As we write this editorial, the world is amid a health crisis. The coronavirus has dominated the news and the daily activities of nurse leaders around the country in their organizations and in their communities. This disruptive force has shown us the importance of complexity leadership and how relationships and networks are changing the way we work together, use data, and incorporate technology in our work.
The complexity leadership style breaks hierarchical leader-centric linear ways of being we have experienced in organizations through the industrial age. Dan Weberg identifies this leadership theory as "a continual process that stems from collaboration, complex systems thinking, and innovation mindsets."1(p268) Collaboration starts with forming and nurturing a variety of relationships within health care as well as the broader community. Complex systems thinking challenges nursing leaders to recognize the interconnectedness of every person and every process. We can no longer address problems in a vacuum without examining the influences of the system. Innovation goes beyond thinking creatively to engaging stakeholders to go from idea to implementation. Of importance is the ability to sustain those successful innovations we have implemented, especially once they have been determined to be beneficial to our organizations, individuals, and communities.
Leading care everywhere involves health care innovation and complexity leadership inside the traditional hospital and beyond. Nurses are indeed leading care everywhere from the home to the community to the largest academic health centers and from caring for the individual to populations identified by demographics or purpose or structure.
In this edition, our authors demonstrate successful projects and profound ideas, which recognize that leadership in our current environments is increasingly broader, more linked, continuum-based, and interprofessional. Many of the articles submitted address vulnerable populations in our communities. For example, Joy Parchment describes a collaboration between the emergency department staff in a major Florida system and a variety of state and local organizations to address human trafficking. The multidisciplinary task force within the organization invited community members and law enforcement to engage in addressing an important social issue and creating a policy algorithm to identify and support victims.
Involving the whole community, Weston describes the health care organization as an anchor mission. Building relationships beyond traditional health care, she and her team describe ways to support the community economically such as buying local produce and supplies, hiring local workers, and investing in underfunded neighborhoods. Addressing Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) beyond traditional medicine can improve the overall health of the community.
Arnold and colleagues share their experiences on the importance of addressing SDOH as a means to improve health outcomes in a vulnerable heart failure population. During the transitional period from hospital to home, nurse leaders must be more vigilant than ever and develop innovative ways to facilitate patient self-management, promote ongoing access to care, and cultivate efficient communication.
Shirey and colleagues share a framework for sustainability arguing that having such an approach in place helps leaders to continue valuable innovations over time. Having in place such a framework emphasizes the importance of complexity leadership values needed to remain nimble in challenging times.
In keeping with the journal's yearlong focus on complexity leadership in health care, the articles included in this issue represent exemplars of our changing industry. We are honored to bring this incredible work to our readers and to emphasize the value of leading anywhere and under any conditions.
-Mary O'Connor, PhD, RN, CENP, FACHE
Notre Dame of Maryland University
Baltimore, Maryland
-Maria R. Shirey, PhD, MBA, RN, NEA-BC,
ANEF, FACHE, FNAP, FAAN
Jane H. Brock - Florence Nightingale
Endowed Professor in Nursing
Associate Dean, Clinical and Global
Partnerships University of Alabama at Birmingham
Birmingham, Alabama
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