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“Let us each and all realizing the importance of our influence on others—stand shoulder to—and not alone in good cause.”
–Florence Nightingale
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As seasoned writers, Tim and I believe it is important to share not only our leadership journeys, but also our writing journeys as one of the ways we can pay it forward for the nursing profession. Both of us have incredible mentors, both currently and throughout our careers, who have made our journeys richer and more enjoyable. We believe all professionals working to be better and to make the nursing profession better should have similar support and experiences. During our careers, we have willingly shared our knowledge and content with individuals along the way, and now we want to share in a larger way so that succession planning in nursing and healthcare enjoys a more scientific and personal foundation.
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This book is intended first to share wisdom that we believe will help others in their journeys and second to engage authors—some new to the writing experience and some seasoned—to collaborate with us in this work. Our hope is that every nurse will find at least one nugget in these chapters that will be helpful or, even better, inspirational to their professional careers. We also hope this book inspires our colleagues to discover additional ways to advance the nursing profession and share that new information.
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We are honored to have Patricia Benner write a Foreword for us. Benner has been a long-time friend and colleague who has inspired us to reflect on our journey from novice clinicians to experts in nursing and to always be the best we can be. We need to reflect on personal knowledge, recognize our value, and not be afraid to share our often too silent wisdom with our colleagues. We can all look to Benner as the pinnacle role model for excellence in nursing practice.
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The chapters in this book take you on a journey that begins with the seedlings that inspired this book to the final chapter that reminds us of our responsibility to protect and support the future of the nursing profession and the nurses who will lead that charge. At the end of each chapter you will find a featured titled “Personal Application.” We encourage you to review the key points and questions to assist you in your journey to both give and receive the wisdom of others.
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Chapter 1, “Intentional Sharing of Knowledge & Wisdom,” introduces the topic of wisdom sharing, coaching, and mentoring as an ethical responsibility of nurses. The development of dialogue into a printed reality is chronicled along with experiences from the authors. The message is that purposeful and formal succession planning and handing off of wisdom and experiences are critical to the historical evolution of the nursing profession.
Chapter 2, “Preparation for Knowledge & Wisdom Transfer,” presents information on how to determine what really matters. As accomplished professionals, we often believe that everything we do and have said should be carefully enshrined and saved for the ages. On the other, more realistic, hand, we also think about situations—such as cleaning out our mother’s house after her passing—and know that not everything is or should be kept for the future. The authors provide guidelines for this filtering process that guide readers to seek out the valuable wisdom that will continue to impact the future in a positive way and to gently put aside that which is no longer relevant.
Chapter 3, “Essential Business Knowledge,” is about the perennial journey to discover and document the value of nursing practice. In this chapter, the tangible tools and competencies to fully engage in your work are presented. This chapter also includes information on spreadsheets, data management, and balanced scorecards.
Chapter 4, “Essential Business Relationships,” continues the sharing of business value creation for the nursing profession. The focus is on the intangible competencies of relationship building, ways to gain organizational knowledge, the importance of lifelong reading, and collaboration and trust building with financial staff. An interview with Tim Porter-O’Grady on nursing value concludes this chapter.
In Chapter 5, “The Art and Science of Knowledge & Wisdom Transfer,” the authors, who are members of Generation X, provide guidance on the art and science of receiving knowledge from other generations and capitalizing on every generation’s perspectives. The authors emphasize the importance of storytelling, different styles of learning, generational characteristics, the impact of technology and the Internet, and the overall challenges in managing large amounts of data and information. The chapter includes a list of helpful tips for receiving information, knowledge, wisdom, and insight. Finally, the chapter concludes with a discussion of the importance of finding common ground across generations.
Chapter 6, “Strategies for Successful Knowledge & Wisdom Transfer,” focuses on learning how to assure that our mentoring processes include personal styles and outcomes of relationships. The six strategies to enhance relationships provide useful tools to make the best of mentoring relationships. The authors explain the importance of mentors not merely passing on information but also passing on information with interpretations that will accommodate the new generations. Interviews with Marlene Kramer, Rhonda Anderson, and Ann Van Slyck enrich and demonstrate the value of the six strategies.
In Chapter 7, “Lifelong Learning and Giving,” the authors approach wisdom sharing from the perspective of lifelong learning beyond traditional schooling and on into retirement. The challenges of pursuing doctoral education when one is in his/her 60s are shared from a reflective and experiential perspective. One of the authors, Olivia Quist, is an amazing member of the Mature generation. She shares experiences of learning and wisdom sharing that continually enhance her own knowledge as well as the knowledge of others. Multiple sources of online adult education are presented to assist readers in developing their personal goals for incredibly rich learning in the most convenient way possible.
Chapter 8, “Leaving Nursing Better Than You Found It,” is the final chapter and provides a rich reflection for all of us—nurses and those representing other professions—to stop and reflect on what have we done for our professions. Ultimately, we want nursing to be in a better place than when we entered the profession. The authors offer both challenges and meaningful strategies to make this a reality.
Roxanne Spitzer contributed an Afterword to this book. Although we have never included an Afterword in our other publications, we felt it would be appropriate to have a nursing legend share thoughts on the importance of wisdom management and sharing. We value her incredible experiences in nursing and healthcare and treasure her friendship throughout the years.
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The intent of this book is about engagement with the profession and with our colleagues in a way that nursing is enhanced and that all nurses are aware of contributions of all generations. We hope you find the Personal Application feature helpful and that it will serve as a reference you access numerous times in the future.