Topic 2 APA Assignment Leadership Style Reflective Essay NUR 514
Assessment Description
The purpose of this assignment is to assist learners in developing effective communication by emphasizing the proper application of APA style. APA style is required for the graduate program.
Refer to the resources in the Class Resources and Student Success Center for assistance with APA. Use the APA Style Guide resource, located in the Student Success Center, to complete this assignment.
For this assignment, complete the following:
Self-Assessment
Self-awareness is essential for developing leadership skills. Recognizing your own strengths, weaknesses, and values, and understanding emotional intelligence and learning styles can help you to be a more effective nurse leader.
For this assignment, you have the opportunity to take a variety of self-assessments to learn more about yourself and identify your assets and weaknesses as a leader. This will assist you in discovering how you can improve your own self-leadership skills. You will be asked to think critically about your results and submit a reflection as directed below.
Refer to the topic Resources. Select and complete three self-assessments. Be sure to document the results of each assessment to assist you in completing the reflection portion of the assignment below.
Self-Assessment Reflection
Becoming self-aware is an ongoing process requiring introspection. The more often people practice self-reflection, the more opportunities they have to understand their own behaviors and adapt their approaches to working with other people, which can improve both your own and other’s abilities to meet their professional goals.
In a 1,000-1,250 word reflective essay, address the following:
- Provide a rationale and brief summary for selecting each self-assessment. Summarize the results you obtained on each assessment.
- Identify the leadership style that closely aligns to your philosophy of care and explain what appeals to you about that style.
- Reflect on how you might incorporate elements of that particular style as you exercise leadership in a practice or health care organization setting.
- Discuss any particular areas for improvement the assessments helped you identify and some steps for improving your leadership capabilities.
- Analyze the characteristics of an effective professional nurse leader, or individuals in nursing leadership. Discuss the characteristics and explain why they are effective for leadership in nursing.
- Analyze different leadership theories and leadership styles. Select one theory and leadership style, different from your own, and explain how they each support a professional nurse leader or individual in nursing leadership. Consider how the theory shapes the nurse leader in such things as collaboration, conflict resolution, decision making, and negotiation.
You are required to cite three to five sources to complete this assignment. Sources must be published within the last 5 years and appropriate for the assignment criteria and nursing content.
Complete the “APA Writing Checklist” to ensure that your paper adheres to APA style and formatting criteria and general guidelines for academic writing. Include the completed checklist as an appendix at the end of your paper.
Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center.
This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.
You are required to submit this assignment to LopesWrite. A link to the LopesWrite technical support articles is located in Class Resources if you need assistance.
Attachments
Leadership Style Reflective Essay Example Approach
Various literature sources document leadership in nursing as a product of various concepts such as personality, personal and professional values, knowledge level and learning capacity, and interpersonal interaction skills. Various leadership styles are determined by the leader’s values, personality, and interpersonal influence among other factors (Denisco, 2019). Interpersonal influence impacts their social interaction with colleagues and thus the effectiveness of their leadership. Nursing leaders should be self-aware of their qualities for effective utilization of their most appropriate leadership style (Weberg et al., 2018). I evaluated my leadership capabilities by performing various self-assessment tests which included emotional intelligence, personal values, personality, cultural diversity, and learning styles. The purpose of this reflective essay paper is to describe qualities regarding these self-assessments and purpose the most appropriate leadership style.
Self-Assessment
Emotional Intelligence
I conducted a self-assessment test on my emotional intelligence because developing emotional intelligence is one of the key strategies to achieving specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timebound (SMART) goals in leadership. To be emotionally intelligent, the nurse leader should understand factors that contribute to behavior and be aware of the best ways to approach these factors to manage people (Weberg et al., 2018). Emotional intelligence contributes to the intellectual capacity that is necessary for successful leadership (Bessie & Huston, 2020). Emotional responses influence productivity and teamwork in a nursing care setting thus important to acquire emotional intelligence knowledge and skills. This is the main reason why I chose this assessment. The emotional intelligence self-assessment test that I undertook had 341 questions that assessed the ability to identify emotions in the self. I score 73% on this test the snapshot of the results showed that my strengths in emotional intelligence include m ability to identify the way my body reacts at the physiological level. I averagely scored at the identification of complex emotions. Nevertheless, I feel content with my emotional intelligence capacity.
