Running head: ANALYZING A LEADER

Analyzing a Leader
Brooke Bracy, Hillary Colbry, and Kristin Meisen
Ferris State University

ANALYZING A LEADER

Analyzing a Leader
To analyze a nurse manager in the leadership role, the authors interviewed Joanne Pelton,
the unit manager of the orthopedic department at Blodgett Hospital in Grand Rapids, MI.
According to Yoder-Wise (2015), Nurses who serve as leaders and managers have additional
opportunities to create conditions where ideas are heard, problems are solved, and the best
evidence is employed (p. 31). The purpose of this paper is to identify dynamics of leadership
within the healthcare team that contribute to quality patient outcomes.
Background
Joanne Pelton is a registered nurse (RN) with experience in a primary care doctors
office, medical surgical unit, and an orthopedic unit. Pelton started out as a licensed practical

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nurse in 1969, after obtaining her associates degree and then later on receiving her Bachelors of
Science in Nursing from the University of Detroit Mercy. Peltons father was in the hospital,
which was her first exposure to the nursing profession and she was instantly inspired.
While going back to school for her associate degree, she was a stay at home mother.
After working on the 3E/3G orthopedic unit for 10 years at Blodgett Hospital, the unit manager
encouraged Pelton to apply for the manager position, since she herself was applying for a
director position. The unit manager felt that Pelton could influence peers and serve as a role
model on the floor. She interviewed for the orthopedic floor manager position and accepted it.
She has now worked on the same unit for 27 years and is still currently the floor manager.
Pelton presently has her nurse executive and orthopedic nursing certifications. Pelton
stated that nurse managers are now strongly encouraged to obtain these certifications, as well as
advance their education to acquire a masters degree. According to the American Organization
of Nurse Executives (AONE), a leader meets the professionalism competency if they create an
environment in which professional and personal growth is an expectation (2011). Pelton
believes that her years of experience on the floor as a charge nurse and her passion for helping
others helped her get the promotion to unit manager.
Roles and Responsibilities
As a nurse manager, Pelton plays two important roles, which include providing clinical care
and performing as an administrative leader. Peltons main goal as a nurse manager is to make
her unit the best it can be, to have happy staff, and to improve quality of patient care. With this
goal in mind, the responsibilities of Peltons manager position include doing unit hiring, staffing,

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holding staff accountable for their actions, ensuring quality and safety measures, promoting
customer satisfaction, and managing the units budget. She also serves on a few hospital
committees, including the patient satisfaction committee, ethics committee, and pain committee,
which focus on areas to implement plans in key areas.
All orthopedic unit staff report to Pelton, as the unit manager, regarding any questions or
concerns. Pelton has an orthopaedics director to report to, who was previously in her manager
role. Pelton oversees all care on the unit and addresses concerns involving collaboration among
all departments, including physicians, physical therapy, and nursing staff to improve quality
patient care. As stated by Yoder-Wise (2015), Collaboration among groups and individuals with
common interests and goals often results in greater success in effecting change and exercising
power in the workplace (p. 178).
According to Pelton, the organizational structure and philosophy of Spectrum health, as
well as the orthopedic unit, aide in the delivery in quality of patient care. Pelton also strongly
believes in professional development. She tries to attend conferences each year and has written
two journal articles for the Orthopaedic Nursing Journal. She has also presented on diseasespecific improvement measures for joint replacement.
Communication
Throughout the floor, Pelton is well liked by her staff and the students. She always has
the door to her office open unless she is gone or is having a private meeting. As employees and
students walk past her office she can be heard greeting them asking how their day is going. Her

