By Rose O. Sherman, EdD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN
The scenario is a familiar one that I hear all the time in our leadership development workshops. Charge nurses look around their unit and see some of their staff standing in the hall, scrolling on their phones. Meanwhile, call lights are on, and the unit is busy. When asked why she or he is not jumping in to help others, the nurse scrolling on her phone answers that she has taken care of her patients and has a few free moments.
We are living in an era of intense individualism. Between higher levels of team turnover and the sheer exhaustion of the permanent staff, the “silo effect” has taken hold. Teamwork is no longer a strong core value in many units. But nursing was never meant to be a solo sport. When backup is missing, we don’t just lose morale—we lose safety. Patients and families quickly notice when staff work as a team and when they don’t, so it also impacts the patient experience. The good news is that we can coach our staff to back each other up and move from “my patients” to “our unit.” Some strategies to use include the following:
Promote team backup as an important nursing competency.
Often, nurses don’t help because they don’t want to “intrude” or they assume a peer has it under control. We need to frame team backup not as a favor, but as a core clinical competency. It is interesting that most staff performance evaluations don’t address team backup, and it is often not included in interview questions.
Use the TeamSTEPPS framework to teach the two-part process:
-
Monitoring: Keeping an eye on peers’ workload (situational awareness).
-
Assistance: Stepping in before a teammate asks. In a high-functioning team, asking for help is a sign of strength, but offering it is a sign of leadership.
Normalize unit scanning behaviors and team situational awareness.
During your huddles, move beyond the patient census. Ask: “Who is the most vulnerable person on the unit right now?” This forces the team to look at the collective workload. Many units routinely “back-up buddies” on the assignment sheet. Encourage “The 10-Minute Save.” If a nurse has a free window, they shouldn’t just check their phone; they should ask a peer, “I have 10 minutes, what’s the one task I can take off your plate?” Some teams work to leave the unit together, following a “no nurse left behind” practice.
Combat the “Hero Complex”.
Some veteran nurses pride themselves on never needing help. This is dangerous. It creates a culture where the novice nurse feels like a failure if they can’t keep up. As leaders, we must model that no one is too experienced to be backed up. Use coaching questions to do this, such as “Who asked for help today? I want to recognize that, because it kept our patients safer.”
Reward the “Assist”.
In sports, the person who passes the ball to the scorer gets credit. In nursing, we usually only celebrate the nurse who caught the near-miss or stayed late for a code. Start calling out the “assists” in your recognition programs.
-
“I saw Sarah jumping in to help Mark with his admissions so he could take a lunch break. That is the backup culture we need.”
Use Huddle to Reinforce Team Backup Support
Instead of asking, “Is everyone okay?” (to which the default answer is always “Yes”), try these specific prompts:
-
The Capacity Check: “On a scale of 1 to 10, what is your ‘bandwidth’ right now? Who is at a 9 or 10 and needs a 5-minute breather?”
-
The Strategic Assist: “I see that our patient in Bed 4 is heading to surgery, and Bed 12 just had an unplanned intubation. Who has 15 minutes to help Sarah with her charting so she can stay bedside?”
-
The ‘Look Up’ Prompt: “Before we break, look at the person to your left. What is one task they are doing today that you could potentially help with if you get caught up?”
Individualism is a survival mechanism, but team backup is a thriving mechanism. When nurses know their colleagues have their backs, the unit’s psychological safety skyrockets. When it is missing, we need to coach our staff to look up from their work and see the team again.
© emergingrnleader.com 2026
To effectively lead through these challenges and others, nurse leaders need new tools and strategies. Let me help you as I have helped hundreds of organizations over the past five years. Book a workshop or keynote for your team by contacting me at roseosherman@outlook.com
Brand New For 2026 and Already Receiving Rave Reviews – Staying Power Building a Culture of Retention in the New World of Work
Brand New for 2026 and Already Popular – The Inverted Pyramid: Leading Teams of Novice Nurses The Inverted Pyramid WS Information Sheet
Our Most Popular Right Now –The New World of Work Workshop
A Leader Favorite – Building Bridges Not Walls: Leading Multigenerational Work Teams – Click Here for More Information Building Bridges Not Walls
A Must-Read Book in 2026 – Click Here to Buy
LinkedIn
Instagram