Understanding My Why

 

I remember the day like it was yesterday. The air of excitement and anticipation filled my small body and developing mind. That was the day, unknowingly, I discovered my why in life. To hear my mother tell the story is to hear how I found the purpose that has moved me through my life. I was five years old when I watched with anticipation as these boxes, filled with a whole world waiting for me, were carried through our front door. I don’t remember how many boxes there were, I just remember I could not wait to open them. I had been on a search for truth and knowledge from a young age. I have heard the stories many times and I love to hear them to this day. I am known as the “Why, Why, Baby”. I wanted to know why the sun did not burn out? I questioned the sun burning always because logs in a fire burn out and turn into a pile of ash. I started asking questions my mother could no longer answer, so in wanting to encourage my thirst for knowledge, she bought me my first set of encyclopedias at age five!

To know me is to know that I am determined to find the facts and I don’t take things at face value. To know and understand the why, is to know why we do what we do as humans.

Knowledge is power, and it is something no one can take from you. Knowledge is no good if you don’t share it though. This is the premise and essence of me that guided me toward the nursing field. I have compassion for people and wanting to help them and the best way I know how to help them is to give them knowledge, power, and some control back for their lives.

Working as a nurse I saw how the understanding and new knowledge people received changed their outlook on their lives. Knowledge removed some fear because there was less of the unknown. As time passed, I realized there was the knowledge that was lacking, transparency of understanding of why I was being asked to perform a certain way or why the focus had shifted. Through this journey of evolving into a more seasoned nurse, I began asking the ‘Why’ questions again. Why are we doing this? Why are we now being asked to do this? It was then that I knew I wanted to start working toward a leadership position. I was a nurse that people sought out for information and knew that I had abilities to empower people and encourage them. I realized those were traits of a leader. I wanted to do better though. Where I saw patients lacking knowledge, I also saw that nurses on the front lines were disengaged and lacking knowledge. The knowledge that could give them the power to really affect how quality health care was delivered and sustain it.

It has always been my ‘Why’, that has driven me. In Simon Sinek’s video, How great leaders inspire action (2009), he speaks about how people will follow you or buy something from you if you explain to them your why. It is our biological programming that we all have. It is how we rationalize or make sense of something before we commit to it. Leaders have to explain the why of what is being asked before people can buy into what is being asked of them. My whole life I have been operating from a biological tenet that has driven my why, my purpose that I have been working towards. In the video by Michael Jr (2015), he demonstrates how knowing your why gives your what more impact because you are walking in your purpose. I pursue becoming a better leader because I know my, why in life. I want to know and therefore share to affect change and improve the lives of those around me. What is the purpose of success and happiness if you don’t have anyone to share it with? I want others to succeed and know their why. For others to know their why they need the knowledge to explore and find their why.

This journey of leadership in nursing is an ever-changing one. Learning new systems, processes, and people, as they come and go, is this complex and difficult to navigate the field. Knowing my why, and wanting to know the why of everything is what sustains me. I seek to improve and that is what has led me to pursue my Master’s in Health Care Administration. I carefully sought the right degree tract and the right school for me. I have always had a Catholic or Jesuit education since kindergarten. I wanted the quest for knowledge with the accompaniment of compassion for people through Christ. In our text, Albert et al. (2022), discuss leading in a world of constant movement. Leadership in healthcare has shifted from hierarchical, of telling people what to do, to the ownership of healthcare delivery and quality directed and influenced by those doing the work. They are the experts. In the video from David Marquet (2014), he gives a great example of how he received the best inspection results by switching to and deference to expertise. He did this by asking 2 questions when they asked for orders. First, he asked them, is it safe. This was to show competence in themselves. Second, he asked, is it the right thing to do? This to provide clarity in their own knowledge and expertise.  Moving leadership to where those that hold the information exemplifies what a high-reliability organization is built upon. “The worker is increasingly in control” (Albert et al., 2022, p. 3). In my quest to become a transformational leader and the journey to not just affect change but to sustain real leadership is to empower those doing the work to become the leaders. Engaging the staff to own the issues they see and also encourage them to trust themselves that they have the answers and the knowledge. They are the leaders of our team.

It is not my pursuit to challenge myself to move past the hierarchical management style that even the workers expect and move towards and change the culture to the people are the leaders, innovators, and creators of how healthcare will be shaped in the future. My goal is to support a healthy work environment as we transition and still maintain accountability and properly institute and manage human resources under this new form of leadership.

 

 

References

Albert, N., Pappas, S., Porter O’Grady, T., & Malloch, K. (2022). Quantum leadership: Creating sustainable value in health care (6^th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning, LLC.

Marquest, D. (2014, May 17). What is leadership? [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYKH2uSax8U&t=11s

Maxwell, J. (2016, June 22). 5 levels of leadership| John Maxwell. [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytAV0jcIVPc

Porter O’Grady, T. (2016, April 22). AONE Thought leader: Tim Porter O’Grady. [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytAV0jcIVPc

Sinek, S. (2009, September). How great leaders inspire action. [Video]. TED.  https://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action

Youtube. (2015, September 10). Michael Jr: Know your why. [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZe5y2D60YU