NURS 8502 Week 7 Discussion Leadership Skills and Planning

Walden University NURS 8502 Week 7 Discussion Leadership Skills and Planning-Step-By-Step Guide

This guide will demonstrate how to complete the Walden University NURS 8502 Week 7 Discussion Leadership Skills and Planning assignment based on general principles of academic writing. Here, we will show you the A, B, Cs of completing an academic paper, irrespective of the instructions. After guiding you through what to do, the guide will leave one or two sample essays at the end to highlight the various sections discussed below.

How to Research and Prepare for NURS 8502 Week 7 Discussion Leadership Skills and Planning                           

Whether one passes or fails an academic assignment such as the Walden University NURS 8502 Week 7 Discussion Leadership Skills and Planning depends on the preparation done beforehand. The first thing to do once you receive an assignment is to quickly skim through the requirements. Once that is done, start going through the instructions one by one to clearly understand what the instructor wants. The most important thing here is to understand the required format—whether it is APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.

After understanding the requirements of the paper, the next phase is to gather relevant materials. The first place to start the research process is the weekly resources. Go through the resources provided in the instructions to determine which ones fit the assignment. After reviewing the provided resources, use the university library to search for additional resources. After gathering sufficient and necessary resources, you are now ready to start drafting your paper.

How to Write the Introduction for NURS 8502 Week 7 Discussion Leadership Skills and Planning                         

The introduction for the Walden University NURS 8502 Week 7 Discussion Leadership Skills and Planning is where you tell the instructor what your paper will encompass. In three to four statements, highlight the important points that will form the basis of your paper. Here, you can include statistics to show the importance of the topic you will be discussing. At the end of the introduction, write a clear purpose statement outlining what exactly will be contained in the paper. This statement will start with “The purpose of this paper…” and then proceed to outline the various sections of the instructions.

How to Write the Body for NURS 8502 Week 7 Discussion Leadership Skills and Planning                         

After the introduction, move into the main part of the NURS 8502 Week 7 Discussion Leadership Skills and Planning assignment, which is the body. Given that the paper you will be writing is not experimental, the way you organize the headings and subheadings of your paper is critically important. In some cases, you might have to use more subheadings to properly organize the assignment. The organization will depend on the rubric provided. Carefully examine the rubric, as it will contain all the detailed requirements of the assignment. Sometimes, the rubric will have information that the normal instructions lack.

Another important factor to consider at this point is how to do citations. In-text citations are fundamental as they support the arguments and points you make in the paper. At this point, the resources gathered at the beginning will come in handy. Integrating the ideas of the authors with your own will ensure that you produce a comprehensive paper. Also, follow the given citation format. In most cases, APA 7 is the preferred format for nursing assignments.

How to Write the Conclusion for NURS 8502 Week 7 Discussion Leadership Skills and Planning                         

After completing the main sections, write the conclusion of your paper. The conclusion is a summary of the main points you made in your paper. However, you need to rewrite the points and not simply copy and paste them. By restating the points from each subheading, you will provide a nuanced overview of the assignment to the reader.

How to Format the References List for NURS 8502 Week 7 Discussion Leadership Skills and Planning                           

The very last part of your paper involves listing the sources used in your paper. These sources should be listed in alphabetical order and double-spaced. Additionally, use a hanging indent for each source that appears in this list. Lastly, only the sources cited within the body of the paper should appear here.

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Sample Answer for NURS 8502 Week 7 Discussion Leadership Skills and Planning

• Review the Learning Resources covering leadership skills and project planning.

-having organizational and time management skills, attention to details, leadership qualities, effective communication skills, and proficiencies in data storage and management.

-people management and task delegation are also important skills

-formal teaching

Project management tools were used to facilitate enrollment, data collection, and access to results. The tools included protocol and eligibility checklists, event calendars, screening and enrollment logs, instrument scoring tables, and data summary sheets. These tools created efficiency, promoted a positive image, minimized errors, and provided researchers with a sense of control. For the studies described, there were no protocol violations, there were minimal missing data, and the integrity of data collection was maintained (Dawn M. Aycock, Patricia C. Clark, La Teshia Thomas-Seaton, Shih-Yu Lee, Margaret Moloney, 2017).

