Successfully Transitioning from Nursing Peer to Leader (Podcast)

When nurses transition into a leadership position, it can be challenging to move from a peer-to-peer relationship to a leader-to-peer one. How will it affect collegiality and friendships? How should you lead those you once worked alongside?

These are the kinds of questions Kristen Vargo, DNP, RN, NE-BC faced when she accepted her first leadership role as an assistant nurse manager on the cardiovascular medicine and heart failure step-down unit at Cleveland Clinic’s Main Campus where she worked as a clinical nurse.

“I was one that was really focused on making sure people felt like I was a fair leader and one that was not going to have favorites or make decisions because I was friends with somebody,” says Vargo, now Director of Nursing for the Neurological Institute and Orthopaedics & Rheumatology at Main Campus. “That was one thing I was really cognizant of when I transitioned and something that I still hold true as a leader today.”

Vargo shares advice for successfully shifting from peer nurse to leader in this episode of Cleveland Clinic’s Nurse Essentials podcast. She discusses:

• Landing a leadership role that your peers also sought
• Having difficult conversations with former colleagues and holding them accountable
• Forming relationships and building a support system with other leaders in your position
• Mentoring new nurse leaders that come on board after you
• Trying not to tackle too much, too soon when you take on a new position
• Navigating social media pitfalls

Click the podcast player above to listen to the episode now, or read on for a short, edited excerpt. Check out more Nurse Essentials episodes at my.clevelandclinic.org/podcasts/nurse-essentials or wherever you get your podcasts.

Podcast excerpt

Podcast host Carol Pehotsky, DNP, RN, NEA-BC: Sometimes folks come into these roles with all this energy. … “I see a million different ways we could improve, and all these things that bugged me as a bedside nurse. I'm going to tackle them all." That's not a great key to success. What's your advice to that leader?

Vargo: This is one of the biggest struggles I see new leaders kind of face and tackle. So first, all of us are very overzealous in this organization, and we often find ourselves doing too much too soon. I think new leaders need to be incredibly mindful of what changes they're going to make before they've decided to build relationships and gain that trust and respect of their caregivers, particularly, if you are taking a leadership role in areas that you do not know the caregivers.

I think having one-on-one conversations with caregivers in that transition is essential. Really learning, "What matters most to you, what are some things that are going well? What are some areas that you do see opportunity?" And during these conversations, I've always found it really important to understand how people like to be recognized.

My current team thinks I'm crazy because I actually have a spreadsheet of some of their favorite things. So, if I am recognizing them, I try to tailor it to that. I think finding a way to connect with individuals during these conversations is essential. And when leaders take this laundry list of those opportunities that caregivers think need improvement and try to tackle all of them at one time, it is too challenging.

I also have found where leaders try and make changes that are incredibly impactful to caregivers, prior to building relationships with them.

Pehotsky: Oh, I'm going to come and fix this thing.

Vargo: Right. It is really challenging. You haven't had time to connect, to build a relationship and understand how people are going to react to changes that you're going to make. So it's not only really difficult for the caregivers, but also very difficult for the manager.

I think finding a couple quick wins and identifying a couple things that are frustrating to the caregivers is essential to start getting their buy-in. So then when you do need to make a change that caregivers might not necessarily like or agree with, you know how to have that conversation with people and navigate those situations.