How to Nurture Leadership on Clinical Teams—Without You

READ TIME 4 MINUTES

In today’s issue, I will show you how to nurture safe space leadership on your clinical team.

When you learn to lead this way and help others to as well, you duplicate yourself, successions happens naturally, and when you progress in your leadership career, you leave behind a legacy of leadership that can step into your role and others.

Trust me when I say this: Your relational equity with your clinical team determines your level of success for you, your leadership career and your team’s clinical results. And relational equity is directly correlated with how psychologically and neurobiologically safe people feel in your presence and with each other.

Unfortunately, most healthcare leaders make one of two crucial mistakes.

They think that their team should be professional enough to lead themselves.

And/or they think they are too busy to prioritize this.

This mindset creates team cultures that are reactive, resistant, reclusive or retaliatory—and new graduates and veteran superstars—don’t stay on teams like that.

How do I know? I spent more years than I like to admit being in this old style of command and control hierarchical leadership and management, and it made me and the people around me suffer in ways that I hope I can help others avoid.

Why does this matter? I can give you 5 reasons:

1. Strong professional relationships on a team are fundamental for retention and recruitment.
2. A safe space on teams is fundamental to building team trust and connection.
3. When people feel connected, they don’t need to like each other.
4. Having purpose transcends personality differences.
5. Teams grow through attraction, not promotion.

Ok, so hopefully, I’ve convinced you that this matters and that there might be something worth considering here—now the real question is: What should you do?

Recognize that what got you here won’t get you there.

There are many incredible habits that clinical leaders develop to grow their careers and leadership. Work ethic, project management skills, clinical competence, etc. Then, they start leading teams and use the same skills with their team, and they work—until they don’t.

It’s important to identify some habits' limits related to relational equity and creating a safe space.

Here are some 3 habits to be aware of:

1. Relying on intellect and clinical competence alone: There’s nothing wrong with being smart or competent; everyone strives to be, but this habit can become a trap. Dr. Stephen Porges, who created Polyvagal Theory, coined the term Neuroception to describe how our nervous system scans for signals of threat or safety below our conscious awareness. He goes on to share that not only is our neuroception often inaccurate, but it also registers threat when we feel assessed, judged, or scrutinized. When leaders and teams focus solely on intellect and clinical competence alone, it can signal a threat to many on the team and repel people, which may be counterproductive.   
2. Being task-focused & working hard: Connection before content is much more than a nice way to start a meeting. It expresses the value of relationship before getting to everything that needs to be done, but it goes deeper than that. When relationships are the foundation, and people feel safe, they feel energized and equipped to work harder, longer and more creatively. When leaders and teams focus disproportionately on tasks and working hard, they get tired and worn out, and the joy gets hard to find.
3. Being focused on critical paths: Critical path management and binary solutions or cause and effect carry the hope of progress, forward motion and out-of-the-box solutions. Everything in healthcare is moving in different directions rapidly, and when you add human beings to the mix, complexity increases exponentially. If teams and leaders are not careful, they can get locked into ways of thinking that keep them stuck in problem loops that repeat endlessly.

So, what can you do to create a safe space and relational equity on your team? It's not as hard as you think.

Step 1: Admit you don't have all the answers.

This might be tough, but it's important. When you admit you don't know everything, it changes your team's mindset to be in a shared leadership practice where you are all human beings working together shoulder to shoulder. No one is more important than anyone else, even though the roles differ.

Step 2: Understand that what worked before might not work now.

What got you here won’t get you there. Complexity invites us to hold best practices and methods loosely because they are in constant flux. It is also important to recognize that your clinical mastery or competence is exactly the same approach you need to take with leadership and generating a safe space—it takes the time it takes + practice. Focus on progress and practice, not perfection.

Step 3: Let go and let your team do the work with your shoulder-to-shoulder support.

It is easy to get sucked into fixing problems when you know the answer or the “right” thing to do. That is not your job anymore. That’s theirs. Your job is to support, coach, teach, and train them not to need you and to lead themselves and each other.

So, to wrap it up:

1. Admit you don’t have all the answers.
2. Recognize what got you here won’t get you there.
3. Let go and let your team do their job so you can do yours. 

Here are 3 action steps you can take today:

1. Identify your relational equity level on your team on a scale between 1 and 10.
2. Identify what your clinical leader's level of relational equity is on the same scale.
3. Identify one person on your team you don’t normally talk to and check-in.

That's it for today. I hope you enjoyed it.

Choose a Safe Space Made Simple podcast accompaniment for this newsletter:

Safe Space Made Simple Episodes

Whenever you're ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:

1. Safe Space Team Building Workshops:   Are you an executive leader dealing with burnout and low retention? A healthcare manager with disengaged teams? Or a clinical leader facing staff resistance? Our 4-hour Safe Space Team Building Workshops can help. Join over 1,500 healthcare professionals who've experienced the transformation of team cohesion by fostering workshops that foster respect, trust, and support that make your job easier. Reach out today to book a workshop and improve your team's culture.

2. Safe Space Group & Team Coaching: Are you struggling with burnout, retention, or morale? Safe Space Systemic Group and Team Coaching can help. Join over 1,000 healthcare leaders who've transformed their practices with psychological and neurobiological safety. Through group and team coaching, you'll learn to create a workplace where everyone feels safe, connected, and energized. Unlock 25 years of expertise with proven methods and actionable strategies. Transform your leadership and your team's well-being today.

3. Safe Space Training & Mentorship:  Are you struggling with burnout, retention, or morale? Safe Space Training and Mentorship can help. Join over 500 healthcare leaders who've transformed their practices by integrating safe space-informed coaching. Learn to emotionally regulate, co-regulate, and lead with psychological and neurobiological safety as your foundation. Transform your healthcare system by first transforming the one system you fully control—yourself. Direct message me to arrange a consultation and start your journey today.