Personality Test
I performed a self-assessment test involving the Big-Five personalities. According to Peterson & Bredow (2020), Hildegard Peplau’s theory of interpersonal relations theory defined personality as a “pattern that is relatively stable and that characterizes persisting situations in the life of an individual.” Nurses need to understand their own personalities to appreciate the psychobiological experiences of others. This would enable a leader to identify task deficits and supplement these tasks to maximize team outcomes (Peterson & Bredow, 2020). I chose this self-assessment to understand my personality strengths and weakness that would determine leadership decision-making and team management. The result of this test revealed that I scored 84% on Big Five Personality Test. My key personality is extroversion. I am mostly extroverted and sociable but with little introverted tendencies. I feel stimulated being around others but content to spend time alone and with personal tasks. However, tasks that require so much solitude are likely to stifle me.
Learning Styles Assessment
Learning is a continuous and lifelong process thus important in leadership and nursing management (Denisco, 2019). Learning new roles promotes professional specialization (Bessie & Huston, 2020). To assess my best learning styles, I took the VARK Questionnaire self-assessment. This test assessed visual, aural, read/write, and kinesthetic abilities in learning. I scored highest in visual, aural, and kinesthetic learning at 14, 13, and 15 respectively but better at reading/writing strategies (9). Therefore, I can sustain read/write learning but can perform best with multimodal learning strategies involving visual, aural, and kinesthetic techniques of learning. I have strong preferences for learning by seeing, listening, and doing. This will enhance my versatility to adapt to changes in learning and acquiring knowledge from different sources
Values Assessment
Values and expectations in nursing practice and leadership are essential for professional advancement. According to Stanley (2022), embracing value-based leadership enables the nurse leader to apply cultural diversity and culture change. Value-based leadership links the leader’s values to their actions. Values and roles need to work in tandem to enable clinically focused nurses to move clearly and decisively to express congruent leadership (Stanley, 2022). A nurse, therefore, needs to understand their values and strengths to fulfill their leadership roles. Therefore, I took a value assessment test that assessed dominant, influencing, and minor values. The tests restored that my dominant values include theoretical values, social values, and realistic values. My influencing values were traditional, aesthetic values, and political values. However, no minor values were returned. According to this test, theoretical, social, and realistic values are the most important to me while traditional, aesthetic, and political values are of moderate importance to me.
Diversity Assessment
Cultural diversity is a common concept that has been emphasized in contemporary nursing as part o quality improvement in nursing care (Potter et al., 2020). I took the Cultural Competence Self-Test to understand areas that I need to address to improve my care provision to coitally diverse pupations. This test assessed values & attitudes, physical environment, and communication styles. From this assessment, I feel confident in the frequency of good utilization of the physical environment, my personal values, and good communication to provide neutral and culturally-sensitive care
Specific Leadership Style
The above assessment showed that I portray satisfactory emotional intelligence, I am extroverted and enjoy being around others, treasure social and realistic values, learn best through interaction seeing, simulating, hearing, and practicing, and exhibit satisfactory culturally-sensitive skills. These skills align well with a transformational leadership style. The transformational leadership style is based on vision, self-knowledge, trust, and communication (Bessie & Huston, 2020; Stanley, 2022). What appeals to me most about this leadership style is the focus on vision and goals and the ability to manage change (Butts & Rich, 2021). A transformational leader has a dream, can articulate this effectively, is consistent, and can be trusted by followers, and trust themselves without letting their ego intervene.
Incorporating Transformational Leadership Style
My social interaction skills and extroversion enable me to communicate and influence others. My vision can bring others to focus with common goals that ensure win-win situations thus good conflict resolution and cohesion among teams. I am versatile and can adapt to change to meet the common goals in a team setting but values realistic process for these achievements. I build on mutual stimulation that I believe can transform others into leaders and moral agents.
Areas of Improvement
The assessment enabled me to realize the need to improve in emotional intelligence regarding complex emotions. Emotions that are obvious but present with mixed feelings still challenge me but I believe that with further practice and situation tests, I will improve this aspect of nursing leadership. This concept has enlightened me that more than one emotion can be presented by an individual and can influence the way to approach such emotional situations to keep the person in the team and focus on the goals.
Characteristics of an Effective Professional Nurse Leader
From the above assessments, I can point out that an effective professional nurse leader should therefore be emotionally intelligent, has a set of personal and professional values that guide decisions and actions, communicates well, and can work with different personalities. The ability to work with different personalities makes the professional nurse leader situational and transformative at the same time. Possession skills such as communication, social interaction, and learning also complement an effective nurse leader.
