Concluding Insights

Before starting this course, I wasn’t very interested in the content honestly. I thought it was going to be the same old information about leadership and how to be powerful and successful. Thankfully, I was pleasantly surprised and learned a lot while taking this course. To me, before this course, a leader was supposed to be strong and powerful and never took no for an answer. The leader was often time headstrong and “bullied” their way into getting what they wanted or knew was right. I never imagined leaders should be vulnerable and always looking forward to new changes. While taking this course, I learned that both of those attributes are not only prevalent, but desired in a strong leader.

I believe the shift away from the Industrial Age has been a positive shift. Porter-O’Grady and Malloch describe the Industrial Age’s leadership as being “a good manager, guiding one’s subordinates like a good parent, and directing their activities in the interests of the organization” (2015, p. 3). They go on to explain that leaders in the Industrial Age had critical skills that were necessary for proper planning, organization, leading, implementation, controlling and evaluation. I do believe that a good leader must still be able to use those skills on a daily basis. However, the role of the leader has evolved into so much more than just those skills and I think that it is important to remember that. This course has made me realize that being a good leader doesn’t just mean that you are the boss, but a colleague and mentor as well. This course has also made me realize how to spot a poor leader and a good leader. At work I find myself thinking back to course content when I am speaking with a charge nurse or to someone else in another leadership type role. Often times it is easier to spot out the poor leaders than the great leaders due to the degree of their competence. A poor leader will often times show their distaste for a particular change and spew off negativities because of it. A good leader is humble and often times quieter in order to listen to all sides of the story before coming to a conclusion and decision on how to guide the direction of change and how to engage their staff in the mentioned change.

Before taking this course I very much struggled with the idea of conflict. Porter-O’Grady and Malloch state “Conflict should never be avoided or suppressed. Instead, it should be embraced as a fundamental part of every human interaction” (2015, p. 204). After reading the required readings and watching the videos about conflict, I have come to understand what Porter-O’Grady and Malloch mean when they say that. It is true that conflict is a factor in every single human interaction. We cannot run from it or hope it will go away. As a leader, it is important to embrace conflict and resolve it in some sort of way before it escalates. Heathfield’s article states several actions to avoid when dealing with conflict resolution. These three actions include not avoiding conflict in the hopes that it will go away, not meeting separately with the people involved in the conflict, and not believing that only the people central to the conflict are the only ones being affected by it (2016). These actions hold a lot of truth, especially when in the leadership position. From my own personal experiences, I have found that meeting with people separately who are in the conflict does more harm than good. Words are taken out of context, things are misunderstood, and the conflict grows because of it. People will start to talk behind each other’s backs in a “he said, she said” fashion. Therefore, it is much more appropriate to gather everyone involved in the conflict and air everything out in the open. Also, due to personal experiences, I have felt the negative aftermath of conflict that has not been resolved by people who I work with. I may not be in the midst of the conflict, but it most certainly has an effect on those who aren’t in it. Like Heathfield says, people will start to feel like they are walking on eggshells around those who are in the conflict and that in turn creates a hostile environment for everyone (2016). Because of this course I hope to become even more comfortable with conflict and face my problems head on, rather than hoping my grievances will disappear without any action taken.

Quantum theory is an interesting concept that I think will have a very big positive impact on future leaders, like me. Porter-O’Grady and Malloch explain “Quantum theory has taught us that change is not a thing or an event but rather a dynamic that is constitutive of the universe” (2015, p. 7). They go on to say “Change cannot be avoided because it is everywhere, but we can influence its circumstances and consequences” (p. 7). Another way to look at this is by realizing that we can give change a direction. Following this idea of thinking, we can then mold how a quantum leader should act. An article by Curtin states three fundamental requirements of a quantum leader. These three fundamental requirements are:

·         “Acting with moral purpose to make a positive difference in the lives of organizational members and society as a whole.

·         Building relationships that nurture both individuals and organizations.

