I am working as a Nurse Retention Specialist at a large hospital system. We have an area of great concern with 40 employees, most are RN's, in a critical care environment. We recently raised RN pay scales but to no avail. This group continually complains about wages, benefits and the organization(and their mgr who has changed twice), more than any other dept in the system. This group has >40% turnover in the past 3 years. Consultants have been brought in (twice) and nothing seems to quiet this group down. I am new in my job and will be doing 1:1 interviews with the staff about their concerns. Afterwards, I'll be looking at compiling the data and trying to see what needs the most work. Any creative ideas for team building or crisis intervention (it's almost past a crisis!) I'm been on the job for 1 month-I'm open for suggestions! Thanks

-- C.A. (CinLynn78@aol.com), May 10, 2001

Answers

C.A.

You are describing a group that knows how to get attention but does not know how to fulfill their own needs. They see what's wrong, not what is good or what works. This is a team dynamic we see often in organizations that have gone through a lot of change (in leadership, expectations, union negotiation, mergers). In our experience, nurses also have what we call superhero/victim/bully triangles in their management relationships. This means that they are alternatively looking to be rescued (so be careful, if you become their white knight, they will persecute you later for it), and looking to blame others for their situation. This triangle does not lead to success, its more like a hampster wheel.

What your team needs is a dynamic vision that they have created themselves about how they want to operate as a team and what they want to achieve as individuals within that team (collaborative buy- in). If you create the vision for them, (directed buy-in) they will meet you with resistance. If you help them to discover their own creativity and self-authority to develop a vision for themselves, they can't rail at you.

Forging self-responsibility in them is about your only avenue when that insidious triangle is at work. They want to be right about how done wrong they've been. Help them find a way to do right for themselves. Money is not a renewable energy source. They have to find their own source of energy that works for them. Look for positive deviance - somewhere in your organization, someone is not complaining, they are finding ways to be part of the team, delivering value not only to others but also to themselves. That person is self- refueling. Go observe.

Best wishes,

Lorraine Rieger Spirit West Management, Inc. www.spiritwest.com

-- Lorraine Rieger (LorraineR@spiritwest.com), May 22, 2001.