Leadership Theories and Styles
Some of the leadership theories include transformational theory, situational theory, trait theory, and the great man theory. The transformational theory of leadership suggests that nurse leaders seek to satisfy higher needs by settling on potential motives that drive followers. Situational theory suggests that the situation and occasion determine the right thing to do by the leader regarding decision-making and actions. Trait theory explains that a leader can possess multiple traits but no leader can possess all traits of a good leader. The great man theory is traditional and believes that all leaders were men and were great and noble. The situational theory is different from my preferred theory, transformational, but emphasizes on versatility and uniqueness of situations. Understanding uniqueness can enable a leader to maneuver different and difficult situations. This feature can enable the leader to negotiate with different personnel, collaborate with different professionals in various cadres, and resolve conflict using different styles among individuals with different personality traits.
Conclusion
This reflective essay is based on self-assessment that has made me realize some potential skills that I can utilize as a future leader in nursing. Key themes are emotional intelligence, communication, value-based leadership, cultural sensitivity, and continuous learning. I have established myself as a transformational leader but can use a situational leadership style at times.
References
Bessie, L., & Huston, C. (2020). Leadership roles and management functions in nursing: Theory and application (10th ed.). Wolters Kluwer Health.
Butts, J. B., & Rich, K. L. (2021). Philosophies and theories for advanced nursing practice (4th ed.). Jones and Bartlett.
Denisco, S. M. (2019). Advanced practice nursing: Essential knowledge the profession: Essential knowledge for the profession (4th ed.). Jones & Bartlett.
Peterson, S., & Bredow, T. S. (2020). Middle range theories: Application to nursing research and practice. Wolters Kluwer Health.
Potter, P. A., Perry, A. G., Stockert, P. A., & Hall, A. (2020). Fundamentals of nursing (10th ed.). Elsevier – Health Sciences Division.
Stanley, D. (2022). Clinical leadership in nursing and healthcare 3rd edition. Wiley-Blackwell.
Weberg, D., Mangold, K., Porter-O’Grady, T., & Malloch, K. (2018). Leadership In Nursing Practice (3rd ed.). Jones and Bartlett.
Rubric Criteria
Collapse All Rubric CriteriaCollapse All
Summary of Self-Assessment Selections and Results
6.25 points
Criteria Description
Summary of Self-Assessment Selections and Results
5. 5: Excellent
6.25 points
A comprehensive summary of why each self-assessment was selected and the results obtained on each assessment is thoroughly developed with supporting details.
4. 4: Good
5.75 points
A summary of why each self-assessment was selected and the results obtained on each assessment is clearly provided and well developed.
3. 3: Satisfactory
5.5 points
A summary of why each self-assessment was selected and the results obtained on each assessment is present.
2. 2: Less Than Satisfactory
5 points
A summary of why each self-assessment was selected and the results obtained on each assessment is present, but it lacks detail or is incomplete.
1. 1: Unsatisfactory
0 points
A summary of why each self-assessment was selected and the results obtained on each assessment is not included.
A Specific Leadership Style That Aligns With Philosophy of Care, Including Appeal
6.25 points
Criteria Description
A Specific Leadership Style That Aligns With Philosophy of Care, Including Appeal
5. 5: Excellent
6.25 points
A comprehensive discussion of a specific leadership style that aligns with philosophy of care, including appeal, is thoroughly developed with supporting details.
4. 4: Good
5.75 points
A discussion of a specific leadership style that aligns with philosophy of care, including appeal, is clearly provided and well developed.
3. 3: Satisfactory
5.5 points
A discussion of a specific leadership style that aligns with philosophy of care, including appeal, is present.
2. 2: Less Than Satisfactory
5 points
A discussion of a specific leadership style that aligns with philosophy of care, including appeal, is present, but it lacks detail or is incomplete.
1. 1: Unsatisfactory
0 points
A discussion of a specific leadership style that aligns with philosophy of care, including appeal, is not included.
Reflection on How to Incorporate Elements of the Leadership Style
6.25 points
Criteria Description
Reflection on How to Incorporate Elements of the Leadership Style
5. 5: Excellent
6.25 points
A comprehensive reflection on how to incorporate elements of the leadership style is thoroughly developed with supporting details.
4. 4: Good
5.75 points
A reflection on how to incorporate elements of the leadership style is clearly provided and well developed.
3. 3: Satisfactory
5.5 points
A reflection on how to incorporate elements of the leadership style is present.
2. 2: Less Than Satisfactory
5 points
A reflection on how to incorporate elements of the leadership style is present, but it lacks detail or is incomplete.
1. 1: Unsatisfactory
0 points
A reflection on how to incorporate elements of the leadership style is not included.
Areas for Self-Improvement, Including Steps to Improve Leadership Capabilities
6.25 points
Criteria Description
Areas for Self-Improvement, Including Steps to Improve Leadership Capabilities
5. 5: Excellent
6.25 points
A comprehensive discussion of areas for self-improvement, including steps to improve leadership capabilities, is thoroughly developed with supporting details.
