Ian Hall is an Advanced Nurse Practitioner in the Orkney Islands, and a Queen’s Nurse. He has provided a review of the book which was the basis of Susie Boyle’s presentation at our Conference in April 2019.
This is the introductory book that was offered by Susie Boyle during her talk at the Murrayfield conference recently. I admit that during her talk I struggled to understand some of the language that she was using as it was fairly fast and furious and on subject matter that I had never heard before. At times it sounded like a foreign language, but it did prompt me to ask for the (free) book to try and get my head around it better. I’m really glad that I did. Here’s why….
This is a fresh analysis of leadership dynamics from a post-postmodern perspective (and yes I made that word up). We all know the ‘formal’ leadership dynamic of authority and power with punishment and/or reward to gain results. Any big organisation (e.g NHS) will always have a hierarchical structure with some formal authority/leadership in process. The book’s insight is that there is also an informal “social leadership” dynamic co-existing that is probably more effective and certainly kinder as it gets the same results. This is similar to the concept of 360 degree leadership, in that it is all about influence and not just about top down decisions. You can influence your colleagues and even your seniors using social leadership principles. Here are some of the highlights of the 9 stage model:-
Social leaders use engagement as part of a community. Their only authority comes from real-life hard-earned reputation through the use of story-telling used widely but wisely. Humility is the foundation of a successful social leader who uses collaboration and adaptability to co-create with their community (team).
My primary reflection is that this list of principles embodies the values of QNIS. There are major parallels with the excellence criteria we all had to meet. It is about taking people with you as we strive towards excellence not only ourselves but as part of a team/community. So many of us QNs are team leaders and I know you already try and do these things intuitively. That is why we were chosen as QNs. It is really interesting to see it written in print from a non-nursing perspective.
I hope that Julian can be invited to a future QNIS conference, and hopefully given more than one session to both explain and apply these new concepts to our nursing roles. He needs to be encouraged to start from the beginning though, so we don’t end up feeling like it is still a foreign language.