Improving Your Strategic Awareness - Emerging Nurse Leader

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

A nurse leader recently asked me what trends she should be paying attention to as we move into a post-pandemic environment. Like many nurse leaders, she had a “heads down” approach to her work during COVID and only focused on dealing with many challenges as they occurred. This approach served her well over the past year but won’t work moving forward. She needs to become more strategically aware of what is happening not only at the level of her own health system but beyond. Nurse leaders are expected to identify threats and opportunities both inside and outside their own organizations. You need to be able to read the signposts.

Influential leaders can see patterns in the environment that could lead to change. Sometimes data can be ambiguous, and one needs to look at the bigger picture to assess the implications. Some strategies to improve your strategic awareness include the following:

Spend time talking with leaders outside your own organizations to examine challenges that they may see in the current environment and organizational strategic directions that others are taking. One of the challenges with COVID is that networking at professional meetings has been limited. Put some professional meetings on your calendar for 2021 and re-engage as soon as you can.
Evaluate the changing conditions in your community, such as demographic trends and consumer expectations. Demography is an important indicator of changes in the environment. For example, if you are a labor and delivery manager, you will want to track the projected birthrates in your community to anticipate increases or decreases in volumes.
Ask questions during your leader rounds and be curious in discussions with patients, families, staff, and other stakeholders to evaluate changes in consumer behavior. Invite opposing viewpoints to challenge your own.
Evaluate workforce trends, both locally and nationally, then assess the trend’s potential impact moving forward.
Track what is happening with the economy and political legislation because this can ultimately impact reimbursement and regulation.
Expand your reading to understand what is happening in related industries such as pharmaceuticals, medical suppliers, and insurers. I recommend that nurse leaders read the Wall Street Journal. Reading the journal gives you an important perspective into what is being covered and/or questioned about the healthcare industry. Right now, the lack of transparency in hospital pricing despite new requirements seems to be a hot topic.
Monitor trends in technologies and consider, “What, if anything, does this mean to us in our health system?” A good example at this time is the movement of Amazon into the healthcare space.
Take time out to be more reflective in analyzing changing trends in his environment over time. Ask yourself: “What’s not working here anymore, and what do we need to do about it?”

In today’s rapidly changing healthcare environment, strategic thinking skills have become a critical differentiator among candidates for leadership advancement. Improving your strategic awareness will benefit not only your ability to lead but also your career progression.

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