Flexible Leadership
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New York Hospital Queens needed more collaborative leaders in a
number of units. Our “Leading Through Mutual
Respect” model gave…nurse managers, RNs and support staff in
hospital units a way to strengthen unit effectiveness and to improve
patient care.
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Hospitals, like many organizations, tend to promote from within and
provide limited organizational skill training to very busy and
crisis-driven staffs. New York Hospital Queens expressed interest in a
staff development project that would accomplish several objectives:
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Improved RN
satisfaction and retention
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Enhanced
staff effectiveness skills and quality practices
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Deeper
leadership skills
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Strengthened
teamwork skills and behavior across staff lines |
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Hospital training is typically done “silo-style” – managers, RNs
(often by specialty) and support staff receive separate trainings. Yet
patient care is delivered by cross-functional teams within units. NYHQ and
R&C staff wanted to deliver unit based training that cut across the
silos and created stronger leaders and teams that had the listening,
feedback and conflict resolution skills to deliver collaborative patient
care on a consistent basis.
The Leading Through Mutual Respect initiative established a set of
principles to undergird the training design and unit practice on an
ongoing basis. The Principles were built on R&C’s flexible
leadership work and the hospital’s input:
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Leading
Through Mutual Respect – Guiding Principles
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Practice
what we preach |
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Build
effective teams |
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Listen
attentively & speak directly |
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Resolve
conflicts respectfully |
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Delegate
and develop fully |
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Offer
constructive feedback |
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Highly effective two-day trainings in four Medical-Surgical units
reinforced the behaviors needed to realize these principles. Participants
said after the sessions:
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“I
learned how
to be a good team player and can take that back to the
unit.”
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“I
really appreciated how we were taught to work through
differences.”
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Really
learning how to give positive feedback and listen well was
great.”
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[After
a two-day training] “It
was excellent. I only wish it could be longer.” |
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A pre-post evaluation survey was conducted to assess the impact of the
training. Six months after training, trainees were more likely than
non-trainees to say they:
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Communicate
tactfully, calmly, clearly and accurately, especially when
upset
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Accept the
values and cultural differences of other people
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Believe
that their supervisors treat them as adults
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Continue to
apply respectful communication and teambuilding skills |
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