The Third Key to Nursing Leadership——Communication

“Communication is the real work of leadership” ~Nohria

The third key to nursing leadership is Communication. What is it costing you to rely on the usual vague communication versus shifting to clear purposeful communication?  How can language and powerful words enhance your leadership skills? What is the impact of your leadership communication style? Have you learned to have critical conversations and explored avenues for conflict resolution?

Being overwhelmingly honest is fundamental to high performance leadership. As the leader you must set the example of honesty. Effective leaders are 100% honest and direct in describing tough issues and 100% respectful in the way they communicate.

Be aware of your current leadership style. Is your style empowering to your staff? Punitive? Confusing? Dictatorial? Collaborative?  Language is a powerful tool to convey your leadership

style. Not only the correct use of the English language, but your choice of words signify how you are received.  Leaders often use words like “should”, “ought”, “have to” and “need to” to give directions. These words are also used in communicating pleasure or displeasure in performance.

Why are these words inappropriate? Because they communicate that the person to whom the leader is speaking, is incompetent. For example: “You should have checked that patient every hour,” bestows guilt upon the nurse. “What needs to happen to ensure the vital signs are checked every 3 hours?” is a more positive way to communicate the same message and gets the job done.

Powerful words can also be applied to self-talk. “I should have known better” can be shifted to, “Next time I will request assistance sooner.”  “I ought to do it myself, and then it will be done correctly,” can be changed to, “How can I support you in performing this procedure effectively?”   Empowering self-talk serves the leader and the follower.

Your leadership style can encourage your staff to show up or stay home.  Increased callouts are an indication of an ineffective team effort and you are leading the team. Are you inspiring your nurses to excellence or allowing them to only achieve the status quo?

Giving evaluations and constructive criticism is difficult for many leaders. Conflict resolution can be the most difficult part of leadership. To make evaluations more productive, have regularly scheduled times to allow for conversations about goals, performance and new ideas. Schedule a purposeful conversation every month and make sure both the leader and the nurse have the same understanding about current and expected performance.

By communicating these tasks clearly and constructively, you will empower both the speaker and the recipient.

For more information, contact www.ShiftChangeCoaching.com

Retaining New Nurses: The Six Keys to Nursing Success

The good news is that the nursing profession is attracting younger nurses. The bad news is that many of these younger nurses change jobs within the first year.

Each nurse hire costs the organization about $65,000 according to HR professionals. Many hospitals have initiated programs to increase retention of nurses; however, most of the programs only address the extrinsic issues – not the intrinsic issurs.

Other retention program work from the “outside in” – the Shift Change Coaching Program works from the “inside out”. When nurses, both young and seasoned, learn the Six Keys to Nursing Success they will stay in the profession longer and provide higher quality patient care.

The Six Keys to Nursing

Success are:
1. Shift from the one up role to equal partnership. Be intentional when you leave work to shift out of work mode.

2. Shift from selflessness (being last on the list) to self care. Practice self care before nursing care.

3. Shift into balance in your work and professional life.

4. Shift from no boundaries to healthy boundaries. Learn how to say no.

5. Identify your passion so that you find the “best fit” in your nursing profession.

6. Clarify your values and make sure your values align with those of your employer.

By integrating the Six Keys to Nursing Success into orientation programs and into school nursing curriculum, organizations will retain nurses and discover higher patient care and satisfaction.

Contact Betsy Smith or Merrily Sable for more information at Shift Change Coaching Group.

Register for our FREE Teleclass

“From Surviving to Thriving in Nursing”

Six Keys to Nursing Success

Next Teleclass Date:

Wednesday, March 17^th, 2010

1 Nursing Contact hour available for this class!

CLICK HERE to register!

You will receive a reply with the teleclass call-in information.

Please share this invitation with others.

