Temperature Check: Are You Transforming or Transacting?

The day seems to never end, the work is forever coming down the pipeline, the phone never stops ringing and the e-mail never stops dinging. Nursing leadership is not for the faint of heart or for those afraid of a challenge. It can be incredibly easy to get caught up in the competing priorities, the long to-do lists and the calendar appointments. Eventually, leaders can find themselves running through the transactions rather than focusing on the transformation of the people and teams they are charged with leading.

Professor and businessman Bill George reflected on transformational leadership saying “Becoming an authentic leader is not easy. First, you have to understand yourself, because the hardest person you ever have to lead is yourself. Once you have an understanding of your authentic self, you will find that leading others is much easier.” (Tabrizi & Terrell, 2015, p. 194). How well do you really know yourself and how often do you check yourself?

Most nursing leaders have attended a class, been to a seminar or read a chapter in a textbook describing the different characteristics between transformational and transactional leadership. Transformers innovate, ask ‘what’ and ‘why,’ focus on people, develop others, inspire trust and have a long-term perspective. Transactional leaders administer, ask ‘how’ and ‘when,’ focus on systems, maintain operations, rely on control and have a short-term perspective. These are familiar comparisons we all know from our leadership training. However, how often do we take a step back and self-reflect on how we truly practice leadership every day? As your examine yourself and think about your daily leadership, which of those characteristics best describes you?

Transformational leaders conduct honest introspect and courageously pursue change to effectively lead self and others (Tabrizi & Terrell, 2015). The KNOW-BE-LEAD framework developed by Tabrizi & Terrell (2015, p. 6) is backboned by three essential questions leaders should ask themselves as part of healthy self-reflection and introspect: 1. Who do I, at my very core, know myself to be? 2. Who am I actually being day-to-day? 3. Am I authentically leading those around me? Being a transformer means being able to truthfully answer these questions and make necessary changes where deficiencies exist. Are you transforming or transacting? Stop and check your temperature today.

References
Tabrizi, B., & Terrell, M. (2015). The inside-out effect: a practical guide to transformational leadership. New York.: Evolve Publishing.