Individualized Consideration: An Analysis of the Compassionate Leadership Style of Martin Luther King Jr.
During the Civil Rights Movement, one of Martin Luther King’s most important leadership skills was to bring an individualized consideration to each of his followers. This form of leadership was directed at listening to the individual needs of his followers, which was having a genuine concern for the people around him: “Behavior that employs an individualized developmental model that responds to follower needs and concerns” (Lussier & Achua, 2015, p.338). These individualized approaches provided a more intimate and genuine feeling of support in the context of the Civil Rights Movement. King was able to bring confidence in his followers…show more content… In many cases, patients have their own unique medical problems, which must be attended to on a person-to-person basis. In a hospital environment, this aspect of nursing demands attention to “changing nature of individual needs” (Swansburg, 2002, p.271). Much like King’s leadership strategy, nurses can listen to the individual needs of patients, which will give them more faith in the treatments that they will receive in the caregiving setting. The nurse can utilize a compassionate approach of the discomfort or questions that the patient may have during the treatment process. For instance, a patient may have a unique injury or medical problem, which demands a specific set of treatments. The nurse can ask the patient about their individual needs, which provides them with a feeling of comfort and safety. In this case, the nurse is not simply following generic institutional codes of treatment, but he or she is delving deeper into the individual needs of the patient. In this capacity, martin Luther King’s leadership style promotes an individual consideration, which nurses can provide to patients on a person-to-person basis. A compassionate approach to the genuine concerns of the patient will help to bring greater trust in the patient/nurse
