How are you now? It implies that you have been through an event, or some type of trauma.
The question was used in a review of the last two years by a national morning news show. The story that caught my attention was a former national news photographer turned registered nurse who documented through photos COVID-19’s impact on humans.
This is an individual who spent his first career as a journalist documenting the impact of war throughout the world. Yet, what he saw and documented as a nurse impacted him emotionally more than anything he had seen before.
Think about that for a moment: He has seen the worst and best of humanity, in war-torn countries, yet the pandemic is what left a mark on him. Let me ask you: How are you now?
In our thirst as leaders to stabilize and define what the business model looks like now, we have failed to recognize the lack of psychological capacity our workforce has in being able to make the journey with us.
Psychological capacity has been the secret sauce of healthcare and, frankly, for us as healthcare providers. We strive to exemplify this sauce in all we do. We assume that the secret sauce will be available within our organizations, our team members and ourselves.
What makes up the secret sauce of psychological capacity? There are four key ingredients typically associated with having capacity: self-efficacy, hope, optimism and resilience.
- Self-efficacy has to do with people’s convictions about their own capacity in carrying out a set of actions. They set high goals for themselves, welcome challenges and thrive on them.
- Hope is defined as thinking about one’s goals with the motivation to move towards them.
- Optimism is defined as a general expectation for future good outcomes. Generally, bad events are not permanent setbacks and can be overcome by self-effort and abilities.
- Resilience is the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties to rebound and return to the point of origin.
I want you to take a moment and think about your favorite sauce you use for french fries, chicken nuggets or something healthy. Now, take out some key ingredients. Would you be as inclined to use it? Would you switch to something else? The key ingredients make a difference.
Key ingredients within psychological capacity make a difference to your workforce and to you as a leader. Next month, I will share how you can address and expand upon the psychological capacity within your organization to retain and attract the workforce that is needed for NOW.
Martie L. Moore, MAOM, RN, CPHQ, is the CEO of M2WL Consulting. She has been an executive healthcare leader for more than 20 years. She has served on advisory boards for the National Pressure Injury Advisory Panel and the American Nurses Association, and she currently serves on the Dean’s Advisory Board at the University of Central Florida College of Nursing and Sigma, International Honor Society for Nursing. She was honored by Saint Martin’s University with an honorary doctorate degree for her service and accomplishments in advancing healthcare.