4. 4: Good
5.75 points
A discussion of areas for self-improvement, including steps to improve leadership capabilities, is clearly provided and well developed.
3. 3: Satisfactory
5.5 points
A discussion of areas for self-improvement, including steps to improve leadership capabilities, is present.
2. 2: Less Than Satisfactory
5 points
A discussion of areas for self-improvement, including steps to improve leadership capabilities, is present, but it lacks detail or is incomplete.
1. 1: Unsatisfactory
0 points
A discussion of areas for self-improvement, including steps to improve leadership capabilities, is not included.
Characteristics of Effective Professional Nurse Leader
6.25 points
Criteria Description
Characteristics of Effective Professional Nurse Leader
5. 5: Excellent
6.25 points
Characteristics of an effective professional nurse leader, or individuals in nursing leadership, are thoroughly discussed. A detailed explanation for why these are effective for leadership in nursing is clearly presented.
4. 4: Good
5.75 points
Characteristics of an effective professional nurse leader, or individuals in nursing leadership, are discussed. An explanation for why these are effective for leadership in nursing is presented.
3. 3: Satisfactory
5.5 points
Characteristics of an effective professional nurse leader, or individuals in nursing leadership, are summarized. An explanation why these are effective for leadership in nursing is outlined.
2. 2: Less Than Satisfactory
5 points
Characteristics of an effective professional nurse leader, or individuals in nursing leadership, are only partially discussed.
1. 1: Unsatisfactory
0 points
Characteristics of an effective professional nurse leader, or individuals in nursing leadership, are not discussed.
Application of Leadership Theory and Style Different Personal Style
6.25 points
Criteria Description
Application of Leadership Theory and Style Different Personal Style
5. 5: Excellent
6.25 points
A different theory and leadership style, and how they support a professional nurse leader, or individual in nursing leadership are clearly explained. How the theory shapes the nurse leader in such things as collaboration, conflict resolution, decision making, and negotiation is thoroughly discussed.
4. 4: Good
5.75 points
A different theory and leadership style, and how they support a professional nurse leader, or individual in nursing leadership are explained. How the theory shapes the nurse leader in such things as collaboration, conflict resolution, decision making, and negotiation is generally discussed.
3. 3: Satisfactory
5.5 points
A different theory and leadership style, and how they support a professional nurse leader, or individual in nursing leadership are summarized. How the theory shapes the nurse leader in such things as collaboration, conflict resolution, decision making, and negotiation is outlined.
2. 2: Less Than Satisfactory
5 points
A different theory and leadership style, and how they support a professional nurse leader, or individual in nursing leadership, are only partially discussed.
1. 1: Unsatisfactory
0 points
A different theory and leadership style, and how they support a professional nurse leader, or individual in nursing leadership, are omitted.
Required Sources
6.25 points
Criteria Description
Required Sources
5. 5: Excellent
6.25 points
Number of required resources is met. Sources are current, and appropriate for the assignment criteria and nursing content.
4. 4: Good
5.75 points
Number of required sources is met. Sources are current, but not all sources are appropriate for the assignment criteria and nursing content.
3. 3: Satisfactory
5.5 points
Number of required sources is met, but sources are outdated or inappropriate.
2. 2: Less Than Satisfactory
5 points
Number of required sources is only partially met.
1. 1: Unsatisfactory
0 points
Sources are not included.
Title Page
6.25 points
Criteria Description
Title Page
5. 5: Excellent
6.25 points
The title page is presented. The required format is applied correctly. There are no errors.
4. 4: Good
5.75 points
The title page is presented. The required formatting is applied, although there may be one or two errors.
3. 3: Satisfactory
5.5 points
The title page is presented. The required formatting is applied but there are minor errors.
2. 2: Less Than Satisfactory
5 points
The title page reflects some required formatting, but overall it is not correctly applied.
1. 1: Unsatisfactory
0 points
The title page is not formatted according to required style. The title page is omitted.
Introduction
12.5 points
Criteria Description
Introduction
5. 5: Excellent
12.5 points
The introduction is presented. The required formatting is applied correctly. There are no errors.
4. 4: Good
11.5 points
The introduction is presented. The required formatting is applied, although there may be one or two errors.
3. 3: Satisfactory
11 points
An introduction is presented. The required formatting is applied but there are minor errors.
2. 2: Less Than Satisfactory
10 points
An introduction is presented but the overall required formatting is not consistently or correctly applied.
1. 1: Unsatisfactory
0 points
The introduction is not presented in required format. The introduction is omitted.
