Enhancing care for patients in need, helping new nurses find their footing, and contributing to overall community health—these are the hallmarks of any nursing leadership career.

If you’re new to the field or you’re ready to move up, you might not know about the nursing leadership roles available to you. Or, if you do have a title in mind, you might not be sure how to get there.

This guide is here to help. Below, we’ll break down leadership roles in nursing: the nursing leadership landscape, key skills leaders need, tips for a career transition, and challenges to expect along the way.

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The Landscape of Nursing Leadership Roles

Today’s nurses can pursue a variety of leadership roles:

• Nurse Manager – Nurse Managers oversee nursing staff and report to other clinical leaders in a variety of healthcare contexts—from critical care to private practice.¹ Nurse Managers implement organizational changes, support conflict resolution, and support new nurses.
• Charge Nurses – Charge Nurses generally lead their teams during a specific week, day, or shift. They may volunteer to “charge,” charge on a rotating schedule, or receive a special promotion to a charge nurse.
• Nurse mentors – Mentors are critical for professional development in a variety of fields, and healthcare is no exception. Nurse mentors help new nurses or those looking to grow their careers, create goals, improve their skills, and find their footing in an ever-changing industry.

4 Key Skills for Nursing Leaders 

If you’re looking to advance in nursing, which skills should you focus on as you invest in your professional growth? Let’s dive into a few attributes for nursing leaders.

Communication

Since nursing leaders typically oversee one or more nurses, they are pressed to communicate effectively in a variety of different mediums:²

• In writing – Nursing leaders must explain procedures, policies, and patient conditions clearly in a variety of written documents.
• In-person – Since nursing is such a hands-on field, verbal communication is critical. Clear directions and measured answers to questions are everyday expectations of nursing leaders.
• Virtually – Since telehealth is expanding, nurses have a new communication skill to hone in 2024 and beyond: virtual communication. Learning to engage with both patients and fellow clinical staff in a virtual platform is paramount.³

Decision-Making

As a new nurse, you likely turned to nursing leaders (your charge nurse or Nurse Manager, for instance) for guidance on high-level decisions. As a nursing leader yourself, you will be in charge of making decisions that impact your entire staff and the patients you serve.

Decisive, consistent, and informed decision-making is an everyday expectation of leaders, and embracing your nursing leadership role means accepting responsibility for your professional choices. Decision-making is a key topic in advanced nursing training programs—we’ll discuss this in more detail in a later section.

Empathy

Leaders in nursing practice must show empathy for numerous key populations:

• Patients – Displaying empathy for patients is nothing new for most experienced nurses. Empathy in healthcare makes patients feel seen and heard, and this can increase their comfort and confidence in your care.
• Nursing staff – As a leader, you’ll oversee one or more nurses. Showing empathy for their situations will likely come easily—you’ve been in their shoes before. Displaying empathy for the different types of nurses you’re supervising will help you develop healthy professional relationships.
• Other leaders – Nursing leaders often work in tandem with other leadership staff. Displaying empathy for your peers will help you build relationships and tight-knit teams.

Conflict Resolution

As a leader, conflict resolution skills are a must—and they are likely to come in handy at least once. During your time in nursing leadership roles, you might be asked to mediate between:

• Fellow leaders
• Staff members you supervise
• Clinical and administrative staff
• Patients and providers

Communication skills (including active listening), decision-making, and empathy are all key to conflict resolution—so the competencies listed above certainly overlap.

Transitioning to a Leadership Role in Nursing 

How can nursing leaders prepare for and transition into leadership roles? Let’s break down how a prospective leader can advance in the nursing field.

Education Requirements

To learn more about your field, hone transformational leadership skills, or develop advanced clinical competencies, you might choose to enroll in an educational program for nursing. Future leaders have multiple options:

• Bachelor of science in nursing (BSN) – If you are not yet an RN or you qualified for licensing via an alternative degree path, consider enrolling in the BSN program to expand your nursing knowledge and prepare for a career.
• Master of science in nursing (MSN) – For BSN graduates (or prospective nurses with degrees in other fields), an MSN program is an excellent way to gain more in-depth nursing knowledge and explore leadership development.

While not all nursing leadership positions require a BSN or MSN, these nursing school programs can prepare health leaders and open doors for future professional connections.

Certifications

Like advanced degrees, certifications are not always a requirement for nursing leadership roles, but certifications can show prospective employers that you are committed to excellence in the field.

Some common certifications for nursing leaders include:

• Nurse Executive Certification (NE-BC)⁴
• Certified Nurse Manager and Leader Certification (CNML)⁵
• Clinical Nurse Leader Certification (CNL)⁶

Many certification programs require extensive training, written examinations, and practical tests.

