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Participants Challenged to Find the
Leader Within: Chapter Leaders Focus on Developing Skill Sets
AACN chapter leaders were challenged to find the
leaders within themselves and their chapters at the Chapter Leadership
Development Workshop, conducted as a preconference of NTI 2002 in Atlanta, Ga.
Joan Vitello-Cicciu, RN, PhD, FAAN, vice
president of patient care services at St. Anne's Hospital, Fall River, Mass.,
and a past president of AACN, opened the workshop with remarks focusing on the
inner journey of self-discovery that healthcare must make to achieve better
external leadership skills.
Vitello-Cicciu discussed the importance of
emotional intelligence and the ability to identify emotions, integrate emotions
into thought, understand emotion and manage emotions. Being aware of emotional
intelligence improves leadership abilities because it allows people to project a
positive and constructive atmosphere.
�It is our choice as leaders to project more
light than shadows,� she said.
Vitello-Cicciu created a model incorporating the
four skills that AACN's Leadership Development Work Group has identified as key
to successful leadership: self-awareness, dialogue, navigating change and
conflict management. Vitello-Cicciu's model tied the skills together through
emotional intelligence and appreciative inquiry. In this model, a leader must
embody emotional intelligence to achieve self-awareness and successful conflict
management. Appreciative inquiry is the methodology a leader must embrace to
promote dialogue and navigate change.
Developing Self-Awareness
According to Vitello-Cicciu, the four qualities
of emotional intelligence�identifying, integrating, understanding and managing
emotions�are enhanced when leaders focus on self-awareness.
�Self-awareness is taking one's emotional
temperature,� Vitello-Cicciu said. She encouraged AACN chapter leaders to assess
their personal emotions, strengths and weaknesses, and to define their purpose
and vision as chapter leaders. Leaders can engage in activities that develop
emotional perception, such as people watching, acquiring more active listening
skills, sharing emotional stories or accounts of leadership difficulties,
relaxation techniques, and stress and anger management.
Emotional intelligence also promotes conflict
management, she said.
Vitello-Cicciu also emphasized appreciative
inquiry, a set of principles that helps leaders promote dialogue and navigate
change. Appreciative inquiry focuses on valuing what is, dreaming of what might
be, designing what should be and focusing on what will be.
Unlike problem solving, which assumes that an
organization, person or system is a difficulty that must be resolved,
appreciative inquiry assumes that an organization, person or system is a mystery
to be embraced, Vitello-Cicciu said.
�A healthcare leader is a person who is able to
ignite the spirit of people within their sphere of influence and to co-create
and make real a shared vision, goal or purpose,� she said.
Building a Dream Chapter
Anne Wojner, RN, MSN, CCRN, CNS, also a past
president of AACN, called on leadership to find creative ways to maintain the
long-term health of their chapters.
Wojner said that the optimal chapter setting is
one where members feel safe and secure, and can find other nurses who can relate
to the stresses they face. Creating such an atmosphere leads to improved
recruitment and retention.
Determining whether members see the chapter as a
welcoming environment requires taking a hard look at how it feels to come into a
meeting from the perspective of leadership and of members, she said. Leadership
should engage in honest discussions with members to determine if the chapter is
what they hoped for and, if not, what they think the chapter needs. Such
discussions can break down perceptions that newer members are not as committed
and that leadership is unwilling to consider change.
Leadership must be willing to change quickly to
meet the needs of the chapter and accept the possibility that not every change
will be successful, she said. This often can mean overturning traditions for
innovations and involving chapter members in implementing change.
�We have to work through the members�it's not
about me, it's about we,� Wojner said.
Building the Future
Perhaps the most important function of chapter
leadership is to identify future leadership. To ensure the continued vitality of
the chapter, this search should stretch beyond the likeable members who mirror
the current leadership, Wojner said. Instead, consider provocateurs who
challenge the status quo, see the chapter through new eyes and can identify
unanticipated problems and develop new strategic directions for the chapter to
take, she said.
Another approach is to recruit members for
brainstorming sessions where seemingly bizarre ideas are encouraged. These
off-the-wall ideas often contain the blueprint for a workable plan, she said.
�How can we think outside the box to come up
with new ideas?� she asked.
Wojner also challenged chapters to form their
own vision statements to help guide the chapter's development. Although these
vision statements should be consistent with the national AACN vision, they
should also carve out distinctive identities that define the chapter's preferred
future in ways that inspire the membership.
�We have so much passion, and we have to make
sure that passion comes across in the work that chapters do,� she said.
Round Up for Cardiovascular Nursing
Members of the Planning Committee for the
eighth annual �Heart of Cardiovascular
Nursing 2002� symposium, cosponsored by the Greater Evansville (Ind.) Chapter of
AACN, Deaconess Hospital and the University of Southern Indiana, were (from
left,
kneeling) Diana Everley, Bonnie Vance, Ellen Wathen and Lynn Schnautz and (from
left, standing) Peggy Graul, Maria Shirey, Becky Malotte, Sandra Duvall, Sally
Finley,
Karen Fox, Jean Hunt, Linda Schile and Karen Thompson. The one-day event, titled
�Fix My Achy-Breaky Heart,� was held in March on the campus of USI.
What's on Tap
Hawaii
The Hawaiian Islands Chapter will present a CCRN/Systems
Review on July 19, 2002, in Honolulu. For more information, contact chapter
President Sharon Chun at (808) 833-7697 or e-mail Teresa Evangelista at
kurt.terry@verizon.net.
Illinois
The Northwest Chicago Area Chapter will present
�The Art and Science of Fluid Management� on Sept. 18, 2002, at Lutheran General
Hospital, Park Ridge, Ill. For more information, contact Marilyn Arnold at (630)
833-4824; fax, (630) 993-4232; e-mail,
marnold@emhc.org.
