As a nurse leader I had the
privilege to read many books. Today I opted to share with you a book summary of
one of my favorite leadership book: Strengths Based Leadership: Book Summary
In this book, the authors reveal
the results of more than 20,000 in-depth interviews with leaders and more than
10,000 followers around the world to ask why they followed the most
important leader in their life. Three key findings emerged from the research
that preceded this book. First, the most effective leaders are always investing
in strengths, second, they surround themselves with the right people and
maximize their team and third they understand their followers’ needs. In part
one of three, Rath and Conchie speak to the importance of investing in your
strengths, a long term investment. In fact, they report that people who are
cognizant of their strengths and build self-confidence at a young age “reap a
cumulative advantage that continues to grow over a lifetime” (Rath &
Conchie, 2009, p. 16). I believe this to be of great significance for nursing
leaders. Hospitals are a very complex organization and the only way nurses can
lead a successful organization is to ensure they surround themselves with the
proper talent. I never understood why the entire human resources process and
yearly evaluation processes focused on weaknesses. It appeared to be
counter-productive to me and now I have found the proper resources to change
and influence our practice. In fact, I believe this to be a major common
concern that many are facing today that has to be addressed.
In the second part of the book,
Rath and Conchie discuss the importance of maximizing a team composed of a
broad grouping of strengths including four domains of leadership: executing,
influencing, relationship building and strategic thinking. In other words it
serves a team well to have representation of all four domains on any team.
Typically leaders with dominant strength in the executing domain get the job
done, those with a dominant strength in the influencing domain are always
selling the team’s idea, those with a dominant strength in the relationship
building domain have a unique ability to create organizations that are greater
than the sum of their parts and lastly those with dominant strengths in the
strategic thinking domain continually stretch our thinking way into the future.
In my opinion in order to meet to needs of our patients today and tomorrow it
is crucial to develop nursing leadership teams that include individuals with
strengths in all 4 domains. As I reflect on the AONE Nurse Executive competency
and guiding principle for future patient care delivery, aging workforce,
diversity in health care organizations, and the role of the nurse executive in
patient safety, it is evident to me that the only successful CNO will be the
CNO who will surround himself or herself with talent from all four domains.
This is not a one women or a one man show.
In a third part of the book, Rath
and Conchie demonstrate how leaders have utilized their dominant strengths to
drive organizational growth. They feature Wendy Kopp, founder and CEO of Teach
For America, Simon Cooper, President of The Ritz-Carlton, Mervyn Davies, Chairman
of Standard Chartered Bank and Brad Anderson, Chief Executive Officer of Best
Buy. As you read the stories of these featured leaders, you realize as a reader
how much clarity they have of who they are and who they are not. Once a leader
understands the strengths of each team members and how to best leverage those
same strengths, the quicker the organization finds its way to success. Strong teams have the following things in
common: conflict does not destroy them because they focus on result, they are
able to prioritize what’s best for the organization and move forward, they are
as committed to their personal lives as they are to their work, they embrace
diversity, and they are a magnet for talent. That alone is enough to make me
want to recommend this book to all nursing leaders. This book offers a key to a
successful environment.
Why do people follow leaders?
Gallup Poll conducted a study including a random sampling of over 10,000
followers over the years. They asked the followers: What leader has the most positive influence in your daily life? Once
they identified the leader they asked this follow-up question: Now list three words that best describe what
this person contributes to your life. Rath and Conchie reported that what
they found is that followers have essentially four basic needs: trust,
compassion, stability and hope. A serious breach in trust can destroy a leader
and employees are much more engaged when they trust their leaders. Employees
who feel compassion at work are significantly more likely to stay with their
employer, have much more engaged customers, are more productive and they
produce more profitability for the organization. Employees have a need to know
that a leaders core values are stable. In addition, when employees have
confidence in the financial stability of an organization, they are nine times
as likely to be engaged in their job as compared to those with low confidence
in the financial stability of their organization. Lastly hope gives followers
something to look forward to and will act as a powerful motivator for
followers.
“The most effective leaders know
better than to try to be someone they are not. Whenever they spot an
opportunity, they reinvest in their strengths” (Rath & Conchie, 2009, p.
93). In today’s fast-paced healthcare environment characterized by financial
instability, an aging workforce and an increase acuity in the patients we
serve, nursing leaders must: know their strengths, leverage them, and build a
team of leaders that will possess strengths from all four domains to ensure
they achieve all organizational goals.
Rath, T., Conchie, B. (2009). Strenghts based leadership; Great leaders, teams, and why people follow.
New-York: New-York. Gallup Press.