Upcoming for 2010:

April 14^th, May 19^th and June 16^th

Shifting the Image , Heart and Soul of Nursing- Onward and Upward

National Nurse’s Week is the perfect time to think about the new shift in nursing, a shift involving increased respect, self-care, excellence and autonomy for nurses and the nursing profession alike. We have long since surpassed the auspicious days of Florence Nightingale. Nurses are asked for far more than bedside nursing and we must create and sustain nurses that can rise to the level of excellence required of this profession in today’s world and have them “keep on keepin on” once they get there!

The nursing profession is experiencing a shortage in crisis proportions. A crisis doesn’t apply to every dire situation. A crisis is a turning point, a moment that calls for action. In literature, a crisis is “when a conflict reaches its highest tension and must be resolved,” according to the American Heritage Dictionary. Random House Webster’s College Dictionary says, in medicine, a crisis is “to the point in a serious disease at which a decisive change occurs.”

There is an expression, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” This can be no more true than when applied to the nursing profession. The new shift simply changes this to deleting the currently implied after phrase, “at the nurse’s expense.” We no longer can afford nurses working “at their expense”. Disillusioned and burned out nurses are the ones working in a 2nd profession rather than nursing. Their talent, training, dreams and years devoted to becoming and working as a nurse are gone. The profession is left short staffed. The remaining nurses are all the more overtaxed.

Let us wake up and want more for these nurses, our nursing schools, places of employment and patients. Are you worried about a “bottom line”? Hiring nurses into a specialty where they will stay and keeping them in the profession drastically decreases overhead and hugely increases quality of patient care, which in turn positively impacts facility liability. Worried about transitioning nursing students into the “real world” of nursing? Give them the life and professional skills to get through school, make the transition and sustain a rewarding, fulfilling and long career in nursing.

Learn the 6 keys to nursing success: Shifting from the “one-up” position (as expert, mentor, caretaker) to equal partnership, Shifting from selflessness (being last on the list) to self-care, Creating work/life balance, Establishing boundaries, Identifying and learning to live your passion, Discovering and integrating personal values into your life.

Subsequent newsletter issues will highlight each of the six keys to nursing success in more detail. Don’t miss them!

Best regards,

Merrily Sable, RN, BSN and Betsy Smith, PhD

Many Reasons to Consider Shift Change Coaching Group!

For Organizations:

• Higher nursing retention rate

• Recruitment of nurses into the “best fit” position

• Coaching as a unique & competitive employee benefit

• Increased quality of care

• Greater productivity

• Authentic effective leadership

For Nurses:

• Increased energy

• Recharged enthusiasm

• Amplified passion for work and personal life

• Greater productivity

• More reserves created (time, energy)

• Ability to stay in nursing profession longer

• Prevention of burnout

• Increased fulfillment with career and life

• Smooth transition from student life to professional nursing

• Clarity in choosing nursing specialty

The Shift Change Coaching Group coaches nurses to make healthy proactive choices and to focus on quality self-care to promote high quality nursing care and sustain a successful student experience and a long fulfilling nursing career. We explore personal practices to determine which are the most supportive and “best practices” for the nurse and to design new practices to fill in any gaps. The nurse creates strategies to extinguish bad habits and integrate new positive personal practices into their life. Nurses create their own “personal practice plan” to build a strong foundation for their personal and professional life. The Shift Change Coaching Group works with nurses and organizations to build a strong foundation for excellence and fulfillment in the nursing profession. It’s time for the NEW SHIFT in nursing!

Want to earn brownie points with your nurses during nurse’s week?

Nurses’ Week (May 6-12, 2010) is fast approaching! There is only 85 days until May 6th, 2010!

Is this finally the year you really do something significant for your nursing staff instead of throwing money away on unappreciated junk that in no realm communicates that you value them nor inspires them to excellence?

You’ve heard the parable, give them a fish and they eat for a day, teach them to fish and they eat for a lifetime.

This year, do it right!  Give them the gift that says, “you matter!” Give your nurses the tools to make it through the day.  This priceless gift benefits both the nurses AND the organization, a 2 for 1 deal!!!!  When your nurses aren’t happy, nobody’s happy!

The gift is…  HAPPY NURSES!

