It's Our Ship - book report

It is Our Ship – book report
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It is Our Ship – book report
The assignment calls for the following elements:
State what the central leadership concepts forwarded in Abrashoff's book. State at least three.
According to Abrashoff (2008), a leader must state the goals of the organization and make clear why they matter. He stated that understanding leadership and organizational success starts with establishing important values then conveying them to all staff members. To be successful in any business, Abrashoff pointed out various leadership concepts that are vital for a leader. The three among them include inspiring people to be their best, creating a climate of trust and leading by example.
Abrashoff (2008) has discussed the leadership concept of inspiring people to be their best. This is outlined in Chapter 2 Buoy up your people of his book “It’s Our Ship: The No-Nonsense Guide to Leadership”. The author pointed out that an exceptional leader defines excellence and inspires his or her team to surpass it through staff development and training. For a company to attain success there is the need for the leaders and managers to motivate their employees to do their personal best in their respective areas. Additionally, Abrashoff stated that employees need to be motivated to understand their various responsibilities to the organization and its customers. He added that the leader must ensure the message of inspiration and motivation gets through to everyone within the organization. Feedback mechanisms should be put in place to measure the depth of internalization and understanding of the message. Good leadership in any organization has the potential of inspiring employees to do their very best day by day.
By inspiring others to be their best, the leader would be encouraging the employees to be more productive and this would in turn result to higher profits, more productivity, more loyalty, lower turnover and greater job satisfaction. Additionally, inspiring employees to be their best would enable them to be more committed, proud and focused at what they do. Furthermore, the leaders would give them the opportunity to develop and create new ideas, as well as the opportunity to test their abilities and skills, and this would help uncover hidden talents within the organization. Moreover, helping and inspiring employees to achieve their personal best whilst emphasizing teamwork between them, builds the strength of the organization through a more devoted team of employees (Abrashoff, 2008).
The second leadership concept is creating a climate of trust as outlined in Chapter 5 Foul weather does not respect rank. The author discusses the significance of developing trust, treating everyone with respect and courtesy and pursuing excellence without arrogance. Abrashoff (2008) pointed out that leaders need to earn the trust of the entire company or organization in order to attain the desired goals and be successful. He added that for a leader to gain that trust, he/she must always be honest, even in times when the truth is painful and has the potential of damaging the leader’s career. Team members and organization employees are always watching the leader and if the words do not match with the actions, that critical trust factor is lost.
By creating a climate of trust, excellent leaders encourage honest and open assessment of problems facing the organization. Concealing mistakes and displaying negligent ethical behavior has the potential of destroying the very foundation of the organization. A climate of trust within an organization creates opportunities for success and improvement, whilst covering up the facts leads to failure and mediocrity. When leaders establish trust and create an environment where mistakes are tolerable as part of the learning process, employees excel at their jobs. They would in turn take ownership of their roles and responsibilities, and of the overall objectives of the company (Abrashoff, 2008). The author also reviews the principle of justice and fairness towards the success of the organization.
The third leadership concept is leading by example and getting results, outlined in Chapter 8 Fly your true colors. In many organizations, employees not only listen to what their leaders say, but also watch what they do. Abrashoff (2008) stated that every leader in an organization should be worth emulating. Leaders always lead by example in their words, actions and expressions, and these things make an impression to those people around them. Through leading by example and getting results, Abrashoff discusses the significance of courage. He stated that leaders can be found at all levels within an organization, and their most important function is to set the right examples and getting results.
What overlapping qualities of leadership are present that are applicable to nursing. State at least three.
The first leadership quality present that is applicable to nursing is strong ethical values. Organizational leaders among other responsibilities, also have the responsibility of ensuring high standards of ethical and moral conduct. Great leaders possess the right ethical values to be effectual at people management, and they are capable of recognizing the necessity for ethical behavior in their employees and colleagues. Moreover, they demonstrate the ethical values they expect their staff to possess, and make those ethical values clear to everyone who follows them by living them every day. By practicing ethical behaviors, leaders not only gain the respect, but also the admiration of workers, and one gets the satisfaction of knowing he/she did the right thing.
Strong ethical values and qualities are applicable to the nursing profession. A nurse is a caregiver and helps the patient regain his/her health through the healing process. In addition, a nurse is the pivot of every communication within the healthcare delivery system. Nurses are always in situations that pose moral and/or ethical conflicts, for instance various aspects including the patient’s right to life, end of life treatment options, right and ability to give consent to treatment, and the right to end life. Therefore, it is important that the nursing profession continue to uphold a code of ethics and values.
The second value is personal responsibility. By accepting personal responsibility, great leaders do not complain and never make excuses, but instead make progress. They are accountable for their actions and decisions they make. Whenever they experience a difficulty or setback, they always remember they are responsible and always see themselves as victors over circumstances, not victims of circumstances. With the quality of personal responsibility, leaders never blame or criticize others in case something goes wrong, but instead focus on what can be done and look for solution to the problem.
This leadership quality can as well be applied to the nursing profession. ...