·         Making truly informed decisions by acquiring knowledge through listening to and empowering members.” (2013).

I believe that my charge nurse is a prime example of someone who embodies all of these specific qualities. She always acts with the patients’ best interests in mind. Not only that, but she always tries to act with her staff members’ best interests in mind as well. Her decisions always involve talking to her staff to get their ideas and perspectives of how to make a situation better. For example, we are starting to discharge our postoperative patients a lot sooner than a year before. Often times we are discharging our total joint replacement patients a day after their surgery. Recently our upper management has decided that all postoperative patients should be given the opportunity to shower the night of surgery before they go home the next day. This is in addition to the other patients who want to shower who are staying in the hospital for 2+ days. So in short, when our unit is full (we have fifteen beds), the night shift staff would have to offer showers to all fifteen patients regardless of when the patient is discharging. There was a lot of conflict because of this new decision due to time and staffing constraints, and worries about safety. My charge nurse talked to all of us about this new change and made us all feel empowered enough to voice our opinions regardless of whether we all agreed with each other or not. She listened to all the concerns and complaints and took our concerns to the nurse manager. Because of her listening, she was able to understand why it would be extremely difficult to shower all of the patients on the same night. In the end she decided not to go with the new change, but to direct the change in a different direction which would work for everyone a lot better. I hope to direct my leadership skills in a direction like my charge nurse’s. Meaning that I hope I am never afraid to bring new ideas to the table, but to be open and vulnerable enough to listen to all of the team member’s opinions and then make an informed decision that will guide the team in the appropriate direction, rather than causing more conflict than necessary.

When I first heard the term “servant leadership”, I instantly thought “I don’t want to be a servant.” However, after delving deeper into the meaning I found that the qualities of a servant leader are quite similar to quantum leaders in certain ways. A servant leader has the desire to serve. That does not necessarily mean to be someone’s servant, but having the desire to help others (Keith, 2017). Keith explains that there are other qualities of being a servant leader. These include listening and understanding, acceptance and empathy, foresight, awareness and perception, persuasion, conceptualization, self-healing, and rebuilding community (2017). To me, these qualities are somewhat similar to being a quantum leader in the sense that both types of leaders are there to serve a purpose of being there for the community or organization in a positive manner, and being an empathetic, vulnerable leader who listens to their team member’s concerns and joys. This is the type of leader I strive to be. I want my staff or coworkers to feel like I am not only working for myself, but also for them. I want people to feel that I am trying to engage others in the pursuit of creating a better organization or community as a whole. I feel that this course has lead me in the right direction by way of self-realization and reflection to not only make positive changes in myself, but also by making positive changes in the community around me. Even when I am faced with a particularly challenging change of events, I hope to dig deep and retrieve some of the aforementioned qualities to give the change a positive direction.

Emotional competency is an interesting subject that I also did not know anything about prior to taking this course. Porter-O’Grady and Malloch explain “For healthcare leaders, emotional competence involves the interpretation and translation of personal feelings into the processes of the workplace” (2015, p. 396). They also give a list of characteristics that make up emotional competence including self-awareness, mindfulness, openness, impulse control, personal humility, appreciation of ambiguity and paradox, appreciation of knowledge, willpower, compassion, passionate optimism and resilience (p. 396). To me, the individual who is emotionally competent has full control over their emotions and is always willing to learn. Said individual is not a “know it all”, but is self-aware of their accomplishments and strengths. The road to emotional competence is started by being emotionally intelligent, which enables the person to learn the skills of becoming emotionally competent (2015, p. 405). I believe that being emotionally intelligent and competent is a requirement of being a fair, strong leader. I do not think that the journey to becoming emotionally competent is an easy one, but I do think that leaders who realize the importance of it are much better leaders in the end. Not only should leaders strive toward being emotionally competent, but I think that all human beings who are hoping to better themselves should work towards this goal. I know I still have a long way to go before being emotionally competent, but I also know it does not happen overnight. As a future leader I now have a better understanding of the importance of being emotionally competent and why it makes someone a stronger leader, so I am willing to make changes to myself in order to work towards that goal.

