In these days of skyrocketing healthcare costs attributed to a combination of labor shortages, rising inflation, supply chain disruptions, low surgery volumes, higher equipment prices, and more, the traditional C-suite response is to implement organization-wide budget cuts, stop expansion projects, and put recruitment on hold. While this may seem fair and equitable at first blush, [continue reading…]
Executive Leadership Team
The Value of Interim Nurse Leaders
Maintaining safe, high-quality care and an excellent patient experience are top priorities of every healthcare organization. While leadership stability is widely appreciated as essential to achieving these goals, we are living in a time of the Great Resignation. This begs the question: how does an organization achieve such stability even during times of volatility? Many [continue reading…]
How to Promote Diversity in Nursing Leadership
Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives have become standard practice in myriad industries and based on results, it’s not hard to imagine why. DEI programs help companies access larger talent pools, improve employee engagement, and bring new perspectives to organizational challenges, among other things. In fact, around 76% of job candidates report that a diverse [continue reading…]
How Kirby Bates’ Nurse Executive Gateway to Knowledge® Accelerates Leadership Competencies
One of the more significant ways to assure the future stability of any healthcare organization is to pass down core leadership competencies to the next generation of healthcare executives. Knowledge transfer, whether through sponsorship and mentorship programs or otherwise, is one of the keys to developing internal talent and assuring the future of the leadership [continue reading…]
Keys to Succession Planning in Healthcare
According to a report from Becker’s Hospital Review, CEO resignations are at an all-time high in 2022, with 520 leaving their posts from January 1 through the end of April — an 18% increase from the same period in 2021. It’s a sign of the times. Leader resignations across the board are skyrocketing, leaving organizations [continue reading…]
Promoting CNO and CFO Synergy Achieves Healthcare Goals
As pressure mounts to improve clinical and operational results, Chief Nursing Officers (CNOs) and Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) work together to align the organizational imperatives—both as a provider of quality and safe patient care, and as a fiscally responsible business. Joint accountability through synergistic relationships is required to transcend the organizational stressors inherent in today’s [continue reading…]
Avoiding the Pitfalls: Interview Process For Healthcare Leadership
The success of any healthcare organization starts with the leadership team. This can be particularly complex in times of transition, during which myriad dynamics — relationships, priorities, and structures — are subject to change. The “great resignation” is further shrinking an already-tight market for top-level talent in the healthcare industry, making it all the more [continue reading…]
Why Interim Leadership in Healthcare Is an Advantage
Interim leadership is one of the most valuable tools in any healthcare organization’s proverbial toolbelt, especially amidst the new challenges that the industry faces as a whole. Necessity fosters innovation, and as the pandemic forced the adoption of many new business practices, industry-wide notions regarding interim leadership have shifted dramatically. Before, during and after the [continue reading…]
New Nursing Practices in 2022 That Are Here to Stay
“Necessity is the mother of invention.” -Plato The impact of this age-old proverb is unrivaled in our coronavirus pandemic era. It’s no secret that the last few years have forced innovation into nearly every industry worldwide, and it’s abundantly true for healthcare organizations. Between overloaded hospitals, limited staff, and unprecedented employee burnout, the healthcare [continue reading…]
5 Skills for Children’s Hospital Leadership
It takes a special type of person to be a successful children’s hospital leader. In addition to their clinical expertise, healthcare professionals who specialize in children’s care have a distinct set of interpersonal skills that position them to successfully navigate the particular challenges associated with caring for sick children and their families. 1. Compassion First [continue reading…]
The Difference Between Mentorship and Sponsorship
Mentorship and sponsorship are two concepts that have multiple purposes and vary in their usage. A university mentor could be a professor who helps a promising student find scholarship opportunities, whereas a career mentor could be a coworker who offers advice on ways to grow your career. While sponsorship and mentorship are admittedly similar, [continue reading…]
Strategic Planning as a Foundational Tool for Leadership Development
The Challenge This week the Pennsylvania Organization of Nurse Leaders (PONL) invited Jackie Collavo, MA, BSN, RN, NE-BC of West Penn Hospital in Allegheny Health Network and Kirby Bates’ Pamela DeCampli, MSN, RN, NEA-BC to present their case study on the process and benefits of Strategic Planning for Nursing Departments. The seven-hospital health [continue reading…]
What are the Benefits of Interim Leadership in Healthcare?
Imagine being able to experience variety in geography, living arrangements, work settings and colleagues several times a year – welcoming a new set of challenges in each assignment. Often, nursing leaders share that the most energizing and fulfilling experiences they have had during their careers involved situations when they have truly transformed practice environments. Interim [continue reading…]
How to Build a Professional Network in Healthcare
Building and maintaining a professional network is an essential skill and activity for all professionals, especially those in healthcare. With complex environments changing so rapidly, however, it is often all too easy to neglect. The turbulent nature of healthcare today, makes the commitment to being professionally connected vital. The need to understand external trends and [continue reading…]
69% of Global Firms Plan for Leadership Coaching in 2018 – Should You?
Developing internal talent is one of the most cost-effective approaches to developing high performing leaders at all levels within healthcare organizations. While classes or seminars provide generalized guidance for some employees, they may not be the most effective approach for leadership development. One-on-one leadership coaching is tailored to the needs of the individual and the opportunities within the [continue reading…]
Inspiring Compassionate Care
How Nurse Leaders Inspire Compassionate Care In the constantly evolving world of healthcare delivery, what never changes is the central importance of skillful and compassionate care giving at the patient’s bedside. As leaders we want to facilitate that excellence in care giving, but it’s not always clear how. We asked Nurse Leaders from all across [continue reading…]
Why You Should Consider Using a Professional Coach
Using a Professional Coach What would you think if during a review a supervisor said, “You could benefit from having a professional coach”? In days past, this statement would bring heart palpitations to emerging leaders and seasoned executives alike, whose first thoughts might be that they were failing, performing poorly, or heading down the road of being [continue reading…]
Top 5 Trends for Healthcare
Top 5 Trends for Healthcare As the initial two months of the new year are already in the rearview mirror, five trends are emerging from the headlines to form the 2018 healthcare agenda: The opioid crisis Social determinants of health Healthcare reform Patient experience Leadership alignment Top Healthcare Trends: 1. Tackling the opioid crisis – [continue reading…]
New Year- New Aspirations
New Year Aspirations The new year brings a time for contemplation and reflection. For many, these reflections are met with resolutions and plans to achieve success in the future. What Inhibits Success? It is good to be able to recognize, articulate and utilize your strengths. However, it is also important to understand where [continue reading…]
Gaining a New Perspective
There is an old adage that nurses make the worst patients. I recently had the experience of “trading places” by being a patient at a community hospital just south of Boston. With many decades as a nursing and hospital administrator under my belt, I can tell you that this was both a challenging and enlightening [continue reading…]