NSG 6620 Week 7 DQ 2: nurse leader performance appraisal
Describe the nurse leader's role in coaching and guiding staff through a performance appraisal, the leader's role in setting the appraisal criteria, and why the leader must model receiving performance improvement data for both novice and experienced nurses.
Editorial process
Last reviewed · August 14, 2026
Formative, not punitive: what that changes about the conversation
The stem does half the framing for you: appraisal here is formative rather than punitive, and its key purpose is professional growth. Take that seriously, because it determines what coaching means in the first question. A coaching leader does not save observations for the annual meeting; they gather evidence continuously, so nothing in the appraisal is a surprise, and they run the meeting as a two-way conversation in which the nurse assesses their own performance first. Good feedback is specific, behavioural and timely — it describes what was observed rather than judging the person, it is anchored to the agreed criteria, and it ends in a development plan with named actions and a review date. Novice and experienced nurses need different coaching, and saying so is worth marks: a novice needs frequent, concrete correction against clear standards, while an experienced nurse needs a conversation about scope, leadership and career trajectory.
The second question is about the criteria themselves, and it is a governance question. Criteria must come from the role's actual scope, from professional standards and from the organisation's strategic aims, and they must be defined and communicated before the appraisal period rather than assembled at the end. The leader's job is to make them measurable and observable, to align them with the job description so appraisal cannot drift into personality, and to involve staff in setting them so the standards are owned rather than imposed. The third question is the one posts most often leave thin: the leader has to be a role model in giving and receiving performance improvement data. If a unit manager visibly seeks feedback on their own performance, acts on it and says so, the appraisal system reads as development; if they do not, it reads as surveillance, and every well-designed criterion in the world will not repair that.
Likely learning objectives
Inferred from the brief — check these against your own rubric.
- 01Describe coaching behaviours that make an appraisal formative rather than punitive.
- 02Differentiate the feedback needs of novice and experienced nurses.
- 03Explain how appraisal criteria are derived from scope, standards and organisational aims.
- 04Argue why leader role-modelling determines how staff receive performance data.
Read the full question
Review every instruction before using the planning guidance that follows.
Course-wide instructions that accompany this question
ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS Discussion Questions (DQ) Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words. Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source. One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words. I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses. Weekly Participation Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately. In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies. Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work). Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week. APA Format and Writing Quality Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required). Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation. I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition. Use of Direct Quotes I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly. As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content. It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source. LopesWrite Policy For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me. Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes. Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own? Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score. Late Policy The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies. Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances. If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect. I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension. As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading. Communication Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me: Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class. Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.
Turn the brief into deliverables
- 01The nurse leader's role in coaching and guiding staff during a performance appraisal.
- 02The nurse leader's role in determining performance appraisal criteria.
- 03An examination of the leader's need to model giving performance improvement data.
- 04Explicit treatment of both novice and experienced nurses.
- 05Research and reasoning supporting each answer, cited in APA format.
- 06Comments on the postings of at least two peers.
Coach, criteria, and the leader as the example
Appraisal as a formative process
Take the stem's framing and state what follows from it for the leader's behaviour.
Coaching across the appraisal period
Describe continuous evidence-gathering, timely specific feedback and self-assessment.
Coaching novices and experienced nurses differently
Contrast the two conversations and what each nurse needs from them.
Where appraisal criteria come from
Derive criteria from scope of practice, professional standards and organisational goals.
Making criteria observable and owned
Explain measurability and staff involvement in setting the standards.
The leader as role model for receiving feedback
Argue that visible feedback-seeking by the leader determines how staff read the system.
What the evidence says about feedback that works
Recommended databases
- South University Online Library
- CINAHL
- PubMed
- StatPearls via NCBI Bookshelf
- Your organisation's performance appraisal policy
Search sequence
- 1.Read your own organisation's appraisal policy and note who sets the criteria and when.
- 2.Find evidence on feedback that changes behaviour — specificity, timing, two-way conversation.
- 3.Look for nursing literature on transition-to-practice support for novice nurses.
- 4.Find one source on leader feedback-seeking and psychological safety.
- 5.Note the job description for a role you appraise, and check its criteria are observable.
Reference shortlist
These are authoritative starting points, not a ready-made bibliography. A qualified reviewer must confirm that each source fits the assignment and supports the claim beside which it is cited.
Nothing here is cleared for citation until you have read it.
- 01
Feedback in Medical Education
StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf · 2023
Sets out what makes feedback specific, timely and behavioural, which is the core of the coaching answer.
- 02
Nursing Practice Act
StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf · 2023
Scope of practice is the first source of defensible appraisal criteria.
- 03
Nursing Shortage
StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf · 2023
Links retention and professional growth, which is why a formative appraisal is argued as a workforce measure.
- 04
Nursing Professional Development Evidence-Based Practice
StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf · 2024
Grounds the development plan that a formative appraisal is supposed to produce.
Review before submission
Common mistakes
- Describing the appraisal meeting only, when the coaching happens across the whole year.
- Treating novice and experienced nurses as one audience.
- Listing criteria instead of explaining where the criteria come from and who agrees them.
- Skipping the role-model question, which is a full third of the marks.
- Framing appraisal as evaluation despite the stem defining it as formative.
- Answering entirely from opinion when the evaluation criteria require research and reasoning.
Submission checklist
- All three questions are answered under identifiable headings.
- Coaching is described as continuous, not confined to the meeting.
- Criteria are traced to job description, professional standards and organisational aims.
- Novice and experienced nurses are addressed separately.
- The role-model argument explains a consequence, not just a duty.
- Two peer postings have been commented on.
Use this guide to plan and review your own work. Follow your institution's rules and read our academic-integrity policy.

Written by
Aaron Bishop
MA, Education
assignment interpretation and research-methods coaching across disciplines
Aaron leads the EssayCrackers editorial desk. He works on how assignment briefs are read — what a rubric is actually asking for, and where students most often answer a different question than the one set.

Reviewed by
Dr. Nathan Cole
PhD, Rhetoric & Composition
Argumentation and thesis development
Nathan teaches first-year composition and directs a university writing center. He reviews EssayCrackers guides for argumentative soundness and citation accuracy.