Leadership in the Literature: Updated Monthly

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1. The power of mattering at work | 2025 | Harvard Business Review
(Available in MN only, email library@allina.com for a copy outside of MN)
Quiet quitting, the Great Resignation, chronically low engagement numbers, increasing numbers of labor disputes, demands for equity and dignity in the workplace—business leaders have been warily watching these trends for years and fighting each fire separately. But the trends continue, because leaders are missing the underlying problem that connects these symptoms: Many employees don't feel that they matter to their employers, bosses, and colleagues. Mattering—a mainstay concept in psychology—is the experience of feeling significant to those around us because we feel valued and know that we add value. In this article the author shows leaders how to apply this concept in the workplace. First, leaders need to truly see and hear team members during daily interactions. They must also regularly affirm their people's significance. And finally, senior leaders need to scale these skills up to the organizational level so that mattering becomes a cultural norm. These behaviors may seem like common sense, but they've ceased to be common practice in a world of brief digital communications and condescension toward soft skills, and they're well worth relearning. The article includes three activities leaders can use to get started. 

2. Insights report: How to improve poor patient health literacy | 2025 | NEJM Catalyst
Acknowledging the importance of health literacy for patient care, members of the NEJM Catalyst Insights Council discuss who is responsible and how to improve health literacy.

3. Alleviating bedside nurse burden: A virtual nursing program | 2025 | Nurse Leader
The virtual nursing program was created in response to nursing workforce shortages. The rapid implementation leveraged current telehealth registered nurses and utilized existing technology and equipment, all while maintaining budget neutrality. The program created an integrated care model that enhanced patient and registered nurses satisfaction, throughput, turnover, and vacancy and demonstrated a financial impact. The conclusion of the pilot is that it is not a one-size-fits-all approach. Different hospitals and communities have different needs. For sustainable growth, having robust frameworks, operational procedures, program methodologies, and defined metrics is essential.

4. Exploring the core of emotional intelligence in healthcare leadership: A concept analysis | 2025 | Journal of Advanced Nursing
Concept analysis identified defining attributes of emotional intelligence in healthcare leadership, including leadership qualities, management competencies, and sets of leadership styles which were related to supportive and transformational leadership behaviour. The antecedents were socio-demographic factors, well-being, and workplace resources. Finally, employee-, manager-, organisation- and patient-related consequences were identified, such as the well-being of both employees and managers, organisational performance and patient care quality.

5. Creating and sustaining a culture of inquiry and research | 2025 | The Journal of Nursing Administration
Today's nursing leaders have complex roles. One of the expectations of the nurse executive is to create a workplace culture supporting nurses and exemplary nursing practice. In Magnet ® environments, creating this kind of culture is not enough. Nurse executives in Magnet-designated organizations must create and sustain cultures supporting inquiry and research. This column reviews some key actions that nurse executives can undertake to make a culture of inquiry and research a reality.

6. Second term policy changes signal a shift: Guidance for leaders through a fluctuating landscape | Healthcare Executive 
(Available in MN only, email library@allina.com for a copy outside of MN)
All eyes have been on Washington, D.C., as the Trump administration implements numerous policy changes. Context is key for understanding how these changes will impact the U.S. healthcare system.

7. Managing the sudden critical shortage of intravenous fluids | NEJM Catalyst 
In the wake of Hurricane Helene in late September 2024, hospitals across the United States were faced with a sudden shortage of intravenous fluid (IVF). The deadly Atlantic storm damaged a major IVF manufacturing facility in North Carolina, halting production and creating a sudden supply chain crisis. At Luminis Health, a hospital system based in Annapolis and Lanham, Maryland, Incident Command orchestrated a swift, multidisciplinary response that allowed for minimal disruption to the flow of patient care. Interventions included adjustments to perioperative protocols, daily reviews of clinical necessity, and an emphasis on oral hydration. Hospital inventory data were used to compare IVF use before and after the shortage. The incident reporting system and patient discharge surveys were analyzed to assess for potential harm. Incidences of potentially preventable renal failure and acquired hyponatremia were evaluated in retrospect. The hospital system saw a 60% (P<0.001) reduction in IVF use on implementation of the shortage protocols. Notably, implementation revealed important opportunities to reevaluate systemic processes and improve value in certain standard-of-care practices. The reduction was sustained and allowed the hospital system to continue all elective procedures after only 1 day of delay. The few adverse events related to the protocol changes that had been reported were resolved. Of the patients with plausible protocol-attributed renal failure, none required dialysis, and all improved toward baseline prior to discharge. Analysis showed no increase in acquired hyponatremia during the shortage, when compared with the year prior. The protocols enacted for IVF management serve as a blueprint for other hospital systems to follow in the case of future supply chain interruptions and highlight areas for standard system improvement without compromising patient care.

