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.