Key Nursing Leadership Behaviors

Employers value today’s nursing, and healthcare leaders for their ability to address the many unanticipated challenges as healthcare undergoes unprecedented transformational changes. Leaders must be strategic thinkers who address emerging challenges through innovative and creative approaches.

The nursing behavioral leadership examples outlined in this guide are the behavioral skills demonstrated by many of today’s successful nursing and healthcare leaders. So whether you are a leader with many years of experience, or a relatively new manager, adopting a few new critical leadership behaviors will enhance your skillset.

Each section in this guide presents an essential nursing behavioral leadership skill with a list of related actions or behaviors. Use this guide in a couple of different ways.

As you read through the various behavioral styles, think of your peers, people you have reported to, and those higher in the organization. Which of these behavioral styles are displayed by which people? Which behavioral types are not well represented? Do you find correlations between an individual’s standing in the organization and the behavioral skills they display? Does an individual’s success in the organization appear to depend on a crucial set of leadership behavior skills?

After you have inventoried leadership behaviors in your organization, you are ready to ask prospective employees the right behavioral interview questions. How they answer your behavioral leadership questions will indicate if they possess the leadership behaviors skills valued by the organization.

After you have evaluated others, now reflect on your behavioral leadership styles. Which behavioral leadership skills did you exhibit when you stepped up to a challenge? Now, think about your everyday behaviors; which leadership style do you fall into routinely? Do you demonstrate the leadership behaviors essential for success in the organization? Can you pick a few behavioral leadership skills and work to improve them?

Leadership is the summation and situational application of behaviors to organize people to pursue a shared goal. A nurse leader can demonstrate positive leadership behaviors by:

• Thinking strategically and leading strategic initiatives,
• Building trust and respect,
• Being visionary and collaborative with very high standards of excellence,
• Delegating successfully,
• Building successful relationships based on mutual trust and respect for others, individually and as members of a team,
• Being an active public speaker and motivator,
• Modeling commitment, confidence, and energy,
• Being passionate, innovative, empathetic, and visionary,
• Being an effective listener,
• Committing to excellence,
• Establishing measurable objectives and holding people accountable,
• Inspiring professional passion and confidence in others,
• Encouraging curiosity,
• Coaching performance improvement to create positive outcomes,
• Welcoming and stimulating ideas, innovative thinking, and creative solutions from others,
• Thinking “outside the box” and encouraging calculated risk-taking in pursuit of improvement,
• Exhibiting emotional intelligence,
• Mentoring by providing focus, guidance, feedback, and transparency,
• Identifying, attracting, hiring, and retaining great people,
• Networking skillfully within the organization and throughout the local and professional community, and
• Supporting the organization’s mission and values and encouraging others to do the same.

You have just read a short overview of the 15-page guide “Key Nursing Leadership Behaviors.” This guide reflects more than 25 years of experience guiding nurse professionals through career advancement interviews.

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