Leading with Mastery and Heart ... The Coaching Companion for Thriving Nurse Leaders, Catherine Robinson-Walker. St Louis, MO: Elsevier; 2021. Soft Cover. 160 pages. $32.95.
Many of Florence's nurses grew frustrated. The hard work, long hours, and horror of the hospitals took their toll. She had to learn to manage them through trial and error in the middle of the medical crisis.
Florence Nightingale Museum of Nursing in London, England
This quote is taken from a photograph I took of the poster board story of Florence being called to help in the war in Crimea due to a medical crisis. More soldiers were dying of disease than injury on the battlefield. And here we are, in yet another medical crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic. Although many new leaders may feel like they are learning on the job, what is different today is nursing has leadership coaches and evidence-based leadership books. The author of this book is a Master Certified Coach who led a 10-day leadership program that launched the Florence Nightingale Museum's building campaign in 1986.
Leading with Mastery and Hope is rich in evidence and high on guidance you can use even during a medical crisis. On my own reflection of our current medical crisis, I wanted to know, "Could a nurse leader from the front line to the board room find help to lead during a medical crisis such as a pandemic?" There were words of wisdoms in the very first Section, Part 1: The Stakes are High and You Must Change (pp. 2-3).
What are you doing and who are you "being" as a leader"? Think of crucial events in your professional life, and remember what happened. Reflect on what you learned in those moments, focusing on what the experiences taught you about leadership. (p. 2)
This is one of those printed books you will want on your shelf written by a leadership expert with a lot of knowledge and heart.
The book is organized into 5 sections, each with 2 to 4 parts, all of which build on each other.
* Section A: Knowing Who You Are as a Leader
* Section B: Building Relationships That Thrive
* Section C: Leading Change
* Section D: Claiming Your Power and Your Place
* Section E: Leading with Mastery and Heart
While it is helpful to read the book as it is organized, it is also set for the reader to find a particular issue or challenge without having to go through the whole book. In other words, the author, in her understanding of demands on today's nurse leaders, made the book very user-friendly. In addition to an index, the table of contents is logically laid out in bold letters, making it easy for the reader to find their particular issue of the moment. The Foreword was written by the CEO Emeritus of the American Organization for Nursing Leadership (Pamela Thompson) and the CEO Emeritus of the American Nurses Association Enterprise (Marla Weston). Thompson and Weston succinctly point out one of the most salient reasons to get your own copy of this book. "A formulaic approach to one's professional development will not be successful in today's complex and rapidly evolving health care environment. Leadership today requires deep reflection, authenticity, and a balance between courage and humility" (p. vii). Both the book and the Foreword were written before the pandemic. This book will have a very long shelf life. For there is much work to be done to fix the health care system based on learnings from the pandemic. Nursing must continue to lead in these efforts from wherever their chair sits.
-Elizabeth (Betty) Falter, MS, BSN, RN, NEA-BC