Nurse Manager Success Factors: The Foundation for Succession Planning

Abstract

An estimated 70,000 nurses, including nurse leaders, are expected to retire annually. Proactive succession planning programs are key mitigation strategies for this impending shortage of nurse leaders. Determining success factors that support a program to develop future nurse managers is the first step and lays a foundation for succession planning. Convening focus groups among current nurse managers to identify, in their own words, what it takes to be a successful nurse manager, and mapping those factors to the academic health system behavioral competencies and American Organization for Nursing Leadership manager competencies created the foundation for an established succession planning program.