The Power of Story in Nursing Leadership

By Rose O. Sherman, EdD, RN, FAAN

“Stories are the most powerful tool in the leader’s toolkit”. Howard Gardner

I recently attended a conference session on Patient Safety. Quite unexpectedly, the speaker began his presentation with the statement , “Through an error I made, I was responsible for a patient’s death”. He immediately had the attention of everyone in the room as he told his compelling story. The lessons learned that he shared will undoubtedly stay with that group much longer than if he had a bullet point power point slide full of dos and don’ts related to patient safety. It was an excellent example of the power of stories. Using story as a nursing leadership strategy is something that is seldom discussed in leadership textbooks; yet the effective use of story can be a great coaching tool.

The Importance of Story in Leadership

Nursing leadership is about influence and persuasion. At the heart of persuasion is storytelling. Nurse leaders use storytelling every day whether we consciously think about it or not. Story can be used to simulate experience as illustrated in the example above. Every audience member could put themselves into the situation experienced by that professional, and the raw pain that was felt upon making a mistake.

Story can trump facts because they humanize the problem. As a nurse leader, you can talk to staff about how many patient falls occur each month on a unit, and try to summon a sense of urgency for initiative such as patient rounding. You may find that it is much more powerful to take one patient situation where there was a bad outcome from a fall. You can tell the story of how the fall impacted that patient’s life. At the conclusion of the story present the information about the number of falls are occurring on the unit each month.

I have always loved reading the biographies of famous leaders from all walks of life. What is important in these stories are the reminders about the ups and downs that happen in all of our lives. In a previous blog, I shared a story told to me by one of my mentors about the mistakes she made in her first year as a nurse leader. That story had a powerful influence on my development. It was so hard to believe that the beloved nursing leader was almost fired from her first position. As leaders, it is important to give staff encouragement during difficult times. Story can be excellent way to do this by reminding us that our professional and leadership development is a journey.

Key Elements of the Effective Use of Stories

Douglas Ready, in his article on leadership storytelling, offers some excellent guidance about the components of effective stories.

Effective stories are context specific and fit the topic that is being discussed.
Effective stories consider the position of the staff member and their career stage.
Effective stories are told by respected role models.
Effective stories have drama and draw the listener’s attention.
Effective stories have high learning value and are a call to change behavior.

During turbulent times in health-care, leaders can tell stories about historical challenges such as the turmoil that occurred with the introduction of the DRGs in the mid-1990s. It too was a difficult time but the reform occurred and everyone adjusted to the change. Through the effective use of story, nurse leaders can both build strong cultures and connect with staff at personal level.

Read to Lead

Simmons, A. (2001). The Story Factor: Inspiration, Influence and Persuasion through the Art of Story Telling. New York: Perseus Publishing.

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[amazon_enhanced asin=”0465078079″ /][amazon_link id=”0465078079″ target=”_blank” ]The Story Factor (2nd Revised Edition)[/amazon_link]