The Leadership Matrix Survey indicated that my leadership type is Authoritarian.

This means I
am strong in tasks but weak on people skills. I would say that authoritarian is an accurate
description of my leadership style and therefore agree with the results of the survey. Strengths as
an authoritarian leader include accomplishing tasks, staying on schedule, and following policies
and procedures. Frandsen (2013), who works with the American Association of Nurse
Assessment Coordination (AANAC), states that "the positive side of this style is that it works
perfectly in emergencies or chaotic situations where there is little time for discussion". Giddens
(2013) proclaims in Concepts for nursing practice that this leadership style was "thought to be
effective for leading new employees and large groups and for controlling work that needs to be
coordinated among many departments" (p. 375-376). It appears that my leadership style is
beneficial only in certain environments or departments, such as the ER. The leadership style that
was strong in both tasks and people skills was Team Leadership, which would seem to be the
ideal leadership type. In order to strengthen my leadership style, I need to work on my people
skills. This means that I need to take my peers opinions and ideas into consideration when it
comes to decision making, encourage my peers creativity (as well as my own), and establish a
line of communication that is open to promote trust and teamwork. I can begin to accomplish this
by viewing myself and my peers as a team and keep in mind that we will all be practicing
members of a multi-disciplinary healthcare team (SLO #5). Knowing that we will be doing a lot
of group work this semester will give me plenty of opportunity to take into consideration my
peers opinions and ideas and work on this weakness.
My personal management style according to the Management Style Assessment is a blend of
styles I (Commanders) and III (Maintenance Managers). The description of commanders and
maintenance managers put forth from the assessment actually validates my authoritarian
leadership type as indicated by the Leadership Matrix Survey, further validating that I am a task
oriented individual that favors routine and schedules and that I need to work on my people skills
and building relationships.
Giddens (2013) declares that you cant have leaders without followers. I agree and would like to
discuss the characteristics that make a good leader. Grossman and Valiga (2012) state in The new
leadership challenge: Creating the future of nursing that there are five fundamental elements of
leadership. The five elements are vision, communication skills, change, stewardship, and
developing and renewing followers. I would agree but would like to specify that honesty,
patience, confidence, a positive attitude, the ability to multitask, and the ability to prioritize and
delegate tasks are characteristics needed in a good leader. Grossman and Valiga (2012) define a
follower as an "individual that takes another as a role model and who acts in accordance with,
imitates, supports, and advocates the ideas and opinions of another" (p. 46). Giddens asserts that
every successful organization must have followers who are enthusiastic, intelligent, and reliable
participants in the pursuit of organizational goals (p. 376). These are just a few attributes a good
follower must possess in my opinion. I would like to add that good followers need to also be able
to complete assigned tasks and take/follow direction.

References
Frandsen, B. (2013). Nursing leadership: Management & leadership styles. Retrieved from
https://www.aanac.org/docs/white-papers/2013-nursing-leadership---managementleadership-styles.pdf?sfvrsn=4.
Giddens, J.F. (2013). Concepts for nursing practice. St. Louis, MO: Elsevier.
Grossman, S.C., & Valiga, T.M. (2012). The new leadership challenge: Creating the future of
nursing (4th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: F.A. Davis Company.