Adopt a Leader Coach Mindset - Emerging Nurse Leader

By Rose O. Sherman

If you are like most nurse leaders, you were selected for a leadership role because you demonstrated great problem solving skills in your nursing practice. So when you became a leader, your natural inclination was to view yourself as the problem fixer because this is how you add value. For many years, this is how traditional nursing leaders have approached their responsibilities and how they manage their staff. The problem today is that strategies used by traditional managers are no longer working with the changing nursing workforce. According to data from the National Student Nurses Association, only 23% percent of new graduates look forward to going to work each day and close to 62% plan to leave their current employers in two years. Turnover is on the rise in all healthcare environments, and nurses are not easily replaced in a time of a growing nursing shortage.

Nurse leaders play a key role in both staff recruitment and retention. Your success in being the type of leader that is a magnet for nurses hinges on your willingness to change your approach to leadership and develop new skills. Being a manager is no longer enough. Younger nurses want to get ahead in their careers and expect to be coached on how to do this. Coaching is now an essential part of a leadership toolbox. Becoming a leader coach requires a shift in mindset from a traditional manager role who is primarily performance focused to a coach who also looks for opportunities to foster professional growth. It means refraining from always jumping in to solve the problems of others, and instead helping them to discover their own solutions.

A coaching mindset means moving from a leadership style focused on fixing staff weaknesses to a strengths-based approach focused on building the strengths of staff. There are many situations in the workplace where a coaching approach can be used to help staff reach higher levels of performance by growing their talents and skills. These situations include but are not limited to the following:

Career development
Performance management
Skills and competency feedback
Promoting more effective teamwork
Relationship management
Critical thinking and problem solving
Motivating and inspiring
Delegating new areas of responsibility
Leadership development

Coaching is a collaborative relationship undertaken between the coach and the nurse. It uses conversations to help the nurse plan and achieve their goals. Moving from being the problem solver in chief who tells others what to do to a coach takes practice. Listening, reflecting on what you hear and sense, and then asking powerful questions can actually change how a person sees themselves and the world around them.

We have strong evidence today that your leadership approach has a significant impact on staff performance. Coaching is an approach that leads to higher levels of both individual and team performance through the fostering of independence and interdependence. It is what our younger nurses want and wise leaders interested in staff retention will develop add this skill to their leadership toolbox.