The Growing Crisis Among Frontline Leaders
Summary
While current labor market and frontline staff issues garner lots of press and debate debate in healthcare, there is another growing but less talked about problem that impacts an organization’s ability to solve all other workforce related challenges: our middle managers are exhausted, frustrated, feeling less valued, and struggling to deal with daunting issues that confront them every day. In our timely new eBook, Stamp & Chase shares the perspectives, insights, and potential answers to healthcare’s leadership development dilemma from five leading executives in our industry.
“Middle managers are living in a whirlwind
that we have to get them out of. We have
a less experienced workforce than we’ve
probably ever had during my entire career,
yet many frontline leaders spend most
of their time at their desk because that’s
where they think they need to be.”
“There is an assumption that because you’re
a great doctor, you will be a great leader;
you’re a great nurse, so you’re going to make
a great leader. We have to recognize there is
a difference between individual contributors
and people leaders. We should just assume
that people need training.”
“In today’s society,
we’ve been doing
more with less as
a consistent trend.
First-line managers
are spending less
time developing
their employees,
and upline
managers are
spending less
time developing
their managers.
This is weakening
the totality of the
structure on which
leadership is built
at every company
I have seen.”
“We have made nurse
leader development
a priority, focusing on
their individual goals
and career growth.
Through our
leadership academy,
we help them identify
their next steps and
cultivate a future path.
By developing
leadership skills at
every level, we
ensure that when
nurse managers are
ready to advance, we
have well-prepared
charge nurses and
supervisors ready to
step into new roles,
creating a seamless
transition.”
“For middle managers, I think the expectations have
to be high. But they also have to be supported, and
we have to be mindful of what we put on their plates.
What I’ve observed over time is that if we want a
certain standard of performance, then we have to
train for that. It sounds simple enough, but I’ve seen
variability in the top levels in how we do on execution
of that. So, high standards -- but also high support.”