Over all I very much enjoyed the content of this course. I feel like I have a strong foundation in leadership skills now and have a good understanding of what it takes to be an exceptional leader in the healthcare field. As I stated earlier, I feel that the movement from the idea of what a leader was in the Industrial Age to the idea of what a leader is today, has been a positive change. Leaders are now seen as someone who can also make mistakes and errors, but who are able to move on from those errors and work to prevent the same mistakes from happening in the future. Not only that, leaders are allowed to be more honest, humble and vulnerable, which is not to be viewed as a fault, but in fact a success. It gives me comfort knowing that in the future when I take on more of a leadership role, that the ideas of leaders have changed for the better.

References: 

Curtin, L. (2013). Quantum leadership: Upside down. Retrieved from https://www.americannursetoday.com/quantum-leadership-upside-down/

Heathfield, S. (2016). Workplace conflict resolution. Retrieved from https://www.thebalance.com/workplace-conflict-resolution-1918675

Keith, K. (2017). Definition of servant leadership. Retrieved from http://toservefirst.com/definition-of-servant-leadership.html

Porter-O'Grady, T., & Malloch, K. (2015). Quantum leadership (4th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning. 

Healthy Organizations

I very much enjoy Simon Sinek's talks. I find him to be very intelligent and well spoken. I was excited to see some more of his videos for this week's class.
His video about Millennials gave me some new insight into myself and those around me.

I started watching the video with my husband and we both thought "this won't apply to us." Well... there were more similarities to what he was saying than I thought there would be. One thing that made both my husband and I laugh at was when he was talking about charging cell phones in the living room at night, not next to the bed. The first thing I said was "I use mine as my alarm." Not even 2 seconds later, Sinek brought that up and then stated that real alarms were only $8. Busted.
I also related very much to the social media topic he discussed. Sinek states that dopamine is released when we get a "like" on facebook or a text message from someone. I am guilty of checking my phone very frequently, especially when I am in a public area where I don't know anyone. I am very shy, so I use my phone as a buffer between myself and those around me. Watching this video has made me more determined to put my phone away when I am with my family and friends and to "live in the moment" more often.

Another take away point that I got from the video was that impatience sets us up for failure. I see it in my work life, home life, personal relationships, etc. We want instant gratification and most often that does not work. I have always known that I am impatient and I try to work against that, but it is difficult to do. However, I liked Sinek's example of the mountain. We know there is a point at the top that we have to get to, but we often times forget about the mountain to climb in order to get there.

In Sinek's video "First why and then trust", he uses an example of making a business deal and not receiving a hand shake to close the deal at the end.

It made me realize just how important those small acts can be. When he stated that the business deal either would not go through, or that the person making the deal would feel uneasy about it, I agreed with him. I thought that if I was the manager of a large company making a deal with another company, that the refusal of a hand shake would put me off greatly. After watching these two videos I feel that I will actively work towards communicating better and being more present when I am with other people. A smile, hand shake, eye contact, wave, all make a difference in personal and professional relationships.

Porath's article titled "No Time to be Nice at Work" was an eye opener. The statistics she included in her article were interesting. For example, she has conducted surveys about civility and why people behave uncivilly. She states "Over half of them claim it is because they are overloaded, and more than 40 percent say they have no time to be nice" (2015). It made me wonder "who doesn't have time to be nice?" Being nice takes no more time than being rude does. There are many times in the hospital that people act uncivilly. Patients, coworkers, family members, and bosses have all acted uncivilly towards me at some point in time. Porath closes her article saying "In every interaction you have a choice: Do you want to lift people up or hold them down?" (2015). I will be remembering that phrase at work in the future.

