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Why do we work? That may seem like a simple question. But for healthcare organizations trying to figure out why nurses are leaving their jobs, it may be the question to contemplate. What attracts and retains employees: cash, career or calling? Research conducted by Dr. Amy Wrzesniewski, organizational behavior professor at Yale University’s School of Management, explains that employees think about work as: A job focused on pay to support family, hobbies and life outside of work (“cash”) A path to success and prestige (“career”), or An integral part of their lives and individual identity (“calling”). Dr. Wrzesniewski found that employees in most workplaces are evenly divided among these three categories. She also discovered that individuals who have a strong “calling” orientation report higher satisfaction

Great leaders recognize early that leadership development in healthcare is not a straight nor smooth path. Like any effective organizational improvement strategy, personal improvement is a lifelong journey. The best leaders are always looking for ways to get better, especially with the organizational recovery challenges that the pandemic has thrown at them. The journey of introspection in healthcare leadership development can be advanced in many ways, but we’ve found that one question is often a great place to start and continually assess progress: Who’s the best person I’ve ever worked for, and what did s/he do differently that I want to emulate? Reading books or attending workshops on healthcare leadership development can be helpful in understanding best practices. But there’s nothing quite like seeing a

Several weeks ago during an NBC Nightly News story on the effects of nurse burnout, I heard a tired, dedicated nurse from Little Rock voice in frustration, “… and please don’t order us any more pizza.” In a face-to-face conversation with a health care worker a few weeks ago, I heard a similar sentiment: “If one more person tries to hand me a piece of candy, I’m going to throw it back in their face.” Even before today’s concerns about the effect of nurse burnout, how to best recognize staff has been an issue that I’ve seen leaders grappling with since the beginning of my career. I’ve seen it all, from complicated points-and-prizes systems to “thank you” candy bars with the hospital’s logo. In the