#1
Follower Contributions
Active participation in unit goals is a great feature to have as a follower. Followers who actively contribute to the vision and goals of the leaders and the organization make the workplace safer for patient care and staff. An example of active participation includes being a member of a council. For example, I am a member of my unit professional council and we strive to bring up issues that plague our unit and ways in which we can deal with the issues at hand. Education seems to be what most followers need in order to be equipped to handle the issues. Our council makes sure that we are equipped with the knowledge to handle the issues that arise by coordinating in-services and running mock training for the rest of the unit. Followers are essential for implementing care processes, maintaining patient safety, and ensuring high-quality care through collaboration, accountability, and critical thinking in practice (Yoder-Wise, 2023).
Consequences of Undermining
Recently there was an issue in our unit regarding tardiness. The followers that arrived late did not fully attend "start of the shift huddle" and missed the new information update during the huddle which led to insufficient documentation. This occurred during a time when our EMR was being updated to a newer version. The nurses who were late caused issues with workflow as they were constantly being educated on their new documentation practices. The leader and team had to pick up slack for the nurses who arrived tardy for disbursement of crucial information. For example, our unit documents pain assessment every hour and a reassessment every four hours. Misses in documentation could lead to the a fallout in the organization's documentation goals and could lead to serious legal issues.
Fostering Collaboration
I am happy to say that I have been blessed with strong leadership in my career. In my opinion, strong leaders aren't afraid of getting their hands dirty and lead by example. This type of leadership style ups the morale of the unit and promotes strong work ethic that inspires followers to do the same. Another great way that I have seen leaders foster collaboration is by engaging followers in decision making. Collaborative decision-making allows followers to feel valued, increasing their motivation and willingness to support implementation efforts.
Ruiz's Four Agreements
Don't Take Anything Personally is the agreement that resonates with me the most. This agreement can be handled in a positive or negative way as a leader or a follower. I have seen more followers take things too personal compared to leaders. Every healthcare worker has been faced with this type of situation. As a follower, I have been in situations where I could of done the negative action by taking things personally, but in my mind I know that the negative option would make things worse for the team and myself. When these situations occur, you have to stand your ground and be true to who you are as a person and not fall for the trap. Leaders show a strong backbone because they are the ones that endure more, in my opinion. As a leader it is crucial to not take things personally, because the followers can sense when leaders are in internal distress. The positive outcome from not taking things personally is learning from the encounter and growing as a follower or a leader.
#2
- Follower Contributions: Share specific examples from your nursing practice where followers have significantly contributed to achieving organizational goals. How did their actions or behaviors support the leader's efforts? Recently we have had joint commission come to complete their survey. My manager, the leader, was doing her best to prepare but it was really the nursing staff, the follows who really assisted in supporting the leaders efforts.
- Consequences of Undermining: Describe instances where followers' actions or behaviors have undermined a leader's attempts to achieve organizational goals. What were the negative consequences for the leader, the team, and the organization? All procedures require a consent form and some hospitals mandate that only the providers completing the procedure can fill out and witness the consent form. My hospital allowed nurses to do this only if the providers have already discussed the risks and benefits with the patient first. Upper management, the leaders, changed the policy to providers only completing these consent forms, and some providers, who are the followers in this scenario undermined and fought against this policy. The policy did not last very long.
- Fostering Collaboration: Identify strategies that leaders can use to foster collaboration and trust with followers. Share personal experiences or observations where these strategies have been effective. Leaders can foster collaboration and trust by being compassionate with their staff, taking suggestions and input from everyone as a team setting. This has been effective on my unit and has helped us run smoothly in providing patient care safely. "One approach is compassionate leadership, which nurses can use to empower, support and care for their colleagues. It may also underpin the fundamentals of care delivery because when staff are treated with compassion themselves, they are more able to direct their support and care to others, which can lead to higher quality care and increased patient satisfaction