Have Your Succession Plan in Place - Emerging Nurse Leader

By Rose O. Sherman, EdD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN

I often ask nurse leaders who could take their place if they leave. I am surprised by the number of leaders who say there is no one who could take their place (or no one who wants their role). I wonder how they know that their perceptions are accurate. Do they plant the seeds of leadership in their high potential staff?

Also concerning are leaders who don’t plan for their own transition even when they know they plan to leave the role. Great leaders are not insecure about ensuring others could easily step into their shoes if needed. It should be part of every leader’s legacy, but sadly it is not.

Leaders should always be on the look out for nurses who have leadership potential. Leadership roles are rarely on the radar screen of most young nurses who focus more on advanced practice opportunities. When asked about how they chose leadership, many current leaders acknowledge that it was not a planned choice. The path to leadership was often an outcome of a trusted leader telling a nurse that she had high leadership potential. Very often, leaders sees talents in a nurse that they may not recognize in themselves. These qualities include but are not limited to the following:

A high level of emotional intelligence in challenging situations.
Self-awareness of one’s strengths and weaknesses.
Able to elicit cooperation from team members.
Curiosity and a love of learning.
Thoughts are not dominated by fear, worry, hopelessness and victimization.
A willingess to confront conflict directly.
Empathy and concern for the feelings of others.
Ownership of their practice and responsibilities.
Clear and direct communication.
Systems thinking beyond their own units.
Ability to hold mutiple viewpoints on issues in the environment

Effective leadership succession planning will only take root if current leaders actively seek out high potential nurses who can replace them. Ironically, leaders who do this often see their own careers advance quickly because senior leaders in an organization will not be anxious about a leadership vacuum in a key area if the candiate is selected. Succession planning is a key issue today in nursing but the responsibility lies with all of us from frontline to executive leaders.

Read Rose Sherman’s new book – The Nurse Leader Coach: Become the Boss No One Wants to Leave