In the article by Dellasega and Volpe, they ask whether the reader can be considered as a toxic nurse or not. Unfortunately my result was that I can be toxic. I do believe it differs from week to week. When things are more stressful at work, I know I am more toxic. When the work week is flowing nicely and everyone is getting along, then I am less toxic. The quiz did make me realize that I do behave in a manner at times that can be toxic to myself and those around me. I don't want to be known as "the complainer" at work. I used to work with someone who did complain quite a lot at work, and even now she is still known as the complainer to some people. I hope that term never follows me, so this quiz has steered me in the positive direction of change.

References:

Dellasega, C., & Volpe, R. (2013). Could you be a toxic nurse? Retrieved from https://courses.mnu.edu/pluginfile.php/453678/mod_book/chapter/8845/Toxic%20Nursing%20Quiz.pdf

Porath, C. (2015). No time to be nice at work. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/21/opinion/sunday/is-your-boss-mean.html?smid=pl-share&_r=0&module=ArrowsNav&contentCollection=Opinion&action=keypress&region=FixedLeft&pgtype=article

TEDx Talks. (2011). TEDxMaastricht - Simon Sinek - "First why and then trust". [video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VdO7LuoBzM

Willrath, B. (2016). Simon Sinek-Millennials in the work place. [video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MC2X-LRbkE

Emotionally-Competent Leadership

In Bradberry's article titled "18 Behaviors of Emotionally Intelligent People" (2015), he lists certain qualities that people with emotional intelligence (or EQ) possess. Out of those listed 18 characteristics I feel that I can safely say that some of them I have a good grasp on, while others I need to explore more. The qualities that I feel I possess include letting go of mistakes, I appreciate what I have, and I stop negative self talk. I am not one to dwell on my past mistakes for very long. Since my true passion in life is riding horses, I will use an example from that. Every year I compete in shows on my horse. Every year I have goals and things I want to improve on. During the time I have competed, I have had a lot of ups and downs. There are a lot of emotions fluttering around on the show grounds. I tend to get anxious and my nerves sometimes get the best of me, and unfortunately my current show horse has the tendency to take advantage of my insecurities at shows. I make a lot of mistakes, but I am still growing and learning from all of my mistakes. Often times I will be very upset with how a particular show went. I may cry or  have a small pity party, but never for very long. I take those mistakes and use them to my advantage by setting a new goal or by reassuring myself that just because I made a mistake doesn't mean I haven't made progress. This ties in to the negative self talk as well. In my horse life and my work life, I strive to never talk negatively to or about myself. I have found that negative self talk is the fastest way to become defeated and feel inadequate. At work I make a point to talk myself up in my head when I have to accomplish a task I'm not comfortable with yet. It also helps to show confidence, even if inside you are not feeling all that confident. The outer appearance of confidence helps patients feel more confident and comfortable as well, even if inside you are a bundle of nerves. 

The qualities that I feel I can work on include disconnecting, getting enough sleep and embracing change. Thankfully I feel that these are things I can actively work on improving. I have the tendency to grab my phone or laptop when I am bored or procrastinating. Rather than doing that, I should grab a book or take my dog for a walk or anything else that gets me off the couch and engaging with the world around me. Often times I don't get enough sleep because I decide to watch movies late at night and then have to wake up early the next morning. That is something I can definitely change. Finally, embracing change is sometimes difficult for me to do. If it is a change I am excited about, it is no problem. If it is a change that seems scary or unsettling, then I often times will reject the change and try to keep things the "old way" as long as possible. 

