Leadership Development & Coaching & Career Strategies
Dedicated to Developing the Leader in You
Revisiting Years of Experience Needed for Nurse Leader Roles
By Rose O. Sherman, EdD, RN, FAAN
How many years of clinical experience should I have before I seek a leadership position? This is a question that I am frequently asked by nurses beginning their careers who are considering a career as a nurse leader. My response is that there is no one right answer to this. It would be easy to make a recommendation if a certain amount of time spent in clinical practice easily translated into superior performance as a leader but this is not true. While it is true that clinical experience is important for leadership credibility in a practice discipline like nursing, it cannot be viewed in isolation without considering the ability and temperament of the individual.
Paying Your Dues – An Old Leadership Paradigm
Historically, clinical experience has always been an important criteria in the selection and career progression of nurse leaders. Many current nurse leaders… Continue reading
When Your Nurse Leader Does Not Support Your Career Goals
By Rose O. Sherman, EdD, RN, FAAN
“No one can make us feel inferior without our consent” Eleanor Roosevelt
One of our young, rising star nurse leader graduate students came to talk with me about a dilemma she was having at work. She was feeling discouraged because her direct supervisor was clearly blocking her career advancement. My student will soon be finished with her masters degree. She loved her department and her work but it was becoming very clear to her that she would probably not be able to achieve the career advancement that she had hoped for on her own unit. The reason is that her manager does not support her advancement. She has verbally been told by this manager that she is not ready to move up in the organization. When questioned for specifics, the manager had little to offer in terms of suggestions. Her question to me was this What… Continue reading
Finding a Nurse Leader Mentor
By Rose O. Sherman, EdD, RN, FAAN
” A good mentor never tramples on big dreams.” Tony Tjan
Mentoring is an important career strategy regardless of where you are on the career ladder. Yet,finding the right mentor can be challenging. Although some organizations have formal mentoring programs and assign mentors, research shows that you may receive the best mentoring experience if you find your own mentor. As you begin the process of trying to identify who might be the best mentor for you, use the following 5 steps:
1. Ask yourself what you want from a mentor and the mentoring experience.
Before you approach anyone to mentor you, it is important to think about what you want from the mentor. Are you looking for career guidance, personal development, a shadowing experience, networking opportunities or guidance on how to handle a difficult professional situation.
2. Reflect on your strengths… Continue reading
Human Resource Strategies for Nurse Managers
Guest Blog by Tyana Daley
Even the most experienced nursing managers can sometimes find it challenging to develop and adopt effective human resources strategies that balance organizational goals with the financial considerations of an organization. With the current nursing shortage, this is one of the most critical times for nursing managers to address human resources issues, including determining staffing needs and recruiting and retaining employees. Having an effective strategy in place will also help balance the goal of building a culture that will attract high-quality employees with other goals such as lowering costs and improving patient service.
Planning for Nursing Human Resources Needs
Effective nursing managers recognize the important role that planning plays in implementing effective strategies and accomplishing organizational goals. Planning can also be a critical component in building and maintaining an experienced and stable team of nurses with the right mix of skills, knowledge and abilities whose… Continue reading
Using WRAP for Better Decision Making in Nurse Leader Roles
By Rose O. Sherman, EdD, RN, FAAN
“Research in psychology has revealed that our decisions are disrupted by an array of biases and irrationalities. We are overconfident. We seek information that supports us and downplay information that doesn’t.” Chip and Dan Heath
Nurse leaders have numerous decisions that need to made each day. This is tough in any environment but even greater today when there are so many uncertainties about the future of healthcare. Most of us probably feel very confident that based on our education and experience, we can quickly arrive at the best solutions. In their new book, Decisive: How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work, well known leadership authors Chip and Dan Heath suggest that our thinking is often flawed and we fail to consider a range of options. The Heaths argue that humans are hampered by four “enemies” of decision-making rooted in our unconscious behavior: narrow… Continue reading
5 Ways to Promote Professional Accountability in Nursing
By Rose O. Sherman, EdD, RN, FAAN
“You can’t change the standard of practice unless you know what to do when you show up.” Maria O’Rourke, DNSc, RN, FAAN
We are living in interesting times. Ethicists have commented that there has been a change in the willingness of individuals to accept responsibility. for their behavior. The culture has instead become one of blame. Not surprisingly, the issue of professional accountability in nursing has become a concern in many healthcare environments. We talk about nursing professional accountability as though nurses share a common definition and understanding of what it means. Dr. Maria O’Rourke has spent a good part of her career working with nurses on role development and role socialization. She makes a strong case about the need for nurse leaders to take an active role and be intentional in helping staff to understand their professional role, responsibility and accountability for their actions.… Continue reading
Free Resources for Nurse Leader Development
By Rose O. Sherman, EdD, RN, FAAN
“Sharpening our own saw is the most powerful investment we can make in our life – an investment in ourselves, in the only instrument that we have with which to deal with life and to contribute.” - Stephen Covey
I am often asked by nurse leaders what they can do to develop and grow as nurse leaders. Today, there is strong evidence that the best leaders are the best learners. As an outcome of their research with leaders globally, Kouzes and Posner in their book The Truth about Leadership identify ten truths about leadership. One of those truths is that leadership is a pattern of practices, behaviors, skills and abilities that can be learned. Developing expertise in leadership takes practice. There is no fast track to leadership. The challenge to continue to grow and learn as a leader is one that each person must… Continue reading
Five Things Nurse Leaders Should Stop Saying to Staff
By Rose O. Sherman, EdD, RN, FAAN
“It is not the mountain that we conquer, but ourselves.” Edmund Hillary
We often don’t realize in leadership the power of the words that we use to influence others either in a negative or positive way. In leadership development, we spend a great deal of time talking with leaders about things they need to do to be more effective. Less time is spent on what we need to stop doing. I asked a group of nurses what phrases they would like to see their bosses STOP using. The following are the top five:
1. That’s just the way I am.
I recently had a nurse leader colleague tell me that she knows she can be very sarcastic in some of her responses to questions asked by staff. She felt she was vindicated because she always warns her staff “that’s just the… Continue reading
What do Nurses want from their Leaders?
By Rose O. Sherman, EdD, RN, FAAN
“The proof of leadership is found in followers”. John Maxwell
Last week, I was asked to do a presentation on what nurses want from their leaders. This is a very interesting question in today’s environment. I asked the group as to whether the answer to this question could be different than it was ten years ago. Many seasoned leaders in the room seemed to feel that some things nurses want today are different than they may have wanted at another point in time. They are right about this and that is why leaders must constantly scan their environment for change — changes in reimbursement policies, changes in expectations about quality, changes in how health-care will be delivered but also changes in the needs of the workforce.
What the Evidence Tells Us
From the current research evidence on what nurses look for in their leaders, the… Continue reading
Cost Transparency in Healthcare
By Rose O. Sherman, EdD, RN, FAAN
A friend of mine recently lost her job and her health benefits quickly expired. The cost of a cobra policy was too expensive. She figured she was very healthy. She could take the risk, and wait until the insurance health exchanges (part of the Affordable Care Act) are available in October. Her luck did not hold out. She injured her knee in a fall. She saw an orthopedic doctor in an emergency room who told her that she would probably need surgery depending on the findings of an MRI. “What will this cost”?, she asked. No one at the hospital beginning with the physician would even attempt to give her an estimate. She was advised that her costs would be higher because she had no insurance.
There is no other area in our life where we are expected to buy a service without first knowing what it will cost. … Continue reading
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