Page 9 - Secrets of Effective Nurse Leaders-01-11-2018a

AMBITION

Nurse leaders have risen to the management or executive level mainly
because they’ve had the ambition to advance their careers and leave the
bedside. This sounds simple, yet it’s important for this reason: when you’re
not content with the status quo for yourself, it’s likely you’ll also work hard
to raise the status quo for colleagues and patients. This can translate
into a vision for a better healthcare system, through initiatives for disease
management, wellness promotion, community outreach, public health, and
patient safety.
Nurses with ambition are very likely to develop a specialty. This can be in
nursing management or other types of positions that rely on critical thinking
and analytical skills: infection control, case management, or informatics, to
name just a few. There are more opportunities for advancement in nursing
than ever before. While a BSN opens many doors for ambitious nurses,
an MSN is the golden ticket of opportunity. An MSN degree can help you
expand both your career opportunities and earning power. If you’d like
to move into management, an MSN is quickly becoming the minimum
education you’ll need to hold a leadership position.
The best nurse leaders honor not only their own ambitions, but also the
aspirations of others. Encouraging ambition in others can help future
leaders learn management and leadership skills. Leadership expert John
Maxwell has written that, “A leader’s lasting legacy will not be measured
by the buildings we build, the institutions we establish, or what our team
accomplished. Leaders are judged by how well the people they invest in
carry on after they are gone.”

There are many ways an ambitious nurse leader can honor the ambitions
of others:

• Mentoring and sharing knowledge with less experienced nurses, or
setting up a formal mentoring program that matches nurses with an
appropriate mentor.

• Instituting a system of shared governance and recruiting nurses to
sit on committees or provide input regarding hospital policies.
• Targeting and coaching the next generation of leaders through
formal succession planning.

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