8. What people get wrong about psychological safety | Harvard Business Review
(Available in MN only, email library@allina.com for a copy outside of MN)
Psychological safety—a shared belief among team members that it's OK to speak up with candor—has become a popular concept. However, as its popularity has grown, so too have misconceptions about it. Such misunderstandings can lead to frustration among leaders and employees, stymie constructive debates, and ultimately harm organizational performance. In this article the authors identify the following six common misperceptions: Psychological safety means being nice; it means getting your way; it means job security; it requires a trade-off with performance; it's a policy; and it requires a top-down approach. They explain why each misperception gets in the way and give advice on how to counter it. They also offer leaders a blueprint for building the kind of strong, learning-oriented work environment that is crucial for success in an uncertain world. Leaders should clearly communicate what psychological safety is and what it isn't, and take steps to improve the quality of conversations and to establish structures and rituals that will help teams assess their progress in building a psychologically safe environment.

Multimedia

1.  The conversations you should be having with your manager | 2025 | HBR IdeaCast (podcast)
As you advance in your career, you develop the skills to lead teams and manage direct reports. But no matter your role or seniority, you’ll always need to manage those above you and to develop the right relationships to progress. The secret to managing up, says Melody Wilding, is being strategic and thoughtful in several key kinds of conversations with your boss and boss’s boss—including finding alignment, setting boundaries, getting visibility for your work, and winning a promotion. She explains how the effort pays off both in future opportunities and your day-to-day satisfaction on the job.

2. Why AI is our ultimate test and greatest invitation | 2025 | Ted Talks (video)
Technologist Tristan Harris has an urgent question: What if the way we’re deploying the world’s most powerful technology — artificial intelligence — isn’t inevitable, but a choice? In this eye-opening talk, he calls on us to learn from the mistakes of social media’s catastrophic rollout and confront the predictable dangers of reckless AI development, offering a “narrow path” where power is matched with responsibility, foresight and wisdom.

Welcome to Leadership in the Literature, a roundup of recent articles/multimedia on leading and managing from Allina Health Library Services

1. Exploring the dimensions of authentic leadership and its impact on nursing outcomes : An integrative review | Huges - 2024 | Nursing Mangement
   Based on this comprehensive literature review, a clear and compelling body of evidence illustrates the substantial influence of authentic leadership to positively impact nurse well-being, quality of work culture and environment dynamics, and patient safety and quality outcomes.
    
2. Your team members aren't participating in meetings. Here's what to do. | Valasquez - 2024 | Harvard Business Review
   (Available in MN only, email library@allina.com for a copy outside of MN). 
   This article discusses the issue of low team participation in meetings and provides strategies for leaders to address this problem. Research has shown that many people find meetings unproductive and leaders often lack formal training on how to conduct effective meetings. The article suggests that leaders should focus on fostering a safe and inclusive team culture by understanding individual and group dynamics. 
    
3. Mapping leadership, communication and collaboration in short-term distributed teams across various contexts: A scoping review | Morian - 2024 | BMJ Open
   Increased globalisation and technological advancements have led to the emergence of distributed teams in various sectors, including healthcare. However, our understanding of how leadership, communication and collaboration influence distributed healthcare teams remains limited.
    
4. The nurse as coach: Building high performing teams | O'Grady - 2024 | Nursing Administration Quarterly
   The provision of modern health care in the United States faces significant challenges, as evidenced by multiple national reports of a workforce in distress. In response to these challenges, the practice of coaching emerges as a transformative skill, recommended for individuals in high-stress environments. Coaching in health care focuses on developing nurses and building teams by fostering self-understanding, deploying strengths, improving relational strategies, and gaining moral clarity. It serves as a potent strategy for nurse leaders to navigate the complexities of their systems. This paper explores the practice of coaching as an important mindset and skill. A coaching mindset is characterized by trust, deep listening, curiosity, embracing both/and thinking, discernment over judgment, and fosters an environment where nurses can flourish. 
    
5. Unequal treatment: Disparities in care continue | Wilkins - 2024 | NEJM Catalyst
   A survey of the NEJM Catalyst Insights Council finds that views on inequities in care delivery vary according to race and ethnicity.
    
