Learn to Manage Yourself.

It's the first step in learning to manage others.

The Art of Giving Feedback.

For many leaders, giving positive feedback comes easily, but giving negative feedback can be more challenging. This article provides best-practice strategies for giving effective feedback-through building trust, promoting a growth mindset, and developing the courage to tackle difficult performance conversations.

The Experience of Being a Millennial Nurse Manager.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to explore the experience of being a Millennial nurse manager with a goal to better understand the influence of organizational factors on role expectations, satisfaction, support, development, and intent to stay. BACKGROUND: Research on Millennial nurse leaders is scarce. Understanding the perception of these young managers is needed to create succession and retention planning that meets the needs of this generation of leaders. METHOD: A national sample of 25 Millennial nurse managers participated in a qualitative interpretative phenomenological study. Audio-recorded telephone interviews were conducted and analyzed. RESULTS: Millennial leaders have a unique perspective on role expectations and support variables. Seven themes of experience emerged: coming into the role, learning as I go, having the support of my director, making an impact, helping staff succeed, and managing change. CONCLUSIONS: Opportunities to develop and retain Millennial leaders are shaped by understanding the support variables that are important to them.

Transitioning Emerging Leaders Into Nurse Leader Roles.

Millennials will soon comprise 50% of the nursing workforce. Leaders in organizations look to this generation to assume leadership roles. This is proving to be challenging in many settings. Learning how to more effectively recruit, transition, and retain these emerging nurse leaders will be critical to organizations and the future of nursing. This article presents academic and organizational practices in emerging leader transition tailored to the needs of the millennial generation.

Leading in the Healthcare Vortex.

The 2016 International Nursing Administration Research Conference, Leading in a Healthcare Vortex, was held in Orlando, Florida. The program drew 116 attendees with representation from Canada and Brazil. Participants from practice, education, and research discussed leadership in our turbulent healthcare climate, which are highlighted in this column. The conference was dedicated to the memory of Dr Heather S. Laschinger in recognition of her distinguished research legacy of empowering nursing work environments and mentorship of prominent nursing administration researchers.

Chief Nursing Officers' Experiences With Moral Distress.

OBJECTIVE: This study explores if moral distress and its lingering residue were experienced by chief nursing officers (CNOs). BACKGROUND: Chief nursing officers, by virtue of their position and experience, are expected to uphold their professional values and act for the benefit of others. Exploration is needed to determine if the inability to do so contributes to the moral distress of these leaders. METHODS: Twenty CNOs were interviewed to determine the lived experience related to moral distress and moral residue. An interpretive phenomenological analysis approach was used. RESULTS: Six themes emerged describing CNO experience of moral distress including lacking psychological safety, feeling a sense of powerlessness, seeking to maintain moral compass, drawing strength from networking, moral residue, and living with the consequences. CONCLUSION: Moral distress is a common experience for CNOs. Although CNOs act with moral courage, they still experience moral distress. Further research and professional discussion are needed to support nurse executive leaders.

Growing Nurse Leaders: Their Perspectives on Nursing Leadership and Today's Practice Environment

With the growing complexity of healthcare practice environments and pending nurse leader retirements, the development of future nurse leaders is increasingly important. This article reports on focus group research conducted with Generation Y nurses prior to their initiating coursework in a Master's Degree program designed to support development of future nurse leaders. Forty-four emerging nurse leaders across three program cohorts participated in this qualitative study conducted to capture perspectives about nursing leaders and leadership. Conventional content analysis was used to analyze and code the data into categories. We discuss the three major categories identified, including: idealistic expectations of leaders, leading in a challenging practice environment, and cautious but optimistic outlook about their own leadership and future, and study limitations. The conclusion offers implications for future nurse leader development. The findings provide important insight into the viewpoints of nurses today about leaders and leadership.

Florida Nurse Leader Survey Findings: Key Leadership Competencies, Barriers to Leadership, and Succession Planning Needs.

OBJECTIVE: This study examined barriers to nursing leadership and succession planning needs for nurse leaders in Florida. BACKGROUND: The Florida Action Coalition responded to the call to prepare and enable nurses to lead change to advance health, through a grant supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Florida Blue Foundation. METHODS: This is a nurse leader subset of a 56-item statewide survey of actively licensed RNs and advanced RN practitioners in Florida conducted via a cross-sectional, exploratory descriptive research design. RESULTS: Key findings included a description of leadership competencies, barriers, and succession planning practices. Florida nurse leaders are aging and less diverse than the general population and report limited utilization of succession planning by their organizations. CONCLUSIONS: In Florida, attention must be directed to resources and strategies to develop skilled nurse leaders and plan succession.

Taking charge: front-line nurse leadership development.

The recent Institute of Medicine (2010) report, The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health, included a recommendation that nurses at all levels should be prepared and enabled to lead change to advance health care in the United States. Historically, in most organizations, nursing leadership development programs have focused on nurses in management or executive roles rather than those working in front-line leadership roles. This article describes a front-line leadership development initiative developed by Tenet Healthcare Corporation and attended by 400 charge nurses. Program development, evaluation, and lessons learned that can be applied in other organizations are discussed.