| Course | NURS 626 Nursing Administration IV: Nursing Administration Capstone (NURS626) |
|---|---|
| Module/Week | 8 |
| Assignment | Leadership Development Project Part 4: Performance Development Plan |
| Paper type | Six-month performance development plan (goal, action steps, strategy, checkpoints, resources) |
| Length | about 892 words, 3 double-spaced pages plus title page and references. Course guide: a six-month plan in a form the student chooses that targets the lowest-scoring practice on the Leadership Practices Inventory, with a goal, action steps, a management strategy, smaller target goals or checkpoints and resources, citing at least one peer-reviewed reference from the last five years in current APA |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| Points | 100 |
| School | Liberty University Online |
| Program | MSN |
| Where it sits | Module/Week 8 in Liberty's published NURS 626 course guide; current sections can differ |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for NURS 626 Week 8
Six-Month Performance Development Plan: Strengthening Encourage the Heart, My Lowest Leadership Practice
[Student Name]
School of Nursing, Liberty University
NURS 626: Nursing Administration IV: Nursing Administration Capstone
Leadership Development Project Part 4: Performance Development Plan
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
The writer's scores, unit and colleagues are composites carried forward from the earlier parts of the project; the studies, book and Scripture cited are real.
Six-Month Performance Development Plan: Strengthening Encourage the Heart, My Lowest Leadership Practice
Inventory Result and Practice Selected
On my own ratings, the inventory results ran from 54 for Enable Others to Act to 39 for Encourage the Heart, so this plan targets Encourage the Heart. Within that practice, my two lowest items concerned making sure people are creatively recognized for their contributions and publicly recognizing people who show commitment to shared values, each scored 5 out of 10. Kouzes and Posner (2017) tie this practice to two commitments: noticing and thanking the individual who does excellent work, and gathering the team to mark what it has achieved together. My pattern is to thank people privately and briefly. What the inventory showed me is not that I fail to appreciate my staff, but that I keep my appreciation where no one else can see it.
Six-Month Goal
Within six months, I will raise my Encourage the Heart score from 39 to at least 48 on the self-version of the inventory and achieve an average of at least 8 out of 10 on the six Encourage the Heart items when rated by six staff nurses on the observer version, measured against their baseline ratings collected in month one.
Action Steps and Checkpoints
| Month | Action steps | Checkpoint |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ask six night-shift nurses to complete the observer inventory; start a recognition log on my phone | Six observer forms returned; baseline recorded |
| 2 | Name one specific contribution at every 7 p.m. huddle I lead; write two handwritten notes a week | At least 14 huddle recognitions and 8 notes logged |
| 3 | Nominate two colleagues for the hospital's recognition program; share one patient safety catch per week at the staff meeting | Two nominations submitted; four safety catches shared |
| 4 | Ask each nurse on my shift how they prefer to be recognized and record the answers | Preferences recorded for at least 20 nurses |
| 5 | Plan and lead one unit celebration of a shared milestone, such as six months without a fall with injury on nights | Celebration held with night staff present |
| 6 | Repeat the self and observer inventories; review the log with my mentor | Self score of 48 or more; observer average of 8 or more |
Management Strategy
Encouragement fails in busy months because it never feels urgent, so the plan protects it with structure. I will block fifteen minutes before each shift to review the recognition log and decide whom to recognize that night. The log records the person, the specific behavior and how I recognized it, so I can see whether I am spreading recognition across the staff or returning to the same few people. My mentor, the director of cardiovascular services, has agreed to review the log with me at the end of months two, four and six. If two consecutive weeks pass with fewer than three logged recognitions, I will raise it at the next mentor meeting rather than wait for the six-month review. Finally, recognition will always name a specific behavior and its effect on patients or colleagues, because general praise does not show people that their work was actually seen.
Anticipated Barriers
Three barriers could stall the plan. The first is time: on nights when two patients deteriorate, huddles shrink to a minute and recognition is the first thing dropped. The fifteen-minute pre-shift block and the rule that missed weeks go to my mentor are meant to absorb that risk. The second is discomfort. Public recognition does not come naturally to me, and some nurses dislike being singled out, which is why month four asks each nurse how they prefer to be thanked; for some, a note to their manager will mean more than a mention at huddle. The third is fairness. If I recognize the same few confident nurses again and again, the plan could make quieter staff feel overlooked, so the log will be reviewed for spread as well as frequency, with a target of recognizing every nurse on my shift at least once in each two-month period.
Resources
| Resource | How it will support the goal |
|---|---|
| The Leadership Challenge (Kouzes & Posner, 2017), chapters on Encourage the Heart | Practical commitments and examples for recognition and celebration |
| Mentor meetings in months 2, 4 and 6 | Accountability and feedback on the log |
| Observer version of the Leadership Practices Inventory | Baseline and six-month measure from staff |
| Hospital recognition program and safety catch reports | Formal channels for public recognition |
| Unit council budget of $150 | Supplies for the month 5 celebration |
Evidence Supporting the Plan
Two recent studies support the plan's design. In a trial across three institutions, Emam et al. (2024) placed 40 head nurses in a six-week development course that used feedback from all around each leader and 40 in a comparison group, collecting ratings from the head nurses, 240 staff nurses and 29 supervisors. The intervention group improved on all five leadership practices in self-ratings and in the ratings of staff and supervisors, and the gains largely held at follow-up. That finding supports using observer ratings both to set the baseline and to judge success, and it suggests that six months is long enough for staff to notice a change. The setting was outside the United States and the program was more structured than mine, so the size of the effect may differ.
