Background <p>Nurses are increasingly expected to lead themselves in order to ensure high-quality care, cope with workplace challenges, and sustain their own well-being in a rapidly changing healthcare environment. Effective self-leadership, however, requires reflection, support, and appropriate organizational structures. This study examines nurses’ and nurse leaders’ perceptions of the expectations placed on nurses’ self-leadership as well as the obstacles that hinder it.</p> Methods <p>A qualitative interview study was carried out. One individual interview and nine focus group interviews were conducted between December 2024 and February 2025, representing various units across different parts of a Wellbeing Services County in Finland. In total, 17 registered nurses and 12 nurse leaders participated in the study. Inductive content analysis was used to analyze data.</p> Results <p>Four main themes regarding the expectations for nurses’ self-leadership were identified: strong professional self-esteem, ability to work independently, taking care of one’s own work well-being, and open collaboration to achieve goals. In addition, three main themes were recognized to describe the obstacles to self-leadership: external work-related constraints, insufficient support for self-leadership, and personal factors.</p> Conclusion <p>Self-leadership in nursing is a complex phenomenon shaped by both individual and organizational factors. Expectations and obstacles related to nurses’ self-leadership are often reflected in everyday clinical practice, and strengthening self-leadership can support nurses in taking greater ownership of their profession. However, self-leadership is not solely an individual attribute; it is also influenced by collective practices and structural conditions. A more supportive nursing practice environment can be developed by identifying organizational structures and workplace cultures in which nurses’ self-leadership is insufficiently supported.</p>