Showing Gratitude this Week
2024-05-09 01:00:19By Rose O. Sherman, EdD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN
Nurses Appreciation Week is an important reminder to show gratitude to nursing staff for all they do.
As leaders, we have two powerful leadership tools: gratitude and appreciation. What is so interesting about gratitude is that while you make others feel good, Harvard research has found that thanking others will also make you happier. In positive psychology research, gratitude is strongly and consistently associated with greater happiness. Gratitude helps people feel more positive emotions, relish good experiences, improve their health, deal with adversity, and build strong relationships. In a 2022 AONL workforce compendium, 55% of nurse managers reported that giving awards and recognition was among the top five tasks that bring them joy. Hence, there is also a strong business case for nurse manager retention.
We are living with complex challenges right now in nursing. Peter Drucker, whom many consider one of the most outstanding thought leaders on management, observed that the job of leaders is to interpret reality even in the toughest of circumstances. At the same time, he believed that a leader is responsible for keeping hope alive and focusing on what works well. Having an attitude of gratitude can help to balance out the adverse effects of challenges and stresses. So, during this Thanksgiving week, the following are five ways that nurse leaders can develop an attitude of gratitude mindset and lead with gratitude:
1. Keep a Gratitude Journal Just for the Week
In his work on gratitude, Dr. Robert Emmons found that keeping a gratitude journal resulted in better sleep and more energy. Each day, take the time to consider 3-5 things that you feel grateful for. These could be simple magic moments like a baby’s smile, a close friend’s call, or perhaps more considerable achievements like acceptance to graduate school or a new job. The journal’s point is to develop a conscious mindset to focus on the positive things in life.
2. Challenge Yourself Not to Whine or Complain
Have you ever noticed how contagious whining can be? There are problems in every work environment, and people spend most of their time focused on the negative. Commit yourself to thinking and speaking positively. If you are very upset about a situation, give yourself a time limit to vent your concerns and move on to more positive thoughts. Be grateful for the tough times because it will teach you to deal with adversity; there are always some positive outcomes from even the most negative experience. In most situations, it is essential to consider that things could be worse than what you are experiencing,
3. Show Appreciation
If you actively look for things to be grateful for, you may be surprised at how much good there is in your life. Appreciation of others can profoundly impact their lives and make you feel better. Great nursing leaders know that it is vital to appreciate nurses for what they do and praise them for their work. I published a blog where a CNO went incognito as a traveler and was struck by the lack of appreciation that he observed. It is a powerful reminder that nurses work very hard and need recognition.
4. Write Thank You Notes and Emails
Take the time to send a note or email of appreciation to that person, which you may take for granted but deserves your thanks. People will never really know the positive impact that they have unless you tell them. You will brighten someone’s day, and it will make you feel better as well. Likewise, if someone does something to brighten your day – let them know with a simple – thank you, you made my day.
5. Create Magic Moments for Staff This Week
In their work, The Power Of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact, authors Chip and Dan Heath explore why specific brief experiences can jolt, elevate, and change us—and how we can learn to create such extraordinary moments in life and work. These moments build pride and connection. Do something unexpected this week so your staff can break the script. The authors found that of all the ways we can create moments of pride for others, the simplest is to offer them recognition.
Gratitude is a way of investing in both ourselves and others. So commit to leading with gratitude this week and thank those who make a difference.
Thank you all for being a leader and reading this blog.
© emergingrnleader.com 2024
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Key Changes in How Nurses View Their Work
2024-04-25 01:00:34By Rose O. Sherman, EdD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN
This is the third blog summarizing research I presented at the AONL Research Foundation Keynote at the AONL meeting in New Orleans meeting. My topic was the Evolving Role of Nurse Managers in the New World of Work. To prepare for this presentation, we sought input from nurse managers through five focus groups conducted in February and March 2024. I promised the 141 managers who participated in this research that I would share their feedback in this blog, as many could not attend the conference. In previous blogs, I have written about the impact of staffing shortages on the nurse manager role and what recommendations nurse managers have to improve their roles.
Today, I will focus on seven fundamental changes that nurse managers now see in nurses’ views of their work. These changes include the following:
- Nursing staff today are more focused on their lives and less on their work – nurse managers see profound changes in how nurses view their work. Where once there was discussion about work-life balance, contemporary nurses seek ways to fit work into their lives. Some trends observed include working fewer hours, immediate use of paid time off, skyrocketing requests for FMLA, a decline in willingness to work nightshift, and a desire for weekends off.
