Managers and leaders attending Congress benefit from specialized content in the management sessions

AORN Journal,  June, 2004  

• E-mail
• Print
• Link

Tuesday, March 23, to Wednesday, March 24, 2004

On Tuesday, March 23, and Wednesday, March 24, managers attended special management education sessions and enjoyed special exhibit hours for managers only. Perioperative managers and leaders were treated to a selection of education choices. Speakers addressed such issues as mentoring, working relationships with physicians, employing foreign-educated nurses, building teams, patient throughput, legal issues, the economy of health care, OR construction projects, OR data, managing costs, and employee retention.

MENTORING FOR THE FUTURE

Anne Fairchild, RN, MS, CNOR, and Janet A. Lewis, RN, MA, CNOR, presented "Developing Nursing's Future: Mentoring New Managers" in tandem on Tuesday morning. Fairchild shared that by the year 2020, the nursing workforce will be the same size as it is today, which will be 20% less than is needed. She said institution-wide leadership development can help alleviate the shortage.

In developing a plan to mentor new leaders, current leaders first must realize that they need a succession plan. According to Fairchild, "Strategic planning should take place in advance."

The next step in cultivating new leaders is to nurture a shared vision. Strategic leaders share their vision with others so that all team members are working toward the same goals. According to Lewis, leaders need to "see the future beyond the walls of the operating room."

Selecting leaders is critically important. "Today, our leaders ... need to be dynamic, flexible, fast moving," said Lewis. An ideal leader has a variety of qualities and wears many hats, including executive team member, paper pusher, cheerleader, and negotiator. Traits important in leaders include honesty, humility, critical thinking skills, determination, and a sense of humor. "If you can find humor in your daily troubles, you'll never run out of things to laugh about," said Lewis. Additional traits leaders need include congruency of values, self insight, the desire to be a lifelong learner, and the ability to hold themselves and others accountable.

Skills leaders need include excellent people skills. A lack of this skill should immediately disqualify a person from a leadership position. "If you don't like people, leadership may not be the place for you," said Fairchild. Additional skills needed include good clinical knowledge and skills, a good life-work balance, and innovative thinking.

When looking to develop new leaders, managers should not only evaluate their traits and skills, they also should ask questions that will provide further insight, such as what is important to potential leaders' careers at this point in their lives and what challenges them. The answers to these questions will illuminate potential leaders' aspirations.

According to Lewis and Fairchild, three things must be present in the mentoring process--mutual trust and commitment, patient leadership, and emotional maturity. Traits needed in a mentor include the ability to counsel and guide, an effective set of relevant skills, and a breadth of experience. "It is helpful if a mentor has been there and done that," said Lewis.

RELATIONSHIPS WITH PHYSICIANS

David S. Kaczmarek, MS, FDPHM, FAHRMM, and Laura L. Wood, RN, MSN, presented "Win/Win Relations With Physicians." Kaczmarek began the session by asking attendees when they negotiate. He noted that managers negotiate a lot, but they may not think of it as negotiation. When negotiating, managers should ask the following questions.

* Can I live with the current offer?

* What is the probability of a better solution?

* Do I have the time to invest?

* Do I have the necessary knowledge?

* Do I have the power to impose my solution?

Next, they should identify their audience because these people will be affected by the negotiation. "We often forget about how influential that audience is," Kaczmarek said.

He discussed three negotiation styles. The first is the adversarial, or hard, style. Using this style, negotiators take positions and then clarify and defend their positions. This style often is used in health care settings.

The second style is concessionary, or soft. Negotiators who use this style are worried about relationships. "The soft negotiator often can be taken advantage of by the person who's hard," said Kaczmarek. These two negotiation styles are win/lose styles.

The final negotiation style-win/win--has five principles, including

* cooperation,

* looking at people and problems,

* interests and not positions,

* creative options, and

* objective standards.

According to Kaczmarek, "If we don't have [cooperation], it's not going to work." He said that cooperation basically is problem solving.

The looking at people and problems principle refers to the way people approach negotiation. Negotiators can draw unfounded inferences from what is said. They need to base relationships on accurate perceptions, keep their emotions in check, and maintain clear communication.