Helping Emerging Leaders to Make a Difference

By Rose O. Sherman, EdD, RN, FAAN

When I ask young nurses about leadership, most don’t rule out taking a leadership role at some point in their careers but do wonder if in fact they can make a difference. We don’t always think about this as part of developing future leaders but it can be the key to flipping the switch that leads nurses to see themselves as leaders. Barry Posner and Jim Kouzes, two internationally known leadership experts, have noted that leadership begins when you believe you can make a difference. Here are three strategies that can help foster the feeling of making a difference in our emerging nurse leaders:

1. Value their contributions and opinions

In today’s challenging healthcare environment, innovative ideas can make the difference between organizational success or failure. Yet too often, we rely heavily only on the ideas of those currently in leadership roles. Just look at the leadership composition of most committees in our organizations and professional associations. Younger nurses are rarely included. It is a powerful experience for an emerging nurse leader to be asked his or her opinion on an important issue. Their insights can be remarkable and not anchored to old ways of doing things. As one young emerging nurse leader recently commented, “We have never worked in a health system that was not complex, chaotic and understaffed so our viewpoints on change are very different.”

2. Engage them in projects that make a difference

Most high quality leadership programs include a project. There is great rationale for doing this. Not only do emerging leaders learn the process of making change happen in their organizations, but they can also tangibly feel what happens when you are successful. This is very powerful. Goals should make people stretch, but they must also be achievable. Even on an informal basis, we can engage nurses in worthwhile projects such as a unit task force to improve customer service, a community heart walk or a professional association committee. I often hear from leaders that nurses just want to come in and do their 12 hours and leave. This may be true of some staff but not all. Fostering commitment in meaningful work is the key to success in engaging staff.

3. Celebrate even the smallest achievements

Careers are built on small and big achievements, and both must be celebrated. It is so easy to become discouraged and not see progress when you begin your professional career. I often have nurses ask me how they can get noticed in their organizations because they feel so invisible. Nurses need to hear that their achievements matter such as getting certified, finishing their BSN or Masters degree or volunteering to be on a task force. Celebrate progress, express gratitude and go easy with criticism. Over time, with enough encouragement, the small achievements grow into bigger ones and the confidence of the nurse to take on bigger challenges also grows.

In their book, The Truth about Leadership, Kouzes and Posner give the following advice to current leaders,“Once you believe you matter, help others to believe that they matter.” This is important advice for all of us as we work to develop our next generation of nurse leaders.

Read to Lead

Kouzes, J. & Posner, B. (2010). The Truth about Leadership: The No-fads, Heart-of-the-Matter Facts You need to Know. San Francisco: Josey-Bass.

Leadership Freak Blog. (August 17th, 2012) Flipping the Switch that Develops Leaders.