Reflect on the role of leadership in project planning and implementation and consider how your leadership style and skill will impact your plan.

The role of leadership in project management encompasses a wide range of activities, including effective planning, task coordination, overseeing projects, inspiring team members, and making decisions vital to setting up a plan of action for project implementation (Duggai, 2022).

• Explore project management techniques and strategies to be used for your problem.

Define project goals early and keep them adaptable.

Understand the project goals and contents.

Communicate with clients and team members about expectations and instructions.

Encourage teamwork to prevent workload unevenly assigned.

Set clear expectations over project goals.

Manage project risks predication and measurement implementations.

Use a work breakdown structure and help the plan be more concise.

Document team process (Indeed, 2021).

• Consider the connection between project management strategies and leadership styles.

Project management leadership is important because effective leaders motivate their teams to efficiently achieve project goals. Optimal project management leadership contributes to a culture that promotes performance and success (Indeed, 2021).

References

Dawn M. Aycock, Patricia C. Clark, La Teshia Thomas-Seaton, Shih-Yu Lee, Margaret

Moloney. (3/1/2017). Simple Tools to Facilitate Project Management of a Nursing Research Project.

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0193945916656605

Indeed. (5/13/2021). 6 Project Management Leadership Styles (Plus Tips).

https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/project-management-leadership-styles

Indeed. (5/20/2021). 12 Project Management Strategies to Improve Efficiency.

https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/project-management-strategies

Nikita Duggai. (3/24/2022). Understanding the Role of Leadership in Project

Management.https://www.simplilearn.com/role-of-leadership-in-project-management-article

Sample Answer 2 for NURS 8502 Week 7 Discussion Leadership Skills and Planning

Hello Youwen. Thanks for the insightful discussion. From your discussion, I have learned that people management and task delegation are also important skills. The project involves the collection and analysis of data. One possible project implementation approach that could involve the collection and analysis of data is as follows: The first step would be to develop a data management plan, which would include a description of the data to be collected, how it will be collected, and how it will be analyzed (Lynch et al., 2018). The second step would be to collect the data. The third step would be to analyze the data. The fourth step would be to report on the results of the analysis (Almalki, 2018). And finally, the fifth step would be to use the results of the analysis to make decisions about how to proceed with the project (Beauchamp et al., 2017). The project may also involve incorporation of effective leadership approaches to ensure management of resources and the people involved.

References

Almalki, S. (2018). Integrating Quantitative and Qualitative Data in Mixed Methods Research–Challenges and Benefits. Journal of education and learning, 5(3), 288-296. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1110464

Beauchamp, A., Batterham, R. W., Dodson, S., Astbury, B., Elsworth, G. R., McPhee, C., … & Osborne, R. H. (2017). Systematic development and implementation of interventions to OPtimise Health Literacy and Access (Ophelia). BMC public health, 17(1), 1-18. https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-017-4147-5

Lynch, E. A., Mudge, A., Knowles, S., Kitson, A. L., Hunter, S. C., & Harvey, G. (2018). “There is nothing so practical as a good theory”: a pragmatic guide for selecting theoretical approaches for implementation projects. BMC Health Services Research, 18(1), 1-11. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12913-018-3671-z

Sample Answer 3 for NURS 8502 Week 7 Discussion Leadership Skills and Planning

According to Hickey (2021), a program design is the “process of developing a program including the plan of action and activities that result in the expected outcomes” (p. 194). Further, it includes “investigation consultation, initial design testing, and redesign” (McGuire, 2016; Hickey, 2021, p. 194). This week’s assigned readings illustrate the importance of completing four tasks in the design phase including identifying and detailing the charter, the scope, conducting a needs assessment in relation to the identified gap, and developing specific objectives to overcome the gap (Sipes, 2020). Insofar as identifying the design, much of the practicum hours this author has been partaking in primarily encompass the realms of investigation and consultation with team members and other stakeholders. Through investigation, this author has been able to develop surveys and questionnaires to illuminate the areas in need of focus during the planning phase of her project. This author has also performed extensive research on infection control and tried to align areas specific to this practice setting. Sipes (2020) illustrates the need to determine the stakeholders and clearly delineate who will be responsible for what tasks. Sipes (2020) also recommends using SMART objectives, which is an acronym to direct goals to be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timely. Following this method can serve as a framework for a pragmatic and concise approach to the practice problem.

