Transformational Leadership Applied to Nurse Managers

Transformational leadership is the recommended leadership style for nurse managers to manage their assigned nursing departments at a veterans' administration medical center. However, developing and implementing this leadership style is challenging because managers often lack knowledge regarding qualities of a transformational leader and the expected responsibilities of a nurse manager are often not defined. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to narrow the existing knowledge gap on how nurse managers develop transformational leadership behaviors and enhance the leadership development of nurse managers. Transformational leadership via Bass's full range leadership model formed the theoretical framework for the study. How nurse managers perceived self-development of transformational leadership skills and the underlying factors that influenced their development were examined in the research questions. Constant comparative analysis using open and axial coding was used to aggregate data themes using semistructured interviews and participant observations from a purposeful sample of 8 nurse managers. According to study results, participants developed transformational leadership skills of idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration in various ways. Mentoring was a key factor in developing transformational leadership skills; therefore, a formal mentoring program was designed to improve staff morale and in turn patient outcomes. These findings have social change implications for nurse managers, who may use these findings to motivate their nursing staff, delegate responsibilities, and encourage accountability among their staff to ultimately influence organizational commitment and improve patient outcomes.