Nurse Manager Leadership Styles

Strong leadership skills are crucial to establish, grow, and sustain a healthy work environment in healthcare. Transformational leadership behaviors drive nursing teams to achieve higher levels of engagement, increased nursing satisfaction, increased retention rates, and higher commitment levels to the organization. The purpose of this research was to assess the transformational leadership characteristics among assistant nurse managers, managers, and directors, in a southeastern hospital in the United States. The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ-5X) was administered to evaluate the leadership characteristics. A convenience sample of 14 nurse leaders rated themselves as more transformational than the norm with an average score of 3.23 with a standard deviation of 0.18. The norm for transformational leadership is 2.99. The Full Range Leadership Model suggests leaders should use multiple leadership characteristics to successfully lead a team.