I am absolutely convinced that the unit manager is pivotal in the success of their organisations, and also the progression of their profession – but they have to have high impact to do this – and this means empowering those around them to expand their scope of capability and responsibility.
For example, I have helped middle managers move from a limiting micro-manager where they spent 100% of their time worrying about the work their people were doing – or even doing for them – to being an enabling manager who has ramped up their people’s ability and off-loaded a whole of lot of worry and busy work. This has allowed them to shift their focus to a more strategic level and given them more time to do the higher level work, build systems and people.
This is one of the reasons why I felt the need to offer programs under the academy. I am regularly told that the nurses who go through my programs take a seat at the table – they have the understanding and the confidence to actively contribute to the conversations about the financial, people and strategic influences of their Units and the organisation more broadly.
