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Leadership Development Plan
Name
Institution

Leadership Development Plan
Philosophy of leadership and the role of the family nurse practitioner
My philosophy in leadership is to empower others and assist them to accomplish more than their dreams. I believe in openness and having respect for others in the workplace. Respect gives others an opportunity where they can be able to share their challenges, and we can find a solution to such problems. As a nurse practitioner, I believe in making promises which I can fulfill. Team members need to trust their leaders so that they could respect their ideas and decisions. I am a principle-based leader since I make a promise to my team members and always stick to them and deliver within the required period. Integrity is what it guides me when leading others. I am honest and always speak the truth to all people. As a leader, I am humble and ready to learn from others since it will add me some values in the future.
Family Nurse Practitioners (FNP) are registered nurses who are trained to provide healthcare services at homes. FNP can work separately or in partnership with other healthcare professionals. One of the duties of FNP is to diagnose and provide a treatment plan for patients with chronic diseases. As a leader, I will be ready to share with the community issues which lead to some of their family members to suffer from the same ailments. It is the role of FNP to track the health history of such families and determine the main cause of the diseases.

My philosophy is to respect the life of every individual. Thus, I will use history and details of chronic diseases and help the society to diagnose such ailments and thereafter give them the best treatment. Another role of FNP is to educate patients on how to control or prevent certain types of diseases (Lowe, Plummer & Boyd, 2013). Apart from controlling, FNP educates family members about healthy eating habits. As a leader, I will always be ready to encourage families to drink clean water or even boil water before drinking for them to end cases of cholera in the community.
FNP can also provide family planning services at homes. Since women find it comfortable to receive family planning services at their homes, as a nurse practitioner, I believe in respect, hence, I will be moving long distances to assist them. Besides, I will be educating women about the different methods they can use for family planning. Since FNP can perform physical examinations and screening, as a leader, I will educate other practitioners on the importance of screening before providing family planning services. Communities have old men and women. When people grow old, the body tends to be weak, and they are prone to diseases. Being a nurse leader, I will spare time to advise my teams on how they can help families to take care of the old people and the best diet to consider.
Leadership styles
Different work environments tend to have different leadership styles. The organization goals together with the culture are among the key things which will determine the type of leadership style. Each style appears to have its advantages and disadvantages, but it is the organization will choose the one that fits it. Leadership style is normally chosen by considering the type of project or task to be completed. Autocratic is one of the leadership styles. Autocratic is centered on the boss or the manager of the organization. The manager is the one to make decisions, and nobody is supposed to be consulted. After making decisions, the boss would then communicate to the subordinates and expect them to follow the new rules of the company. Autocratic denies employees to give their views during the decision-making process.
Democratic or participative is another style of leadership. Leaders who use democratic style tends to value the decisions made by other employees. All members participate in the decision-making process, and the leader is now the one to make the final decision. The style usually helps leaders to obtain valuable ideas and even to keep trust with other employees. It is the most preferred since it entails fairness and honesty.
Transformational leadership style is much focused on initiating change within the organization. Transformational leaders motivate other employees on how they can improve the productivity of the organization (Giltinane, 2013). Such leaders prefer to delegate some other duties so that the team can meet its goals with the set period. Transactional leadership style considers reward and punishment as the best way to ensure tasks are completed (Choi Sang, Lim Zhi & Tan Wee, 2016). Managers reward employees who perform their work well. Whereas, those who fail to complete their tasks are punished or corrected so that next time they can perform better.
Laissez-faire leadership style gives authority to workers. Organizations which have highly trained employees require minimal supervision; hence leaders do not spend much time to follow such employees. When employees lack control, they can fail to deliver quality services and thus poor production. Charismatic leadership is much concerned about how leaders can be able to inspire and motivate employees. Charismatic leaders energize employees and encourage them to perform even better. Visionary leaders are much focused on how the organization should be in the future. Such leaders use their skills and abilities to ensure the vision of the organization is accomplished. Team leadership style involves working closely with employees to ensure the organizational goals are met. Managers recognize teamwork as one way to increase productivity.
Democratic leadership style fits me. As a nurse practitioner, this style will help me to obtain ideas from other employees on how we can improve our services. Patients normally consider visiting healthcare which can give them the best service. Thus, as a democratic leader, I think it will be easier for me to make strong decisions with team members. Democracy allows distribution of responsibility. As a democratic leader, I will consider distributing responsibilities to another team member to encourage unity within the healthcare organization. Unity provides a chance whereby team members will be ready to share their challenges and find solutions to such problems. Also, democracy will give me an opportunity to empower other practitioners. Empowering my team members will be one way to motivate, and make them understand that they can solve some problems even in my absentia. Thus, patients can receive better services if team members are confident and have enough knowledge in nursing.
Strengths of democratic leadership style include honesty, fairness, trust, and it also results in creativity (Fiaz, Qin, Ikram & Saqib, 2017). Also, it makes a leader more competent since it allows leaders to seek advice before implementing something new. One disadvantage of democratic style it is time-consuming. Leaders spend a lot of time making consultations before they settle on the final decision. Due to the long process, some leaders end up procrastinating projects or issues. Lateness in making decisions can make an organization to lose some customers in the market.
Leadership Theories
Leadership theories try to explain the concepts which influence the effectiveness of leaders. Trait theory postulates that leaders are either born or not born with characteristics or qualities that will make them do extremely well in leadership. The theory suggests that certain qualities such as cognitive ability and personality can be inherited to help one become an effective leader. According to this theory, important leadership traits include creativity, intelligence, sociability, and sense of responsibility. Another leadership theory is known as great man theory; this theory was proposed by Thomas Carlyle. Great man theory assumes or believes that great leaders are born. From this theory, great leaders can only arise where great leaders already exist. It does not support the idea that good leaders can be made. Thus, for a community or a nation to have the best leaders, this theory proposes that their life history and background should be considered before choosing them. Also, as the name suggests, a great man, the theory only recognizes a man as the one who has good leadership qualities.
