Leading in a Teaming Environment

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

Changes in the nursing workforce have brought changes in the nurse manager role. Nurse managers now feel like NCAA basketball coaches with an ever-changing roster of nurses who stay only for short periods. Gone are the days when managers could depend on a solid core team who had been on the unit for years. The job has become 24/7 when nurses with as little as one year of experience are left in charge in the manager’s absence. The manager’s control span has also increased in most settings as more and more staff nurses elect to go part-time.

We must stop thinking of nursing teams as static groups of individuals who work together across time and instead lead with the recognition that team composition can change at any time. Teaming is a new skill. Dr. Amy Edmonson also points out that it is a verb that indicates a dynamic activity involving learning to coordinate and collaborate to deliver care in real-time. It requires a different mindset than one needs to work on a stable, core team. Creating team synergy is more challenging when you lack the advantages a solid, well-oiled core team offers.

Nursing leadership in a teaming environment needs to be done differently. In a “teaming” environment, the nurse leader provides critical ballast for the team. Learning how to effectively be a nurse leader coach who communicates and offers real-time feedback is essential. Building a psychologically safe environment for nurses is crucial. The nurse leader is a teacher in addition to being a leader. Nurse leaders must hardwire quality and safety into all the team does.

Critical competencies to lead in a teaming environment include the following:

1. The ability to quickly build trust with an evolving team.
2. A focus on establishing psychological safety on the team that encourages staff to speak up and speak out.
3. Expertise in helping team members socially navigate conflict productively to build relationships.
4. Skill in giving and receiving constructive feedback about what team members (and the leader) need to start, stop, or continue doing.
5. Building a learning culture that emphasizes continued learning for current staff and mentoring new staff.
6. Excelling at real-time communication (direct and actionable) that keeps the team informed of changes yet avoids cognitive overload.
7. Adoption of a team coaching mindset using deep questioning to promote learning and interdependent team contributions.
8. A willingness to innovate and try new things in response to a changing environment.
9. Providing role clarity to ensure each team member knows their role, impact, and the expectation of accountability.
10. Hardwires quality and safety by promoting process consistency and keeping the team goal-focused on outcomes.

While some leaders mourn the loss of the strong core teams they once had in a pre-COVID environment, most now realize that the workforce and workplace have changed, and so must they.

© emergingrnleader.com 2024

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