Managing the Toxic Leader

Toxic leaders are challenging to deal with during normal working conditions but particularly in high-pressure environments such as a psychiatric hospital, the following threats present massive challenges for any business (Coldwell, 2021).In Jackie, the nurse manager in this case, actions demonstrate behaviors that are contrary to her capacity and harmfully influence team outcomes and patients. It shows that she is unprofessional and does not consider the needs of her colleagues; the environment in which she works gets invaded resulting in patient safety and efficacy being compromised (Coldwell, 2021). These are the issues that have to be solved to restore the conjunction of the helpful and cohesion work team environment. Jackie’s work will be evaluated, any violations of professional codes of conduct will be reported, and recommendations for further professional development of Jackie and overall improvement of the function of the unit will be made.

Evaluation as a Leader Performance

These are clear indications of indirectness, disrespect to her duties, and in able to support her subordinates hence showing how much she is a bad leader within the mental unit of the hospital (Labrague, 2023). She became a threat to patient care and the organization of the unit apart from eradicating her credibility. Jackie’s behavior demonstrates a lack of commitment to the leadership position she has been assigned and this is consequently costly to her employees and the patients who are under her supervision.

Examples of Jackie’s Performance from the Scenario

Low Communication and Attendance

Patient safety and team collaboration are compromised as Jackie is frequently absent from the scheduled patient care meetings (Yarnell et al., 2023).  For example, Jackie unilaterally canceled the meeting without notifying anyone, including the key personnel such as Kyle about the care conference without actually attending the said meeting early, but was very late instead. Her casual remarks, ‘Did you not get my email?’ are ill-mannered and impudent, which show that she is not careful when it comes to disseminating important information.

Failure to Support Staff

An overt example of how Jackie ignored support to her subordinates can partly be seen when Kyle asked Jackie for advice on how to tackle a difficult patient, K. C, Jackie ignored him after canceling the meeting he had proposed with her and instead of attending, she told him to email her (Hudgins et al., 2022). She never wrote back to him and so, even when Kyle sent a message immediately after, he failed to get the guidance he required dealing with a delicate matter.

Unprofessional Behavior

Instead, Jackie becomes more aggressive towards the end of the show when she arrives at the hospital inappropriately dressed for work and harasses Martin, a young nurse (Coldwell, 2021). Her playful actions and disregard for the matters that should be addressed in the unit, such as the need to attend to the employees’ issues, prove that she does not possess some professional traits of a manager.

Violations of Professional Performance Standards

Standard of Communication

Communication practice is one of the key tenets of professional practice. I also have to include that Jackie violated this norm, as she often fails to reply to important emails or inform her subordinates about canceled meetings (Yasmeen et al., 2023). Her team is inoperable and there is poor support and lack of clearly defined communication when she does not promptly communicate.

Criterion of Leadership and Accountability

Jackie has also been negligent of this crucial criterion as well. Any person who is in the leadership position is expected to be as engaged, responsive, and available for the success and well-being of the team (Yasmeen et al., 2023). Most of the time Jackie misses important meetings, never shares opinions, and behaves rather rudely all this screams ‘no accountability’ and lack of leadership.

Performance Issues for Improvement Plan

Attendance and Punctuality

It is also important to discuss Jackie’s ongoing abusive attendance where she misses many patient care conferences and tardiness (Yarnell et al., 2023). In this case, she has to ensure to attends all planned meetings on time or to better distribute tasks appropriately in case she fails to attend on time.

Communication

To that end, Jackie has to understand that she needs to work on her communication (Hossny et al., 2023). She should ensure that all the members of the team know the change in the issued schedule and reply to emails and other correspondences acutely, especially when the staff is seeking her advice.

Professionalism

This involves dressing and behaving in the way that is appropriate for a medical environment and as Jackie (Coldwell, 2021). This has to be done in line with her status as a senior official with numerous responsibilities to discharge on behalf of her institution.

Support and Engagement

Here Jackie should be in a position to assist her employees more often as they demand especially when the going gets rough. This includes providing herself with consultation, providing the needed advice, and ensuring that the members of her team are motivated in their positions (Labrague et al., 2021).  By addressing these concerns of performance, Jackie may engage in the process of repairing her credibility and efficacy of leadership that will in turn improve the working environment of the unit and the quality of patient care.

Implications of Employee Behavior

Impact on Patient Care and Safety

Implication

Jackie is not present at key conferences related to patient care and her absence faints the unit’s capability to address demanding patient attitudes (Labrague, 2023). This lack of leadership has the potential of creating insufficient levels of interdisciplinary teamwork and this may lead to less than satisfactory treatment of the patient and increased risk of risk of patient harm.

