5 Signs of a Successful Nursing Management Team

Nursing management is the boots-on-the-ground leadership component of most healthcare facilities. They often bridge the gap between non-nursing healthcare executives and bedside staff, juggling a number of responsibilities. In a single day, they may examine budgetary patterns, review standard processes for regulatory compliance, handle personnel issues, or deliver awards to recognize excellence.

If you’ve ever wondered, What is management in nursing? we’ve got you covered. We’ll explore the core functions and roles of nurse managers, the benefits of exceptional leadership, and five signs that signal you’ve achieved the right chemistry.

What Is Nursing Management’s Core Function?

The nurse management team not only bridges the executive and floor staff divide, they also bridge the clinical and business divide. They apply business acumen while weighing their expert knowledge of clinical considerations to ensure the best possible outcomes. Some types of nursing management example services and responsibilities include:

• Hiring and retaining nursing staff.
• Addressing personnel issues, such as a no-call, no-show absence.
• Responding to patient and family concerns.
• Scheduling and staffing oversight.
• Reviewing staff performance and departmental metrics.
• Maintaining the budget and making supply decisions.
• Collaborating with interprofessional colleagues and teams to ensure smooth transfers of care and unfragmented processes.
• Realigning policies and procedures to better match evolving best practices and goals.
• Encouraging and supporting innovation to improve outcomes.

What Are the Different Managerial Nursing Roles?

The members of the nursing facility management team will vary by the type and size of your facility. It’s important to understand the types of roles you’ll need to fill to create a comprehensive team. This ensures that all levels of leadership are well-supported and equipped to oversee your nursing staff. In general, the team will include the following roles.

Chief Nursing Officer (CNO)

Leaders in this role are the most senior nurse at their healthcare facility, working directly under the chief executive officer (CEO) to oversee all aspects of a facility’s nursing care and processes.

Director of Nursing (DON)

The DON is a registered nurse with supervisory experience who manages the facility’s entire nursing staff and delivery of patient care.

Assistant Director of Nursing (ADON)

The ADON is responsible for supporting the DON with running day-to-day nursing operations and managing teams of nurses.

Nurse Administrator

The nurse administrator, a registered nurse, typically has a bachelor’s degree and special credentialing. Their responsibilities can be complex, and often include developing and upholding the facility policies and protocols that comply with government regulations.

Unit Manager

The unit manager is a nurse who supervises the day-to-day operations of their particular department.

What Are the Benefits of Highly Effective Nursing Management Teams?

The benefits of great nursing leadership are multifold. We’ll explore some of the key advantages of a supportive and inspirational managerial team below.

5 Signs of a Successful Nursing Management Team

Now that you know the benefits of high quality nurse management, it’s time to learn five essential signs of an effective leadership team. These indicators are typically observable every day, meaning, you don’t have to wait for another great resignation event to determine whether your management team’s style and process are successful.

1. Employee Wellbeing Is a Workplace Priority

Prolonged stress has shown to decrease physical and emotional health, contributing to lower productivity and workplace satisfaction. By prioritizing wellbeing, effective nursing managers can boost morale and ensure a healthy work environment that prioritizes safety for staff and patients.

Examples include:

• Utilizing all available resources and delegating where able. This models the reality that one person isn’t expected to handle challenges entirely alone, encouraging better accountability around safety.
• Taking visible breaks — eating lunch with staff on occasion, for example. This models healthy habits and expectations around wellbeing.

2. Communication Is Clear, Open, and Celebrated

Good communication facilitates optimal decision-making and keeps patients safe. When communication is consistently clear, open, and celebrated, staff maintain greater organizational awareness and are armed with more information to successfully guide their nursing processes.

Examples include:

• Hosting regular check-ins like safety huddles to debrief and remedy current challenges to productivity.
• Encouraging and valuing reporting around mistakes or near-misses. This information drives safer strategies to avoid medication errors and other adverse events.

3. Interprofessional Collaboration Is Highly Valued

Tackling fragmented care and healthcare costs are top nurse manager priorities across care settings. By valuing interprofessional collaboration, nursing managers can contribute to enhanced teamwork that optimizes nursing engagement while streamlining care and protecting the facility’s bottom line.

Examples include:

• Participating in and championing interdisciplinary rounding and arming staff with interdisciplinary communication strategies like the ARCC tool.
• Reviewing electronic health record (EHR) options for platforms with better interoperability and interprofessional communication methods as new technology debuts.

4. Conflicts Resolve Quickly and Productively

A good management team in nursing is equipped with a constructive conflict resolution system for handling inevitable workplace tension. When successful nurse manager teams encounter a problem, they employ their framework for resolution to handle the dispute before it impacts care delivery.

Examples include:

• Setting the tone for professionalism by walking the talk and including sociocultural expectations during standardized onboarding events and in recurring training.
• Intervening immediately when a conflict arises to mitigate its impacts. Done well, this may look like using assertive communication to navigate resolution in a neutral, safe space.

5. Workplace Culture Is Mission Aligned and Value Driven

You can tell when employees are excited about their jobs and motivated to achieve outcomes that are in the patients’ best interests. That’s the feeling of a strong organizational culture in healthcare. A great leader facilitates that type of culture, rooting workplace dynamics to foundational ethics, which improves retention and patient outcomes.

Examples include:

• Utilizing servant leadership strategies to enhance manager-employee trust and encourage nurse engagement with leadership and the organization.
• Prioritizing training, education, and professional development opportunities to truly foster an environment of excellence where staff are given every chance to hone the quality of their care.

Revitalize Your Commitment to People-Centered Leadership

The goal of every nursing management team is to maximize beneficial outcomes for patients and staff alike. Renew your commitment to that people-centered approach with IntelyCare’s facility guides and resources to optimize both your patient and staffing satisfaction scores.

IntelyCare writer Diana Campion, MSN, APRN, ANP-C, contributed to the research and writing of this article.