NR 446 Edapt Week 4 Leading Team The Work Culture

NR 446 Edapt Week 4 Leading Team The Work Culture

Name

Chamberlain University

NR-446 Collaborative Healthcare

Prof. Name

Date

Leading Team Work Culture

Nurses can mitigate burnout by adopting effective self-care habits. Taking accrued time off is essential for recharging away from work. Conversely, consistently working overtime and neglecting to ask for help from colleagues can exacerbate feelings of burnout. Advocacy plays a critical role in nursing, promoting both individual and collective growth. Nurse leaders must advocate for their patients, staff, and the nursing profession itself, ensuring that their voices are heard and valued.

Advocacy

Advocacy is a cornerstone of the nurse leader’s responsibilities. Just as nurses advocate for their patients, leaders must also stand up for their team and the nursing profession. This includes understanding legislative impacts on healthcare and participating in efforts to improve workplace conditions. Key responsibilities in advocacy include:

• Valuing Autonomy: Leaders must promote autonomy and empowerment within their teams.
• Understanding Employee Needs: Recognizing and respecting employees’ goals and concerns fosters a cohesive healthcare team.
• Communicating Concerns: Managers should convey employee feedback to organizational leadership.
• Supporting Quality Improvement: Emphasizing quality over blame cultivates a positive work environment.

Emotional Intelligence

Nurse leaders must grasp the importance of emotional intelligence (EI), which encompasses the ability to navigate complex interpersonal dynamics effectively. Unlike cognitive intelligence (IQ), EI focuses on managing relationships and emotional responses. The five key components of emotional intelligence include:

1. Self-awareness: Recognizing and understanding one’s emotions and their impact on others.
2. Self-regulation: Controlling disruptive emotions and impulses.
3. Motivation: Pursuing goals driven by passion rather than monetary gain.
4. Empathy: Understanding others’ emotional needs.
5. Social skills: Building strong relationships and networks.

While IQ often correlates with professional success, research suggests that emotional intelligence is a more crucial determinant of effective leadership and teamwork.

Self-Care in the Workplace

An engaged workplace starts with the leadership’s commitment to self-care. Nurse leaders who model self-care practices—such as maintaining a healthy lifestyle and seeking support for stress—create an environment that prioritizes well-being. To combat burnout, leaders should encourage their teams to take breaks and use time off. This approach not only enhances individual morale but also fosters a collaborative and supportive work culture. Effective self-care practices can reduce absenteeism and enhance overall workplace outcomes.

Table: Summary of Key Concepts

Controlling Client Experiences

Controlling a client’s experience does not enhance communication effectiveness. Instead, increasing emotional intelligence is likely to improve a nurse’s performance by enhancing the ability to empathize without internalizing emotions, manage personal feelings, accurately interpret and respond to the emotions of others, and make informed decisions about client care. Since complete elimination of workplace stress is unfeasible, it is crucial to focus on managing and mitigating stressors effectively.

The Inclusive Workplace

Creating a diverse and inclusive workplace is a critical responsibility for nurse managers. Understanding the significance of diversity and inclusion helps foster a safe and supportive work culture. Vroom’s expectancy model highlights that intrinsic motivation and social values play vital roles in employee motivation, contrasting with operant conditioning, which focuses on observable behaviors.

To cultivate an inclusive workplace, managers should recognize each employee as a unique individual, motivated by distinct factors. Identifying both individual and collective values is essential for implementing effective reward systems. Positive feedback should be prioritized over negative feedback to enhance employee morale and satisfaction.

Guidelines for Promotion Selection

When promoting employees, managers should adhere to specific guidelines to ensure a fair and motivating selection process. These include:

• Clear Criteria Communication: Clearly outlining promotion and selection criteria.
• Candidate Pool Preparation: Identifying and preparing a diverse pool of candidates.
• Notification Protocols: Ensuring all candidates are informed of their status after selections are made.
• Transparent Delays: Communicating any delays in promotion decisions to allow other candidates to consider opportunities.

Encouraging voluntary applications for promotions rather than pressuring employees fosters genuine commitment to new roles.

Understanding Diversity and Inclusion

Diversity encompasses the unique identities of each nurse, shaped by various factors such as race, gender, socioeconomic status, and sexual orientation. Inclusion, on the other hand, involves valuing these differences and creating a culture that supports every individual’s contributions. This includes fostering a respectful environment where all voices are heard in decision-making processes.

Addressing Nursing Workforce Diversity

The nursing workforce does not reflect the broader population in terms of diversity, particularly concerning the representation of BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ communities. Actively recruiting nurses from these underrepresented groups is essential for creating a more inclusive environment. Currently, nursing demographics are predominantly female, heterosexual, and Caucasian, with a noticeable lack of diversity in other identities.

Questions for Institutional Assessment

When assessing diversity within an institution, key questions should be addressed:

• Mission Statement: Does the mission explicitly prioritize diversity?
• Action Plans: How is this mission reflected in actionable goals?
• Representation: How many diverse voices are included in decision-making?
• Leadership Support: How does administrative leadership demonstrate commitment to diversity initiatives?

These questions are pivotal in guiding organizations toward achieving greater representation in their nursing staff.

Chamberlain University’s Commitment

Chamberlain University’s social justice commitment emphasizes advocating for diversity and addressing systemic bias within its programs. Key actions include:

• Expanding Diversity: Investing in diverse student and faculty recruitment.
• Addressing Bias: Regularly reviewing processes to eliminate systemic bias.
• Transparent Communication: Sharing action plans and progress toward diversity goals.
• Collaborative Partnerships: Partnering with organizations that align with their values to tackle public health challenges.

Stereotypes and Diversity in Leadership

Stereotypes can undermine efforts to promote inclusivity. For instance, if a nurse manager selects a female nurse for a party planning role solely based on gender, they may be reinforcing a stereotype about women being naturally suited for nurturing tasks. This implicit bias fails to recognize the diverse strengths individuals can bring, regardless of gender.

When assessing diversity in leadership, hiring candidates from underrepresented backgrounds, such as BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ communities, is vital for fostering diverse perspectives that enhance decision-making.

Responding to Underrepresentation

A nurse identifying as a member of the LGBTQIA+ community may express feelings of underrepresentation. If a manager dismisses these concerns based on the nurse’s appearance, this reflects a lack of awareness about the complexities of diversity, highlighting the need for ongoing education about inclusion.

Conclusion

In conclusion, fostering an inclusive workplace in nursing requires commitment to understanding diversity, clear communication, and a focus on individual and collective needs. By implementing thoughtful strategies for recruitment, retention, and promotion, nursing leaders can create a more equitable and representative workforce.

References

• Vroom, V. H. (1964). Work and Motivation. Wiley.
• Goleman, D. (1995). Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ. Bantam Books.

NR 446 Edapt Week 4 Leading Team The Work Culture

• Chamberlain University. (n.d.). Social Justice Commitment. Retrieved from Chamberlain University.