Consequences

Evening safety and a therapeutic environment are also threatened in the unit (Nonehkaran et al., 2023). Patients may become aggressively violent, their conditions may deteriorate and the general quality of care could diminish when patient care-related problems such as those of K. C. are not managed using cooperative models.

Effect on Team Morale and Efficiency

Implication 

The unjustifiable and rude behaviors of Jackie and her failure to communicate with her employees negatively affect the group’s performance and cohesion (Nonehkaran et al., 2023). Her failure to support the team and give the staff members regular constructive feedback and praise makes them demoralized and frustrated not to mention losing interest in their production.

Consequences

Lack of team morale usually results in low job satisfaction, high turnover, and low productivity (Coldwell, 2021). Motivation to work effectively or achieve together may be reduced, which could adversely affect the unit’s productivity, or could raise the incidence of absenteeism and stress.

Alignment with Organizational Vision and Goals

Implication

Ensuring workplace civility while also fostering a culture of professional courtesy in addition to providing quality care while having a positive focus on patients are some of the common themes presented within the organization’s vision and mission statements (Hudgins et al., 2022). Modern organizational management principles forbidding employees from being late to work and saying things like ‘You never called me this morning’ are both unprofessional and unacceptable, and are all violated by Jackie.

Consequences

Failure to address these challenges puts the company at risk of straying away from its goal of providing high-quality service, and maintaining healthy workplace relationships (Hossny et al., 2023). The external public may lose confidence in the organization, the accreditation of the organization may be compromised and ultimately over time, the organizational strategic initiatives may not be realized effectively due to this misfit.

Professional Development and Leadership Growth

Implication

These actions of Jackie undermine her leadership authority and it becomes cumbersome for her to effectively organize, coordinate, and direct the employees (Labrague et al., 2021).  Lack of leadership results in poor formation of a coherent team that is fatal to the overall accomplishments of organizational goals and the improvement of patients’ conditions.

Consequences

Lack of leadership and support results in limited staff development and poor teamwork that could affect the unit’s ability in terms of coming up with new ideas and change for the better (Celebi & Tuncer, 2023). Due to this stagnation, it might be possible that the flexibility of the organization to grow and adapt to the ever-changing demands and standards of healthcare would be a constraint.

Jackie’s documented behavior has implications for the mental health unit, and the entire corporation, as a whole (Labrague, 2023). Lack of professionalism, poor communication, and absence of leadership, harm patient outcomes, demoralize the team, and is counterproductive to the objectives and aims of the company. Essential to addressing these issues, enhancing patient care, and achieving organizational goals, is the introduction of a performance improvement strategy.

Action Plan to Improve Leader Performance

An effective action plan has been developed to deal with leadership deficiencies of Jackie and improve the performance of the psychiatric unit (Labrague, 2023). This strategy focuses on offering certain performance benchmarks and a checklist of tasks that are achievable to enhance Jackie’s leadership skills. It continues with the purpose of providing the best leadership and support to improve patient care and healthcare services.

Performance Expectations

Jackie has high standards for performance in four main areas: Reliability and punctuality, efficiency and motivation, courteous and effective, and appropriate interpersonal communication (Hudgins et al., 2022). As one of the primary strategies, Jackie, among other things, has to attend all the scheduled patient care conferences and other events. She also needs to be time-conscious and be ready to provide a prior notification if she is to miss the meeting. This will help in eradicating the signing of the various disciplines affecting patient care making and managing the patient care issues on time (Labrague, 2023).  Second, Jackie needs to be prompt and specific in her communication with her team; she has to respond to emails within 24 hours and inform the staff members of any changes in the schedule or policies. The two advantages of misconceptions and cooperation among the team members are the benefits of proper communication. Thirdly, Jackie, shouldn’t do anything that may attract people’s attention to professionalism when it comes to appearance. Staying professional will assist in maintaining a proper leadership demeanor that is authoritative as well as courteous (Labrague et al., 2021). Finally, Jackie requires being fully involved in the lives of her workers, giving directions on hard cases, and being approachable to all worker’s complaints. Support will lead to enhanced overall performance of a team and enhance the morale of the staff.

Action Steps

The following are several action steps that will help Jackie meet these performance standards: To improve professionalism, communication, and time management skills Jackie will initially undertake leadership development courses and training (Celebi & Tuncer, 2023). Moreover, separate appointments for the imparting of further instructions and assessments in terms of coaching or mentoring will be provided. Follow-up sessions will be planned every week for the first two weeks and will be conducted every two weeks thereafter to check on Jackie’s progress, discuss any challenges faced, and provide feedback. Because of these meetings, Jackie will also be in a position to quickly address any issues regarding her targets and remain goal-oriented. 

