OR Manager - July 2018 - 19

Developing leaders
responsible for the budget should explain
the budgeting process to the new
leader. " You want [the new manager] to
get a good sense of what happens with
capital equipment or supply requests, "
Sherman says.
Les Schwab,
MD
Another part of the plan
should be emotional intelligence.
" A leader has
to deal with very sensitive
issues, " says Les
Schwab, MD, a physician
in primary care
practice who is a professional
coach. " Leadership
is not just a cognitive task; you will
fail if you do it only as a cognitive task. "
Vitello-Cicciu, who teaches emotional
intelligence, adds that it's helpful
to think of leadership development in
terms of Patricia Benner's From Novice
to Expert Nursing Theory. Leaders have
to learn tasks such as completing a
budget, and they also have to develop
the ability to know and understand their
staff as individuals.
Assessment tools such as the Emotional
and Social Competency Inventory
can identify areas for growth, which can
be addressed through coaching. " It's
helpful to understand yourself before
you go out and start to manage others, "
Sherman says.
Coaching for success
" A really good coach can help nurses
transition into the role, " Sherman says.
Vitello-Cicciu notes that coaching differs
from mentoring: " Coaching is more
formalized with a definitive outcome. "
She adds that a common coaching error
is " doing for instead of doing with. You
can't do for if you want to be a coach.
You have to help them develop the
skills. "
She favors Appreciative Inquiry
Coaching, based on the 4-D approach:
* Discovery: Identify and appreciate
what works.
* Dream: Imagine what might be.
* Design: Develop systems and strucwww.ormanager.com
tures,
leveraging the best of what
was and what might be (imagine
what might be).
* Destiny: Implement or deliver the
proposed design (determine what
should be).
For more information, see https://
positivechange.org/how-the-4-d-processworks
and http://www.wrha.mb.ca/
staff/collaborativecare/files/AppreciativeInquiry2013.pdf.
" You
help people discover what was
best about the past and dream about the
future, and then help them design the
strategy to get to the dream and sustain
it with the destiny, " Vitello-Cicciu says.
Sherman notes that too often, new
managers are assigned a mentor who
simply says, " let me know if you need
anything. " But, as Sherman says, " they
don't know what they don't know. "
She recommends meeting each
week with the new manager to review
progress with the orientation plan, discuss
challenges, and provide feedback.
" We do this for new graduates, but
we give [new leaders] 100 people to
manage and a $15 million budget, and
we think they can do it on their own, "
she says.
For example, if a new leader needs
to have a conversation about performance
improvement with a difficult staff
member, the coach can provide the opportunity
for cognitive rehearsal, where
the new leader can rehearse the conversation
ahead of time and anticipate
possible responses.
" Putting yourself in a scenario is a
powerful way to learn, " Dr Schwab says,
adding that transitioning from a peer to
a manager is often difficult.
" It's invariably a loss of peer standing, "
he says. " Personal connections
will change, and some will be lost; it's
inevitable. " Leaders cannot " let off
steam " with staff; they must be more
circumspect. Experienced leaders can
prepare new managers by alerting them
to the change and supporting them by
listening. New managers also need to
find a new peer group, which could include
a more senior manager or other
new managers.
Patience is a virtue
Sherman says that although there isn't
strong research about how long it takes
for new leaders to become comfortable
in their role, most would agree that
the first year is particularly challenging.
" Managers are extremely vulnerable
during that first year, " she notes. " It's a
year of emotional highs and emotional
lows. "
Part of the reason is the pace of
progress. " Research shows that followers
have to be able to trust you, and
that trust doesn't happen overnight, "
Sherman says. " Those relationships
take time. "
But by supporting new managers
with didactic information and ongoing
coaching, seasoned leaders can gain
satisfaction that they are putting a new
person on the road to success. ✥
Cynthia Saver, MS, RN, is president of
CLS Development, Inc, Columbia, Maryland,
which provides editorial services to
healthcare publications.
References
American Nurses Association Leadership
Institute. Competency model. 2013.
https://learn.ana-nursingknowledge.org/template/ana/publications_pdf/leadershipInstitute_competency_model_brochure.pdf.
American
Organization of Nurse Executives.
Nurse manager competencies.
2015. http://www.aone.org/
resources/nurse-manager-competencies.pdf.
Baxter
C, Warshaw N. Exploring the
acquisition of nurse manager
competencies. Nurse Leader.
2014;12(1):46-51, 59.
Lamonica N, Cama M, Dennehy N,
et al. Peer coaching for nurse
managers. Nursing Management.
2016;47(2):52-54.
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http://https:// http://www.positivechange.org/how-the-4-d-process http://www.wrha.mb.ca/ https://www.learn.ana-nursingknowl http://www.edge.org/template/ana/publica http://www.aone.org/ http://www.ormanager.com

OR Manager - July 2018

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