Gaining Relevant Experience

One of the most common requirements for nursing leadership positions is experience—time spent providing patient care and interfacing with other healthcare professionals. While there’s no set minimum experience level for all nursing leadership positions, nurses looking to advance should expect to spend at least a few years in entry-level positions before they’ll be considered for leadership roles.

Other than contributing to your unit or practice, what are some other ways you can gain relevant experience that can prepare you for leadership? Consider:

• Volunteering to serve in non-profit clinics
• Joining a natural disaster response team in your area
• Asking to serve as charge nurse when you feel prepared to do so
• Floating to another unit or practice to get a feel for another specialty’s procedures
• Serving on a representative board in your hospital system or practice

Essentially, nurses can boost their leadership prowess by seeking out experiences in addition to their everyday duties.

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Challenges Faced by Nursing Leaders 

Leadership roles in nursing are not easy—you should expect to encounter challenges. Let’s break down some potential roadblocks to expect on your career journey.

Managing Team Dynamics

As a leader, you will likely have to supervise other staff members. Creating a positive, productive team dynamic for better nursing mental health is part and parcel of a leadership role. While managing different personalities, work styles, and approaches can be complex, you can help foster a healthy team by:

• Communicating openly with all teammates and resolving any conflicts as soon as possible
• Keeping supervisor-supervisee relationships strictly professional and avoiding favoritism
• Helping each of your staff members find a productive, flexible role on your team

Team dynamic-building is a key skill discussed in leadership curricula and advanced degree programs.

Handling Administrative Duties

If you are relatively new to nursing, you may not have had to complete many administrative tasks beyond charting. But, in a nursing leadership role, you may have to tackle (or play a role in):

• Chart review
• Time clock and schedule management
• Pay schedules and payroll
• Hiring, termination, and interviews

One of the most significant challenges of embracing administrative work is time management—if you’re used to bedside care, you may not yet know how to make time for non-clinical tasks. Make sure to allocate a part of your day for any new administrative tasks you take on in your new role.

Cultivating a Positive Nursing Leadership Culture 

Once you’ve transitioned into a leadership role, confronted some growing pains, and made a roadmap for overcoming future challenges with your own leadership style, what’s next? Let’s touch on efforts that can help you maintain your leadership skills and foster the next generation of nursing changemakers.

Mentorship

Mentorship is a building block for any positive, healthy leadership culture—and if you were inspired to advance your career by a professional mentor, you understand why.

But mentorship is about more than inspiring your staff to advance to leadership. Mentorship can also:

• Foster a supportive environment – By offering mentees a place to voice their concerns, set goals, and debrief after challenging cases, you can show your team that their experiences matter—that they’re an important part of the team.
• Improve teamwork – When leaders absorb the concerns and goals of their individual team members, they can help create processes and teams that harness each member’s strengths. Mentorship can help optimize each person’s competencies.

Continuous Learning

Professional development is a critical concern for team leaders, especially in the medical field (where keeping nursing skills current is a must). But exceptional leaders create continuing education opportunities for both:

• Supervised staff – You should make every effort to encourage participation in professional development among your staff—and even create these development opportunities when needed. This will help you show your staff that you’re invested in their development and help them keep up with critical skills.
• Fellow leadership – Leaders should also consider encouraging their peers—other members of the clinical or nurse leadership team—to develop their professional skills over time. In a culture of continuous learning, even experienced leaders participate.

Alliant International University: Connecting Students to Career Growth

If you’re considering a career in nursing leadership, you’ll need to develop key skills, get the training and experience you need to advance, overcome challenges, and continue to foster a positive leadership culture in your clinical environment.

High-quality training produces high-quality leaders. High-quality nursing training is exactly what we offer at Alliant International University. We’re fostering the next generation of nurses and healthcare leaders who can approach the challenges of today’s care industry head-on.

Ready to learn more about our BSN and MSN programs? Explore our nursing program now.

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Sources: 

1. Galura, Sandra. “On the Frontlines of Nursing Leadership.” Nurse Leader. October, 2020. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7370917/. Accessed March 22, 2024.
2. “Communication Strategies.” US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. February 10, 2023. https://www.cdc.gov/healthliteracy/researchevaluate/comm-strategies.html. Accessed March 22, 2024.
3. “Updated National Survey Trends in Telehealth Utilization and Modality.” US Department of Health and Human Services. April 19, 2023. https://aspe.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/7d6b4989431f4c70144f…. Accessed March 22, 2024.
4. “Nurse Executive Certification.” American Nurses Credentialing Center. https://www.nursingworld.org/our-certifications/nurse-executive/ Accessed March 22, 2024.
5. “Certified Nurse Manager and Leader Certification.” American Organization for Nursing Leadership. https://www.aonl.org/initiatives/cnml Accessed March 22, 2024.
6. “CNL Certification.” American Association of Colleges of Nursing. https://www.aacnnursing.org/our-initiatives/education-practice/clinical… Accessed March 22, 2024.