Recognition also matters for the work environment. In a statewide study of clinical nurses in New Jersey, nurses who saw their leaders as more authentic rated every examined dimension of a healthy work environment more favorably, and recognition was one of those dimensions, along with communication, collaboration, decision making and staffing (Mastro et al., 2026). The same nurses reported more enjoyment of their jobs and less intent to leave. The study cannot show that recognition causes retention, but it supports treating recognition as part of the environment a leader builds, not an extra.
Christian Worldview
Paul opened his letter to the Philippians by telling them he thanked God every time he remembered them (English Standard Version Bible, 2001/2016, Philippians 1:3), and he regularly named individual co-workers in his letters, commending Phoebe, Prisca and Aquila by name for their service (English Standard Version Bible, 2001/2016, Romans 16:1-4). His example shows that encouragement is specific and public as well as private. For a Christian leader, recognizing others is a way of honoring the gifts God has given them, and keeping that recognition hidden withholds something the whole community would benefit from seeing.
Six-Month Review
At the end of month six, I will compare the self and observer scores with the baseline, review the log with my mentor and record in a short summary which behaviors staff noticed. If the observer average reaches 8, I will keep the huddle recognition and handwritten notes as permanent habits and choose Inspire a Shared Vision, my second-lowest practice, for the next plan. If it does not, I will ask the observers which recognition they noticed and which they did not, and adjust the actions for another three months.
References
Emam, S. M., Fakhry, S. F., & Abdrabou, H. M. (2024). Leaders development program by 360 degree feedback: Reflection on head nurses' leadership practices. BMC Nursing, 23(1), Article 772. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-024-02395-w
English Standard Version Bible. (2016). Crossway. (Original work published 2001)
Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2017). The leadership challenge: How to make extraordinary things happen in organizations (6th ed.). Wiley.
Mastro, K. A., Courtwright, S. E., Weaver, S. H., Ballinghoff, J., Healy, A., & Giordano, N. A. (2026). Authentic leadership and clinical nurse outcomes: A secondary analysis of a statewide study. The Journal of Nursing Administration, 56(10), 571-577. https://doi.org/10.1097/NNA.0000000000001784
What the NURS 626 Week 8 instructions ask
The Performance Development Plan finishes the four-part Leadership Development Project. After completing and scoring the Leadership Practices Inventory in Week 3, the student selects the exemplary leadership practice with the lowest score and builds a six-month plan to strengthen competence and mastery in it. The plan must contain a goal, action steps, a management strategy, smaller target goals or checkpoints, and a list of resources that will support the goal. The form is the student's choice: a provided template, a spreadsheet, or a presentation in PowerPoint, Adobe Spark or Prezi are all acceptable. At least one peer-reviewed reference from the last five years is required, and current APA applies wherever sources are used.
How this NURS 626 Week 8 example is built
The plan is laid out as a working document a manager could actually use. It opens with the inventory result and the specific items that scored lowest, so the goal targets behaviors rather than a label. The goal states where the leader starts, where she aims to be and by when, and it is measured partly by staff ratings on the observer version of the inventory. A month-by-month table lists actions and the checkpoint for each. The management strategy explains how the plan will be kept alive during busy months, and a resources table names people, readings and tools. Short sections connect the plan to recent evidence and to Scripture, and a final paragraph describes how progress will be reviewed at six months.
NURS 626 Week 8 grading rubric: where the points go
Development plans are generally graded on whether the lowest-scoring practice is correctly identified and justified, whether the goal is specific and measurable, whether the action steps are realistic and tied to the practice, whether the management strategy and checkpoints make the plan workable, whether resources are concrete, whether the required recent source is used, and APA. Graders reward plans that target the inventory items behind the low score rather than the practice in general. Checkpoints with numbers and dates earn more than intentions. Because Liberty courses expect a Christian worldview, plans that connect the practice to biblical principles thoughtfully also tend to score higher.
NURS 626 Week 8 help: mistakes that cost points
The most common weakness in these plans is a goal such as "become more encouraging" that cannot be measured, with action steps like "thank staff more often." Others skip the management strategy or treat resources as a list of book titles. Some students choose a practice other than their lowest score, which the guide does not allow, or forget the peer-reviewed source. Start from the lowest-scoring items on the inventory, write a goal with a baseline and a date, plan one or two actions per month with a checkpoint for each, decide how you will protect time for the plan, and use observer ratings so success is judged by the people you lead.
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NURS 626 Week 8 questions, answered
What is the NURS 626 Performance Development Plan?
Part 4 of the Leadership Development Project, carrying 100 points in the final module, which asks for a six-month plan to strengthen the lowest-scoring practice on the Leadership Practices Inventory.
Where can I find a free NURS 626 Week 8 sample paper?
A complete NURS 626 Week 8 performance development plan for Encourage the Heart, with its goal, monthly checkpoints, resources and references, is open free on this page.
What must a NURS 626 performance development plan include?
A goal, action steps, a management strategy, smaller target goals or checkpoints and a list of resources, with at least one peer-reviewed source from the last five years.
What is Encourage the Heart in The Leadership Challenge?
It is the fifth of Kouzes and Posner's practices, covering how leaders thank individuals for excellent work and how they bring a team together to celebrate shared values and wins.
Can leadership practices be improved in six months?
Yes. A randomized trial of a six-week 360-degree feedback program for head nurses found gains in leadership practices rated by the nurses, their staff and their supervisors.
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