Henry Cloud's article titled "Ten Things Successful People Never do Again" (2014) was a great article to read in my opinion. I very much agree with all of the 10 points he made. I would consider my dad to be a successful person in his work and personal life and I see all of these attributes in him. If I was going to add a few more attributes to the list I would add 1. Never saying no, and 2. Having only time for work and nothing else. I think it is very important to realize that you cannot say yes to everyone all the time. For example, if your charge nurse asks you to work an extra shift, which would make it  your 4th in a row, I think it is perfectly acceptable to say no if you emotionally or physically need a break, or if you already have something else planned for that day. Constantly saying yes to everything becomes very tiring. Also, to me it is important to have a personal life and hobbies outside of your work life. I have a coworker who does not really have any hobbies and sometimes will pick up 2 extra shifts per week. I have asked him before why he does that, even when he is dead tired, and his answer is always "what else am I going to do?" I think it is vital to have outside stimulation from areas other than work to stay rejuvenated and healthy.  

The video Rethinking Thinking is something that I think would benefit a lot of people in healthcare.

I am very much guilty of making quick judgments sometimes, so this video appealed to me. Often times situations happen in the hospital that we cannot control or that we would want to happen differently. Lab may be slow to come draw blood on a patient, IV therapy may take longer to make it to the patient's room to insert a new IV, or a patient's family member may be hovering over you and watching your every move. Most of the time these things become annoying after a while and frustration or anger emerge. However, this video was great at explaining that those other people can be going through a situation of their own that needs special attention or they just have a different way of thinking. It is important to be mindful of other people and not always jump to the conclusion that they are just slow or don't care or are being purposefully annoying. 

Along those same lines, Simon Sinek's video "Why to Wait Before Making an Emotional Decision" (2011) made me realize that sometimes you need to take a step back and "take a breather." 

It is important to calm down from a heated situation before making a decision on what the proper way is to handle that particular situation. Sometimes you will find that taking action is in fact necessary, but sometimes it isn't, like in the example he used of responding to a frustrating email. I find myself "taking a breather" at work often. Whether it is because of a coworker, a patient or family member, or ancillary staff. Stepping away from the situation before causing a scene or adding unhelpful information is very important, especially when dealing with patients and family. 

References:

Bradberry, T. (2015). 18 Behaviors of emotionally intelligent people. Retrieved from http://time.com/3838524/emotional-intelligence-signs/

Capture Your Flag. (2011). Simon Sinek: Why to wait before making an emotional decision. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIIJIqLmptg

Cloud, H. (2014). 10 Things successful people never do again. Retrieved from http://www.success.com/article/10-things-successful-people-never-do-again

TED-Ed. (2012). Rethinking thinking-Trevor Maber. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJLqOclPqis

Errors as Opportunities

I really like the quote that our instructor shared with us this week: "Your best teacher is your last mistake." It is really so true, especially in the medical field. I'm sure that all of us have made mistakes that we don't want to repeat ever again, so they are ingrained in our brain as a teaching moment. One thing that I have allowed mistakes to teach me is a very simple lesson-- that is, everyone makes mistakes as a nurse at some point and if you are lucky enough to work with supportive coworkers, then you should not feel like anyone is looking down on you for an error. I have a great example from my unit. It did not happen to me, but with a few of my coworkers/friends. The majority of our postoperative patients are prescribed IV Toradol after surgery to aid with inflammation and pain. There was a patient who was over the age of 65 that had received three doses of 30mg of Toradol after surgery. Anyone over the age of 65 should receive only 15mg of Toradol at a time per dosing recommendations. The medication was ordered by the doctor, verified by pharmacy, and then given by the day shift nurse, and the following night shift nurse. The error was finally caught by the next day shift nurse and was corrected at that time. The nurse who caught it immediately stepped up and identified the problem and did not try to hide it or act ashamed because of the error. Instead, the problem was dealt with and the patient was thankfully not harmed because of it. The nurse could have easily tried to hide the mistake, but instead we all were aware of it and it offered us a great teaching moment. We are now all very diligent about checking the patient's age and the dose ordered.
I would say this was a "sloppy mistake" (Briceno, 2015). All of the nurses knew the dosage recommendations, but lost concentration and made the mistake due to not paying enough attention.
It made an impact on all of us to be more aware of medications being given. Thankfully our charge nurse is very easy to talk to and she did not belittle anyone or make anyone feel stupid for the error. Instead, she used it as an opportunity to talk to her staff and also to the pharmacy. The doctor's nurse associate was also notified and a change was made to the standard post op order sets. I would say that my charge nurse handles errors with a positive approach and is also never ashamed to let her staff know when she has made an error herself. Knowing that our leader isn't perfect helps me to feel more comfortable speaking with her when I have concerns or have made a mistake.

