disengagement and eventually reduced performance from team members. Some will continue to perform at a consistent level whilst others (and I can empathise) within the course of a twelve hour shift as the ambulances queue and patients and relatives become frustrated, in turn they can become demotivated. It could be perceived that I have not met their expectations at a basic level which is to manage the department appropriately and ultimately be responsible for transfer to wards, off loading ambulances etc.

To enable performance and engagement effective leadership is key. Adrian Gilpin defined leadership as the impact you have on yourself and the impact you have on people around you can be about attitude and self-motivation. As senior leaders if we exhibited differences of opinion when implementing change and demonstrated a negative attitude, then how could we expect others to be motivated. Leadership could be perceived as degree of motivation, how people behave, their productivity and effectiveness Raymondson (2013).

Ultimately keeping individuals motivated and to sustain that motivation can be key. Ensuring yearly performance reviews are completed must be an essential part of leadership. Within this trust we ensure these reviews are entirely a positive experience, a chance to praise and support the individual. Engagement is a priority and encourages passion and interest, reduced motivation can increase sickness and reduce productivity; retention rates can decrease. By including goals that encourage employees’ development in areas for which they are interested can motivate and encourage engagement and performance. For example developing progression pathways within the ED such as completion of Advanced Life Support, minor injuries modules and trauma certification can increase individuals skills and enhance engagement.

Be able to assess own leadership styles

There are varying styles of leadership, Tannebaum and Schmidt describe seven different types as delegated levels of freedom. These are

· The leader considers varying courses of action, makes a decision and tells the team how they will carry out the task. The team will not be involved in the process of decision-making, and could be perceived that their views will not be accounted for.

· The Leader takes the decision but will involve the team by explaining the rationale and explaining the positive aspects of it, potentially this could promote positivity as the team feel they have been involved and their importance recognised.

· The leader presents the decision, but encourages questions, involvement of the team enables them to understand issues and complications which can be motivational.

· The leader proposes a decision and invites discussion. Even more consultative than the previous approach and highly motivating as the team feel they have influence.

· The leader presents the issue, invites free discussion and then decides, an example would be within the ED my manager presented the issue (implementation of GP streaming) but recognised I had the clinical knowledge and detail which he did not. This directly led to the stage of

· Where my leader allowed me to identify the issue of implementation, and gave me the options to develop and implement the process.

· The final option where the leader explains the issue, defines the parameters and asked the team to decide only partially applied. The change had been enforced by National Health Services England and therefore mandatory. I did not have the option of refusal but had been given the freedom to decide the appropriate process and invite suggestions from the rest of my team.

What is the best leadership style? Personal viewpoint is that a combination of all styles may be required, Raymondson (2013) expressed style as enabling and suppressing and controlling, formal, driven, creative and participative.

The Leadership Style pendulum by Raymondson (2011) reflects my persona view that there is a need to vary style to fit differing culture and individual personalities.

All approaches can be directed between empowerment to control and involving those listed

· Questioning, Suggestive, Demonstrating, Advisory, Telling.

McGregor (1960) suggested that there are two fundamental approaches to managing people, an authoritarian approach and the participative management style. He proposes that there are people who are work shy and that they will avoid work and responsibility and to manage effectively an authoritarian approach must be taken. The participative management style assumes that people do enjoy work and are committed to pursuing organisational goals and objectives without threat of consequences and that they crave achievement.

Introduction of team nursing and the different reactions demonstrated by individuals proved that I needed to display the two management approaches. Involvement and encouragement worked well for some people yet with others an authoritarian approach needed to be clear that the change would be implemented and that certain expectations had to be met.

This approach is supported by Fiedler’s Contingency Model (1967). The leader must adapt their style of leadership such as situational leadership to reflect both the needs of the team and the context in which the task is to be carried out. Therefore the current role I am seconded to where I manage approximately a team of hundred individuals with varying roles the demand is such that I need to adapt my approach and style depending on the task/change to be implemented and the team with which I do so. This could be supported by transformational leadership which tend to be a blend of both trait and behavioural theories. As a leader I would enable to influence others by possessing key attributes to inspire other team members to follow me. Change would be implemented by showing passion, enthusiasm and energy and show resilience even when resistance is encountered.

