We are what we repeatedly do therefore Excellence, is not an act but a habit" - Artistotle

Excellence

"As nursing professionals, we certainly have a responsibility to strive for excellence in our own practice.  Excellence and leadership are blended concepts with the idea of professional involvement throughout ones career as a means to promote nursing and create a preferred  future for our profession" (Grossman, 2009, p. 181)

Lets first understand what excellence looks like: 

Excellence means

• Striving to be the very best in everything that you do because you cannot image functioning in any other way.
• Setting high standards for yourself and holding yourself to those standards despite challenges
• Not being satisfied with anything less than the very best
• Individuals do not and will not settle for second best, mediocre performance or just getting by
• Individuals question and challenge the status quo by asking why things are done the way they are, examining the assumptions that underline existing practices and offering realistic alternatives

And what represents excellence?

Excellence Involves

Discipline, Choreography, Responsibility, Caring, Skepticism, Perseverance & Passion

I LOVED one of the passages from the book The New Leadership Challenge Creating the Future of Nursing by Sheila Grossman, 

"we must learn to honor excellence in every socially accepted human activity.  An excellent plumber is infinitely more admirable than an incompetent philosopher.  The society that scorns excellence in plumbing because plumbing is a humble activity and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an exalted activity will have neither good plumbing nor good philosophy. Neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water" (Grossman, 2009, p.185).  

I thought this was an exceptional quote because it made me reflect on how everything that we do, even in society revolves around a TEAM.  Every discipline within the team is as important as the next.  We need to start appreciating more and realizing that we all need each other.  We all have our place in society where we personally excel whether its being a mother, or a farmer; we are all willing participants working towards the same goal, a well functioning and productive society.  

"If we are not striving for excellence we are selling ourselves short, and doing little to advance the profession of nursing and ensuring quality of care"(Grossman, 2009, p. 183)

Please view this inspirational video.  It is absolutely wonderful!!

Motivational Video Inspires Excellence

"Excellence can be attained by...

CARING more than others think is wise, RISKING more than others think is safe, DREAMING more than others think is practical, and EXPECTING more than others think is possible.

(Grossman, 2009, 191)

I encourage you to, as nurses and future nurses to take on the challenge of bringing excellence and leadership with you into the nursing profession and into your own personal lives.

What will you do to promote and contribute to excellence in your field of practice? 

Reference
Grossman, S. C., & Valiga, T. M. (2009). The new leadership challenge: creating the future of nursing, 3e.  Philadelphia: F.A. Davis Company

"Determine What the future will be rather then merely reacting to it as it happens"- Grossman

CREATING A PREFERRED FUTURE FOR NURSING

...is the responsibility of all nurses.  We need to commit ourselves to excellence in the future of nursing.  "All nurses have the professional responsibility to be involved in nursing organizations that are actively working to create a preferred future for the profession.  Sigma Theta Tau International and other organizations have committed to creating a positive future by offering leadership institutes, helping members expand their networks through Internet and newsletters, and offering recognition through awards and citations as a way to motivate nurses to work at their highest possible level" (Grossman, 2009, p. 149).   All of these things are great and build our profession however I believe that it is our professional responsibility to commit ourselves to working at our highest possible level regardless of the personal benefit behind that action.

What can we do as the future of nursing to create our preferred nursing future?

One can work to advance and shape the future of nursing practice by:

* Working at the local or chapter level as a committee member or officer

* Serving on a board of Directors

* Working on an International committee

* Reviewing manuscripts for an organization's journal

*We must continue to study the health care practices of various groups, as well as patient responses to specific interventions in order to maintain or enhance function.

*  Practice results should be published in magazines and journals, including those that are multidisciplinary.

* Commitment to using research results as a basis for practice

* Research should be integral to every nurse's ongoing practice.

In this TED talk by Tony Robbins he asks the questions Why do you do what you do? What motivates you? What is driving you?  What shapes the persons ability to contribute? How do you make what is invisible, visible meaning how can we take what you are dreaming and make it happen?  What is it that shapes us?  He talks about how decisions are the ultimate power and that decisions shape our destiny.  I think that this talk is really great because it makes us reflect on what and why we are doing the things that we are doing.  It makes us see that stepping out of our comfort zone and making our ideas real is the only why that change and growth happens.

Please view the video below to hear some of Tony's great insights and become part of the future of inspiring transformational leaders.

Tony Robbins: Why we do what we do

Tony Robbins discusses the "invisible forces" 

that motivate everyone's actions. 

The following are guidelines to help with shaping the future:

1) Do not wait

2) Have credibility (be honest, be an inspiration, maintain competence, and be looking forward)

3) Have your head in the clouds but your feed on the ground (always be thinking of possibilities but also stay grounded in reality)

4) Share values

5) Accept that you cannot do it alone

6) Remember that leadership is every one's business.

And I leave you with one last quote from Shelia Grossman:

"Leaders for the future need to take action, engage in self evaluation, seek feedback from colleagues, set goals and periodically evaluate the progress in meeting them, advance their own knowledge and try new things.  Leaders of tomorrow must be transformational ones; people who can propel a vision, recruit the new generation of nurses, empower followers to work enthusiastically to realize a vision, meet change head on and grow from it" (Grossman, 2009, p. 151).  

Reference:
Grossman, S. C., & Valiga, T. M. (2009). The new leadership challenge: creating the future of nursing, 3e.  Philadelphia: F.A. Davis Compan