Additionally, Jackie will require performance tracking in attendance, communication, and other inputs for normal performance appraisal (Hossny et al., 2023). This technique will give useful data to evaluate her progress and identify what areas are still not clear to her. Team mood checks completed by Jackie will be supplemented by feedback submitted by staff members through channels that Jackie shall regularly monitor to draw the necessary conclusion (Hossny et al., 2023). In the middle of the action plan, the performance of Jackie and whether she has been able to meet the required performance standard will be assessed by the team, in addition, whether the action plan has brought change in the dynamics of the team and the delivery of healthcare services will also be established.

Assumptions Inherent in the Plan

The following are the assumptions on which this plan of action is based: Jackie is to assume that she is receptive to feedback, and committed to improving her output and conduct, if necessary (Labrague, 2023). The strategy also assumes that Jackie would ensure that her improvement efforts are backed by appropriate resources, time for training, and access to development programs. Also, it is assumed that feedback received from the employees of a company will be positive and they will have a positive attitude towards the changes that are being made. These are useful presumptions for the operation of the action plan and the achievement of its goals and or objectives.

Impact on Healthcare Delivery and Patient Outcomes

In light of this, it is believed that the action plan developed here will hopefully assist Jackie to do better and this will have a multiplier effect in the following ways. This measure will have the effect of increasing both attendance and punctuality at patient care conferences and therefore enhance coordinated patient care and the overall care of the patient (Celebi & Tuncer, 2023). Better professionalism coupled with adequate communication, and workplace etiquette will be cordial hence reducing employee turnover. More so, the staff members will recognize Jackie’s support and involvement, and this will enhance productivity besides providing efficient and timely patient care. Overall Jackie’s performance issues can be addressed and coupled with clear guidelines the unit will improve in its efficiency and thus patient outcomes and morale.

Conclusion

To bring back efficacy and professionalism in the mental unit, Jackie’s problematic performance has to be dealt with. Jackie’s control may be significantly enhanced by the set action plan better training communication and professional decorum (Hudgins et al., 2022). This will not only bring solutions to the general problems facing workers as well as patients but will also align her performance with the goal and vision of the company. It is expected that high levels of strategy implementation will enhance patient satisfaction organizational cohesion and morale. It will be very important to watch the dynamics and provide constant support to ensure that things remain on track in the unit and that these improvements are sustained.

References

Coldwell, D. A. L. (2021). Toxic behavior in organizations and organizational entropy: A 4th industrial revolution phenomenon? SN Business & Economics, 1(5), 70. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43546-021-00079-0

Celebi, O., & Tuncer, G. (2023). Toxic leadership, mental well-being, and work engagement among nurses: A scale adaptation study and structural equation model approach. Journal of Health Organization and Management, 10.1108/JHOM-10-2022-0291. https://doi.org/10.1108/JHOM-10-2022-0291

Hudgins, T., Brown, K. D., Layne, D., & Maggard, T. (2022). The effect of academic nurse leaders’ toxic behaviors. The Journal of Nursing Education, 61(2), 88–92. https://doi.org/10.3928/01484834-20211213-02

Hossny, E. K., Alotaibi, H. S., Mahmoud, A. M., Elcokany, N. M., Seweid, M. M., Aldhafeeri, N. A., Abdelkader, A. M., & Abd Elhamed, S. M. (2023). Influence of nurses’ perception of organizational climate and toxic leadership behaviors on intent to stay: A descriptive comparative study. International Journal of Nursing Studies Advances, 5, 100147. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnsa.2023.100147

Labrague, L. J., Lorica, J., Nwafor, C. E., & Cummings, G. G. (2021). Predictors of toxic leadership behavior among nurse managers: A cross-sectional study. Journal of Nursing Management, 29(2), 165–176. https://doi.org/10.1111/jonm.13130

Labrague L. J. (2023). Toxic leadership and its relationship with outcomes on the nursing workforce and patient safety: a systematic review. Leadership in Health Services, 10.1108/LHS-06-2023-0047. https://doi.org/10.1108/LHS-06-2023-0047

Nonehkaran, E. A., Mozaffari, N., Iranpour, S., & Soola, A. H. (2023). Identifying the predictors of turnover intention based on nurse managers’ toxic leadership behaviors among nurses in Iran: A cross-sectional correlational study. BMC Health Services Research, 23(1), 1201. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-023-10046-0

Yarnell, A., Carreño, P. K., Davis, L., McGovern, M., & Keller, M. (2023). Leaders, talent management, and allies: The keys to successful integration in the combat arms. Military Medicine, 188(Suppl 4), 41–49. https://doi.org/10.1093/milmed/usac351

Yasmeen, A., Khan, M. M., & Ahmed, S. S. (2023). A hurting embrace does not last long: Toxicity of abusive supervision erodes leader and organizational identification to cause turnover intention. Journal of Health Organization and Management, 10.1108/JHOM-03-2023-0082. https://doi.org/10.1108/JHOM-03-2023-0082