Emerging Nurse Leader

A leadership development blog

10 Challenges for New Managers

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By Rose O. Sherman, EdD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN Transitioning to a new manager role has never been more challenging than in today's environment. I was reminded of this last week when Dr. Joyce Batcheller and I did the Nuts and Bolts of Nursing Leadership in partnership with New England ONL. Over one hundred nurse managers attended the program, and many had less than one year of … [Read more...]

Managing Cultural Drift

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By Rose O. Sherman, EdD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN We had a strong culture, but it appears we no longer do. It is a familiar story I hear today from nurse leaders. Before the COVID pandemic, many health systems had strong cultures reinforced during new staff onboarding. The last two years have been a completely different story with high turnover and few nurses on units who have tenure … [Read more...]

Giving Feedback When There is Pushback

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By Rose O. Sherman, EdD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN I have heard multiple versions of a similar story from nurse managers in recent conversations: I tried to give some constructive feedback to one of our new graduates today. It just involved some very minor changes in the way she was prioritizing her assignments. She became so defensive. She thinks she is "doing great," and I … [Read more...]

The Illusion of Leadership Control

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By Rose O. Sherman, EdD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN A nurse manager recently told me that she felt like her unit was being held together by rubber bands and paper clips. She confessed that I am a major control freak, and this lack of predictability in our healthcare environment drives me crazy. I used to have a good sense of what nurses were thinking and who was unhappy. Today, one of … [Read more...]

Making Tough Choices

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By Rose O. Sherman, EdD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN                 Now is a challenging time to be a nurse leader. Some wicked problems exist in healthcare environments, and tough choices must be made often without data. Some examples presented  to me recently include the following: Should we move forward on a … [Read more...]