 Hi everyone and welcome to another vlog. So today's vlog I'm going to talk all about leadership. I think it's a really important topic to talk about because as nurses we have to be leaders. I know a lot of people fear it and don't want to particularly be a leader but maybe that's just because you've misinterpreted what a leader is or some people get confused between leadership and management and leadership is completely different to management so I just wanted to cover this in a little vlog and hopefully inspire you to become an amazing leader that you already are and feel maybe a little bit more comfortable about it. So first things first I get really uncomfortable when people call me a leader and say positive things about me. I get really uncomfortable really awkward really shy about it and the massive imposter syndrome that we hear about all the time definitely kicks in. However what I've come to realise is student nurses can be leaders and actually you can have leadership across all different levels because before I started nursing I didn't think that I would ever be called a leader never in a million years and I would never in my own opinion this is disclaimer. I would never have thought a student could be a leader and now I'm seeing all of these amazing student nurses doing different things across social media and they are they're amazing and it just shows that you can be a good leader as a student nurse and I think that's really fantastic and I just wanted to get that message out there. Leadership as well goes hand in hand with being a good role model so I would say all of my mentors have been really good leaders because I've looked up to them all they've taught every single one of them good bad the ugly they've all taught me something really really important and I've taken a lot away from that and to me that's good leadership and we have to be good leaders for our patients we have to get our patients on board with the treatment the management plan that we're giving them the care plans we're putting in place they have to follow those things and if we're not that person that they can trust that they can follow that they can listen to and they're not going to follow your advice and that's where leadership sort of breaks down a little bit so we have to be good nurses we have to follow evidence-based practice but to follow all of our knowledge all of our training implement that into what we're doing with patient care patient safety so that patients will listen to us understand and follow our lead and that is just that's you being a good leader and you whoever is watching this video right now if you're a nurse if you're a student nurse qualified not qualified if you've done that for a patient if you've put something in place for them some sort of management plan they have followed that you're a leader because you've got them to do that and that is encouraging them to be their best selves because you want them to get better and you're encouraging them to get better and they're following your advice to me that's amazing leadership and that's exactly what the nmc wants us to be the nmc wants us to be this leader and not just for the benefit of our patients but for the benefit of our colleagues as well for the benefit of student nurses so we are going to eventually if you're a student nurse we are going to have students come under our wing when we're newly qualified nurses when we're qualified nurses for a year two year plus because nmc standards now everybody has to become this mentor or practice supervisor or practice assessor and you're not getting out of it you're going to have a student under your wing so you have to be a good role model a good leader for them and show those leadership skills hopefully it's going to have a knock on effect and they're going to be inspired by you to do more be better be their best selves and just encourage them to be fantastic nurses because it all starts with those students doesn't it so if we can aim and get those students on board being fantastic the future of nursing is just going to be amazing i would also say that leadership comes in all sorts of ways so like i said you have to be a leader for your patients for your colleagues and for your students but also if you're a mother if you're a father you know you have to be that good leader that good role model as well for your children so that they become their best selves you're encouraging them to become better to be the best version of themselves so that when they're older they can have an amazing future ahead of them you're a leader guys you're leaders you don't even know it you're criticizing it and you're amazing fantastic leaders so please take all of this information on board because to me leadership isn't about management it's not about telling people what to do and hoping that they do it no it's about just doing the best you can inspiring others to do the best that they can to be their best selves it's not about management it's not about ordering people around it's about sharing positive things it's about sharing your journeys it's about sharing your experiences like i said it ties hand and hand with being that role model be that person be that nurse that you want to be be that nurse that you look up to be that person that you see and you think wow i want to be more like them be that person and then someone else can come and look up to you and be like i want to be like them and then we just have this knock-on effect of amazing fantastic good leaders in the world wouldn't that be amazing yes so some little tips and advice for being a good leader or what i think is a good leader you might be different but i think you have to have a lot of empathy you have to be a good listener good communication skills eye contact body language you have to work at different levels as well so start from the bottom work your way up to the top so you know what it's like to be in that person's shoes so if you're speaking to let's just say i was a hca before so i've been a hca then i'm going to go on to be a student nurse then a nurse i know what it's like to be a hca so i can empathize with hca's because i've been there i know how tough it is and i know how hard they work so that's going to be a massive benefit i think just having that underlying knowledge and experience from before and in building on that i think also with being a good leader you have to share your journey share positive message share all of the amazing changes that are happening in your area so that other people can see this and be like yes i want to do this i want to do this maybe we should implement this into our area that's you paving the way again to be a good leader also encouraging others like i said encouraging others to become their best self egging people on none of this competition malarkey that i see sometimes on social media where one person's jealous of another person no that's not leadership that's jealousy it's terrible so please erase that we want to big each other up we want to encourage each other to be amazing someone's doing well you big them up you say do you know what well done a massive i'm genuinely genuinely happy for other people when i see them win awards when i see them get really good marks when they're passing with firsts i'm so proud of everybody that haven't even met and i'm there like oh my god this is amazing well done because i think it's just lovely it's lovely lovely lovely to share positive messages to encourage others to keep them going keep them motivated and just be proud of other people and i also think that you should have integrity and empower other people so that is it from me these are my own thoughts feelings experiences of leadership other opinions are going to vary between person to person and we're all unique amazing individual human beings are what might work for one person might not work for another person so my advice to you is go and find your inner leader