Leadership lessons from the health care world
“Nursing,” Chicoan Carol Huston writes, “is both physically and emotionally demanding. Hours are long; fatigue related to the physical demands of moving constantly, lifting, and bending is common. …” Then there are the sometimes competing “expectations of the employer, patient, family, professional boards, and self.” Small wonder that “compassion fatigue” can set in, a weary sadness when the nurse feels unable to help the patient.
Though these words were published a few months before the pandemic, they are multiplied in their significance today. Leaders need to be sensitive to the stresses experienced by health care professionals while at the same time offering a hopeful vision of the future. Huston, management consultant and Emerita Professor at Chico State’s School of Nursing, served as chair of the Enloe Medical Center board of trustees and knows the importance of a supportive workplace.
“The Road To Positive Work Cultures” ($24.95 in paperback from Sigma; also for Amazon Kindle) provides 10 “leadership lessons” applicable not only to health care but to most any business with employees. Though simple in outline, Huston’s examples make it clear that creating a good work culture is far from easy.
Take, for example, the
chapter on avoiding micromanaging which, she writes, “is generally an outgrowth of inexperience or insecurity, not a demonstration of competence or expertise on the part of the leader.” At the start of hospital shifts, good nurses may check patients, meds and lab reports in a particular order, which may not be the order preferred by a micromanager and that can make nurses feel they are not trusted.
Far better, says Huston, for leaders to develop macromanagement skills in setting clear expectations but allowing a “divergence in problem-solving.”
Each chapter, from establishing mutual respect and civility, maintaining appropriate boundaries, and not letting problems fester, to building effective teams, reducing stress and showing appreciation, draws on management research to illuminate realworld situations.
The book concludes with chapters on being an “authentic leader,” one with
“passion” and “purpose.” Conflict and change are inevitable even in positive work cultures, but the key is how they are dealt with.
Huston ends her insightful book with Benjamin Franklin: “When you’re finished changing, you’re finished.”