A nurse leader recently told me that she was having a hard time remaining optimistic in the face of so much uncertainty in the health care environment.  She observed that “our leadership meetings seem to be full of bad news, and even our senior leaders seem quite anxious about the future.”  Hope and optimism are important messages for leaders to send even during tough times.  Before leaders can convey these messages, they must foster a sense of optimism in their own communication and behaviors.

 Here are 5 suggestions to foster and project optimism:

1.  Smile

Surprisingly, just believing that you have control, even when you really don’t, can affect your physiological response to stress, and your health.   A way to do this is to smile and act confident.  Even in difficult situations, there are always things to laugh and smile about.  The simple act of smiling will make you and others feel better.

2. Surround yourself with optimistic people

Have you ever noticed how whining can be contagious.  There are problems in every work environment and people who spend most of their time focused on the negative.  Commit yourself to think and speak positively.  Spend time with optimists.  If you are very upset about a situation, give yourself a time limit to vent your concerns and then move on to more positive thoughts.

3. See the possibilities in every situation

Crisis situations can present unusual opportunities to change even very negative dynamics in positive directions.  Stopping to ask important questions such as – What can I learn from this situation?  or What does this situation make possible?  Be grateful for the tough times because it will teach you to deal with adversity and there are always some positive outcomes from even the most negative experience.

4. Develop an attitude of gratitude

If you actively look for things to be grateful for, you may be surprised at how much good there is in your life.  Your appreciation of others can have a very powerful impact on their life and also make you feel better.  Great nursing leaders know that it is important to begin with praise and honest appreciation of their staff.  During tough times, this can mean much more than a raise that you are unable to give.  A culture of appreciation and gratitude is very powerful and benefits everyone on the team.

5. Read history and the biographies of great leaders

I have always been a reader of history and biographies.  When you read about the lives of great people, you soon realize that there are periods of great turmoil in everyone’s life.  This month, a wonderful movie about Abraham Lincoln has just been released.  Produced by Steven Spielberg, the movie is based upon the book Team of Rivals written by historian Doris Kearns Goodwin.  It is an incredible book and as you read it, you can’t help but be amazed at the conflict and turmoil that Abraham Lincoln faced in his presidency.  He had no reason to be optimistic that he could successfully unite the country, but he kept his faith that it could be done.

In The Leadership Advantage, an essay from the Drucker Foundation’s Leader to Leader Guide, Warren Bennis tells us that optimism is one of the key things people need from their leaders in order to achieve positive results.  Every “exemplary leader that I have met,” writes Bennis, “has what seems to be an unwarranted degree of optimism – and that helps generate the energy and commitment necessary to achieve results.”  As leaders, we have a choice in how we behave and whether we see the glass as half empty or half full.

 This is the time of year when many of us begin to think about new year resolutions.  From my discussions with nurse leaders, I have found that many want to achieve a better balance in their lives between work and their personal/family needs.  This is not easily done in today’s challenging health care environment.  Meditation is one strategy that could help many leaders to both quiet their minds and feel more centered in their work.

What is Meditation?

When you think about meditation, the image of monks sitting in silence may come to mind but this is a very narrow view of this now widely accepted practice.  Meditation is universal. It transcends all divides like religion, country and culture.  Meditation is a state of thoughtful awareness.  Meditation means awareness. Whatever you do with awareness is meditation. “Watching your breath” is meditation; listening to the birds is meditation. As long as these activities are free from any other distraction to the mind, it is effective meditation.  Authentic meditation allows us to focus on the present moment rather than the past or future.

The Benefits of Meditation

The scientific explanation for how meditation works is that the act of meditation helps the body to release catecholamines and other stress hormones while parasympathetic activity is increased.  Meditation has been shown to decrease stress, lower blood pressure, improve breathing and reduce depression.  Through meditation, you can attain the power to control your negative thoughts, and on occasion stop them completely.

How to Get Started

As you read this, you may think that you don’t have time to add one more thing to your busy schedule.  Meditation can be done in as little as 10-20 minutes a day at a time your choosing.  There are different types of meditation such as guided meditation using images or music,  Zen meditation, Taoist meditation, mindfulness meditation, and Buddhist meditation. Some methods of meditation may require the body being absolutely still or to be moved with controlled deliberation, while other types allow for free movement of the body. While the methods are different, the end goal of all types of meditation lead to a mind that is quieted and free from stress by the use of quiet contemplation and reflection.

I have found that guided meditation using free podcasts that can be downloaded on Itunes and used with a headset works the best for me.  Organizations such as Meditation Peace, the Meditation Podcast.com, Meditation for Health and Meditation Oasis provide free guided podcasts that are even tailored to specific challenges that you might be experiencing such as anger, feeling overwhelmed by work or having difficulty sleeping.

