The work environment within which the nurses operate has become highly complicated and dynamic. Hence, the leadership in organizations has become more critical for effectiveness and success. Individual leaders have to maintain some level of strength in order to steer the organization forward in terms of growth and provision of quality services. Personality preference and capability of the leader play an important role in the successful leadership as well as achieving the objectives of the organization (Driscoll & Cassedy, 2013). The individual’s personality, as well as sources of motivation, plays out in the leadership preference and its impact on the working of the members of the organization. There are various tools that can be used in the assessment of personality preference for self-assessment on how one can become better in communication and collaboration as a leader.
Myers Briggs Type Indicator
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®) is a tool for self-assessment which helps in gaining insight about the self and the way one communicates, learns, and works through interactions with others (Briggs Myers et al., 2009). There are four preferences at the core of Myers Briggs theory. The first one is the preferences for dealing with things and people through Extraversion (E) or with information and ideas through Introversion (I). The second one is Sensing (S) which refers to the preference of dealing with facts and reality versus Intuition (N), dealing with possibilities or potential. The third relates to Thinking (T), dealing with logic and truth versus Feeling (F), which relates to dealing with values and relationships. The last one is the Judgment (J), which relates to well-structured lifestyle versus Perception (P) where one goes with the flow (Briggs Myers et al., 2009).
My self-assessment indicates that my personality preference type is ENFJ. I do agree with the assessment showing me to be extroverted, intuitive, having strong feelings and being judgmental. I enjoy dealing with people and things in the open and I prefer the environment where I can innovate and in a world of possibilities. I have strong feelings about values and relationships, and I have a well-structured lifestyle. I have realized that my life is characterized by being effective in speaking out and creating lasting relationships with the people I have in contact with. I make decisions based on the analysis of the input from different parties in my team. Therefore, this means that I do not force decisions down to the people.
Application
Effective use of personality preferences determines the quality of leadership that one advances. As an extrovert, I like working with others, listening to their ideas and working on finding the best solutions for problems facing the organization. I like coming up with ideas and selling them to the members of my unit for implementation. I should say I have many ideas adopted because I can be very convincing. Working in teams is critical to the current dynamic environment, and I have been able to create teams that move the organization forward (Plonien, 2015). I have also realized the truth that I am intuitive. I am focused on the bigger picture, seeing the potential and possibilities in situations. I am analytical in nature and whenever faced with a situation or problem, I consider the possible solutions before settling on the most rational. I am a believer of every problem having a logical solution.
I value the feelings of other people above everything else. As a leader within the health care setting, I have realized the importance of caring about others, both the patients and their families, and above all, those that work in my unit. It is only when the needs of the nurses are taken care of that they can be able to take care of the needs of the patients (Persily, 2013). I value interpersonal relationships, which has given me the chance to understand people better. I have realized that the people I work with find it easy to talk to me and to air their feelings, including personal problems. Working with people under such circumstances is easy. For example, I was able to help a colleague at the verge of depression by listening to her problems and working with her towards getting a solution. I am good at judging situations before implementing a decision, which has made my decisions helpful to my unit and the entire organization. It is important to question every decision made to avoid future problems. Recently, I was able to prevent a bad decision in the implementation of technology, where the hospital management wanted to issue tablets to the nurses. In my judgment, this would be a distractive move that never saw the light of day because of my judgment.
Conclusion
Although a positive personality, there are some drawbacks, including the view of the personality as overbearing. I am always coming up with ideas some of which take time to implement because of seeking opinions from others. Hence, I should learn how to accommodate other people and at the same time evade excessive use of resources in marketing my ideas. Following the analysis, I am seeking to understand why people with my personality make good nurses (Driscoll & Cassedy, 2013). The nurses tend to be caring and affectionate, which defines the caring profession.
References
Briggs Myers, I., McCaulley, M. H., Quenk, N. L., & Hammer, A. L. (2009). MBTI Manual. A guide to the Development and Use of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Instrument.
Driscoll, J., & Cassedy, P. (2013). Supervision for supervisors: icing on the cake or a basic ingredient for the development of clinical supervision in nursing?. Reflective Practice in Nursing, 150.
Persily, C. A. (2013). Team leadership and partnering in nursing and health care. Springer Publishing Company.
Plonien, C. (2015). Using Personality Indicators to Enhance Nurse Leader Communication. AORN, July, 2015. Pp. 74-80.