Nurse Leaders as Makers - Emerging Nurse Leader

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

These are challenging times for nurse leaders. Healthcare environments are undergoing rapid change requiring their leaders to be both nimble and adaptable. At the same time, the needs of the contemporary nursing workforce have also changed. Gone are the days of command and control leadership when staff were expected to be grateful because they had a job. Today’s nurses want leaders who will help them to learn and grow as professionals. They also rely on their leaders to make sense of and explain the “why” of the change and complexity in their environment. When this transparency is absent, they will leave as evidenced by high nursing turnover in many healthcare organizations.

Eric McNulty, a leadership strategist, has coined the term leadership maker movement to describe how current leaders are working to help their organizations adapt to fast-changing contexts in their environments. There are four distinct maker domains that innovative leaders are using to empower staff and create success their organizations and themselves. These include:

Sense Maker

Nurses rely on their leaders to help make sense of the changes occurring in their environment. We often forget how little staff may know about financial or political realities that are driving change. The why behind what is happening is a critical piece that is often forgotten as organizations quickly to move the how and what. Gail Fairhurst in her book The Power of Framing: Creating the Language of Leadership, suggests that one of the most important but least talked about leadership communication skills is that of “framing”. How leaders use language to frame people, situations, and events has important consequences for the way individuals make sense of the world and their actions. Not all leaders think about this when they communicate but it is important especially during turbulent and uncertain times.

Meaning Maker

Findings from the Gallup Workplace 2017 research emphasize the role of leaders in helping staff to derive meaning and purpose in their work especially during turbulent times. While we may assume that this is easily achieved in healthcare because of the mission, staff often see conflicting values in new policies and practices that don’t seem patient-centered. During times of turmoil, helping staff to reconnect to their purpose is vital. Without a strong sense of purpose, Millennial nurses in particular may not stay in an organization because they want their work to have meaning.

Place Maker

The necessity of creating a positive work culture can be easily lost in today’s turbulent healthcare environment with the emphasis on reducing costs, improving quality and implementing innovative change. Yet the costs of not doing this can be very high. A healthy work environment is a critical component to both keep staff satisfied and achieve excellent patient outcomes. Frontline nurse leaders are linchpins in establishing strong cultures and building a sense of community for their staff. This may be even more important in today’s environment when more staff are single. Research indicates that positive social connections at work produce highly desirable results in how staff feel about their work environment. On the Gallup Q12, a negative response on “do you have a best friend at work?’ has been shown to strongly correlate to staff turnover.

Space Maker

One of the more challenging maker domains for many leaders is that of space maker. To be a space maker, leaders need to step back from being a leader at the center to one who creates, opens and creates space for others to shine. These opportunities to learn, grow and shine are highly valued by staff. A belief in others can make extraordinary things happen even in the face of the most challenging goals. But to sustain “winning” performance, you must offer positive reinforcement and be supportive and encouraging. In involves the willingness of leaders to be secure enough in their leadership to let others shine.

McNulty proposes that sense making along with the ability to create meaning, a healthy workplace and giving others space to lead is the secret sauce of today’s successful leader. It is recipe worth trying.

References

Fairhurst, G. The power of framing: Creating the language of leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass; 2010.

McNulty EJ. (July 23rd, 2018 Strategy and Business Blog). The Leadership Maker Movement. Available at https://www.strategy-business.com/blog/The-Leadership-Maker-Movement?gko=ccf48