Bridging the Gap
Nurse Manager succession planning is an important practice that should be considered well before a Nurse Manager retires or leaves the managment role. Intentional succession planning sets the next Nurse Manager up for success and will be important for unit health and well-being and sustain organizational stability (Chan, M., 2022) Factors that influence a Nurse Manager’s intent to leave include organizational support, job satisfaction, work-life balance, personal characteristics, and burnout (Dolinta, J., Freysteinson, W., 2023). Addressing these factors while considering succession planning are vital to the next Nurse Manager’s success. Many new Nurse Managers come into their new role with no prior experience. If the culture of the work environment has residual toxicity that affected or was caused by the prior nurse manager, the organization must address the critical issues prior to bringing a new Nurse Manager on board. Eliminating toxicity should be part of bridging the gap for the new Nurse Manager.
Successful mentoring is a strategy that will help bridge the gap for the nurse to Nurse Manager candidate. Mentoring networks and mentoring programs should have clear objectives for the mentor and the mentee. Goals and objectives, mentor education, mentee orientation and expectations, mentor and mentee matching, and evaluation are components that should be part of mentorship program (Goodyear, C, 2018). Quite often the new Nurse Manager is thrown into the job role with no leadership training, an inability to train with the the outgoing manager, a lack of knowledge of the management role and potentially a lack of knowledge of the department or unit.
In their article Nurse Leaders Thriving, Frangieh, Hughes, and Mewborn (2023) suggest that a conceptual model of thriving in nursing should be considered for the nurse leader to be successful. This concept should also be built into strategies to bridge the gap for the New Nurse Manager. Personal strategies and organizational strategies should work synergistically to achieve success. Two dimensions that the authors discuss include vitality and a sense of learning. “Nurse leaders can advance their own capacity to thrive by engaging in mentorship, pursuing leadership opportunities, and embodying a positive mindset. “ In combination with intentional organizational strategies a healthy environment for thriving will assure general contentment of nursing units.
In summary, intentional succession planning, successful mentoring, and building an environment where all of the team thrives including the Nurse Manager combines to build a strong bridge in the gap between being a nurse and becoming a Nurse Manager.
Nurse Manager Turnover
Management and leadership are hard, particularly in the field of nursing. According to Toby Bressler and Lauren Ghazal in an article they published in 2024, evaluation of a study from The American Organization for Nursing Leadership provided insight into the problem of nursing leadership turnover. The AONL partnered with Joslin Insight to conduct a five-part longitudinal study on the challenges facing nurse leaders.
"Average turnover rate for front-line nurse managers is around two years, and in the Northeast U.S., the current vacancy rate stands at roughly 15%. Imagine if the CEO of a non-medical organization turned over every two years. There would be immediate attention given to why such turnover existed."
Many factors contribute to nurse manager burnout. My list comes from a variety of resources including my own experience, stories told by managers I have and am currently coaching, as well as numerous articles and studies. The list is extensive. These are just a few of the most common causes I have experienced or learned about in my research:
Poor to no training or preparation for being in a leadership role
Poor to no communication with upper management
Bullying or intimidation in the workplace
Lack of knowledge related to leadership styles and principles
Poor to no orientation of the management position
Poor alignment of mission and goals
Inadequate staffing
Workload
Inability to adapt to rapidly changing environment
Calling - Why does a person become a manager? Is it in alignment with personal mission and goals? Is it in alignment with the organization?
Inability to set priorities
Imbalance between personal and work life
It is vitally important to your well-being to verbalize the things that are weighing you down in your personal life and in your work life and to develop strategies for growth and improvement. How are you doing in this regard? What resources do you have to be the best manager you can possibly be? Hang in there! There is help!