Transformational and behavioral leadership theories; the behavioral theory is much concerned with the behaviors of leaders while transformational tries to bring changes among individuals and the system. Behavioral theory believes that leaders can be made. According to this theory, many successful leaders have learned good leadership qualities from other great leaders (Wellman, 2017). As opposed to other theories, physical, mental or even social characteristics are not the one to decide whether an individual can be a great leader. It is divided into two; role theory and managerial grid. Managerial grid looks at how managers can motivate employees to increase the productivity of the organization. Role theory requires leaders to insert their own personality and properly perform their responsibilities.
Contingency theory suggests that there is no single way of leading. Leaders’ effectiveness should be based on specific situations or setting. Also, the style of leadership will depend on the characteristics of followers and tasks to be accomplished. Contingency theory makes leaders change their styles from time to time to ensure the organization meets its goals. Skill theory proposes that effective leaders should use the knowledge and skills or abilities they have learned from others for them to be good leaders. Skills theory encourages leaders to undergo thorough training for them to acquire leadership skills.
As a nurse practitioner, the best theory that would fit me is transformational leadership theory. One of the elements of transformational leadership theory is an individualized consideration. As a leader, I think considering all employees or team members’ is of great importance since it provides an opportunity to listen to their problems and needs. Communicating and supporting them to meet their goals will ensure tasks are completed within the required time. Also, transformational leadership gives me a chance to inspire other practitioners on how the vision of the healthcare can be accomplished. Followers always need to understand the importance of the tasks and projects that are handled at the organization. Transformational leadership will guarantee me a chance to explain to team members the importance of providing the community with health services at their homes. Another element that makes me to consider transformational leadership is an idealized influence. Team members might have some ideas, but they could not know how to put them in practice. Thus, as a transformational leader, I will be ready to listen to their ideas and give them advice on how they can implement and bring a change in the nursing field. Lastly, transformational leaders always participate or take part in all the activities that teams members are doing. As a practitioner and a team leader, I will lead as an example by participating in activities which will help the organization to develop and attract more patients.
Actions that I will take to evolve as a nurse leader
One of the actions that I will take is to choose the right partner. Nursing field has different people who tend to use a different style of leadership. I will consider a partner whom we have same visions, and we can use same leadership styles so that I can proper fast within the next five years. For me to prosper as a nurse leader, I need good leadership qualities and vision which can help me to move to the next level. Choosing a nurse whom we share some characteristics will help me to acquire some skills that will assist me to solve some challenges in the nursing field. Another action that I will consider is to build a diverse team. As a nurse leader, I need a diverse team whom they would be able to look at how healthcare services can be improved in the future (Harvey, Currall & Hammer, 2017). I do not require a team whom we think the same way. Having same ideas will give me challenges on how we can improve health services and become the best in the market. Also, a diverse team can be able to challenge me on the type of leadership style that I am using to ensure certain tasks are accomplished. Through the challenges, I will be able to learn new traits such as respect and the importance of collaboration when providing family care.
Practicing effective communication and being humble is another step that I will consider. Conflicts usually occur among team members. As a nurse leader, making the team members aware that I am always ready to discuss workplace issues, it would assist me to know the type of challenges my members have. Also, communicating with other employees about my expectations would help them to understand where we are heading and the benefits for the organization (Buppert, 2015). Communication is the best method to reduce misunderstanding among other nurse practitioners. Being humble will help me to admit my mistakes and apologize to my team members. Apologizing will help other members to know that we are all human beings and we can sometimes make mistakes. Such actions will make other practitioners to respect me.
I will master social media as a way to learn new things in the nursing field. Social media provides a room whereby I can be able to learn how other leaders perform their duties to enhance productivity. For instance, if there has been a pandemic in a certain region, I will learn how the nurse practitioners dealt with the issue so that I can be prepared if such disaster occurs in my area. Besides, I will study past leaders in the nursing field. Studying such leaders will give me an opportunity to know why they failed and what I should do to succeed in the future (Maxwell, 2005). Comparing also their leadership styles and progress they made, it will guarantee me to have the best style.
References
Buppert, C. (2015). Nurse practitioner’s business practice and legal guide (5th ed.). Sudbury, MA:Jones and Bartlett.
Choi Sang, L., Lim Zhi, Y., & Tan Wee, C. (2016). Analysis of the Relationship between Leadership Styles and Affective Organizational Commitment. International Journal of Management, Accounting & Economics, 3(10), 572-598.
Fiaz, M., Qin, S., Ikram, A., & Saqib, A. (2017). Leadership styles and employees’ motivation: perspective from an emerging economy. Journal of Developing Areas, 51(4), 143-156.
Giltinane, C. L. (2013). Leadership styles and theories. Nursing Standard, 27(41), 35-39.
Harvey, S., Currall, S. C., & Hammer, T. H. (2017). Decision diversion in diverse teams: findings from inside a corporate boardroom. Academy Of Management Discoveries, 3(4), 358-381. doi:10.5465/amd.2015.0129
Lowe, G., Plummer, V., & Boyd, L. (2013). Nurse practitioner roles in Australian healthcare settings. Nursing Management – UK, 20(2), 28-35.
Maxwell, J. C. (2005). Developing the leader within you. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishing.
Wellman, N. (2017). Authority or community? A relational models theory of group-level leadership emergence. Academy Of Management Review, 42(4), 596-617. doi:10.5465/amr.2015.0375