Burned out, grumpy, mean, unhappy nurses don’t stay, don’t give the best care and don’t get along well with others. Happy nurses make happy patients.  Happy patients ensure that your organization thrives!

The Shift Change Coaching Group creates happy nurses by bringing them interactive teleclasses or workshops and seminars onsite to teach them real life skills to deal with the stressors in nursing.   Some of these skills include boundary setting, ways to increase their passion and productivity, balancing their personal and professional life and practicing self-care before nursing care among others.

As one nurse attendee put it: “You can’t afford to miss this, as it may be the one instrument saving your nurses from burnout.”

Contact the Shift Change Coaching Group today to schedule your Nurses’ Appreciation Week gift!

90-minute in-person workshop at your facility:

Minimum, 15-30 participants $1499

31-45 participants $2,149

46-60 participants $2,799

*Travel expenses additional based on your location

Teleclass Offering:  Call in to a convenient conference line scheduled just for your group!

Contact us for customized pricing.  (Leadership workshops/teleclasses also available.)

Welcome to a new decade and 2010!

We are excited about shifting from the challenging economy and “on hold” mentality of 2009 to the freedom of moving to opportunities and possibilities in 2010.   By the time you read this newsletter, about 94% of you will have made and already broken your New Year’s resolutions.  It is time to regroup, take action and move forward! We will help to jumpstart your year by introducing Shift Change Coaching’s Six Keys to Leadership series.  Just like our foundational Six Keys to Nursing Success, these Leadership Keys are valuable assets for your personal and professional life.

In the December 2009 newsletter, we invited you to begin identifying your personal and professional leadership roles. We posed the question, “Should you lead, follow or get out of the way?”  There is accidental leadership and then there is purposeful effective leadership.  The Peter Principle is the theory that employees within an organization will advance to their highest level of competence and then be promoted to and remain at a level at which they are incompetent.  In nursing that is demonstrated when the best staff nurses are the ones promoted to management positions with little or no training.  Many of these nurses don’t have a desire to lead but are following the next step offered to achieve an increased salary or improved working hours.

One of our nurse coaching clients shared that she was “promoted” to a management position with no salary increase and actual increased hours to accommodate the staff and management nursing roles.  This is not an unusual occurrence in the current nursing climate.  Is this the solution to effective nursing leadership and fulfilled nurses who desire to stay in the profession long term?

The Six Keys to Nursing Leadership guide nurse leaders/managers to shift from a hierarchical model to functioning more in professional collaboration practicing the coach approach to leadership.

1. Respect/honor – how do leaders show respect, and how do they earn it?  Honor self – honor each other – honor others
2. Communication – how to shift to clear and valuable communication using powerful language, critical conversation for conflict resolution, and creating purposeful and respectful interactions
3. Courage –how to make the shift to leader, develop confidence in yourself and others and inspire those you lead
4. Recognition – celebration and acknowledgment, intrinsic versus extrinsic rewards, giving yourself credit
5. Trust – integrity, honesty and accountability for yourself and others; confidentiality
6. Passion – find the best fit, empower others to succeed, be the cheerleader, discover the passions of those you lead and utilize them

Respect/honor, the 1^st key, is the foundation of effective leadership.  Utilizing the Shift Change Coaching logo above, the 3 pillars on the left side of the bridge represent the leaders and the 3 pillars on the right represent the followers or the team.  The bridge represents a two-way street where the leaders respect and honor the followers and the followers respect and honor the leaders.  The arch over the bridge represents the organization embracing this culture of honor and respect.  This type of mutual relationship results in a win-win situation often reflected in the quality of patient care, happy satisfied workers, greater productivity, increased cost effectiveness and decreased staff turnover.

How do you as a leader in your personal and professional roles show and earn respect and honor from those you serve?  Here are 3 suggestions; (1) Know your team members – ask how they are, what they need and what they are happy about  (2) Give frequent feedback, both positive and “needs improvement” (3) Set clear expectations and hold yourself and your team accountable.

