Introduction
A leader’s influence is what draws people to them. It encourages positive change by enabling leaders to sway people towards the best option. Influence breeds loyalty by inspiring commitment. Influence gets people rallying for the same cause. A leader who has a positive influence on others will promote change that leads to exponential growth. An influential leader makes and leverages connections, builds trust and promotes the good of the entire organization.
Deciding on My Message
Nursing is a noble profession that requires one to be intelligent, caring and gentle. The pandemic brought to light how undervalued the nurses were. Nurses clean patients, observe them, listen to their worries and administer medication. Now, they have the added responsibility of keeping themselves and their patients safe. Nurses are gravely underpaid and overworked, despite the high demand for caregivers. The sad truth is that nurses work for long hours, but compensation is not as deserved (Lee, 2017).
Nurses spend more time with patients placing them in a unique role as patient’s advocates and enabling them to monitor patients more closely. Nurses have autonomy nowadays. They are essentially more approachable doctors (Tubbs-Cooley et al., 2019). Unappreciated nurses are unmotivated, which affect the quality of service delivery (Lee, 2017). I hope that my message inspires the electorate to ask leaders for the impeccable quality of services promised to them during the election campaigns. Leaders should be accountable to the voters.
Sharing My Message
The best way to share this message is by talking about it and sharing videos of nurses speaking their truth. Social media is the most appropriate channel to share this information since these digital tools have a global reach – it can inspire change across continents. The objective is to create awareness about the need for a better quality of care and the role nurses play. This campaign should launch when the government is about to prepare the health care budget for the year. The style that generates the highest level of engagement determines the format of the message. The use of various platforms and the presence of performance indicators against which success is measured are equally important. The follow up is determined by the success of the initial campaign, content calendar and availability of resources. Uploaded content must be authentic and fun to avoid disengagement, a barrier to communication (Milde & Yawson, 2016). When the person you are addressing has more power, fear can be an emotional barrier to communication. It is therefore mandatory that the leader displays no fear. This gives the followers the courage to continue spreading the message. To get the message out, one must be able to engage in discussions, be flexible, be ready to compromise and learn what the other party needs (Ramlan et al., 2018).
My Message
We live in a society where organizations focus on maximizing profits. The well being of patients is underrated. We reward companies with large profit margins promoting selfishness and self-interest. Nurses pay money to be educated only to get into employment with no returns on their investment (Hartz & Wright, 2019).
The issue of low pay stems from history. Female-dominated professions were dis-granted in the past. The wages of men were higher than those of women. Women were not acknowledged or appreciated for the work that they did. The best way to fix this is to change how the public perceives work dominated by females in the health and social sector (Tubbs-Cooley et al., 2019). The gender stereotypes due to the caring character of nursing. Nursing is associated with motherhood and taking care of households. Thus the skills that are involved were not recognized and therefore not perceived as worthy of pay. Pudney proved this in his study published in 2000. He concluded that male nurses were promoted faster than female nurses (Pudney & Shields, 2000).
Healthy working conditions are defined as an environment that advances the well-being, safety and health of staff. Overworking nurses are susceptible to peptic ulcer disease and hypertension. At the peak of the pandemic, hospitals were swamped with patients and short-staffed, stretching the workforce thin. Studies done during this period concluded that nurses were exhausted. Psychiatric distress was on the rise among health care workers. The calibre of services decreased (Hartz & Wright, 2019). Exhausted, frustrated and stressed nurses are a liability to a hospital. Low salary is one reason why nurses overwork, taking on additional shifts to make more money (Lee, 2017). Most nurses chose this career path as a chance to give back to the community. Nursing is more than just skills. It has an emotional component that requires motivation. Improving their salary will enable institutions to hire the best candidates. It is only the nurses that are aware of their value that will seek the position. Improved compensation will increase employee loyalty, decreasing the rate of turnover, allow employers to develop and maintain talent. Job satisfaction will increase when employees get paid what they deserve (Tubbs-Cooley et al., 2019).
Unions should fight for the increase of the minimum range. Hospital management should find ways to minimize the workload of nurses. The use of self-service queuing systems eliminates the need for nurses to meet and greet every patient. More funds from the government need to be diverted to health care to enable public hospitals to hire more nurses (Hartz & Wright, 2019).
What I Learned From This Assignment.
Nurses organize health care teams, patients and their families. Nurses, therefore, need to be influential and have communication skills. Influence guarantees that nurses work in healthy conditions because their leaders fight for them. Nurses are an essential part of the health care team. They are at the forefront, helping patients conquer illnesses and offering support to their families. Nurses are frequently on the news because of labour strikes. Nursing unions usually engage in dialogues with the government. Lack of progress in these talks leads to strikes (Hartz & Wright, 2019). I can be influential; by being honest, courageous and speaking up when something is not right. I plan to increase the credibility and visibility of nursing as a profession by conducting research and increasing evidence-based practice in the field of nursing. It will ensure that interventions provided by nurses are of high quality and cost-effective.
Conclusion
Influential people are in a better position to effect change. The nursing profession has its challenges, and there is a need for leaders who are bold and forthright. Well compensated and valued nurses provide good quality services. Quick and prompt action is required, lest the nursing profession will cease to be revered, and a shortage of nurses will result. It is important that we are innovative in the way we choose to communicate our messages. New strategies need to be put in place. Resolving the conflict that has always existed between nurses and government officials is paramount as this will allow the discussion of more permanent solutions.
References
Expósito, J. S., Costa, C. L., Agea, J. L. D., Izquierdo, M. D. C., & Rodríguez, D. J. (2018). Ensuring relational competency in critical care: Importance of nursing students’ communication skills. Intensive and Critical Care Nursing, 44, 85-91.
Hartz, M. R., & Wright, M. J. (2019). In Demand and Undervalued—The Plight of American Healthcare Workers.
Lee, S. J. (2017). The survey of perception, performance and importance in nursing practice of comprehensive nursing care service. Journal of the Korea Convergence Society, 8(4), 247-253.
Milde, K., & Yawson, R. M. (2017). Strategies for social media use in nonprofits. Journal of Management Policy and Practice, 18(1), 19-27.
Pudney, S., & Shields, M. A. (2000). Gender and racial discrimination in pay and promotion for NHS nurses. Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 62, 801-835.
Ramlan, S., Abashah, A., Samah, I., Rashid, I., & Radzi, W. (2018). The impact of language barrier and communication style in organizational culture on expatriate’s working performance. Management Science Letters, 8(6), 659-666.
Tubbs-Cooley, H. L., Mara, C. A., Carle, A. C., Mark, B. A., & Pickler, R. H. (2019). Association of nurse workload with missed nursing care in the neonatal intensive care unit. JAMA pediatrics, 173(1), 44-51.
