Introduction:
For the purpose of this assignment I shall focus on an issue within my workplace whereby my leadership skills presented as a focus point. My job involves working as a team leader for a busy community nursing service within a well populated urban area. The team comprises of a varied skill mix ranging from band 3 to band 6, some who are relatively new to the environment and others who have many years experience. In recent years there has been a rapid increase in the complexity of our caseload, as a team leader it became clear to me that the implementation of clinical supervision would be beneficial in empowering and supporting our staff by helping them to develop the skills necessary to effectively manage and cope with the demanding situations we currently face such as working in isolation, rapid role expansion and increasing professional responsibility and also emotional involvement with patients and carers. Butterworth and Faugier (1992) concisely explain clinical supervision as an activity that facilitates reflective practice, enabling nurses to question and evaluate their practice, supporting each other through listening and exploring options and possibilities for coping and developing both within themselves and patient care. As team lead and as someone who is keen to develop as a leader I nominated myself to implement this change. By implementing clinical supervision I seek to improve staff engagement, promote confidence and identify training needs with a view to improving staff relations and increasing professionalism.
Hannagan (1995) advocates leadership as the process of motivating other people to act in particular ways to achieve specific goals by a variety of means that denote leadership styles. This assignment will endeavor to critically analyse and reflect upon the development of my skills as a leader within the context of my work whilst exploring various leadership styles and linking the leadership theories
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