However, I also have worked with a leader who handled conflict very poorly and I lost a lot of respect for her. On a unit that I worked on prior to the one I'm on now, one of the charge nurses pulled me aside and asked how I liked working with a specific patient care technician. She did not give me a chance to answer before she jumped in and told me how she felt about him. She let me know how little she thought of him and made some very rude comments. I really enjoyed working with this PCT and thought he did a great job and I told her that. The whole situation left a bad taste in my mouth. I found it to be very unprofessional for my charge nurse to ask me about a coworker and then egg me on to hopefully say something negative about him. This situation has helped me to decrease my gossiping and keep mean comments to myself. Let's be honest, the hospital is full of gossip and rumors spread like wild fire there. I have been actively trying to distance myself from the gossip and act more like a leader by making positive comments and offering constructive criticism in hopes of building up our team, not breaking it down.

The video "Interruption Awareness" was very eye opening in my opinion.

 I know that nurses deal with a lot of interruptions from patients, family members, doctors, other nurses, alarms, etc, but the exercise of counting by 4's showed just how those interruptions can disrupt our thoughts from an easy task. Just this week I was speaking with a patient about discharging home later that day and she asked me about insulin and if diabetes management would come talk to her again before she went home. I told her that if they didn't come by a certain time that I would call them and make sure they talked to her before she discharged. She asked me "How do you keep track of all of this? How do you remember everything?" I remember smiling and thinking "Because I'm awesome." I didn't say that of course, but it did get me to thinking about how many requests from patients nurses get in between the every day tasks that need to be completed.
I think that a good leader will recognize when a nurse is struggling with keeping up with all the interruptions and will step in and take charge. Even just answering a few call lights while that nurse takes the time to catch up with charting or making phone calls is so helpful. I work with a very dear friend who is always saying she is fine and doesn't need help with anything when she is asked, even when the rest of us know that she could use the help. Instead of shrugging my shoulders and saying "okay", I have learned to just jump in and take some of her responsibilities off of her plate when she has a lot going on and I don't. Something so simple as just starting IV fluids on a new post op patient can help tremendously when there are a lot of other things going on.

I do believe it is true that errors are sometimes made when staffing levels are not adequate. The unit I work on has increased the number of surgeries each week by discharging some of the patients a day sooner than they would have a year ago. Because of this, the staff has felt quite overwhelmed with the increase in patients and we have asked if there will be another nurse or PCT hired to help with the increase. I'm not sure if that will happen or not, but in the mean time my charge nurse has made some changes to help us out throughout the day. The main way is by assigning the surgeries to the staff in a staggered fashion. Meaning that hopefully the same nurse will not get 2 patients back from surgery at the same time.
On other units the staffing is never adequate, which leads to a lot of float staff being used. I think that it is an endless circle when a particular unit is known for giving one nurse 6 patients, and they are not able to retain their staff because of it. I do feel pity for the leaders in charge of those units who have not been approved to hire more staff as I think that sometimes that is the only way to stop the revolving door of nurses in and out.