Focus Setting of the Problem

This author’s practice problem is to keep staff engaged and promote cognizance and compliance with evidence-based infection control practices and policies. Specifically, her practice problem is: “In the periodontal setting, will providing an evidence-based infection control in-service to staff affect knowledge, attitudes, and compliance with infection control procedures compared to no infection control in-service?” This author realizes she has repeated this question in previous assignments; however, this author feels it is important to continue to go back and revisit this question often to minimize or eliminate the potential for “scope creep” (Sipes, 2020). Also, focusing on SMART objectives and utilizing this tool as a checklist can also help to mitigate this issue. This author’s evidence searches focuses on identifying the best evidence for infection control in an oral health setting. Further, she has planned specifically to put this information in PowerPoint form for a lunchtime presentation, and this author proposes to call this a “lunch and learn.” However, this is only one aspect of the change process.

Appropriate Leadership Styles

There is some debate about which leadership style is best for change management as different sources cite many variations and opinions. Some examples provided in the literature are transactional, transformational, democratic, participative, and others (Akinbode & Shuhumi, 2018; Mansaray, 2019). However, this author feels that the organizational culture should match the leadership style. If one operates in a highly bureaucratic environment, a visionary will likely continue to only be that creative visionary in their own mind with little, if any, organizational gains. But the staff in this periodontal setting works very well together under its current leadership and is receptive and seemingly adaptive to change.

Furthermore, the culture has been such that the staff appears to be genuinely pleased in this location. For this reason, this author would like to use a transformational leadership style to carry out this process. The transformational leadership style is characterized by formulating positive relationships and motivation among staff members to achieve a high level of excellence (Sfantou et al., 2017). Moreover, transformational leaders are those individuals that typically possess “the ability to inspire confidence, staff respect and they communicate loyalty through a shared vision, resulting in increased productivity, strengthen employee morale, and job satisfaction” (Stantou et al., 2017, p. 1). Leaders using this style can empower staff to be committed envoys for quality improvement by focusing on both individual and group strengths that encompass a shared vision. This author would like this change to be compelling and sustained over time and will do her best to invoke the personal commitment of others.

Potential Facilitators and Barriers to the Proposed Practice Change

Facilitators of a proposed practice change include having influential stakeholders that can be champions for change and ensure accountability of other staff. This author is fortunate as her preceptor is an essential aspect in supporting this project, as well as the follow-up evaluation and information dissemination. This author’s preceptor sees the merit in this project and has a good relationship with staff to ensure it can be carried out successfully. Another facilitator to this project is this author who is also invested as the project manager, with a well-known purpose in the facility. Having a project manager with a specific purpose who collects information, performs reviews, and has team meetings regarding an infection control quality improvement initiative may serve as a reminder and reinforcement to be persistent with infection control policy and procedures. A third facilitator is the workplace culture, as this author previously noted. The staff exhibits good working relationships, and the workplace exudes a positive environment. The staff appear and report that they are satisfied, so these factors and having a lunchtime learning session together will hopefully also be facilitators to this project.

Potential barriers that could arise would be that this author may encounter poor attitudes toward implementation, as perhaps staff will get jaded with the topic. This author does not always get the attendance she would ideally like to have at her team meetings, which indicates a lack of human resources. Some of this is due to conflicts with patient care, but she is perseverant in her agenda. Another barrier could be that this author also anticipates good attendance at the educational in-service she is creating. But staff may not want to hear about infection control from someone outside of this specialty field. Other potential barriers may include IT issues. For example, this author does not have a good command of the utilization of the PowerPoint program and foresees it as being a potential future challenge.

