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Aim To describe nurse managers' views of their work in the future. Background Ongoing reformation of healthcare organizations includes profound changes to nurse managers' work practices. Method A qualitative approach was applied to elicit views of nurse managers (n=133) from eight Finnish specialized medical care hospitals through one open-ended question about their future work in November 2019.The acquired data were subjected to inductive thematic content analysis. Results Four themes were identified in the nurse managers' responses, indicating that they anticipated: 1) a shift from hierarchical leadership to shared governance, 2) an increasing focus on proactive and systematic work, 3) development of evidence-based practices, and 4) improvement in the attractiveness and effectiveness of the organization. Conclusions Nurse managers envisage their future work will follow transformational leadership model. Shared governance and multi-disciplinary team leading, with a stronger focus on proactive strategic planning will extend their power to influence decision-making. Administrative supporting systems will free more time from their daily routine work for interactions with staff. Implications for nursing management Clarification of the managers' job description along with administrative support systems is anticipated to strengthen leadership, facilitate management, enhance decision-making and increase the attractiveness and effectiveness of both healthcare organizations and nurse managers' work.