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The traditional role of the chief nursing officer (CNO) is expanding to include new clinical areas and patient populations. Chief nursing officers find themselves challenged to balance both system and site priorities, compounded with the expectation to lead their organization during a merger, acquisition, or hospital closure and the changes in healthcare reimbursement. Chief nursing officers must anticipate emerging issues and be prepared to manage those issues. They are at high risk politically when a new chief executive officer is named and when hospitals are having financial concerns. How do we lead in times of turbulence? How can we ensure that high-potential candidates are prepared for the CNO role and what are the most critical competencies they will need? To address these concerns, we created a Chief Nursing Officer Academy (CNOA) that is designed for new and aspiring CNOs. This article provides an overview of the CNOA and a program evaluation of the outcomes for the participants.

The chief executive role might be seen as the pinnacle of achievement for any executive working in a trust, but there is growing evidence that suggests many are reluctant to step up to the role.

Hospital chief executives are tapping physicians for upper management roles beyond the traditional chief medical officer and other primarily clinical positions. But often, these highly educated, entrepreneurial and strong-willed individuals need help acquiring the business and people skills to successfully make the transition.

Chief nurse officers seek leaders who'll guide practice transformation to meet clinical and educational challenges. Do you have what it takes?

Performance improvement of chief nurse executives (CNEs) is an integral part of a healthcare organization's program of continuous improvement. However, the process of evaluating CNEs is an increasingly complex and costly one. This is, in part, because the formal evaluation process for a CNE of a stand-alone hospital building is considerably different from that of a CNE in an integrated health-care system of hundreds or several thousand nursing personnel. Reflecting on staff's perceptions of the CNE evaluation process in a large system, the author highlights major concerns related to issues of trust, their careers, the organization, their patients, and themselves.

Healthcare CEOs recognize that managers are under increasing pressure to work smarter and more efficiently with fewer available resources. Jobs in the healthcare industry are in a constant state of change, requiring a workforce that is not only prepared to adjust quickly to the changing environment but to simultaneously maintain or improve overall organizational performance. Traditionally, trainers were viewed as the people with the primary responsibility for improving organizational performance. Today some CEOs believe healthcare managers should own that responsibility, and other CEOs believe the responsibility should be shared among healthcare managers and trainers. This shift in how accountability is viewed poses at least two important questions. Are managers aware of the various roles they need to enact to achieve successful organizational performance improvement? Do managers possess the competencies associated with those roles? The seven most contemporary trainer roles, now referred to as workplace learning and performance roles, are examined in this article to help managers increase their knowledge of the roles, competencies, and outputs expected of them. Based on findings of a study conducted to examine CEO's perceptions of managers' roles in the performance improvement process, this article provides theoretical backgrounds, includes verbatim study comments, and offers practical recommendations or tips for managers.

Health care CEOs need markedly different leadership skills from those required 10 to 15 years ago. This means that boards must clearly identify their organization's needs when hiring a new CEO or evaluating a current one.

The present study focussed the expectations of 13 nurses from a University hospital regarding to the executive director's managerial style. The Managerial Grid of BLAKE & MOUTON (1987) was used as a theoretical reference and a questionnaire was applied based on the Grid & Leadership in Nursing Instrument elaborated by TREVIZAN (1993). Results evidenced that the most expected style corresponds, considering the Managerial Grid, to "team management", or 9.9. The second style was the "management of men organization", or 5.5. Authors concluded that there are important expectations for these nurses related to a management that enhances values such as trust, respect, commitment, personal investment and team work in order to achieve the organization goals.