The Northwest Chicago Area Chapter will present
�Cardiac Case Studies�Markers and More� on Oct. 16, 2002, at Lutheran General
Hospital, Park Ridge, Ill. For more information, contact Marilyn Arnold at (630)
833-4824; fax, (630) 993-4232; e-mail,
marnold@emhc.org.
Pennsylvania
The Lehigh Valley Chapter will present
�Nurse-Fest 2002� on Sept. 16 and 17, 2002, in Bethlehem, Pa. For more
information, contact Deborah Kumar at (610) 967-6161; fax, (610) 965-6210;
e-mail, debi@nurse-beat.com.
Does your chapter have a program or special
event coming up? Send the information to AACN News, 101 Columbia, Aliso Viejo,
CA 92656; fax, (949) 362-2049; e-mail,
aacnnews@aacn.org.
Chapter Presidents Luncheon: �CSI' Co-Star
Relates the Difference His Nurses Made
Twenty-three years ago, then 31-year-old Robert
David Hall was �working as a DJ at a third-rate radio station while also
studying acting and performing in a lousy band.� One day on his way to a
recording job, a drunken truck driver plowed an 18-wheeler through the
chain-link median, destroying Hall's Volkswagen in a fiery crash that resulted
in severe burns over 65% of his body and the loss of both legs.
A three-month stay in the critical care unit at
the University of California-Irvine followed, as did eight amputation procedures
and 25 skin grafts.
Today, Hall co-stars in the top-rated �CSI:
Crime Scene Investigation� television series as coroner David Robbins. But he
has never forgotten those harrowing days and nights, nor the acts of kindness
performed by the nurses in his critical care unit.
I read the exemplars (Circle of Excellence
Awards) and studied your faces and the program, and read your stories. I want to
remind you of just how deeply you can touch people, and how you touched me, how
life-changing your passion and your compassion is,� Hall said at the annual NTI
2002 Chapter Presidents Luncheon, sponsored by Nellcor/Tyco Healthcare.
Nursing Team
�I make my living as an actor, so I know the
difference between reality and magic,� Hall said. �But I also know, just as you
do, that magic and real life come together all the time.�
Even now, 23 years after his ordeal, Hall
remembers the names and faces of the �angels� in the ICU. After arriving at the
University of California-Irvine Trauma Center, Hall was medicated for
approximately 36 hours, before waking with his right leg missing, his left leg
mangled, tubes in his nose and his entire body wracked with pain. The first face
he saw was that of Carla, a critical care nurse, whose soft brown eyes and
loving demeanor reminded him of his mother, he said.
�She was also one heck of an ICU nurse,� he
said. �This woman was such an expert and so caring, it just blew me away.�
As his stay in the burn unit continued, Franny
saw his fear and taught him deep breathing exercises and self-hypnosis, which
took just enough of an edge off.
Beth was the nurse who took him to the
debridement tank. Despite the fact that he was feeling vulnerable and afraid,
she made him feel courageous. One of the pain-killing medications he took during
this session elicited a dream where he was a child at a shop full of all types
of Popsicles, including his favorite flavor, root beer. After he told Beth, his
reward for each session was a root beer Popsicle.
One night after receiving treatment, Hall
returned to his room to find it filled with candles. His fianc�e was there
waiting, as Pat had arranged for grape juice in wine glasses and �lousy hospital
food,� but served on a tablecloth.
�It was one of the most romantic evenings I've
ever had,� he said. There also was Victor, who was proud of the profession. When
people would mistakenly call him �doctor,� Victor would politely and proudly
correct them, Hall said. Victor also made sure that Hall received a steady
supply of John D. McDonald mystery novels.
Touching Goodbye
About a week before he was to be discharged,
five of the nurses put Hall in a wheelchair and took him the three blocks to
Anaheim Stadium, the home of the California (now Anaheim) Angels.
�In the 5th inning, on the outfield scoreboard,
I saw �To our friend David Hall, get well soon, Your friends in the ICU,' � he
said before pausing to wipe a tear. �It was the best ballgame I've ever been
to.�
Circle of Excellence Award Nominations for
Chapters Due July 15
Awards that recognize contributions by AACN
chapters are among the Circle of Excellence awards presented each year.
Nominations for all except the President's Award for chapters and the CCRN
Certification Drive Award for 2002 are due July 15, 2002. Following is
information about these awards:
� Pioneering Spirit Award�recognizes chapters
whose contributions have influenced acute and critical care nursing in any
setting. One chapter from each membership category will be awarded $1,000 toward
participation in the 2003 NTI in San Antonio, Texas, or toward any AACN product.
� AACN Sharon Connor Excellence in Chapter
Leadership Development Award�promotes the development of AACN chapter leaders by
recognizing premier chapter leadership development plans, outcomes and effective
leadership transitions. The criteria include an assessment of the chapter's
support of the four Cs: communication, connection, consistency and contribution.
One chapter from each membership category is selected to receive $1,000.
� Outstanding Chapter Communications System
Award�recognizes chapters that exemplify effective communication and promote
AACN's messages in the chapter and/or the community. One chapter from each
category is awarded $1,000.
� Outstanding Chapter Educational Program
Award�recognizes chapters that exemplify team-teaching, program quality and
learning connection opportunities. Efforts by individual chapters, chapters
working with other chapters and chapters working with outside collaborators are
recognized separately. One chapter from each category is selected to receive
$1,000.
For more information about the Chapter Circle of
Excellence Awards program or to obtain an awards guide, call (800) 899-2226 and
request Item #1011 or visit the AACN Web site at
http://www.aacn.org.
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