Be inspired to become a good Nursing leader

As a Nurse we have to become leaders with our patients. In this vlog Claire helps inspire all Nurses to be a good leader.

Topics covered in this video

0.00 Introduction

0.58 Student Nurses can be leaders

1.59 We need to be leaders for our patients

3.06 The NMC wants us to be leaders

4.00 Leadership is about becoming the best version of yourself

5.40 Start from the bottom and work up to the top

6.25 Encourage others

0.00 Introduction

Hi everyone, and welcome to another vlog. So today's blog, I'm going to talk all about leadership. I think it's a really important topic to talk about because as nurses, we have to be leaders. I know a lot of people fear it and don't want to particularly be a leader, but maybe that's just because you've misinterpreted what a leader is or some people get confused between leadership and management and leadership is completely different to management.

So I just wanted to cover this in a little blog and hopefully inspire you to become an amazing leader, that you already are, and feel maybe a little bit more comfortable about it. So first things first, I get really uncomfortable when people call me a leader and say positive things about me. I get really uncomfortable, really awkward, really shy about it. And the massive imposter syndrome that we hear about all the time definitely kicks in.

0.58 Student Nurses can be leaders

However, what I've come to realize is student nurses can be leaders and actually you're going to have leadership across all different levels. Because before I started nursing, I didn't think that I would ever be called a leader. Never in a million years. And I would never, in my own opinion, this is disclaimer, I would never have thought a student could be a leader.

And now I'm seeing all of these amazing student nurses doing different things across social media and they're amazing and it just shows that you can be a good leader as a student nurse and I think that's really fantastic. And I just wanted to get that message out there. Leadership as well goes hand in hand with being a good role model. So I would say all of my mentors have been really good leaders because I've looked up to them all, every single one of them good, bad, the ugly, they've all taught me something really, really important. And I've taken a lot away from that. And to me that's good leadership.

1.59 We need to be leaders for our patients

And we have to be good leaders for our patients. We have to get our patients onboard with the treatment, the management plan that we're giving them, the care plans we're putting in place. They have to follow those things. And if we're not that person that they can trust, that they can follow, that they can listen to, they're not going to follow your advice and that's where leadership sort of breaks down a little bit. So we have to be good nurses, we have to follow evidence-based practice, we have to follow all of our knowledge, all of our training, implement that into what we're doing with patient care, patient safety so that patients will listen to us, understand and follow our lead.

And that is just, that's you being a good leader and you, whoever is watching this video right now, if you're a nurse, if you're a student nurse, qualified, not qualified yet, if you've done that for a patient, if you've put something in place for them, some sort of management plan, they have followed that, you're a leader. Because you've got them to do that and that is encouraging them to be their best selves because you want them to get better and you're encouraging them to get better and they're following your advice. To me, that's amazing leadership and that's exactly what the NMC wants us to be.

3.06 The NMC wants us to be leaders

The NMC wants us to be this leader and not just for the benefit of our patients but for the benefit of our colleagues as well. For the benefit of student nurses. So we are going to eventually, if you're a student nurse, we are going to have students come under our wing when we're newly qualified nurses, when we're qualified nurses for a year, two year plus because NMC standards now everybody has to become this mentor or practice supervisor or practice assessor and you're not getting out of it.

You're going to have a student under your wings. You have to be a good role model, a good leader for them and show those leadership skills. Hopefully it's going to have a knock-on effect and they're going to be inspired by you to do more, be better, be their best selves and just encourage them to be fantastic nurses because it all starts with the students, doesn't it? So if we can aim and get those students onboard, being fantastic, the future of nursing is just going to be amazing.

4.00 Leadership is about becoming the best version of yourself

I would also say that leadership comes in all sorts of ways. So like I said, you have to be a leader for your patients, for your colleagues, for your students, but also if you're a mother, if you're a father, you know, you have to be that good leader, that good role model as well for your children so that they become their best selves.

You're encouraging them to become better, to be the best version of themselves so that when they're older, they can have an amazing future ahead of them. You're a leader, guys. You're leaders. You don't even know it. You're criticizing it and you're amazing, fantastic leaders. So please take all of this information onboard because to me, leadership isn't about management.

It's not about telling people what to do and hoping that they do it. No, it's about just doing the best you can inspire others to do the best that they can to be their best selves. It's not about management. It's not about ordering people around. It's about sharing positive things. It's about sharing your journeys. It's about sharing your experiences. Like I said, it's time we be that role model. Be that person, be that nurse that you want to be, be that nurse that you look up to, be that person that you see and you think, "Wow, I want to be more like them." Be that person and then someone else can come and look up to you and be like, "I want to be like them."

And then we just have this knock-on effect of amazing, fantastic, good leaders in the world. Would that be amazing? Yes. So some little tips and advice for being a good leader. What I think is a good leader, you might be different, but I think you have to possess lot of empathy. You have to be a good listener, good communication skills, eye contact, body language. You have to work at different levels as well.

5.40 Start from the bottom and work up to the top

So start from the bottom. Work your way up to the top so you know what it's like to be in that person's shoes. So if you're speaking to, let's just say I was a HCA before, so I've been at HCA, then I'm going to go on to be a student nurse, then a nurse. I know what it's like to be each stage so I can empathize with HCAs because I've been there.

I know how tough it is and I know how hard they work, so that's going to be a massive benefit. I think just having that underlying knowledge and experience from before and building on that. I think also with being a good leader, you have to share your journey, share positive messages, share all of the amazing changes that are happening in your area so that other people can see this and be like, "Yes, I want to do this. I want to do this. Maybe we should implement this into our area." That's you paving the way again to be a good leader.

6.25 Encourage others

Also encouraging others, like I said, encouraging others to become their best self, for example, and people, none of this is competition malarkey that I see sometimes on social media where one person's jealous for another person. No, that's not leadership. That's jealousy. It's terrible. So please arrange that.

We want to pick each other up or we want to encourage each other to be amazing. Someone's doing well, you pick them up. You say, "Do you know what? Well done, a massive ..." I'm genuinely, genuinely happy for other people when I see them win awards, when I see them get really good marks when they're passing with firsts. I'm so proud of everybody that I haven't even met and I'm there like, "Oh my God, this is amazing. Well done." Because I think it's just lovely. It's lovely, lovely, lovely to share positive messages, to encourage others, to keep them going and keep them motivated and just be proud of other people.

And I also think that you should have integrity and empower the people. So that is it from me. These are my own thoughts, feelings, experiences of leadership. Opinions are going to vary between person to person and we're all unique, amazing individual human beings so what might work for one person might not work for another person. So my advice to you is go and find your inner leader.

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