Leadership Philosophy and Capability Statement

Dewing and McCormack (2015) wrote that engaged employees have a distinct sense of personal attachment to their work and their organisation, were more motivated, and thus more able to help a project succeed. This philosophy informs how I lead in my practice. I feel it is this positivity, sense of attachment to people and place, and shared values, that provides the strongest supportive leadership for the staff, and patients with Spinal Cord Injuries, at the Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney.

As I reflect on my personal growth, and the culmination of the received teachings in the Leadership in Practice course at University of Tasmania (UTAS), I have often noted significant attachment in myself, and my coworkers, which binds us together so strongly. This is notwithstanding a huge, state-wide, multidisciplinary team, multiple nursing ranks, different cultural backgrounds of patients and staff, and wide age ranges (Fenton-White 2021; Kifley et al 2022). The patient cohort requires adaptable, hardy, indefatigable, motivated staff (Kifley et al 2022). To role model the highest professional practice was my sought-after style when a New Graduate RN. I am now a Grade 3 Clinical Nurse Consultant (CNC) and that rank requires a higher qualification, and significant leadership capabilities (Keogh, Robinson & Parnell 2019; NSLHD 2019).

Since the early days of researching practice development it was acknowledged that clinical managers have the most frequent interaction with nurses and are in a unique position to exert influence on nursing practice (Rycroft-Malone et al 2004). While CNCs are not managerial, we have an equally powerful rank within the Health Service as experienced specialists with formative roles in clinical service planning, research, and project leading, for example, which all use traditional managerial elements (Keogh, Robinson & Parnell 2019; NSLHD 2019; Rosa, Schlak & Rushton 2020). This taught me to allow focus on attributes that may not naturally be at the forefront of this nurse leader’s behaviour yet are employed to best effect changes (Keogh, Robinson & Parnell 2019).

Critical social science became the theoretical underpinning of practice development framework as per Manley & McCormack (2003) who suggested the philosophy enables individual growth and development via practical change interventions and programs. Many leadership theories have been promoted in nursing but, as suggested in Markey et al (2022) I resonate with the positive relational styles and choose to focus on working on human relationships to promote positive change though Markey et al (2022) state these are abstract tenets and hard to apply in real life.

Over two decades in my speciality I have witnessed the struggle to get staff engaged, the efforts to launch new processes and new methods of practice, with varying amounts of success, and little to no reported evaluation. Furthermore I saw evidence of compassion fatigue, worst after the Covid-19 pandemic, via emotional exhaustion, a hallmark indicator of a lack of engagement and attachment (Abernathy & Martin 2019). Throughout the pandemic, and since, the adjustments in global practice, and our local work environment, have undergone multiple successful changes, locally, state-wide, nationally and internationally (Rosa, Schlak & Rushton 2020; Fenton-White, 2021; Lin & Miguel-Cruz 2022).

Progressing through my post-graduate degree, I find my leadership is less about role-modelling and more focussed on relational skills such as facilitation – building capability in others, mentoring, and promoting critical thinking and a problem-solving mentality (McCormack, Manley & Titchen 2013; Abernathy & Martin 2019), thus enhancing a sense of personal well-being in staff and patients, promoting practice development culture, and augmenting staff-patient relationships (Rycroft-Malone et al 2004). It has been frequently drawn to my attention that I bring passion and enthusiasm to my role, leveraging influence and excellent communication skills for better nursing knowledge and patient outcomes.

I now recognise, and act upon, more opportunities for increasing my own capability as an authentic leader. I have joined a new Local Health District (LHD)-wide promotion that I will receive first, and then aim to provide: Clinical Supervision – a protected professional space for deliberation on actions and instances through facilitated critical reflection, (NSLHD 2019) ideally away from the workplace to be able to be neutral, in order to help retain that powerful sense of personal attachment in workplace, and self-pride. It differs from mentorship by being conducted within exclusive and dedicated space, usually away from the workspace, and it is formally structured. With goals of fostering integrity and open and honest dialogue (Markey et al 2022) it will be a planned and meaningful portal to practicing authentic nursing leadership.

Reference List

Abernathy, S & Martin, R 2019, Reducing compassion fatigue with self-care and mindfulness, Nursing Critical Care, available < www.nursingcriticalcare.com>, Wolters Kluwer Health Incorporated.

Dewing, J & McCormack, B 2015, Engagement: a critique of the concept and its application to person-centred care, International Practice Development Journal, Vol 5, pp 1-10.

Fenton-White, H 2021, Sharing the journey for Spinal Injuries in New South Wales: Sixty years of the Royal North Shore Hospital Spinal Unit, ResearchGate.net, accessed 12/12/2021, available < researchgate.net/profile/Hugh-Fenton-White/publication/348740294_Sharing_the_journey_for_Spinal_Injuries_in_New_South_Wales_Sixty_years_of_the_Royal_North_Shore_Hospital_Spinal_Unit/links/600e4e46a6fdccdcb87abefb/Sharing-the-journey-for-Spinal-Injuries-in-New-South-Wales-Sixty-years-of-the-Royal-North-Shore-Hospital-Spinal-Unit.pdf>

Keogh, TJ, Robinson, JC & Parnell, JM 2019, Assessing Behavioral Styles Among Nurse Managers: Implications for Leading Effective Teams, Hospital Topics, Vol. 97, pp. 32-38.

Kifley, A, Arora, M, Nunn, A, Marshall, R, Geraghty, T, Weber, G, Urquhart, S, Craig, A, Cameron, ID & Middleton, JW 2023, Australian arm of the International Spinal Cord Injury (Aus-InSCI) Community Survey: 3. Drivers of quality of life in people with spinal cord injury, Spinal Cord, Vol 61, pp. 185-193.

Liu, L & Miguel-Cruz, A 2022, Technology adoption and diffusion in healthcare at onset of COVID-19 and beyond, Healthcare Managers Forum, 8404704211058842.

Manley, K & McCormack, B 2003, Practice development: purpose, methodology, facilitation and evaluation, Nursing in Critical Care, Vol. 8, pp. 22-29.

Markey K, Moloney M, Doody O, Robinson S 2022, Time to re-envisage integrity among nurse leaders, Journal of Nursing Management, Vol. 30, Issue 7, pp 2236-2240.

McCormack, B, Manley, K & Titchen, A 2013, Practice Development in Nursing and Healthcare, Wiley.

Northern Sydney Local Health District 2019, Position Description: Clinical Nurse Consultant - Spinal Injuries. In: NSLHD (ed.). NSW Health.

Rosa, WE, Schlak, AE & Rushton, CH 2020, A blueprint for leadership during COVID-19, Nursing Management, Vol. 51, pp. 28-34.

Rycroft-Malone J, Harvey G, Seers K, Kitson A, McCormack B & Titchen, A 2004, An exploration of the factors that influence the implementation of evidence into practice, Journal of Clinical Nursing, Vol. 13, pp. 913–924.