3 Steps to Development

How much time do you spend annually developing yourself as a leader?

That is a fair question to anyone who takes their profession seriously. Nurses and other healthcare leaders work in dynamic, volatile, and aggressive environments. It can be unforgiving at times and when we fail to honor our mission, patients are impacted. Leaders who evaluate, learn, grow, develop, and engage in their professional lives are more engaged and capable of adjusting to the environment in which they work and lead.

Yet amazingly enough many leaders don’t bother to develop themselves professionally. Some of those who do take the time to engage in this “needless and time-taxing” requirement do so with the minimum effort and at very irregular intervals.

In a drastic difference, leaders who actively seek opportunities to develop themselves and who actively participate in their development provide more grounded, innovative, and effective leadership to their organizations. The falling off of developing oneself as a leader, both clinical and administrative, is equally sad. Most clinicians will stop developing themselves around year 5, when they believe they have learned all they can and their clinical experience has provided them enough to consider themselves competent. They will continue to complete in services training on new equipment or drugs, but truly going deep, developing new capabilities, and honing weak skill sets are almost never done. Add in to that equation that most nurses don’t change clinical areas that often and leaders become complacent and comfortable. It’s a failure on all accounts.

In the last month I have had the pleasure to speak at 3 different nursing conferences and that always energizes me. What I take from each conference and from each experience is a renewed appreciation for staying engaged in my profession. When you speak with others in your profession and have open dialogue about the challenges in your work, openly discuss the progress you’ve made, or to seek and discuss with them with other leader to gain their insights, you find you have a whole team of leaders to help you along the journey. You miss that opportunity if you don’t engage.

As the world of healthcare continues to evolve and the forces impacting how we provide healthcare change, leaders in healthcare need to be as agile and resourceful. For those who don’t engage in their development, they will be left behind in relevance and their value and impact in their organization will dwindle. In poll by the Niace, a policy and research organization dedicated to lifelong learning, showed that “there’s a strong correlation between learning and sustained employment. Staff who undertakes learning activities are more able to adapt to the changing requirements of an organization and gain a competitive edge in the job market.” Additionally, the survey showed that employees who are “…conscientious about their personal developments are likely to be seen as highly motivated and engaged. Their openness to learning also suggests they’re flexible, adaptable and will bring a continuous improvement ethos to the workplace – all of which is appealing to an employer.”

Engaging in activities which professionally develop you can take many forms and opportunities. There are formal course work and conferences which provide you time to focus your attention on areas and usually the ability to schedule so it becomes part of a deliberate plan. Ad hoc opportunities are when you walk upon a discussion or engage another leader on a topic you wish to grow in or one in which you are sharing your experience and knowledge with someone else. Being the sender, receiver, or partner in the learning experience offers development to everyone involved. The real development comes when the information you gathered creates the desire to change.

This desire to change presents itself in possibilities. At every interaction, you have the possibility to learn something new. This possibility presented could be new information, a change on existing knowledge, or correct a deficiency you have with your current practice. That possibility is what drives development. But only if you act! That final step of taking action is where most leaders fail. It takes action upon the desire and possibility to create a change and foster development.

It’s simple really. You can have the desire to become a healthier person. You have “Desire”. You enroll yourself to take classes at the local gym on nutrition, fitness, stress management, healthy lifestyle changes to gain the knowledge you need. You have the “Possibility”. At this crucial junction determines if any development occurs. Everything up to this point is moot if you don’t actually take some “Action.”

It is the same thing in your professional life as well. Many leaders have the desire to improve their position, knowledge, or experience. Many are presented with the possibilities and choose them to make their development possible. Some actually go to the classes or engage in discussions to make them better leaders. The challenge is many do not take that final step of actually doing something, to take ACTION to make the development happen. I believe the old saying is the “road to hell is paved with good intentions” becomes very poignant here for this topic.

Taking action to change behavior or to grow means you are capitalizing on your desire and the possibilities presented so you grow as a leader. Converting the desire and possibility into something productive takes energy, thought, and decision making capabilities. So many times it doesn’t make sense why so many don’t commit to the final act. How many conferences have you attended where you returned to work and changed nothing? What a waste of your time, resources, and energy.

The commitment you need to make today is to first, seek and find the desire to make a commitment to professionally developing yourself regularly. Look for the possibilities out there which can provide you what you need to grow as a leader. And then finally act upon your desire and the knowledge you have obtained and change or grow something. It is easy enough if you take the time to go through these 3 very simple consecutive steps to develop yourself and assist your team in professional development. Remember this model:

Desire + Possibility + Action = Development

Now, what are you doing to do? Share it with us!

Leading with you!

Dean

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