Self-respect is essential.  A true leader is someone who is a role model and walks their talk as well as being able to admit their mistakes and shortcomings.  A leader remembers they are but one member of the team.

How does your leadership measure up to the six keys?  Are you seeing low morale, staff confusion, errors in patient care, high number of incident reports and call outs, frequent staff turnover or other crisis issues?  Work with Shift Change Coaching to implement the Six keys to Nursing Leadership.  Build the foundation to promote excellence in leadership.  Convenient teleclass or in-person workshop formats are available.  Schedule now as our 2010 is filling up fast!

In the February issue we will discuss the 2^nd Key to Nursing Leadership, communication. In the meantime, please visit our Shift Change Blog and let us know your ideas and challenges around nursing leadership.

Warm regards,

Merrily Sable, RN, BSN and Betsy Smith, PhD

Six Keys to Nursing Success Review

Thank you for your continued interest in The Shift Change Coaching Group’s Monthly Newsletter! We have enjoyed communicating the Six Keys to Nursing Success over the past 6 months and are excited to bring you the Six Keys to Nursing Leadership in the New Year.

To review, the Six Keys to Nursing Success are as follows:

1. Shifting from the “one- up” position (as the expert, mentor, caretaker) to equal partnership
2. Shifting from selflessness (being last on the list) to self-care
3. Creating work/life balance
4. Establishing boundaries
5. Identifying and learning to live their passion
6. Discovering and integrating personal values into their life

We encourage you to continue to practice these as foundational elements for your personal and professional life as we introduce the Six Keys to Nursing Leadership.

This begins as an introduction to our series of articles on our Six Keys to Nursing Leadership.  Should you lead, follow or get out of the way?  We invite you to take the first step by becoming aware of you leadership roles in your personal and professional life.  Please note the exercise in this issue’s “Personal Practice Tip (PPT)” section to help you identify your leadership roles.

Leadership is near and dear to our hearts. We have both served in many leadership roles in nursing or academia as well as in our present field of professional life and business coaching.  You may have heard that leaders are “born not made”.  We beg to differ.  You may have the tendency, the personality and even the desire to be a leader but that doesn’t necessarily prepare you to be an effective leader.

How many nurse leaders do you know that have been promoted to “leader/manager” because they were exemplary nurses, yet were never given any leadership development training? This can be a very uncomfortable place for the new nurse leader, the staff and the patients. A common business quote is “people go to work for an organization and they leave because of the boss”. Leadership is not for the faint at heart.

Effective leadership requires passion and skill building.   Nurse leaders/managers are often caught in the middle – between administration, staff, patients and families. Too often, a promotion to leader/manager means more responsibility and often added work hours without a growing paycheck.  Leadership training is important so the new leader does not become frustrated and leave rather than lead.  Repercussions of inadequate leadership skills are high turn over, absenteeism, a toxic organizational climate, and poor quality patient care to name a few.

The Six Keys to Nursing Leadership guide nurse leaders/managers to shift from a hierarchical model to functioning more in professional collaboration practicing the coach approach to leadership.

Here are the Six Keys to Nursing Leadership:

1. Respect/honor – how does the leader show respect, and how do they earn it?  Honor self – honor each other – honor others
2. Communication – how to shift to clear and valuable communication using powerful language, critical conversation for conflict resolution, and creating purposeful and respectful interactions
3. Courage –how to make the shift to leader, develop confidence in yourself and others and inspire those you lead
4. Recognition – celebration and acknowledgment, intrinsic versus extrinsic rewards, giving yourself credit
5. Trust – integrity, honesty and accountability for yourself and others; confidentiality
6. Passion – find the best fit, empower others to succeed, be the cheerleader, discover the passions of those you lead and utilize them

Watch for the January 2010 newsletter where you will find out more about Shift Change Coaching’s 1^st Key to Nursing Leadership!