6. Nurse manager success factors: The foundation for succession planning | Magri - 2024 | Nurse Leader
   An estimated 70,000 nurses, including nurse leaders, are expected to retire annually. Proactive succession planning programs are key mitigation strategies for this impending shortage of nurse leaders. Determining success factors that support a program to develop future nurse managers is the first step and lays a foundation for succession planning. Convening focus groups among current nurse managers to identify, in their own words, what it takes to be a successful nurse manager, and mapping those factors to the academic health system behavioral competencies and American Organization for Nursing Leadership manager competencies created the foundation for an established succession planning program.
    
7. Turn employee feedback into action | Burris - 2024 | Harvard Business Review
   (Available in MN only, email library@allina.com for a copy outside of MN)
   To manage the employee experience, leaders must deeply understand employees' perceptions, feelings, and desires and respond thoughtfully. This is particularly crucial when immense resources are invested in gathering employee feedback through pulse surveys, town halls, and data scraping from internal communications. But leaders are often overwhelmed by the data and struggle to translate it into actionable insights. The authors conducted detailed interviews with executives and HR leaders from more than 20 multinational companies in sectors such as technology, financial services, and consumer goods. Their work reveals that although technology has simplified the collection of data, the real challenge lies in making sense of it and integrating it into a coherent strategy
    
8. A pragmatic approach to assessing supervisor leadership capability to support healthcare worker well-being | Dyrbye - 2024 | Journal of Healthcare Management 
   (Available in MN only, email library@allina.com for a copy outside of MN)
   Goal: We sought to build upon previous studies that have demonstrated how healthcare workers' ratings of their immediate supervisor's leadership capabilities relate to their well-being and job satisfaction.
   
   
   

Multimedia

1. Empowering women in healthcare: Leadership and insights | Healthcare Executive (Podcast)
   Jessica Long, COO, and Rachel Thompson, MD, CMO, Core Clinical Partners, discuss their career journeys, the future of healthcare leadership for women and the essential skill needed to be successful in the field.
   
   
2. How to win people over | Hidden Brain (Podcast)
   We humans are a social species, and so it’s not surprising that we care a lot about what other people think of us. It’s also not surprising that many of us stumble when we try to manage others’ views of us. This week, organizational psychologist Alison Fragale explains why that is, and offers better ways to win friends and influence people.

Welcome to Leadership in the Literature, a roundup of recent articles/multimedia on leading and managing from Allina Health Library Services

1. ‘I need support in becoming the leader I would like to be’ – A qualitative descriptive study of nurses newly appointed to positions of leadership - Skarstein - 2024 - Nursing Open
   The aim of the study was to understand the experiences of nurses who were newly appointed to a position of leadership including facilitators and barriers to success and what they considered important for the development of their role.
    
2. Daily strengths use and work performance: A self‐determination perspective - Moore - 2024 - Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology
   Drawing on self-determination theory, this study examines how using personal strengths at work in the morning is associated with different types of performance throughout the workday. Momentary satisfaction of the needs for autonomy, relatedness and competence are proposed as mechanisms that differentially link strengths use to four different performance outcomes: task accomplishment, goal attainment, organizational citizenship behaviour and counterproductive work behaviour.
   
   
3. Autism spectrum disorder in the workplace: A position paper to support an inclusive and neurodivergent approach to work participation and engagement -Zhou – 2024- Discover Psychology 
   Autistic individuals often experience a wide range of barriers and challenges with employment across their lifetime. Despite their strengths and abilities to contribute to the workforce, many individuals experience unemployment, underemployment and malemployment. However, current supports and services are often inadequate to meet their needs. To allow autistic people to achieve vocational success, we explore four contributors to employment and expand upon the issues and potential solutions to each. 
   
   
4. When your employee feels angry, sad, or dejected: The right-and wrong way to respond – Bradley – Harvard Business Review (Available in MN only, email library@allina.com for a copy outside of MN). 
   Dealing with the negative emotions of employees isn’t easy, but knowing what to do or say can make a huge difference to their well-being, the quality of your relationships with them, and team performance. The trouble is, many leaders fail to respond at all because they think discussing emotions at work is unprofessional or worry they don’t have the right to intervene in personal matters. That’s a mistake. Research shows that teams whose leaders acknowledge members’ emotions perform significantly better than teams whose leaders don’t. In this article the authors offer a road map for providing employees emotional support.
   
