How to climb up the ladder

[AllAngelsRN]

Hello all,

I have the upmost respect for you and would value your input. I recently changed paths. I was in CRNA school but decided it wasn't worth it for me. So now, I feel like the world is wide open for me and I can do anything.

I always have felt that my place would be in management/administration. I would like if you would kindly share with me your ways of climbing up the ladder and moving up. I only know ICU and only worked as a staff nurse. Never had the experience of being a charge nurse or anything else. How did you go about going from an RNs to a manager or a director?

Thank you in advance for all your input.

[Orca, ADN, ASN, RN]

Hello all,

I have the upmost respect for you and would value your input. I recently changed paths. I was in CRNA school but decided it wasn't worth it for me. So now, I feel like the world is wide open for me and I can do anything.

I always have felt that my place would be in management/administration. I would like if you would kindly share with me your ways of climbing up the ladder and moving up. I only know ICU and only worked as a staff nurse. Never had the experience of being a charge nurse or anything else. How did you go about going from an RNs to a manager or a director?

Thank you in advance for all your input.

It's "utmost", but I digress.

A good place to start is by doing more than the minimum necessary to get by. In order to be noticed, you have to stand out from the crowd. I volunteered for additional assignments, especially those that no one else wanted. This shows management that you are willing to take on difficult and unpleasant tasks and do them well. Once when I knew that my boss was having problems explaining to upper administration a difficult issue that was unnecessarily eating up a lot of staff time, I compiled a detailed report of the situation on my own that he submitted verbatim and got the problem rectified. The more things you can do to show your leadership qualities the better. On one occasion I was offered a job because I once did something above and beyond the call to help another agency. It was not done with an eye toward eventually catching on with them, just the way I have always worked. I had forgotten it, but they hadn't.

[brownbook]

I never thought about climbing the ladder.

One night in ICU, due to sick calls, I was the only ICU experienced RN. It was me and two LVN's who had floated to ICU before.

There were 3 stable vent patients and other miscellaneous patients. (Thankfully the mind forgets the details!) We all worked together, no staff or patients were harmed, made it through the night just fine.

That morning I put a note on the time clock that all hospital staff use. Gave a brief description of our night and praising the LVN's for jumping in and getting through a tough shift.

About a week later administration asked me to be the hospital wide House Administrative Nurse for the night shift.

[Carolina Southpaw]

I also agree with the posts you have received from others. At the same time, there are things you can do to begin to learn how to be a manager. I would like to recommend that you start with the One Minute Manager. It is a little book and is down and dirty, although it isn't from a healthcare perspective. The other book that I recommend would be Hardwiring Excellence by Quint Studer. This book will gio into details that you probably haven't considered. If after you read it, you still find this work exciting, then you will know. If you read this and find yourself not wanting to be in a position of having to be the one to have those "difficult" conversations with employees, then you will know to look in another direction. Best of luck to you! The best thing about nursing is that you can change your role, but always be a NURSE!

[AllAngelsRN]

Thank you Carolina Southpaw. Very insightful comment. I will follow your advice.