Peer 1
Kennedy Williams
RE: Discussion – Week 5
The results of the StrengthsFinder assessment was not a total shock to me. My top five most dominant themes include focus, harmony, achiever, discipline, and responsibility. All of these traits are what I believe a leader should possess. Out of all of the themes, the most surprising was harmony being in the top two. Most of my themes were included in the executing category, which makes things happen. I would definitely described myself as focused, achieve, disciplined, and responsible.
Core values have moral intentions that help achieve a goal (Sigurdsson et al., 2020). The two core values I would like to strengthen are teamwork and open-mindedness. At times, I tend to get hyper-focused on my work and want things done my way. This causes me to want to do everything myself with no help. I have to remind myself that we are all part of a team. Nursing is not a one man/woman shown it requires teamwork. Teamwork in nursing leads to better patient care, stronger professional relationships, reduced risk to patient safety, lower healthcare costs, and promotes job satisfaction for nurses (Faubion, 2022). Based on my results from the assessment, I enjoy routines and structure. I want to be more open-minded and deal with problems as they arise. Strengthening these values will make me a better leader.
The two strengths that I would like to strengthen include communication and making difficult decisions. Based on my results, I tend to avoid conflict and difficult situations. The nurse leader is the individual letting employees go and calling nurses off. To be an effective leader, I will have to make hard decisions.
“A commitment to excellence underlies all of the characteristics of nurses who have proven to be most successful” (Larson, 2021). The two characteristics I would like to strengthen include creativity and persistence. I am an achiever and like setting and achieving goals. At times, achieving these goals seem forever away. This is why persistence is key. Successful nurses and nurse leaders don’t give up, they keep goin. I like plans and organization but sometimes nursing is just the opposite. Being able to come up with creative solutions to problems is a characteristic that is crucial to being a leader.
Faubion, D. (2022). Importance of Teamwork in Nursing + 15 Tips to Improve. NursingProcess.org. Retrieved from https://www.nursingprocess.org/teamwork-in-nursing.html
Larson, J. (2021). 10 Characteristics of Nurses Who Are Most Successful. NurseChoice. Retrieved from https://www.nursechoice.com/blog/profiles-and-features/10-characteristics-of-nurses-who-are-most-successful/
Sigurdsson, J. A., Beich, A., & Stavdal, A. (2020). Our Core Values Will Endure. Scandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care, 38(4), 363-366. HTTPS://doi.org/10.1080/02813432.2020.1842676
Peer 2
Melissa Jackson
RE: Discussion – Week 5
COLLAPSE
StrengthsFinder Results
The results of my Strength Finder Assessment represent my top 5 “dominant themes of talent” (Gallup, Inc., 2022). Knowing your strength and weaknesses allows you to continually improve your leadership skills. Per the StrenthFinder 2.0, my top 5 traits are Achiever, Learner, Responsibility, Focus, and Relator (Rath, 2007). I wasn’t sure how accurate the assessment would be, but I was happily surprised to see the results. I feel they accurately describe the way I take on leadership roles and opportunities. I often have people ask me how I have so much energy, and they wish I could “bottle it up” for them. I feel my top result of Achiever finally answered that question for me. It describes it as a “constant need for achievement” every single day. It can be a blessing or a curse. I tend to get a lot done, but it can also cause me distress if I don’t reach my daily goals. The other 4 traits are also very accurate. The Learner trait explains why I feel like I will forever be a student. I love to learn and grow as a person. The Responsibility theme I take very seriously. If I take on a task I give 100% until it’s done, my name and character depend on it. I feel as though the Focus trait explains my constant need for organization. I’m a list maker and checkbox checker. I was a bit surprised by the Relator trait, but after reading the description it made a lot of sense to me. I’m often told that I “never meet a stranger” because I will strike up a conversation with literally anyone, but the trait is true because I strive for deep connections with those in my close circle of friends and coworkers. I’m an open book and allow myself to be completely vulnerable with those I want a deeper relationship.
Core Values, Strengths, and Characteristics
Two core values I would like to improve on are patience and trust. While I do have patience, I know I could use more. I tend to give other a set limit of time to get a task done before I feel the need to take over and do it myself. That plays a big part in the other core value of trust. I tend to not give other people enough trust to get a task done, which can lead to me traying to take over and do it myself. Unfortunate, this stems from bad experiences and being let down in the past. I know I need to work on letting others do things their way, on their timeline, and trust them to get the job done.
Two strengths that I would like to work based on the StrengthFinder assessment are Futuristic and Self-Assurance. I chose futuristic because I tend to live in the moment. I do think to the future, but I find it can trigger my anxiety. Self-assurance is something I try to work on daily. I question my abilities a lot. While it pushes me to do more to prepare for tasks, I would like to be able to just trust my gut and not lose sleep over it.
Two characteristics I would like to improve are decisiveness and visionary. “Leaders often tie themselves up in knots wanting each decision to be perfect, however, the best leaders make decisions they know could be wrong” (Key Characteristics of Effective Leadership, 2019). Decisiveness is a characteristic I strive for. I tell myself it will come with more and more experience, but as a nurse the outcome of getting a decision wrong can mean life or death for a patient. I make tend to take a long time to make decision because I try to weight all the options. The second characteristic I would like to improve on is being a visionary. Very similar to the strength of Futuristic. I find it difficult to look ahead and picture how things could be better. I do try to streamline and improve processes, policies and procedures, but more in the near future, like tomorrow, next week, or next month. I have a very difficult time envisioning the future beyond that, both personally and professionally.
References
Gallup, Inc. (2022, August 3). CliftonStrengths Online Talent Assessment | EN – Gallup. Gallup.com. Retrieved September 26, 2022, from https://www.gallup.com/cliftonstrengths/en/home.aspx?_gl=1*owkl4q*_gcl_aw*R0NMLjE2NjQxOTY3ODQuQ2p3S0NBandtOFdaQmhCVUVpd0ExNzhVbktNTE80Wmw5MXRYS043VDNuSlpNbEVPd0hSdDVUcUZGdWZOaEtaTFNDQ2tjeVJnQ2RhM3hCb0NONVlRQXZEX0J3RQ..
Key Characteristics of Effective Leadership. (2019). Baker Donelson. Retrieved September 26, 2022, from https://www.bakerdonelson.com/key-characteristics-of-effective-leadership
Rath, T. (2007). StrengthsFinder 2.0. Gallup Press.
