September 1, 2017
How to Survive in a Toxic Work Environment
Not all work places are healthy and while that is not okay, you can learn to deal with it, even thrive in it. The first and most important thing that you need to understand is that it is not about it. Working in a toxic work environment is not something that you create- it takes a culture of repeatedly ignoring bad practices, or toxic employees for a a work place to become toxic.
Toxic Wokrplace
Here are 5 steps to follow
- Be cordial to everyone- Do not ever pick sides, this has a way of backfiring. Stay cordial with everyone and keep your business your business.
- Find an Ally- While you don’t want to divulge your private life or secrets to anyone, you do want to find an ally, that you get along with. A Toxic work place can be detrimental to any person, so having that one person that you get along with well, would help alleviate the toxicity of that environment until you are able to find different employment
- Take Notes- Keep notes of incidences that occur, you never k ow when you might be called upon to give testimony or that you may need it yourself.
- Do your best job- A toxic work environment while very depressing should not give you room to slacken off on your work. Do not anyone any reason to question your work or use that against you.
- Find Another job- Actively looking for another job has a way of giving you peace of mind. This is true because it lets you know that you have taken control and are working on getting yourself out of your current position. Do not let a bad work place negatively affect you or your peace of mind. It is never worth it and it is the loss of employers who do not know how to properly manage their company to keep toxicity out of their work place.
August 18, 2017
How to avoid burn out As A Nurse
Burn-out is a very real experience in nursing so how do you keep yourself from that?
Follow these steps
- Invest in yourself- Remember that it is you and only you that really understands what you need physically and mentally. Take time to invest in yourself.
- Have down-times- Relaxation is a job in itself, so remember to disengage completely from society and go somewhere to replenish the strength and energy you have used up during your work week.
- Bond with a buddy- Find someone that you can trust and also understands a bit about the life of a nurse or health care worker. Having similar or shared experiences makes the job easier to bear.
- Learn to say no- Before or even when you get to the end of your rope, learn to say no. It is only a two letter word but it carries a lot of leverage. Try it out sometime.
May 9, 2017
When Your Organization’s Culture is Dead
Many things happen when your organization’s culture is dead. A lack of culture precedes a lack of direction and dissatisfaction amongst your employees. This insidiously transfers itself to your clients.
A disengaged employee is far worse than anything you can imagine in the work place- they simply do not care about anything.
If you are a nurse leader and continue to be visible and keep a pulse on the culture of your organization, you have the advantage of being proactive and better able to manage crisis before they arise as opposed to a “leader” who only chases after and constantly tries to play catch up.
Work place culture
Five Helpful Tips to Tell When your Organization Culture is Dead
- Your employees are disengaged
- There is a palpable lack of trust
- Teamwork suffers and it’s every man for himself/ herself
- There is little to no culture
- Ideas are lacking and no one cares
May 8, 2017
You Didn’t Get that Job You Wanted
Sometimes, the best interviews don’t always come back with positive responses. Everyone has been through this situation before, where the job they thought they did their best wasn’t offered to them. The interview went well, the interviewer’s seemed to like you, you liked them in return, from what you saw, you liked the work environment but you did not get the job.
It is perfectly okay to take a moment in having a pity party for your self and then picking yourself up and moving on. The problem lies not in having that pity party, but in not moving forward.
Look for other job opportunities that you think you might be suited for and even those you might not be. You never know but at least the interviewing sharpens your skills and you know what to or not look for.
Understandably, it is hard when you felt that you found the job of your dreams and that you could easily grow into only to not receive a positive response from the interviewer. It is their loss- you know what you bring to the table. Take it and move to another potential employer that would value and appreciate what you bring to the table.
Above all, don’t quit, keep moving- one foot at a time, you will soon find the perfect job fit for you and what you went through to get there, would be distant memory.
May 3, 2017
Putting Things in Perspective- “Nursing is a Calling” or “Nursing is just a job”
What’s your perspective? To the new and not so new nurse, your perspective plays a huge role in how you view your profession. Perspective could be your cup is half empty or half-full
What’s your perspective?
How do your view nursing? How you view it can be a determinant in how you live it. Never allow anyone to make you feel guilty regardless of what perspective you choose.For some, nursing is a calling and they embrace it that way but for others, nursing is just a job and they too embrace it that way. Both sides do an equally good job. Where it becomes a problem is when one side chooses to guilt the other about not having a calling for nursing and “doing it all for money”. Remember both sides are getting paid.
Find your truth and live it. Nothing is more demoralizing or soul shattering than living a lie to impress people that you may not even like!
So to the nurse for whom nursing is a calling, continue the good work and for the nurse with nursing as a job, continue the good work. Just because a person’s perspective is different from yours, it does not make it any lesser true for them.
But to both sides, live and let live!