Main Body
18.75 points
Criteria Description
Main Body
5. 5: Excellent
18.75 points
The sections of the main body are organized to reflect the main points of the author. The required formatting is applied correctly. There are no errors.
4. 4: Good
17.25 points
The sections of the main body are clear. The required formatting is applied, although there may be one or two errors.
3. 3: Satisfactory
16.5 points
The sections of the main body are generally identifiable. The required formatting is applied but there are minor errors.
2. 2: Less Than Satisfactory
15 points
The main body is disorganized. Overall, the required formatting is not consistently or correctly applied.
1. 1: Unsatisfactory
0 points
The required formatting is not used for the main body.
APA Style Citations
12.5 points
Criteria Description
APA Style Citations
5. 5: Excellent
12.5 points
All sources are cited. The required style and format are correctly applied and are free from error.
4. 4: Good
11.5 points
All sources are cited. The required style and format are applied and mostly correct. There may be one or two errors.
3. 3: Satisfactory
11 points
Most sources are cited. One may be missing. The required style and format are typically applied. Some errors are present.
2. 2: Less Than Satisfactory
10 points
Citation of sources is incomplete. The use of the required style for citation of sources is inconsistent and incorrect.
1. 1: Unsatisfactory
0 points
Sources are not cited throughout. The required style is not used for citations. Sources are not included.
Appendix
6.25 points
Criteria Description
Appendix
5. 5: Excellent
6.25 points
The APA Writing Checklist is complete and attached in the appendix. The required formatting is applied correctly. There are no errors.
4. 4: Good
5.75 points
The APA Writing Checklist is complete and attached in the appendix. The required formatting is applied, although there may be one or two errors.
3. 3: Satisfactory
5.5 points
The APA Writing Checklist is complete and attached in the appendix. The required formatting is applied but there are minor errors.
2. 2: Less Than Satisfactory
5 points
The APA Writing Checklist is attached in the appendix but is incomplete. The appendix reflects some of the required formatting, but overall it is not correctly applied.
1. 1: Unsatisfactory
0 points
The appendix is not formatted according to the required style. The appendix and APA Writing Checklist are omitted.
References
6.25 points
Criteria Description
References
5. 5: Excellent
6.25 points
Sources are completely and correctly documented on a References page, as appropriate to assignment and the required style, and format is free of error.
4. 4: Good
5.75 points
Sources are documented on a References page, as appropriate to assignment and the required style, and format is mostly correct.
3. 3: Satisfactory
5.5 points
The APA Writing Checklist is complete and attached in the appendix. The required formatting is applied but there are minor errors.Sources are documented on a References page, as appropriate to assignment and the required style, although some formatting errors may be present.
2. 2: Less Than Satisfactory
5 points
Documentation of sources using a References page is inconsistent or incorrect, as appropriate to assignment and the required style, with numerous formatting errors.
1. 1: Unsatisfactory
0 points
Sources are not documented. A References page is not included.
Thesis Development and Purpose
12.5 points
Criteria Description
Thesis Development and Purpose
5. 5: Excellent
12.5 points
Thesis is comprehensive and contains the essence of the paper. Thesis statement makes the purpose of the paper clear.
4. 4: Good
11.5 points
Thesis is clear and forecasts the development of the paper. Thesis is descriptive and reflective of the arguments and appropriate to the purpose.
3. 3: Satisfactory
11 points
Thesis is apparent and appropriate to purpose.
2. 2: Less Than Satisfactory
10 points
Thesis is insufficiently developed or vague. Purpose is not clear.
1. 1: Unsatisfactory
0 points
Paper lacks any discernible overall purpose or organizing claim.
Mechanics of Writing (includes spelling, punctuation, grammar, and language use)
6.25 points
Criteria Description
Mechanics of Writing (includes spelling, punctuation, grammar, and language use)
5. 5: Excellent
6.25 points
The writer is clearly in command of standard, written, academic English.
4. 4: Good
5.75 points
Prose is largely free of mechanical errors, although a few may be present. The writer uses a variety of effective sentence structures and figures of speech.
3. 3: Satisfactory
5.5 points
Some mechanical errors or typos are present, but they are not overly distracting to the reader. Correct and varied sentence structure and audience-appropriate language are employed.
2. 2: Less Than Satisfactory
5 points
Frequent and repetitive mechanical errors distract the reader. Inconsistencies in language choice (register) or word choice are present. Sentence structure is correct but not varied.
1. 1: Unsatisfactory
0 points
Surface errors are pervasive enough that they impede communication of meaning. Inappropriate word choice or sentence construction is employed.
