Discussion instructions: During the past two years while in nursing school, you have practiced

in multiple settings with health care workers in various roles, what are the characteristics of a
good leader and a good follower? Now that you have identified your dominant management style
by completing the Management Style Assessment located in Laulima, Resource tab, what are
your strengths and what action steps to you plan to take to strengthen your leadership style?
Refer to discussion rubric in Laulima: Resources, course materials for grading criteria. 10 Points

Response:
According to Cherry & Jacob, leadership is defined as, any time a person attempts to
influence the beliefs, opinions, or behaviors of a person or group (2011). To me, a good leader
is someone who is able to work fairly with a group of people, set goals, and help the group attain
that goal. In order to do that, the leader must be willing to hear the opinions from his followers,
and make decisions that will benefit all members. A good leader should also be able to pre-
visualize any problems that may arise in the future, and plan ahead to deal with such problems. A
leader should be empathetic, considerate, reasonable, decisive, and confident in all that he does.
In order to be considered a leader however, it must be seen in ones actions. Cherry & Jacobs
states, It is important to note that leaders may not have formal authority granted by the
organization but are still able to influence others. The job title such as nurse manager will not
make a nurse a leader. The nurses behavior determines his or her ability to be viewed as a
leader (2011).
Followers, on the other hand, is a group of people the work together to accomplish the
goal enforced by the leader. As many have already quoted, according to Giddens, There are no
leaders without followers and no followers without leaders (2012), which is true because both


leaders and followers need each other to successfully function. After all, almost all leaders
usually start off as a follower. To me, a good follower is someone who is able to fulfill the
responsibilities that the leader assigns them, with quality effort and a willing spirit. They should
also be able to humble themselves in order to obtain assignments and be ready to accept the
opinions of others, even of those that dont agree with their own. A good follower should also be
enthusiastic, passionate, obedient, honest, and able to take credit for the work that they do.
According to the Management Style Assessment, I am under Style II: Shepherd. It
describes a shepherd as one who is people-pleasing, sharing and participative, accommodating,
procrastinating, emotional, and conflict-avoidingwhich describes me perfectly. I am one who
likes to help facilitate, but I am not one who likes to be at the head of things. I always try my best
to make everyone satisfied, and I would stay out of conflicts as much as possible, just so that I
could get along with others and focus on more important things. As much as procrastination
could be risky, I actually find it easier to work and think under pressure. According to the second
part of the assessment, my strengths are building relationships and keeping in touch with
peoples feelings. Whether I come to know somebody personally or not, I always like to see
people happy, and I try my best to build trust in as much people as I can. Some things that I
could work on however, are managing a crisis and implementing new projects, and I feel like this
class, along with all my other nursing classes will help me do just that.




References
Cherry, B. & Jacob, S. (2011). Contemporary nursing: Issues, Trends and Management (5thed).
St. Louis: Elsevier.
Giddens, J. (2012). Concepts for nursing practice. St. Louis: Elsevier.