What are some effective strategies to foster a culture of collaboration and trust among your nursing team?

Leaders need to provide clearly articulated priorities and direction to the team. In addition, the team needs to understand how those priorities are connected with company mission and fundamental purpose in a meaningful and compelling way. Only then, you can create employee commitment and drive peak performance. When the high meaning and purpose are understood and adopted by the team as a whole, the organization will be prepped to fire on all cylinders.

The problem is that you have to remember there can be lots of fear as the default. Fear is the opposite of trust. You can use communication as a tool to build trust or your communication can inadvertently promote more fear without you even realising. For example, it’s important to tell people what you are NOT doing just as much as what you are - why? - because they will misinterpret your intentions and make assumptions. You need to make sure you limit these assumptions and create more openness, candour, and trust. What we say, the specific words we use, how we say it, what tone we use, how we support that with our behaviour are all important opportunities for communicating that this environment is high trust AND highly accountable.

I'll add that collaboration is a byproduct of trust. Build it by: 1. Asking folks what they need. 2. Don't assume what they need. 3. Leaning into vulnerability daily. 4. If you don't know, state it openly. 5. Model the (healthy) behavior that you expect. The best leaders understand that all folks want: 1. To be seen. 2. To be heard. 3. To be valued. 4. To be respected. 5. To be appreciated, always. 6. To work in a healthy culture. Get that right, and collaboration will follow.

Communication is a crucial skill for leaders. In my experience, the best leaders communicate effectively. You can't be kind to your team without effective communication; clear communication is an act of kindness. Articulating your vision to the team and providing feedback in a way they understand is essential. Regardless of your leadership style, strive to communicate as clearly as possible.

While you do need to communicate clearly and frequently, that communication has to be intentional. Today we use so many communication tools that it can become chaotic and cause information overload. I recommend establishing weekly One to One meetings between Managers and Individuals or Team Leaders and individual team members. These meetings should focus on team and personal performance goals. Some prep (10-15 minutes) by the individual should go into the discussion to assess skill development and motivational outlooks toward the goals they are pursuing. Communication and collaboration excel through this intentional communication.

Empowering and supporting your team begins at a systemic level, which is why it’s critical to advocate for your team by developing organizational policies or processes that reinforce a culture of respect rooted in employee wellness and recognition. When staff feel appreciated and valued, they’re motivated to do their best work. Supporting your team goes beyond providing the training necessary for the job, it involves promoting a culture of respect and wellness by creating formal strategies to lead, engage and develop people. This can look like a formal employee recognition program or wellness webinars to help people manage daily stress. These strategies empower your team by offering a rewarding career and building an effective team culture.

Leadership revolves around empowerment. A transformative approach crucial for productivity and team support. In my experience, those who contribute significantly to team productivity are inspired individuals. Empowering your team becomes a source of their motivation and success. If you cannot empower your team, you likely don't know your team. Take time to understand each member of your team. It's challenging to empower someone without knowing who they are.

Diversity and inclusion are crucial; I'll add belonging too because: 1. It means you should be there. 2. It means your folks feel safe to speak up. 3. You can show up authentically without fear. To be clear, diversity and inclusion are important, but diversity alone does not always equal belonging. Belonging is a feeling.

We live in a diverse world that's more interconnected than ever before. It's essential to cultivate an open mind, recognizing that people may look different from you, have diverse cultures, and approach things differently. Embrace these differences with respect and dignity, creating space in your heart for the richness of diversity. Understand that their way of life may differ from yours, and that's a valuable aspect of our interconnected world. You must create a safe for everyone in your team as a leader.

One way to promote positive behaviour is to normalise talking about it - we will all do stupid things and have patterns of unhelpful behaviour - build an environment where you talk about this openly and regularly.

Genuine learning is fun, all learning requires mistakes, and will include some poor choices-do this openly. Talk about it and promote the sharing, otherwise lots of people may default to protecting themselves instead.