Ch-ch-ch-changin’

My boss announced last week that she will be leaving our organization. I know this kind of thing happens around America on a daily basis. In American healthcare, the position she holds (VP of Nursing) has a 2 to 4-year average length of service nationally. My VP has been in her spot for 20 years. This longevity makes her highly unusual among her peers!


She informed her direct reports personally last week and then put out a lovely announcement so the rest of the staff could read it directly from her and wrap their brains around this rather large piece of news. She is taking a career step that she has been planning for over the last decade. Having obtained her doctorate around the turn of the century, she has been plotting and planning how and when to move into nursing education – a field desperately in need of skilled and willing professors. When the right opportunity presented itself, she went for it. She will be with our organization for another 6 months and then, she will be at the university a few blocks away. It is a wonderful transition for her and I can’t help but share her excitement about what’s next.


Naturally, within the space of seconds, my joy for her was pushed aside as my thoughts raced to: What does this mean for me? We are all such ego-centric creatures (I am at the head of that line) that our joy for others is very short-lived when we realize that there are implications for ourselves in the news we’ve heard.


My mind leaped to the potential negative consequences first (And, while I like to think of myself as an optimist, I notice this leap to the negative happens a lot, so maybe I don’t know myself as well as I’d like to believe I do!). What bad things could happen as my boss prepares to, and finally does depart?


Possibility 1.
A new VP will be hard to find and the CEO will allow us to languish without the position filled for months on end (This has happened all over the USA, so I’m not making this up!). The lack of leadership will cause cultural deterioration and by the time someone IS hired to fill the slot, s/he will face an impossible up-hill battle to re-invigorate the tribe. In the mean time, my work will fall into disrepair as the upheaval dumps onto my to-do list items that were never part of my intended role here! Woe is me.


Possibility 2.
A new VP is found among those already serving in the management ranks here – a colleague becomes my boss – and this person’s transition to executive leadership is rocky for reasons beyond her own control. As a result, the organization flounders, revenues take a nose-dive, cuts must be made. Thus, by this time next year, I am on the unemployment line, looking for another job! Woe is me.


Possibility 3.
A new VP is secured from outside the organization. This person requires some time to acclimate to “the way we do things here” and has, of course, some ideas of his or her own. Leadership tries to accommodate the style and expectations of the newcomer but we are mostly old, tired and accustomed to our own ways and struggle with all of this. Frustration ensues. Everyone is unhappy. Some abandon ship (retirement, other positions, etc.) and we are left with fewer leadership resources. The leadership vacuum grows and gains momentum. Discouragement spreads. The remaining leaders struggle to keep the ship on course. Work-life is no longer fun, it is constant struggle. Woe is me.


Okay, okay, okay. . .enough of my whining. What if something really wonderful were to come of this? What if we had an absolutely lovely transition and things even improved (not sure what that might look like, but here goes. . .).


Possibility 4.
A new VP is secured. In fact, the CEO secures TWO VPs to replace the one who is departing. Her responsibilities are split (as she has been one to take on more and more over the years, doing a remarkable amount of work, remarkably well!). Now, there is a VP for Clinical Services and a VP for Nursing Services. Thus, our new VP does not have to keep such a close eye on so many departments and can engage nursing (his/her tribe) differently and with much more animation than we are accustomed to!

Seeing the opportunity to grow the work, this new VP creates a title unknown here, the Director. Into this new title, s/he promotes three of the managers. This forms three practice arenas that can be managed, measured and maintained more easily because of their internal homogeneity and new leadership. What follows is the opportunity for other promotions. Nurses who have demonstrated leadership skills and capacities are promoted. Several others rise from the frontline to fill the spaces created in their wake and a whole new energy for what is possible emerges.

I get to sit by and watch these marvelous changes take place. I make my supportive-role contribution to the new leaders much as I did under the former VP. I take feedback and make my adaptations so that I can better accommodate to their needs and priorities. My work continues to be joyful. Grateful am I!