Leadership behaviours that foster nursing group power

Abstract

Today's health care environment presents many challenges to nursing groups as they seek to achieve their goals. All resources must be recognized and effectively utilized. Power, defined as the capacity to achieve goals (Sieloff 1995), is a valuable resource that can assist nursing groups in the achievement of their goals. The leader of a nursing group can make a significant difference in a group's ability to actualize their power capacity. The purpose of this article is to identify and discuss the use of a tool (Sieloff-King Assessment of Group Power within Organizations) to identify the nurse leader/group power variables that can be used to improve a nursing group's power as a resource in the achievement of its goals. Using behaviours related to a Nurse Leader's Power Competency and Power Perspective variables, identified in the Theory of Group Power within Organizations (Sieloff 1999), a nurse leader can foster a nursing group's power.