Finding balance in leadership

FigureWe often talk about the care continuum from the patient perspective, attempting to achieve seamless transitions between levels of care. It's all too often a struggle, and the lines of differentiation can get blurry. There are other continuums that nurse leaders may grapple with in their leadership practice: those representing opposing qualities and approaches to the daily challenges of the role. Some leadership characteristics are nonnegotiable, such as integrity, respect, accountability, and agility. But what about other attributes that are on a continuum and can be shaped based on specific situations or personal style and abilities? Finding balance isn't as clear cut. For example, consider rule-following versus rule-breaking. You might immediately think the leader would choose rule-following; after all, isn't it part of our jobs to ensure policy compliance? Well, sometimes that's not the "right" answer. You may find yourself in a situation when rule-breaking is the right thing to do, and you end up on a path for change. That is leadership. Perhaps that's more of a dichotomous situation than a continuum. Let's consider the range from humility to arrogance. We've talked about humble leadership before, and I'm a big fan. However, you can go too far to the humble side and not give yourself proper credit or effectively market your team's accomplishments; and if you go too far to the other side, you could be perceived as haughty or overconfident. Perhaps confident leadership is a comfortable middle ground. A well-known leadership scale is the one from transactional to transformational styles. It has been studied countless times, in nursing and in business, with similar results—outcomes are better with relational, transformational methods. The transactional approach may not be ideal, but there are times when that approach is needed, such as attendance or short-timeline deliverables. Can you be transactional in a transformative way and blend the approaches? Yes, you can. Read editorial board member Claire Zengerle's Q&A column in the February 2023 issue of Nursing Management for excellent tips on finding that balance.1 Another equilibrium that's most often learned by experience is whether an issue you support, or would like to, is a "hill to die on," or if it's better to "go with the flow" and help your team adjust. This decision is based on your values and has a huge component of organizational politics and goals. You can find a balance with advocacy. You must decide which part of the scale to model in each situation that preserves your authentic self and role. Here's another one: the balance between being caring and being detached. As nurses, caring is a fundamental value—the "art" in the art and science of the profession. Caring leadership is important too, validated by research associating it with positive workforce outcomes. Can you be "too caring" as a leader? Yes, if it interferes with hard but necessary decisions. There is a balance, leaning heavily to the caring side. There are many other examples, such as analytical to off-the-cuff decision-making, exnovation to innovation, leading to following, and work-life integration to name a few. All require finding balance. Leaders may struggle and make mistakes, but the most important thing is to be self-aware, have patience with yourself, and learn. Reaching out to mentors is always helpful too. Finding middle ground may seem too vanilla. Yet it's at the core of collaboration and conflict management, and many other leadership practice continuums. Attaining your own balance, despite often blurry paths, is learned and needed.Figure[email protected]