- New staff accept positions and clarify that they don’t plan to stay on units beyond a year or two – nurse managers report that new nurses arrive with their career plans. They see jobs more as tours of duty on a longer career trajectory. Forming core teams has proved challenging in a one-and-done environment.
- Staff today are less committed to organizations and shared governance – nurse managers see a pronounced change in staff trust in organizations and a willingness to become involved in shared governance efforts. Many new staff won’t attend meetings on their day off even if compensated. Some report not understanding professional governance and whether these groups have any outcomes.
- Nurses will make job changes for pay increases or quickly leave positions if unhappy – many nurse managers report shock at how quickly contemporary nursing staff decide that “things are not working out” in a position. Staff leaving during orientation is not unusual.
- Nurses now demand answers when units are short-staffed and are less willing to accept professional accountability – nurse managers report that holding nurses accountable for their professional practice has become much more challenging. When managers try to discuss missed nursing care or missed documentation, nurses will often respond – you fix the staffing, and I will get everything done.
- Younger staff talk openly about exhaustion, burnout, and stress – nurses today talk more openly with their leaders about their mental health and well-being. Nurse managers worry about crossing the line between a leader coach and a therapist. Leaders report that emotional conversations are exhausting and they worry about their own compassion fatigue.
- Nurses now challenge leaders about decisions and are sometimes disrespectful – nurse managers report an uptick in disrespectful behavior toward leaders. Decisions made by the administration are openly discussed and criticized. Some social influencers encourage this behavior. One manager noted that, “Lashing out and disrespect to leaders seem to be an acceptable behavior for nursing staff now. As leaders, we need to pause and learn not to be reactive yet set boundaries. We must pull these nurses aside and inform them that their behavior is not okay.”
We are in a new world of work. Nurse managers report that not only has the work itself changed and become more complicated, but workplace norms and workforce views are changing. These changes impact the nurse manager’s role, activities, and coaching conversations. In our next blog, I will discuss what nurse managers want executives to know about their roles and how to better support them.
© emergingrnleader.com 2024
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Millennial Nurse Leaders Research Study
2024-04-19 01:00:34 Posted in: The Future of Healthcare Read more... 0 commentsNurse Manager Research Study Opportunity
2024-04-09 01:00:28If you are interested – contact the nurse researchers using this email address UCFTeam-Nursing-Manager-Research@groups.ucf.edu
Having Situational Humility
2024-04-08 01:00:44By Rose O. Sherman, EdD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN
A nurse leader told me about a recent conversation with staff on her unit. They were vocalizing concerns about their assignments and the volume of patients admitted to their unit. The conversation had taken a very negative turn when she backed off and said the following:
You may think I or any of us have all the answers to what is happening in healthcare today, but we don’t. We have never seen sustained volumes like this before. We can’t go on a diversion like before because every hospital in our community is experiencing the same thing. Then she flipped the question to the group and asked what we thought about pathways out. It led to some of the best conversations we have ever had as a team.
The manager in this story was practicing a powerful leadership strategy called situational humility. We all pride ourselves on our leadership expertise, but there are limits to what we can know, especially in situations like the present. Harvard Professor Amy Edmondson coined situational humility. She describes situational humility as a willingness to transparently acknowledge the gaps in our knowledge and remain relentlessly curious about the opinions of others. It leads to better outcomes in uncertain situations because the leader creates psychological safety for others to share their ideas. A leader who practices situational humility seeks to know what they don’t know about situations.
Edmondson observes that situational humility is strangely rare in organizations. Leaders believe they are paid for their expertise, so they sometimes err on the side of being overly certain about situations to the point of arrogance. Edmonson introduces what she describes as “the basic human problem: it’s hard to learn if you already know.”
I can’t think of a time in nursing when we need to maintain situational humility more than we do now. I have had discussions with some senior nursing leaders who describe what they see as another cyclical nursing shortage. The solution, they contend, is to pull together a commission or task force to make recommendations. That is what we have always done – bring together the “experts” and solve the problem. There is a lack of curiosity about what is happening at the frontline of care and how nurses today view their work and future. We think we know what is happening, but maybe we don’t.
Frontline nurse leaders are far more likely to admit they don’t know what to do because tried and true leadership strategies often don’t work today. They paint a much more nuanced picture of nursing, with many frequently telling me – I am seeing things today in my leadership career that I have never seen before, and I am not sure what these changes might mean in the long term.
Many leaders want to control everything. But some things can’t be known upfront or beforehand. You have to know when to take charge or let go and seek better information. This requires keeping an open mind and staying curious for a little longer by maintaining situational humility.
Read to Lead
Edmondson, A. (2018). The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth. Boston: Harvard Press.
© emergingrnleader.com 2024
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