However you choose to meditate,  you must learn to concentrate on one thing at a time. Usually, the mind tries to hold several different thoughts and ideas at once. When you sit down to meditate for the first time, you realize how cluttered the mind is. During meditation, accept all your physical, emotional and intellectual experiences, even the negative ones.  Focus on your breathing and have a sense of the space around you.

Meditation for as little as 10 minutes a day at work allows us to listen and pay attention to what we might otherwise overlook—whether it’s a fresh idea or a new way of perceiving a situation—enhancing our creativity and letting go of our obstacles to innovation.  As you look toward 2013, meditation might be a strategy that you want to consider to help you both at work and in your personal life.

Establishing goals for ourselves both personally and professionally that we hope to achieve during the year is an important leadership strategy.  There is good research to support the fact that the act of writing down goals is the first step to the successful achievement of those goals.  You may have a goal to return to school for a bachelors or masters degree, achieve specialty certification or update your resume to make yourself more competitive when interesting positions become available.  For many of us, we never move past the phase of thinking about what we would like to achieve in the future.  The following are some suggestions about resolutions that you may want to consider as you establish your goals for 2023:

1.  Challenge yourself to make at least one personal sacrifice this year for your long-term career success.

The idea of giving something up ,especially personal time, to achieve something better at an undetermined time in the future can seem very unappealing.  One truth about leadership is that it does not come without personal sacrifice.  This year, think about doing at least one thing that will advance your professional career but will require an investment of your personal time.  It may also involve breaking habits that have held you back.  If you have avoided advancing your education to achieve long-term professional goals, this is the year to stop being defensive about what you have not done and to focus on what you will gain by beginning the journey.  If you are interested in nursing leadership but have resisted taking a charge nurse role, this is the year to say yes.  If you have thought about taking a certification exam in your nursing specialty but never began the process, this is the year to do just do it.  Begin to see success as something that you need to incorporate into your life.  You may not always be successful in achieving your goals even when you sacrifice but even these failures can provide tremendous growth.

2.  Commit yourself to become a continuous learner.

It is often said that the best leaders are the best learners.  This is especially true for nurse leaders who work in a health care environment that is rapidly changing in unexpected ways.  We know as a professional discipline that our practices should be based on the best current evidence available but often they are not because we don’t commit ourselves to reading journals, doing internet searches or attending professional programs.  Challenging yourself to grow and learn is a professional and a personal responsibility but you must also strive to be an intential learner.  Many health care organizations today provide great learning opportunities but what is often disappointing is how few staff take advantage of those opportunities.  Outstanding leaders commit themselves to learning whether or not their organizations are paying for it or providing them with paid time off to do it.   What works for one person may not work as well for another.  The key is to find the way that you learn best and commit yourself to engage in learning on a continuing basis.

3.  Find a mentor.

You may know that you want to be a nurse leader but are unsure about your next career step.  A good mentor can open doors to new learning and help you grow as an emerging nurse leader.  Unlike the preceptor relationship which you may be familiar with in the clinical setting, a mentor provides career guidance and help you become more aware of your strengths and areas where you need development.  Mentoring is an important career strategy.  This is the year to look for that person.  Use the strategies provided in an earlier blog – Five Steps to Finding a Mentor

4.  Help to build a healthy work environment in your work setting.

Mahatma Gandhi is often quoted as saying “be the change that you want to see in the world”.  Building a healthy work environment is not only an organizational responsibility but also the responsibility of every staff member that works in the setting.  Great leaders work hard to build strong, positive cultures.  Even if you are not currently in a leadership role, you have the choice whether to engage in negative discussions and behavior in your environment.  What is true is that the more that we focus on the positive aspects of our environment, the more we will notice them and start experiencing them in our work life.

5.   Volunteer to coach a new graduate in their professional transition.

Every year thousands of new nurses enter practice with enthusiasm and passion for the profession that they have chosen.  They are the future of nursing and may someday take care of you or one of your family members.  All of us were once novice nurses.  We would not be where we are today without having experienced the challenges of being a novice. New graduates often become frustrated and disillusioned as they experience the real world of health care.  Good coaching can make a significant difference in both reducing the frustration often felt by new graduates and retaining them in their initial work settings.  Coaching our novice nurses is a responsibility that all professionals in nursing share although many nurses today feel burned out and are unwilling to make this commitment.  This year commit yourself to volunteering if asked and remember that your contribution to coaching future generations of nursing may have a much longer and more profound effect than anything else that you do as a professional.

