The seventh competency essential for nurse leaders in 2020 is the ability to balance authenticity with performance expectation . authentic leader are those who are true to themselves and their values and act accordingly. Stanley calls this phenomenon ‘congruent leadership’, and defines it as ‘ a match between the activities ,actions,and deeds of leader and the leader’s values,principles,and beliefs’.Authentic or congruent leadership differs from more traditional transformational leadership theories which suggest that the leader’s vision or goals are often influenced by external forces and that there must be at least some ‘buy-in’ of that vision by followers. In authentic leadership, it is the leader’s principle and their conviction to act accordingly that inspires follwers’
In 2005,the American association of critical-care nurse released a landmark publication identifying authentic leadership as one of the six standards necessary to establish and sustain healthy work environments in healthcare .Authentic leadership was described as the ‘glue’ needed to hold together a healthy work environment . geore concurs,suggesting that 21st century organizations can not develop sustained growth without authentic in leadership .kerfoot also agrees,suggesting that ‘the leadership traits of the person in charge work either as a magnet to attract, retain,and inspire,or as a force that repels’ as ‘people hunger for personalized leadership that speaks to their hearts and inspires them to do things they didn’t know they were capable of accomplishing.
Yet,there is little doubt that nurse leaders experience intrapersonal values conflicts between what they believe to be morally appropriate and a need to delivery results in a healthcare system increasingly characterized by pay for performance and rewarded by cost containment .indeed,a survey by O’neil et al . found that funding and budgeting were identified as the greatest leadership challenge by nurse executives