The two books reviewed are useful for nursing leadership. The first book, Nine Minutes on Monday: The Quick and Easy Way to Go From Manager to Leader, is for those who seek to improve and build upon their current role as a manager and move to the level of also being a leader. The second book, Outcome Assessment in Advanced Practice Nursing (4th edition), is an area of leadership that is critical to success as a leader and becoming de rigueur for a leader. I highly recommend both books, although they are quite different in topic, readability, and purpose.
The first book was recommended to me by a friend who is in administration and very interested in the differences between a manager and a leader. An initial thought may be that they are the same, but the two are seen as different by those who study leadership. Most statements recounting the differences have this theme: A leader is someone who people follow, and a manager is someone for whom people work. Of course, depending on your role, you may need to be both a leader and a manager. What does it take to move from primarily being a manager to primarily being a leader? James Robbins has written Nine Minutes on Monday: The Quick and Easy Way to Go From Manager to Leader, published by McGraw-Hill Companies in 2013. It has 230 pages and costs $25.00. It has an introduction, 16 chapters, notes, acknowledgements, and an index.
This book looks at employee engagement and leadership that promotes engagement in a, well, engaging manner. I love the first story about the man who wanted to be sprayed, as I have more than once wanted to follow through on a poor suggestion that would make me feel good but lead to a poor outcome. Robbins presents anecdotes to illustrate the leadership principles discussed. At the end of the first four chapters, there is a box with two items: "Leadership Truths" and "Translations."
In the third chapter, Robbins presents the "nine needs." He states the "The Big Four" primary needs are care, mastery, recognition, and purpose. And the secondary needs are autonomy, growth, connection, play, and model. In Chapter 4, Robbins discusses why he believes the "quintessential skill" of leadership is awareness. The examples given illustrate Robbins belief that the system he describes in this book is a simple system to keep leaders aware of the key drivers that bring out the best in people and keep them engaged and inspired. Nine Minutes on Monday is a system to help you make simple leadership changes in your weekly schedule that enhance leadership effectiveness. Robbins advocates for weekly leadership planning time that results in consideration of your leadership priorities and what you need to do to help move the people whom you are leading. The subsequent chapters present the nine needs and how to condense each need into a simple question to ask each and every Monday while engaging in leadership planning time ... hence, Nine Minutes on Monday.
Chapter 5 "Grandpa Jack and Big Al: The Need to be More Than a Number" is a good example what the reader will learn in each chapter. The reader learns about Big Al, the car salesman, and how he begins to build the buyer's trust by initiating trust-building techniques. Robbins then discusses the need for trust and how this affects relationships. He talks about the "trinity of trust" and its three sources: character, competence, and caring. Robbins offers practical approaches to building trust based on these three sources. The chapter ends with the "Minute Five Summary," which includes key lessons, the key question, and key actions steps. Thus, the reader has suggested actions to use. The remaining chapters discussing the nine needs have the same structure, and the reader builds a toolkit of actions to take to move from managing to leading. Chapter 14 is about why belief matters to success. Chapter 15 details how to implement the nine needs and offers solid ideas on how to make this approach manageable. Finally, Chapter 16 looks at how to use these principles effectively with remote employees. The book includes a section of "Notes" per chapter, acknowledgments, and an index.
When I first began reading this book, I was not drawn in and engaged in the early chapter or two, but as I continued to read and think about what the author was proposing, it became more engaging and I became aware of the usefulness of the content. I could see this book as serving as a good base for leadership development discussions. It is not a difficult book to read and offers very doable action steps, so I highly recommend it.
Another aspect of leadership prominent today is outcome assessment. Outcome Assessment in Advanced Practice Nursing (4th edition) is newly published (2017) by Springer Publishing Company. It is 319 pages in length, including a Foreword, Preface, 12 chapters, and an index. It costs $80.00. In the spirit of full disclosure, the editor, Ruth M. Kleinpell, PhD, ACNP-BC, FAAN, FAANP, FCCM, is both a colleague and friend of mine, as are authors of two of the chapters. That being said, I highly recommend this book for the completeness of and clarity with which the content is presented.
As indicated by the title, this book focuses on outcome assessment specifically related to advanced practice nursing, but the information can be applied to outcome assessment in general. As stated in the Foreword, the "ability of advanced practice registered nurses (APRN) to demonstrate the value (they) bring to healthcare systems, and the patients (they) serve is more important today than...." (pg. xi) in 2001 when the first edition was published. Not only is information on the quality of care provided by APRNs critical to practice but is also used by governmental and accreditation agencies and payers to determine whether APRN performance meets expectations. Outcome assessment is key to improving practice, both individual and corporate. This book provides APRN students and educators, practicing APRNs, and administrators with whom they work information on APRN care processes and the economic impact. The chapters begin with chapter objectives and chapter discussion questions and end with answers to the chapter discussion questions and references.
As the author states in the Preface, "The true impact of advanced practice nursing care can be established only through continued focus on outcome assessment and evaluation...." Thus, the chapters address the necessary components of outcome assessment and evaluation, outcome assessment in specific practice areas, and resources to facilitate APRN outcome research. The first chapter presents practice-specific quality metrics to identify APRN outcomes. The content includes identifying strategies for developing practice-specific quality metrics and contains exhibits and tables to fuller present the ideas. Examples from organizations with these quality metrics in place are given.
The value of healthcare is as important today to measure as is the quality of the care given. Chapter 2, "Analyzing Economic Outcomes in Advanced Practice Nursing," presents an overview of five different types of economic evaluations that an APRN may encounter. It also addresses common issues in all economic evaluations and methodological issues of importance to these evaluations. The figures, tables, and exhibits are very informative. This chapter includes web links at the chapter end. Chapter 3 focuses on outcome categories that are influenced by an APRN and how to measure and monitor APRN outcome data.
Chapter 4, "General Design and Implementation Challenges in Outcome Assessment," contains critical information that one must consider to ensure outcome assessment design meets the project's purpose. Chapter 5 contains very useful information on finding instruments, questionnaires, scales, and tools to measure outcomes. This is a very helpful chapter for anyone planning outcome assessments. This chapter also includes web Links, Internet sites, and University Library websites at the end of the chapter.
Chapters 6-11 present outcome assessment in specific specialty practices/areas/settings (cardiovascular, ambulatory, clinical nurse specialist, nurse-midwifery, nurse anesthesia) and explore the current state of doctor of nursing practice (DNP) outcomes. The final chapter, "Resources to Facilitate Advanced Practice Nursing Outcome Research," describes the impact of national programs to build advanced practice nursing research capacity and expertise and provides an overview of the Participatory, Evidence-Based, Patient-Focused Process for Advanced Practice Nursing Role Development, Implementation and Evaluation (PEPPA) framework; additional tools are resources.
I highly recommend this book to APRNs, APRN students, and anyone engaged in outcome evaluation. I found each chapter contained pearls of wisdom and very practical, useable information. Frankly, all DNP students would find the content immediately useful and beneficial as they plan, implement, and evaluate their DNP project.