Charismatic Leadership in Nursing

Charismatic leadership is a style that is built on strong communication skills, charm, and persuasiveness. Leaders using this style must be inspiring, empathetic, and charming to those they lead. Charismatic leaders have an intense commitment to their work, and this evokes strong emotions from their followers. Such leaders connect with their subjects emotionally, and this makes them feel inspired and motivated to achieve organizational goals. This approach to leadership is similar to transformational leadership, where managers use motivation and intellectual stimulation to empower their followers to do their best work. Charismatic leadership is characterized by authenticity, emotional intelligence, great communication skills, and adaptability.

In nursing charismatic leadership can have a positive impact on the staff as it influences them to participate more in the organization initiatives. This is because the style helps staff stay focused on the goal and the bigger picture. One of the identifiers of a charismatic leader is the ability to walk through life with a positive attitude. Also, leaders using this style show a desire to rise above the status quo. They also demonstrate the ability to solve complex problems and, with exactitude, overcome challenges preventing the achievement of the organization.

f) Transactional leadership

The transactional approach to leadership utilizes a system of reward and punishment to motivate and direct followers. Leaders using this style reward staff who are industrious and self-motivated and reprimand those that are underperforming. This leadership does not focus on changing the organization as a whole but on achieving short-term goals through rewards. In this approach, staff are motivated by their personal interest to achieve goals and not the company interests. The role of leaders in transactional leadership is to set performance goals, make a reward promise, and avail the promised reward upon completion of the goal.

The leaders also impose punishments on employees who do not
meet the goals within the required time. This style is among the most commonly used in the medical industry. Although transactional leadership is effective in getting the work done, it fails in the basic aspect of collaboration as it does not promote relationship building. The transactional leadership approach can also be used in emergency situations because there is only one decision-maker. This leadership style is hierarchical, and those using it are passive, practical, motivated by self-interest, and reactionary.APA