Burns (1978) observes how at times it is difficult to differentiate between management and leadership. The transforming approach creates significant change in the life of people and organisations, redesigning perceptions and values, and changing employee expectations whereas the transactional approach is imply reward based. Bass suggested that leaders can simultaneously display both transformational and transactional leadership, this is the approach I wish to implement

Understand the implications of own leadership styles for self and for leadership within own organisation

Using the Myers and Brigg personality tool gave me an understanding firstly of my own personality type and using my preferred balance between different style of thinking or behaving. They defined eight styles of behaviour that are represented by eight letters, all of them are used in everyday life however some are more enjoyable than others. Life will be at its most enjoyable when my individual balance is achieved.

My personality type is ESFP where I am an action -orientated people person. I do enjoy applying practical skills within my organisation and often have a strong sense of urgency, where I identify a task/change and want to immediately implement it and achieve it.

Self awareness is vital in terms of recognising my individual leadership style and how that relates to others who may posses introverted characteristics.

Whereas extraversion enjoy plenty of interaction, support ideas with facts and discuss the steps involved to achieve a task, I am aware that I find detail at times monotonous and can often move forward to the next stage of the task without considering that others may need physical evidence such as reading matter/slides to gain an understanding and a need for the task.

Development of people skills and relationships will improve relationships and engagement.

Myers and Briggs have identified the two types and given points to consider

Extraversion.

Have plenty of interaction and/or variety.

Allow plenty of time for questions or immediate reaction.

Sensing

Support ideas with facts and information, discuss the steps involved in the correct sequence.

Thinking

Be logical in your arguments, discuss the costs and tangible benefits.

Judgment

Have clear goals, stick to them and show how you are achieving them. Adhere to a clear presentation structure and timescales and don’t overrun.

Introversion

Don’t rush important points but give time for listeners to think about them. Provide substantive slides or reading materials for listeners to look at and think about.

Intuition

Discuss the meaning of information or data, and the insight it provides. Identify the vision or ideas, and acknowledge the ossicle influence of unknown factors.

Feeling

Focus on areas of agreement and demonstrate the positive impact on people.

Perception

Take interventions when they are made and answer the question immediately. Be open to new or different perspectives that a listener may suggest.

A second type of major application type theory is leadership development. My natural leadership style can be closely related to personal preferences. I naturally tend towards action orientated/goal orientated leadership. I focus on the immediate task at hand and see it through to fruition, an example of this is the implementation of team nursing. I focused on the immediate need, the end result being to improve patient focused care. On reflection, I assumed that all members of the team would appreciate the need for change and did not consider some would have benefited from a participative approach which would have considered different personality types as mentioned above. Involvement at an earlier stage of implementation would have considered all personality types and through actively seeking their involvement and ideas may have highlighted the need for further discussion, examples of positive evidence based practice and a collaborative approach.

The third perspective is that of type dynamics which describes how high level psychological functions interact. The dominant function in my personality type is that of sensation, then feeling, thinking and intuition. Myers and Briggs believed there is a fixed hierarchy for each type, whereas Jung believed that everyone is unique and although some people are close to one particular stereotype, the majority of people are between two or more types.

I believe in empowering junior staff to take ownership of perceived areas of improvement within the department and actively encourage them to formulate ideas and implement them. I have considered what challenges an excites individuals and have recently implemented at quarterly staff meetings an “ideas” forum where people can present/discuss any concepts for improvement. I feel this encourage varying personality types to take forward changes following their preferred style. A collaborative approach has can actively encourage and empower all members of the multi disciplinary team.

Be able to assess own leadership behaviour, in terms of factors which determine effective leadership

President Dwight Eisenhower defined leadership as : Getting someone to want to do what you want them to do”. Having a positive impact upon people one is trying to lead and the impact you have on yourself and the impact you have on people around you. Gilpin

Factors which can affect leadership are traits and skills which R Stogdill (1974) defined as being essential to effective leaders. Some of these are emotional stability, honesty and self-awareness, good interpersonal skills and intellectual ability. Trait theories focus on what the leader is rather than what they do.

They should be adaptable to situations, ambitious and achievement orientated. Always decisive, energetic and co-operative. At times they may need to be assertive and tolerant of stress. I have