When your values are in conflict with decisions that you are being asked to make – what do you do?  This is not easy question to answer until we confront the situation.  One of my nursing colleagues recently told me that she had established a line for herself that she would not cross when it came to making decisions about staffing reductions.  She took an courageous stand with her executive team colleagues.  The outcome for her has not been positive.  She has now been asked to resign and is somewhat philosophical about her choices.  In the past, courage has not been recognized as an important attribute for nurse leaders.  This is changing.  It is courage that makes change possible but it can come at a price.  Rosabeth Moss Kantor in a Harvard Business Review article wrote that ” moral courage enables people to stand up for principle rather than stand on the sidelines”. 

What is Courage in Leadership

Courage in leadership is doing what is right, despite being afraid or risking negative repercussions.  Fear is the most common common reason that people give when they avoid being courageous. Think about how you feel when you watch a leader who demonstrates personal courage.  Most likely, you will trust that leader more.  Courage comes from feeling very deeply about important values and working to achieve goals that are consistent with those values.  Although sticking to the status quo may be tempting, this is not how change occurs.  Every leader ultimately has the choice to either lead with courage or lead without it.  Taking a risk in situations where you feel passionately or a deep sense of purpose does not guarantee a successful outcome as my colleague learned.  But many leaders over the course of their careers have situations where they did not speak up and later deeply regret it.

Examples of Courageous Leadership Behaviors

1. Providing honest feedback in conversations and discussions.
2. Sharing alternative viewpoints to the rest of the team.
3. Speaking up rather than being compliant in silence.
4. Not settling for “we have always done it this way”.
5. Making decisions when you are in uncharted territory and the safe path is to do nothing.

Developing Courage

The first step to becoming a more courageous leader is to be very clear about your own vision and values.  When you are in a challenging situation, it can help if you think about what you will do if your vision and values are in conflict with organizational goals.  Scripting in advance what you are about to say can be helpful and anticipate the  people who will disagree with your message most.  To be courageous, you must also have the honesty to admit when you have made a mistake or took a wrong path.  Telling staff that you were wrong in a situation is a powerful act of leadership courage as is the willingness to entertain new ideas and change your assumptions.  Courage is a learned skill and all of us have the capacity to be courageous.  To be courageous means stepping our of your comfort zone and taking the risk.  It can also mean leaving a situation rather than staying and making decisions that are in deep conflict with your values.  As we move into the future, we will need innovation in nursing and health care that is both ground-breaking and tradition defying. Keep in mind, most great ideas begin in situations where there are naysayers who believe that it cannot be done until it happens.

There are risks to moving outside the box but there can also be great rewards.  With the current turmoil in health care, new innovative and potentially disruptive ideas will be needed.  So here are five strategies to improve your ability to move beyond the box as you face your challenges:

1.  Ask yourself whether your issue or challenge can best be solved using a traditional approach – if not, then it is time to be innovative in your thinking.

Not every issue or challenge requires out of the box thinking.  Many problems can be effectively solved using a more conventional approach.  But sometimes to achieve more effective outcomes, innovative thinking is required.  In the case situation above, the traditional approach to recruiting an OR nurse manager was not effective.

2.  Consider the problem from an entirely different vantage point.

When we are willing to examine a problem from an entirely different vantage point, our thinking can become more creative.  Asking ourselves what is really needed here becomes important.  When looking at the OR manager position, this leader was able to ask the question as to whether she needed a clinician or were strong leadership skills more important?  She had an experienced OR staff with few new graduates who needed coaching.  Business skills were an imperative.  To think outside the box, you need to ask “Is there another way to think about this?”

3.  Seek ideas and input from others.

Seeking the opinions of others can help in the creative thinking process.  As a nurse leader, you can improve your out of the box thinking if you seek ideas from those outside of your own profession.  Ask yourself how things are being done in other industries.  What ideas can be applied to this situation.

4.  Identify at least three different approaches to solving a problem with at least one approach being outside the mainstream of how you would usually manage a challenge.

Challenge yourself to identify at least three different approaches to solving a problem.  Getting out of the box means sticking with the problem longer, and looking at it from various sides.  This requires a willingness to take new perspectives to your day-to-day work.  In the box thinkers often believe that every problem needs only one solution; therefore, finding more than one possible solution is a waste of time.

5. Never dismiss a possible solution on the basis that it can’t be done.  Consider everything. Go through every possibility until you know for a fact it can or cannot be done.

Challenging your own assumptions can be the most difficult part of out of the box thinking.   Just because something  has always been one way, doesn’t mean that it has to continue to be that way.

Out-of-the box thinking requires an openness to new ways of seeing the world and a willingness to explore. It means considering other innovative options as the nurse leader in our case situation was able to do while recognizing that new ideas need nurturing and support.   Even great creative people can become in-the-box thinkers when they stop trying.  As nurse leaders, we need nurture our ability to think outside the box and promote this skill in others.