In the meantime, we want to thank all the clients of Shift Change Coaching this year, both organizations and individual nurses alike.  You have inspired us with your tenacity, wisdom and willingness to shift to new heights personally and professionally.  You have rewarded us with excellent positive feedback regarding the value of our work and offered much encouragement for us to continue bringing coaching into the nursing profession.  We wish you and your loved ones many blessings and joy this holiday season and look forward to serving many more of you in the New Year!  .

Warm regards,

Merrily Sable, RN, BSN and Betsy Smith, PhD

Six Keys to Nursing Success Series – 6th key- The final shift – from responsibilities to values.

Live your values

Values are your essence. They are the beliefs that guide your every decision, the building blocks to create the foundation of who you are and the principles by which you live. Your convictions regarding what you believe is important and desirable are determined by your values.

Overall, our ego has distinct values which cause it to choose certain things over others. These values are health, wealth, happiness, avoiding pain, fear, and struggle, particular life circumstances like: owning a home, a fast car, living in a specific place, or having a great relationship; acceptance, approval, admiration, and respect from others; divides experiences into good and bad, like and don’t like.

Soul values are concerned with being – not doing, a long term view, no attachment to what form the manifestation of the purpose takes (it’s all good), no preference for what experience the ego is having; doesn’t divide experiences in to good/bad; Sees the person’s life as a work of art, or journey; sees all experiences as teaching along a path (no matter how the ego experiences them)

You may or may not be conscious of your personal values. Every person has a set of complex values, which may shift somewhat throughout life. These core values, the essence of you, stay as your foundation throughout life while others may be added or deleted, depending on life experiences.

How does it feel when your values are not aligned with friends, family, work, community, or other areas of your life? Are you uncomfortable? Do you experience stress or irritation? Do you have the feeling you don’t fit in?

You have the right to say no. Others may take you for granted or even lose respect for you if you always say yes. According to Harriett Braiker, author of The Disease to Please: Curing the People-Pleasing Syndrome, if you think you are a bad person when you say no, you may suffer from the “disease to please.”  (See the September 2009 Shift Change Coaching Newsletter article on the Shift Change Blog for more on “saying no”.)

If you say yes when you really mean no, you appear unreliable, unenthusiastic, or scatter-brained. So, pare down your commitments and focus on doing the things about which you are passionate!

Values exercise: Values apply to your personal and professional life. What are your top 3 values?  (See this month’s Personal Practice Tip for help with this).

Example:  If one of your values is recognition, this may show up personally with you volunteering to lead the homeowner’s association in your neighborhood.  Professionally, this might translate into serving as a committee leader or being purposeful in asking for regular feedback from your supervisor and colleagues.

Your values empower you to invest your time and energy in matters about which you are passionate. You can now say yes to those things in alignment with your core values, and you can say no to those things that are not. Remember, please, no is not a four-letter word. No is a powerful word, but it tends to be used infrequently, especially by women. Since your time is precious, you want to spend it wisely on the things that are important to you and will help you achieve your goals. When you now think of your responsibilities and decisions, remember to include your values in the equation.

This concludes our series of articles on our Six Keys to Nursing Success.  Watch for the December 2009 newsletter with the first in our series of articles on Nurse Leadership.  Should you lead, follow or get out of the way?  Until then, practice the Six Keys to Nursing Success and report your ideas and successes on the Shift Change Blog .

NCNA thank you note to SCC…

The North Carolina Nurses Association (NCNA) would like to thank you for speaking in this year’s 102nd Annual Convention. Throughout the Convention, unique and innovative ideas were generated and everyone in attendance learned a great deal; your participation played a significant role in that. The information in your speech and presentation were both fascinating and timely, not to mention that your participation demonstrated your commitment and dedication to uplifting the nursing profession.

We hope that you enjoyed your interaction with the participants and that you will consider returning in the future. For your invaluable partnership in making this year’s convention a huge success, NCNA is forever greatful! We do hope that you will continue to support NCNA and its efforts!

On a personal note, it was most certainly a pleasure to have met your acquaintance!

Thanks so much!

Latisha Dutch
Event Coordinator
North Carolina Nurses Association
919-491-7006
events@ncnurses.org