With the current obstacles nurses face in the workplace, those in leadership positions are more important than ever for keeping their staff motivated and in top shape. Leaders need to have certain qualities to rally their team together. Some of these traits might be a little difficult to come by, as most of them require commitment and selflessness.

There are a few nurses who are natural born leaders, and then there are others who learn what it takes along the way. In fact, most nurse leaders take years to develop and refine their skills from their own practice and personal experiences. It’s not a surprise that nurse leaders can learn what traits they need to improve their situation in the workplace and become a positive role model for their peers.

In this article, we will go over 5 qualities that are critical for ensuring quality nursing leadership in any healthcare facility.

Emotional Restraint

This is also known as emotional intelligence. Not only is this trait important to have in the hospital, it’s also important to have outside of it. However, in a clinical setting, emotional intelligence is a very important trait, as it allows nurses to deal with the stressors of everyday life in a more healthy and controlled way. It goes without saying that, when it comes to nurses and their trade, it’s common to feel stressed, especially when involved with public health. For this reason, their leaders must always support their peers in developing emotional restraint and the proper management of their emotions in the workplace to reduce the amount of stress they have. If stress takes control over their team, this can lead to emotional exhaustion and poor team collaboration.

Emphasize a Patient-Centric Service Culture

It has been proven on several occasions that the nurses with a genuine interest in the well-being of the patient and their families usually have better results in terms of service quality. To this end, a good leader must always train their peers to properly greet patients and to show a proper bedside manner when entering and exiting each room. It doesn’t matter if the facility they work in doesn’t have the most cutting-edge tools and technology; proper manners and a service culture are free. Remember that a happy patient will always come back for when they have an emergency, which is always good for business.

Create Leaders, Not Slaves

It’s 2018; we are currently in a period where workplace scandals are immediately reported on a billion social media websites before they even reach the news. To this end, leaders must learn to treat their peers properly, and encourage them to do so with their own peers, as well. After all, a cohesive team always produces better results than one that doesn’t have a proper leader. The supervisor must always emphasize proper leadership abilities in their nurses, so that they can hold their own and make proper life-saving decisions for when it’s their turn to lead. “If your unit or department can run without you, you have done your job,” is an old adage that holds great wisdom for any leader.

Critical Thinking Skills

In most cases, critical thinking skills are the only way for a nurse (or any professional,) to learn how to detect their own flaws and improve them without the need for someone to point them out. When the going gets tough, a nurse can learn to make important decisions in the workplace that directly affect could someone’s life by developing and nurturing their critical thinking skills. In this current age where nursing teams are more united than ever, this skill has acquired a new level of importance in the field.

Respect

All of the above traits are moot if there is no respect between the members of a nursing team. The way nurses treat each other will directly affect their quality of service and will be reflected in their general demeanor. It’s important to remember that, as the professionals will be directly in contact with the patient the majority of the time, nurses can have a high influence on them, and inspire them to commit to improvements in their own lives. Nevertheless, without respect, a nurse would be hard-pressed to enact any positivity whatsoever from both their peers as well as their patients.

These are only 5 of the most important traits that every nurse should strive to develop, especially if they hold positions of leadership in the workplace. By properly developing these skills, they can not only provide a better service to the patients, they can also create a healthy work environment with nurses that show professionalism, respect and, above all, passion for the trade.