After 13 successful years as a nursing leader in a Truven top 10 healthcare organization, I was burnt out. I had transformed the leadership landscape by promoting 90% of my direct reports to leadership roles while navigating pregnancy, new motherhood of two children, and completing my Master’s Degree. I was proud, but I knew this pace wasn’t sustainable. I left the inpatient setting for a break. 

That's when I learned that my situation wasn't unique, it was universal. As a nursing consultant for Fortune 100 & 500 companies, I observed a common challenge across hundreds of organizations nationwide: Clinicians promoted to leadership lacked the essential skills and resilience needed for success, leading to burnout, increased turnover, and overwhelmed CNOs forced to cover director roles.

So in 2019, I added coaching to my consulting work and watched as my clients began to thrive. Nursing leaders are empathetic individuals who consistently over give and skimp on self and life care to the point of burnout. There was an often quipped joke in the hospital of “congratulations on your promotion, condolences on your impending divorce” Unfortunately, it was often true. And it doesn’t have to be. Nurses who are confident in their leadership identity and emotionally resilient are more likely to stay and to support the organization to achieve their mission and vision. 

Now I offer these services through my LEADWell Framework, a robust leadership development program focused on leadership identity, personal productivity and holistic well-being. The LEADWell Framework is proven to forge resilient, confident nursing leadership teams -- the cornerstone of elevating patient care to unprecedented levels of excellence.