References:

Boynton, B. (2012, January 3). Interruption awareness: A nursing minute for patient safety. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGK9_CkhRNw

Briceno, Eduardo. (2015). Mistakes are not all created equal. Retrieved from http://blog.mindsetworks.com/blog-page/home-blogs/entry/mistakes-are-not-all-created-equal

Understanding Preferences & Personalities

I enjoy surveys and tests like the personality test that we had to do for class this week. I think it is interesting to see if the result is in line with my personality. This personality test revealed that I am a Defender (ISFJ/T). Here is a link to the Defender definition if anyone wants to read about it in more depth, but I will give a quick overview of some of the qualities.
https://www.16personalities.com/isfj-personality

Defenders are considered to be sensitive, reserved, have strong people skills and social relationships, conservative, but open to new ideas. I believe I have all of those qualities, so I was pleasantly surprised that the test described my personality so accurately.
Some strengths of a Defender include being supportive, reliable and patient, imaginative, enthusiastic, loyal and hard working, and having good practical skills. The only one that I cannot really identify with is being patient. I am an impatient person when it comes to things that I really want or want to accomplish. However, the rest of the strengths do fall in line with how I view myself.
Some weaknesses include being humble and shy, taking things personally, repressing feelings, overloading themselves, reluctant to change and being too altruistic. Again, most of these qualities describe me very well, especially being humble and shy. I was talking to my mom about this test this morning and I shared an example with her about my shy and humble personality. I have ridden horses for almost 17 years and I have competed for the past 8 or 9 years. I have goals and high standards for what I like to accomplish during my horse shows. When my friends ask me how I did at a show, I do not like to brag or boast about how I accomplished a goal or did well. Usually I will respond with "I did pretty good, but I still have a lot to work on." The same goes for my work and school life as well.

One of the comments made on the website about a Defender's personality in the workplace had me nodding my head in agreement. It states that Defenders want a friction-less environment and a tight knit group of people who work together and help each other. This ties in to the next topic of conflicts. I have a perfect example of a conflict in my workplace right now due to personalities and preferences clashing. At work I am task oriented and focused and like to check things off my list when I complete them. I have a coworker who is the complete opposite and will often times forget to do certain job duties and responsibilities, resulting in me getting frustrated and having to do the work myself in order for it to be completed on time. Due to my aversion to conflict, I often take on more work than I should and get stressed out because of it. Rather than just setting aside my fear of conflict and asking my coworker to do her part, I take on extra responsibilities and get stressed, which leaks into my home life. Understanding personal preferences may help me to solve this issue in the future. Now that I have fully accepted the type of personality I have, I can work to set aside my fear of conflict and ask for help, rather than getting frustrated and angry. I cannot change how another person works, but I can change my reaction to it.

I very much enjoyed Susan Cain's talk about embracing introverts.
https://www.ted.com/talks/susan_cain_the_power_of_introverts
I liked her story of going to camp. It seemed that no one there could understand why this girl would want to read books at camp. They were supposed to be getting "rowdie" and having lots of camp spirit. In fact, this is the reason why I hated going to camp, the very few times that I did. I didn't want to have camp spirit with a bunch of other kids who I didn't know. I certainly didn't want to embarrass myself in front of others for acting silly or "rowdie."
In her talk she states that it is now her job as an introvert, to talk to others about introversion. As a nurse I don't have to talk to my patients about being introverted, but I do have to go into a stranger's room, often times with a group of family members around, and present myself as a leader and as a healthcare professional, even if I want to run and hide in my comfort zone. After hearing her talk I am determined to embrace myself as an introvert and not try to change it, but to be comfortable with it.

Pat Ebright's definition and explanation of Complex Adaptive System Theory was very easy to understand and I really liked the example she used about trying to explain an awful day at work to a spouse or friend who was not there.

It is difficult to convey the emotions and everything that goes into a day as a nurse when it just didn't go right. There are so many small and complex situations, attitudes and scenarios that all come together as one to make the day go bad, but it is difficult to explain it to someone who was not physically there.

