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Registered nurses’ leadership involves promoting and implementing the recommended model of care, person-centred care, in residential care facilities. Research on registered nurses’ leadership of person-centred care is, however, limited. The aim was to explore person-centred leadership in residential care for older people from the perspective of registered nurses.

Methods: Focus-group and individual interviews were conducted with registered nurses (n = 15) working clinically in residential care facilities in seven municipalities in southern and northern Sweden. All interviews were performed digitally. Data were analysed using qualitative content analysis.

Results: Person-centred leadership meant leading through sense-making person-centredness in a complex care environment. This required both skills and abilities in leading person-centred care, while simultaneously managing various challenges in leading person-centred care.

Conclusions: This study explores the skills required for person-centred leadership and the challenges of applying these skills. The results advance our knowledge by conceptualising person-centred leadership among registered nurses in residential care facilities by sense-making person-centredness in a fragmented organisation. The results indicate that registered nurses’ person-centred leadership is defined by their beliefs, abilities, and actions and not always by their position of authority.

Implications: Person-centred leadership has the potential to improve the person-centred care of older people, which is why the challenges encountered in practice need to be addressed. Knowledge of registered nurses’ experiences of person-centred leadership can be used to improve their skills and abilities in leading person-centred care and to appropriately address the organisational challenges encountered in residential care facilities.