SON: Connections - Spring 2005

Headlines | Briefly | From the Deans Desk
Solver-in-Chief - Nursing CEO Uses Listening,
Lifelong Learning to Guide Leadership
By Sharon Frey Jones

Wanda Johanson

Ask Wanda Johanson about her prescription for leadership success, and the chief executive officer of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) offers one word: optimism.

"Effective leaders believe that you can always solve a problem," says the former critical care nurse, educator and hospital administrator. As a leader, you generate enthusiasm and hope for your staff and your organization, she says. "You know that people can work together, that systems can be improved and that somehow, every day, you can make a difference." Early in her nursing career Johanson wanted to make a difference not only in the health of her patients, but within her profession. Her leadership training began in the 1970s, when she helped found Seattle's chapter of the AACN, a 36-year-old organization that represents some 400,000 nurses worldwide. Under her guidance since 2000, the national AACN is focusing on issues she sees as most critical to the profession, including the nursing shortage, an aging workforce and the increasing complexity of health care.

So, what are some of the most important leadership skills and qualities? Johanson says that effective leaders are good negotiators, skilled communicators and, most important, lifelong learners.

An expert mediator who has served in management roles at University of Washington Medical Center, Overlake Hospital Medical Center and Duke University Health System, Johanson says that in order to be truly effective, good leaders must be able to bring diverse groups together to find common ground. Once, as a clinical nurse manager, she bridged the divide between a group of hospital nurse managers and administrators and a team of physicians who disagreed on how to deal with an overflowing inpatient unit. Johanson was careful to verify everyone's goals, assure the group that they would be problem-solving together and finally, to find a solution that was fair. Ultimately everyone's goals were met, and a new inpatient unit opened.

Whether she's dealing with large groups or two individuals, Johanson believes it's critical that everyone feels heard and that people look closely at the assumptions they've made. "If you ask people how they're interpreting another's actions, you often find they're making an incorrect assumption, such as believing that someone is deliberately trying to undermine them," she says. Clearing up the confusion allows both parties to focus on achieving agreement.

Johanson prides herself on her ability to listen, and credits it for making her a strong communicator. "Every time you're listening, you're gaining knowledge," she says. She also seeks to appreciate and value those who have a different perspective from her. "Learning to do this has helped me love more and better, and made me a better leader," she says.

Her role models are everywhere. They're people like the nurse who had, as she puts it, the most beautiful way of talking to someone in crisis. "I thought, wow, I'd like to be able to do that."

When she's not bird-watching, hiking or visiting her favorite museum, the Laguna Niguel, Calif., resident is often curled up with a book related to the work she loves. Strong leaders are self-aware, she notes-they figure out what their strengths are and what skills they need to acquire.

True leaders love their work because of what they can do for others, Johanson says. "Leadership is about doing what others need you to do so that they can reach their greatest potential-it can never be about only what you want yourself."

Johanson earned a bachelor's in nursing in 1975 and a master's in nursing in 1976 from the University of Washington. Johanson's recommended reading: Leadership is an Art by Max Dupree and The Art of Possibility: Transforming Professional and Personal Life by Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander.

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