When Nurses Are Disrespectful to Leaders

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

Being a frontline leader today is challenging under the best circumstances, but imagine what it is like when nurses are disrespectful and critical of those who lead them. Nurse managers now tell me that while this behavior might have been confined to nonprofessional staff in the past, some professional staff are now very disrespectful. They question the motives of leadership decisions and complain that nurse leaders are seriously out of touch with what frontline staff are experiencing.

Consider the following story that a nurse manager presented during a recent webinar:

I was recently talking with staff about the need to complete their documentation of care. I thought this should have been a no-brainer discussion. I thought wrong. After I presented some of the documentation gaps we are seeing on the unit, one of my nurses shrugged her shoulders and said that they could not finish their documentation given the current staffing. The problem with nurse leaders today, she observed, is that all they do is attend meetings and check up on what is not done. No wonder she said that no one trusts their leaders anymore. This stopped me, and I asked how many nurses felt this way. About half the hands of my younger staff immediately went up. One nurse told me not to worry – it wasn’t just me, but this message that you can’t trust leaders is all across social media. 

After this happened, I spoke with several of my colleagues, and many said they are seeing an increase in this behavior. One had just attended a Nurse Blake show (a significant nursing influencer). While she finds some of what he says funny – some offhanded comments reflect a disrespect for nurse managers and their role at the front line of care. She observed that the entry of sites like YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok changed how nurses viewed their profession and impressions about those who lead it. Union organizers also contribute to the growing mistrust.

We discussed several approaches to use in talking to staff and rebuilding trust with them. Many leaders themselves freely acknowledge that trust is in short supply. The additional challenge is not having enough expert nurses to guide new staff on the units. Nurse leaders today sorely miss those long-tenured charge nurses who both role model professional behavior and serve as an additional leadership influence on their units.

Some executive leaders who do not have regular conversations with their nurse managers may read the above blog and assume it is not happening in their environments. Don’t be so sure. Whether you are a leader in a five-time designated Magnet hospital or a critical access hospital struggling to meet payroll, you are not exempt from trends and challenges. Ask your nurse managers what they see at the front lines of care – it may surprise you in both a good and bad way.

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