Leadership Style to Best Match Facilitators and Barriers to Address the Practice Gap

This author believes the transformational leadership style is the best fit for this organization and this practice issue to support sustaining change and reinforcing best practices. This author wants to inspire and motivate others which are vital aspects of transformational leadership. According to Bass (2008), transformational leadership includes idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration. This style has inherent qualities that can overcome roadblocks. For example, a meta-analysis by Peng et al., (2021) found that transformational leadership exhibited “(a) a positive relationship with commitment to change, openness to change, and readiness for change; (b) a negative correlation with resistance to change and cynicism about change;” but a “(c) a nonsignificant correlation with support for change” (p. 369). This author does not view the latter as a negative, as it is not unusual for people to be indifferent to supporting change when change can be unpredictable. In addition, a study by Alexander & Hardy (2014) found that a transformational leadership style has the ability to be a significant buffer to adverse environmental conditions and situations.

This style is also attractive because it invokes collaborative cooperation through inspiration while also considering individualized consideration. For example, giving staff a platform to be heard and address their questions and concerns can instill commitment. This author tries to accomplish this by asking for interviews for qualitative information that her survey did not capture. Further listening to them and incorporating their thoughts and ideas helps recruit staff as essential members that are valued, as their input is valued and will be incorporated into this project which may also promote empowerment and loyalty. This author wants this to be a shared and positive endeavor for all staff and hopes to develop a successful strategy for making the implementation intellectually stimulating for all staff, regardless of the positions and duties a staff member may possess. Having a positive attitude and a charismatic disposition can also help overcome barriers such as lack of participation or aversion to the usual and customary learning strategies. Further, she continues to collect evidence that she hopes will be engaging and thought-provoking by asking questions and providing interesting knowledge facts about infection control. This author feels that she can make this interaction creative and enjoyable to ensure staff maintains interest to promote better recall and implementation of information.

Conclusion

In conclusion, addressing a practice issue should be methodical in nature. Designing and planning should be central to addressing practice gaps and issues, but a pervasive feature should also include effective leadership. The presentation of the issue and how it is imposed may ultimately determine whether change is successfully implemented and sustained or denied and abandoned. In quality improvement, masterfully and meticulously introducing change can be a challenge in any environment; therefore, selecting the best leadership styles and strategies can be invaluable to achieving success.

References

Akinbode, A., & Shuhumi, S. (2018). Change management process and leadership styles.

PEOPLE: International Journal of Social Sciences, 4(2), 609-618. doi: 10.20319/pijss.2018.42.609618

Alexander Arthur, C., & Hardy, L. (2014). Transformational leadership: a quasi-experimental

study. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 35(1), 38–53. https://doi.org/10.1108/LODJ-03-2012-0033

Bass, B. M., & Bass, R. (2008). The Bass handbook of leadership: Theory, research, and

managerial applications (4th ed.). Free Press Print.

Hickey, J. V. (2021). Planning a program or project evaluation. In Hickey, J. V. & Giardino

(Eds.), Evaluation of quality in health care for DNPs (3rd ed., pp. 189-214). Springer Publishing.

Mansaray, H. E. (2019). The role of leadership style in organizational change management: A

literature review. Journal of Human Resource Management 7(1), 18-31. doi:

10.11648/j.jhrm.20190701.13

McGuire, M. (2016). Program design & development resources. Retrieved April 8, 2022, from

https://www.unitedwaygt.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Program-Desig-Development-Resources.pdf

Peng, J., Li, M., Wang, Z., & Lin, Y. (2021). Transformational leadership and employees’

reactions to organizational change: Evidence from a meta-analysis. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 57(3), 369–397. https://doi.org/10.1177/0021886320920366

Sfantou, D. F., Laliotis, A., Patelarou, A. E., Sifaki-Pistolla, D., Matalliotakis, M., & Patelarou,

73. (2017). Importance of leadership style towards quality of care measures in healthcare settings: A systematic review. Healthcare, 5(4), 73. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare5040073

Sipes, C. (2020). Project management for the advanced practice nurse (2nd ed.). Springer

Publishing Company.