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All nurses are leaders to some extent, but possessing a strong set of leadership skills is essential for those who wish to assume formal managerial roles, either now or in the future. The additional responsibilities and challenges involved in management roles usually come with a substantial bump in salary. However, the desire to go from nurse to nursing leadership often stems from the desire to strengthen high-quality patient care, promote positive patient outcomes and create a positive work environment for patients and staff alike.
Climbing the career ladder takes education, experience and fine-tuning skills that help make you better at leading others. If your career goal is to transition into management, read this advice from experienced nurses for ways to improve your nurse leadership skills.
7 Ways to Improve Your Nurse Leadership Skills
1. Strive to Build Solid Relationships
Barbara Asenso has been a registered nurse (RN) for 16 years, working in various leadership roles in acute care, nursing education and geriatrics. Throughout her career, she’s developed courses in nursing and leadership for colleges and care organizations and served on various leadership teams as an educator and care manager.
Asenso feels some nurses overlook relationship building, which really enhances your ability to lead effectively.
“Get to know your team beyond their role,” she advised. “Connect with them on a personal level and learn more about who they are outside of work. You can most effectively bring the best out of your team when they know that you care about them and see the person behind the job title.”
Asenso also supports her team and enhances her relationship with team members through acts of service as a leader. She said she’s the type of leader who cleans out the staff refrigerator weekly, even though she doesn’t use it and it’s not her job. She does it simply because she wants her team to have a nice, clean fridge, and they appreciate it. Asenso feels this small service empowers them to want to serve others well and makes her a better leader.
2. Create a Positive Team Culture
To further enhance relationship building with your team, Betty Long, RN, MHA and President/CEO and Founder of Guardian Nurses Healthcare Advocates, believes you must encourage your team through positivity.
“The ability to build a positive team culture often determines whether a nurse in leadership succeeds or fails. With morale in the healthcare community at an all-time low, it’s more important than ever for leaders to bring about positive change in their workplace. I prioritize sustaining a positive culture at Guardian Nurses so that people want to come to work every day. We’re nurse-owned, nurse-centric and nurse-positive. No matter what type of culture already exists at your workplace, you can make it more positive by taking care of your team’s needs and celebrating their work and its impact on patients.”
Long has been a registered nurse since 1986, with experience in clinical, management and consulting capacities. Her long history of healthcare advocacy with expertise in critical care, long-term care and geriatric care management precipitated her becoming a nationally recognized expert and speaker on patient advocacy.
3. Be a Lifelong Learner
“Be a passionate, lifelong learner and embrace experimentation,” encouraged Trisha Coady, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Workforce Development Solutions at HealthStream.
Coady has experienced both sides of the healthcare industry. She started her career as an RN in long-term care, cardiac intensive care, neonatal intensive care and flight nursing. Her clinical experience led to her discovery that she had a passion for education and transitioned to organizational development. Coady developed her business skills as the Founder and CEO of MedSenses through its eventual acquisition before joining HealthStream in 2014 to enhance workforce development in healthcare.
“As a leader, you will be called to innovate and solve problems using creativity and an iterative approach,” said Coady. There is no ‘one size fits all’ approach, so take measured risks and try new things. Gather feedback from those you serve for the greatest perspective and eventual impact. With this mindset, you may be surprised by how quickly you’ll grow into a next-level leader.”
Asenso added that nurse leaders should “have a heart for learning something new in every situation. If you’re seeking to be a leader, have the openness to absorb, adapt and ask yourself: ‘what can I learn from this?’ rather than ‘how can I solve or fix this?’ Not everything needs fixing. Sometimes things just come your way as an opportunity for you to learn.”
4. Keep Your Staff Informed
Coady emphasized that marketing what your organization does for its staff is vital in the current state of the healthcare industry. It’s a step all nurse leaders should prioritize, but many may need to improve on how well they deliver this information.
“With staff turnover only becoming a larger issue, employers have begun to add many employee benefits to enhance recruitment and retention,” Coady explained. “What we often fail to do is ensure our staff are aware of these compounding benefits and choices offered to them. If they don’t know about it, it’s not a benefit. This communication effort not only helps improve your staff’s perception of the organization, but it helps them to see you as an advocate. Engage and interact with your team on ideas, involve them in creating and influencing initiatives and make sure you’re disseminating all the great things your organization has to offer.”
5. Focus on Nurse Leadership Skills Versus Concepts
“In the post-pandemic era, many nurse leaders have left the profession and new nurse leaders – or even those who have remained in their roles – are challenged to apply the skills that were once accepted as ‘nursing leadership best practices.’ As nurses contemplate leadership or try to build (or rebuild) their leadership skills, focus on skills versus concepts,” advised Greta Rosler, MSN, RN, NEA-BC, CPXP.
Rosler has 25 years of experience caring for patients, with 15 years spent in nursing/patient experience leadership. She’s a healthcare leader and certified patient experience professional who supports organizations and other healthcare leaders to maximize the experiences of patients and clinicians through her consulting company, Radius Leaders. Through her client advisor role, Rosler supports bedside and senior nurse leaders in building or refining attainable experience competencies and best practices for teams and patients, with a passion centered on Nurse Leader Rounding.
“Reading about something – a leadership concept or theory – is only useful if we know how to apply it,” she explained. “Ask yourself: what are the pain points in my day or with my team or patients, where am I getting stuck and what are the tangible leadership skills that I need to develop to push past that? Perhaps this is also something your mentor or development partner can help with. No matter how you get there, identifying who can help and very specifically what you need help with is crucial to helping nurse leaders feel confident in their role and achieve what they hope for.”
6. Be an Attentive Listener
Listening is the first key to communication, and to be an effective leader, you must develop outstanding communication skills. Learning to actively listen to peers, patients and administrators is critical to good communication. Consciously working to build your communication skills also improves the nurse leadership skills needed to transition to management roles.
“To be a great leader in nursing, you have to be an attentive listener,” Long said. “The people on your team are much more likely to trust, respect and listen to you if they feel heard. I have team members often thank me for my willingness to listen. They say it makes them feel that I value their perspectives and care about them as people. Listening with empathy makes leaders better able to provide emotional support when a team member needs it. After all, we’re in the caring business, and that should extend to your employees as well as patients. Equally important, the ability to listen and learn from those around you enables you to make the most informed decisions.”
7. Find a Mentor
Many nurse leaders consider themselves mentors to many nurses working below them, but mentorship works both ways. It’s also highly beneficial in developing your nurse leadership skills. By shadowing individuals with leadership skills you admire, you may learn new ways to motivate patients, peers and inexperienced nurses alike. Rosler said seeking a mentor can also help you improve in areas you haven’t been able to master.
“Find an experienced mentor, partner or coach to get on track,” said Rosler. “Often, we cannot see for ourselves what our blind spots are or where our leadership skills are falling short, so asking someone to help with this is crucial. When it comes to leadership development, nurse leaders’ needs are unique, so having a trusted nursing leadership ally and partner to help you develop is key to focusing on what’s most important.”
Remember Why You Lead
In the end, Coady emphasizes the importance of remembering why you initially chose nursing and wanted to become a leader.
“Nursing is extremely rewarding, but it’s often a challenging career,” Coady said. “On the hard days, it’s important to remember your ‘why.’ For me, I find importance in the sense of community amongst nurses. Surrounding myself with people that encourage and hold me accountable is one of the best ways that I’ve sharpened my skills as a clinician, leader and individual. As a leader, keep yourself and your team inspired and energized. My love for the nursing community is ultimately why I shifted from the clinical setting to a position where I could have a broader impact on both nurses and our profession as a whole.”
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Great article