Nurses occupy a relatively small leadership hierarchy. There are charge nurses, but for the most part, RNs all work at the same level. Even professionals working within a leadership position are primarily doing the same jobs as everyone else.
Why does leadership in nursing matter?
High-level nurses serve as a resource for the people working under them. They can organize shifts in a way that reduces stress, and serve as a lifeline between the people on their floor, and upper management. In short, they can plug many of the holes that lead to high levels of turnover.
In this article, we take a look at how to build a foundation for leadership in nursing.
First, Why is Nursing Leadership Important?
While it may not feel worthwhile to focus on creating new subcategories of seniority within hospital systems, there are good reasons to recognize achievement and foster mentorship.
Hospitals can choose leadership categories based on the requirements that make the most sense to them. Seniority may be one of several criteria. Hospitals can also consider including merit-based criteria that can motivate younger nurses.
You may even use it as an opportunity to encourage continuing education by giving special attention to nurses with certain certifications or graduate degrees.
In the next few headings, we will take a look at some of the benefits you can expect to see.
Leadership Encourages Longevity
People like to work in jobs where they know their efforts will be recognized and rewarded. In fact, a lack of appreciation or recognition has consistently been shown to be one of the number one causes of employee turnover. When people feel that their bosses do not care about what they are doing, they often look for a new job.
Leadership programs are a great way to provide employees with well-deserved recognition.
When you ask an experienced nurse to take on a leadership role, you are effectively telling them that you know they are good at their job and that you think it would be valuable for them to mentor new hires.
Even small incentives can make a big difference when it comes to retention. Remember that a large segment of the working population just wants to feel appreciated.
It Drives Ambition
Similarly, leadership programs give other nurses something to aspire for. It may be difficult to imagine a staff of tired, overworked nurses, desperate to be appointed as a mentor.
Again, people like to feel appreciated. They want their hard work to build toward something more than just the next paycheck.
It is the same reason that employee morale tends to go down considerably in companies that make outside hires for management positions.
People want to feel like if they do good work they will receive good things.
Leadership Fosters Relationships
Finally, leadership programs also foster relationships among team members. Studies consistently show that workplaces in which employees get along have significantly lower risk of turnover.
That’s a pretty good deal for hospital systems that are struggling to keep employees. As people make connections at work, they will be more likely to stay on the job, knowing that they can continue collaborating with dependable people that they like.
How Do You Build Leadership?
Do hospitals need to create new positions just to have a way to promote hard-working nurses? Probably not. Your leadership program could be as simple as a well-organized mentorship initiative.
You’ve probably seen the figure that more than half of all nurses leave the job entirely within the first five years.
Here’s the good news: people who have been onboarded successfully, are much less likely to leave their jobs than those who haven’t been. Mentorship program can accomplish this.
New hires learned the ropes from an experience and more established nurses have the opportunity to reengage with their work by taking on new responsibilities. It is a win-win for everyone.
Should Mentorship Be Compulsory?
No one has landed on a clear and definitive answer to this question. Some businesses and hospitals find success with optional programs that are highly incentivized. Other organizations do make their mentorship programs mandatory.
There are benefits to both approaches. On the one hand, no one likes being told what to do. On the other hand, if a mentorship program is launched and no one participates, it does not make a sound. Mandatory programs should be made as enticing and comfortable as possible. Make sure that everyone who participates receives additional compensation.
Also, be sure to require any mentorship sessions to take place during ordinary working hours. Nurses spent enough time at the hospital. Don’t make them stick around longer to have a conversation with a rookie.
Leaders are Self-Propagating
Ideally, once you launch and nurture an effective mentorship program, you will find that you have more leaders than you know what to do with. That is because leadership is self-propagating. Have you ever worked in a job that would’ve been terrible if it wasn’t for one person?
Didn’t you find yourself trying to be a little bit more like that person? And when someone came around and asked you a question didn’t you try to answer it the way your mentor would have?
That is the benefit of a strong leadership program. Employees see awesome behavior being modeled and they want to demonstrate it themselves.
This might sound idealistic. And hey, maybe it is. But the results ultimately speak for themselves. Mentorship can’t completely transform a struggling hospital, but it can be one of multiple steps that a healthcare system can take to improve employee performance, reduce turnover, and ultimately boost patient outcomes.
Good Nurses Can Change the World
It’s true. History is full of brave men and women who were willing to go the extra mile in healthcare. You don’t need to aspire to the greatness of Florence Nightingale or Clara Barton to make a meaningful difference.
In an age of dramatic healthcare shortages, showing up and making a difference on your floor is enough to have a transformative effect on the entire local healthcare community.
Leadership programs give nurses another way to be the heroes that they already are.