   
5. How to use communities of practice to support change in learning health systems: A landscape of roles and guidance for management - Brooks - 2024 - Learning Health Systems Communities of practice support evidence-based practice and can be, in and of themselves, applied learning spaces in organizations. However, the variety of ways that communities of practice can support learning health systems are poorly characterized. Furthermore, health system leaders have little guidance on designing and resourcing communities of practice to effectively serve learning health systems.
   
   
6. A new paradigm for nurse leader decision making within complex adaptive systems – Watson – 2024 - Nursing Administration Quarterly
   Health care is a complex and ever-changing environment for nurse leaders and other health care industry decision-makers. The prevailing leadership and decision-making models, rooted in Industrial Age principles, often struggle to adapt to the complexities of modern health care. This article explores the foundations of complexity science and its application to health care decision-making, highlighting the importance of understanding systems dynamics and embracing complexity. 
   
   
7. Proactive behaviors and health care workers: A systematic review – Lai – 2024 - Health Care Management Review
   Proactive behaviors at work refer to discretionary actions among workers that are self-starting, change oriented, and future focused. Proactive behaviors reflect the idiosyncratic actions by individual workers that shape the delivery and experience of professional services, highlight a bottom-up perspective on workers’ agency and motivation that can influence organizational practices, and are associated with a variety of employee and organizational outcomes.

Multimedia

1. When your employee Is underperforming | Harvard Business Review IdeaCast (podcast)
   Many managers struggle with initiating difficult conversations around an individual’s subpar performance. Often, leaders wait way too long to sit down with an employee who isn’t meeting expectations. Leadership coach Jenny Fernandez says that increasing the frequency of feedback and consciously developing better relationships with direct reports help make these conversations easier to start. And she shares how the right preparation, tone, and open-minded approach lead to more effective discussions that improve not just the one-on-one relationship, but also team morale and turnover rates. 
    
2. Valerie Montgomery Rice: How to break through fear and become a leader | TED Talk (video)
   Vigilance. Grit. Resilience. Valerie Montgomery Rice, the president and CEO of Morehouse School of Medicine, shares where she learned these key qualities of successful leadership, offering three lessons for anyone who wants to overcome their fears, stand up for what’s right and build opportunity for all.

Welcome to Leadership in the Literature, a roundup of recent articles/multimedia on leading and managing from Allina Health Library Services

1. Kteily, N., & Finkel, E. J. (2022). Leadership in a politically charged age. Harvard Business Review, 100(4), 108–117. (Available in MN only, email library@allina.com for a copy outside of MN).
2. Russell, E., Jackson, T. W., Fullman, M., & Chamakiotis, P. (2024). Getting on top of work-email: A systematic review of 25 years of research to understand effective work-email activity. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 97, 74–103. 
3. Waite, R., Beard, K., & Alexander, R. (2024). Anti-black racism and nursing leadership. Nurse Leader, 22(2), 140-145.
4. Zak, P. J. (2023). The neuroscience of trust. Harvard Business Review, 26–31. (Available in MN only, email library@allina.com for a copy outside of MN).
5. Usset, T. J., Stratton, G. R., Knapp, S., Schwartzman, G., Yadav, S. K., Schaefer, B. J., & Harris, J. I. Fitchett, G. (2024) Factors associated with healthcare clinician stress and resilience: A scoping review. Journal of Healthcare Management 69(1), 12-28, 
6. Hedenstrom, M., Toney, S., Knotts, K., Talton, E., Ndungu, J., Noble, C., Spiva, L., Hale, G., Taasoobshirazi, G. & Cliett, T. (2024). Lend a helping hand: Mentoring through chaos. Nursing Management, 55(3), 39-48. 
7. Aga, R.C., Noor, S., Kvalheim, C.S., and Pronk, N.P. (2024). Racism, equity and inclusion: Can clinical simulation train health care workers to build an anti-racism culture? NEJM Catalyst, 5(3), 1-12. 

Multimedia

1. Tessa West: The problem with being "too nice" at work | TED Talk (video)
2. What Leadership Looks Like: What it takes to become a more effective leader | TED Radio Hour | NPR (audio)
3. How to be a ‘supercommunicator’ | Life Kit | NPR (audio)

For additional leadership resources? Check out the Leadership subject guide on the Library Services website. 

Need help finding literature on another topic? Request a literature search or email us at library@allina.com