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favorite way of communicating with her floor is face-to-face but she said that she appreciates
how timely e-mailing is and utilizes it when necessary.
Pelton states that her passions come out in her nurses actions and she pays close
attention to the quality and happiness of her floor. This means being available to help solve
problems and concerns of the nurses. Nurses can easily contact her, which means quick and
quality patient care.
Pelton stated the importance of holding people accountable and how hard it was for her
when she first started out as manager. She states she always does it with respect and dignity.
The positive communication model from Yoder-Wise 2015 states, focusing on strengths rather
than on weaknesses is far more productive and leads to excellence (p. 332). That is what Pelton
strives for, bringing her employees up to have them reach their full potential on her floor. In
turn, that positively reflects in the attitude of the nurses and their patient care.
Knowledge Of the Healthcare Environment
Pelton takes an active role in the events on her floor. Everyday at 1030 the charge nurse
(CN) of 3E/G is presented with a few pages from Pelton to be talked about at checkpoint.
Checkpoint is a short meeting of all the floor nurses with the CN, where the points on the papers
are read and discussed, topics like the next Joint Commision (JCO) visit, any areas of
improvement for the floor, or upcoming dates to remember.
Pelton states that the goal for her floor is to have the best quality, with the happiest
registered nurses and patients, within budget. Pelton is aware of the business aspect of the floor
as well as positive healthcare outcomes. She shows this by attending business meetings and

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making appropriate changes on her floor necessary to maintain the budget. Pelton states that she
understand that being a manager is not just a leadership position, but also that there is a business
piece. She finds it helpful to read books on being a manager to make sure she is fulfilling her job
to her best ability.
Yoder-Wise (2015) explains that the systems theory on healthcare organizations is to
explain productivity in terms of a unifying the whole as opposed to a series of unrelated parts
(p.131). The systems theory includes internal and external factors to the healthcare environment
(Yoder-Wise, 2015, p. 131). Peltons actions on her floor as well as her statements show
dedication and knowledge to the internal management of the floor nurses and the external
influences such as budget and accreditation.
Leadership
There are many different types of leadership, all of which have the potential of being
successful as long as they are utilized correctly. According to Yoder-Wise (2015), leadership is
the use of personal traits to constructively and ethically influence patients, families, and staff
through a process in which clinical and organizational outcomes are achieved through collective
affairs (p. 584). During unit manager Peltons interview, she stated that she is a democratic
leader.
Being a democratic leader means that the leader allows the staff a say in the decision
making process. Some studies show that this type of leadership leads to higher productivity,
better contributions from group members, and increases group morale (Democratic leader,
2015, p. 1). In order to be a productive leader, Pelton states that it is crucial to listen to staff

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members and patients, use collaborated involvement in solving issues on the floor, and be a
passionate nurse. The Yoder-Wise (2015) book states that respect towards employees is
important in creating staff satisfaction (p. 37). It is significant to have staff that feels respected; a
respected staff is more apt to work harder, do their best, feel more confident, and be a positive
role model for other staff.
Professionalism
Professionalism is the skill, good judgment, and polite behavior that is expected from a
person who is trained to do a job well (Yoder-Wise, 2015). It is important for a nurse leader to
display professionalism, by doing so, staff and patients will be more trusting of the leaders
knowledge in every situation. Pelton displays professionalism in everything that she does. For
example, while our peers were conducting this interview, she answered all of our questions in a
polite and accommodating fashion. Pelton was always very informative and made sure we had
all of the answers we needed. By doing this, she made us feel like we were her priority even
though she had many different things to do.
Pelton also demands professional behavior from all staff towards other staff, students,
family members, and patients. This is one of the behaviors she feels is key to having a
productive reliable unit. Being an outsider on this unit it was easy to tell Peltons leadership
skills are impeccable. Clinical on 3E/3G has been a conducive learning environment. Requiring
professional behavior from everyone allows for a less judgmental environment and encourages
teamwork to reach a central goal of optimum patient care.
Conclusion

ANALYZING A LEADER

Pelton is a manager, who is admired as both a co-worker and a boss. She shows respect
to anyone she encounters to better her floor and the healthcare provided on it. She strives and
succeeds at being an exemplary democratic leader in her hospital. Pelton demonstrates her
passions through effective communication, positive relationships, knowledge of healthcare as a
business, and quality leadership skills. Her hard work is not only revealed in her actions, but in
the satisfaction of her employees and the positive patient outcomes produced on her floor.

References

ANALYZING A LEADER

American Organization of Nurse Executives. (2011). The AONE nurse executive competencies.
Chicago, IL: The American Organization of Nurse Executives.
Cherry, K. (2015). What is a democratic leader. Retrieved from
http://psychology.about.com/od/leadership/f/democratic-leadership.htm
Yoder-Wise, P. S. (2015). Leading and managing in nursing (6th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Elsevier.