Relationship Effectiveness

Relationship Effectiveness

Relationship Effectiveness

During my career as a nurse, I have had many professional relationships. Reflecting back on which were successful and which were not, I can apply some of the concepts presented by Dunham-Taylor and Pinczuk (2010) to analyze my effectiveness.

The first concept is dialogue. According to Dunham-Taylor and Pinczuk (2010, p. 41), dialogue is the "...process of honest communication where everyone discusses their ideas with one another as well as respects and listens to one another". Dialogue establishes just how important communication is, at not only sharing information, but also resolving conflicts. Dialogue is a two-way process involving not only communicating, but listening as well (Dunham-Taylor & Pinczuk, 2010).

For the most part, I feel that I am a good communicator as well as a listener. There are times though that I do loose objectivity during dialogues, especially when I am emotional in a conflict. This decreases my effectiveness in the relationship and as a leader. Dunham-Taylor and Pinczuk (2010, p. 42-43) discuss different types of dialogues with there being three different approaches: the parent, the adult, and the child. The ideal approach is the adult-to adult approach. Being in the adult role and objective is especially helpful when in conflict (Dunham-Taylor & Pinczuk, 2010, p. 45).

There are times during dialogues that I loose my objectivity and take on either the child or parent approach, especially when I feel threatened. I have been guilty of judging the entire person based on their opinion or difference of opinion from mine (Dunham-Taylor & Pinczuk, 2010, p. 45). Dunham-Taylor & Pinczuk (2010, p. 45) suggest identifying and address the source of the problem objectively, rather than the entire person. This reminds me of the saying "Don't shoot the messenger."

Another concept presented by Dunham-Taylor and Pinczuk (2010, p. 45) is that of authenticity, which they describe as "...put people first and often get recharged by people. This way we are able to accept, and even delight in, others' differences and success; we also have empathy for problems that others face."

Authenticity has been one of my greatest strengths on work evaluations. I am used quite a bit to orient new staff and precept student nurses because of this. I work very hard to build up new people and students I am working with. I try to not only to instill trust in me but also confidence in their nursing abilities. One way I do this is through allowing them to make mistakes (as long as they are not dangerous or endanger patient safety) and then constructively reviewing the steps and where the error occurred. I myself find that I need to be hands on with learning and tend to remember when I