I find myself being a leader in my place of work all the time. I can especially say I am a leader when it comes to my patient's care. However, when it comes to my colleagues I don't always feel comfortable being the leader. When a change arises in our area of the hospital, I struggle with embracing it quickly unless I can imagine the immediate positive change it will bring to me, my patients and my coworkers. So when asked how I model embracing change to my colleagues it is difficult for me to give a clear answer. I find that it also depends on the work week we are having. There have been so many changes recently on my unit, that I have been struggling with modeling my embrace to my colleagues. The best way I can say that I am being a leader in those situations is by having a positive attitude about the changes and trying my best to overcome the negative aspects. I am always open to listening to my coworker's frustrations and complaints. Often times this will bring about a new idea that can transition the change more smoothly in the long run. I present these ideas to the charge nurse whenever my coworkers and I feel that it would benefit everyone. I believe that feeling like your voice and opinion has meaning can greatly increase work morale and the embracing of change.

References:

mentorsgallery. (2010, February 2). Pat Ebright - Complex adaptive system theory. [video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNFFEJqz9YA

TED. (2012, February). Susan Cain: The power of introverts. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/susan_cain_the_power_of_introverts

Understanding My Why

I think it is important to understand what my "why" is in my personal and professional life. I think it is important for anyone who wishes to be successful and passionate about what they do. When I decided to become a nurse I didn't know what I wanted to do or even really why. After I graduated from nursing school I thought I wanted to work in Labor and Delivery and Post Partum. I started my first job at a critical care access hospital and got a small sampling of many different types of nursing. At that job I played many different roles. I was an ER nurse, a swingbed nurse, a labor and delivery nurse, a medical surgical nurse, among others. At that time the qualities or words I would have used to describe myself would be confused and frustrated. I saw the different sides of floor nursing, but nothing that seemed to call my name or that made me feel like I had a purpose.

Fast forward to now and I feel that I have grown and found an area of nursing that interests me greatly. I now work on a Total Joint Center unit that enables me to see the progress in my patients on a day to day basis. I very much enjoy orthopedics and find it fascinating to see the changes in my patients from the surgery day to post op day one or two. The change is sometimes so dramatic that you wouldn't believe it. Of course there are always people that struggle more than others after surgery, but more often than not the patients we work with are motivated and excited about their new joint that leads to more activity and freedom in their personal life. That motivation carries over into their recovery and the people with the positive attitudes tend to do the best. 

If I had to describe my qualities now I suppose I could still throw confused and frustrated in there every once in a while, but they no longer are the dominant characteristics. Now that I have found an area of nursing that I enjoy I feel that I am organized, calm and realistic. These qualities help me on my busiest days. Even if I feel frazzled or overwhelmed, my organization and calm demeanor overrule the inner turmoil I may be feeling during the hectic times. 

In my opinion, the concept of enjoying what you do ties in very well with the idea of finding and understanding "my why." The Michael Jr. webcast is a perfect example of that. 

The man had a job to do. It was simply a task he was instructed to accomplish. Once he put more thought and feeling and passion into the task, the outcome changed dramatically. It no longer was just a job to do or a "what", but it was a goal that was accomplished through knowing his "why." I can bring that back to my own personal story of finding a job in the nursing field that intrigued me and that has brought me more happiness and success than previously. 

Lastly, the video titled "What is Leadership?" really opened my eyes to another way of thinking. 

Often times I think that nurses feel that we are there to take orders and accomplish certain tasks in order to tell the leader "I did it! I finished what you wanted!" There will be times in healthcare where the big decisions will not be left to the direct care staff to decide on. However, I do believe that as a bedside nurse we do have a lot of leeway and autonomy to make decisions based on past experiences and factual evidence. I for one do not check in with my charge nurse before I make every decision throughout the day. That is why it is so important to have healthcare staff that management can trust and rely on. Confidence and experience comes with time, but those in a leadership role need to trust in their staff to make their own decisions (and sometimes errors) in order to shift into more of a leadership mentality themselves. When everyone starts acting like leaders, such as in the video, the end product will be much better than having one central person making all the decisions with a group of followers never questioning why. 

References:

(2015, September 10). Michael Jr.: Know your why [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZe5y2D60YU

Leadership Nudges. (2014, May 17). What is leadership? [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYKH2uSax8U