I would like for our nurse manager Kristin Fischer to know what an impact her leadership has had on me. Before I share my own appreciation and thoughts, I would like to share with you that there have been several nurses who have expressed how much they appreciated the time, effort, care, kindness, and individualization of their yearly review that they had with Kristin. Each person shared with me, that they felt valued and truly appreciated the time Kristin took, to sit down with each of them, and not only provide them their evaluation, but she also listened to each one of them as their own person(s). Each one of these nurses felt that they were given valuable and honest feedback and they all felt supported by Kristin as a leadership team contact.
For me, this was the first evaluation that I have personally had, in my 14-year career as a NICU nurse that was so gingerly cared for. I knew by what I read, that Kristin took her time to evaluate my individual contributions to the NICU here at CHOC, her words touched my heart. I was also encouraged to grow and was given recommendations by Kristin on ways that I could do so. I was treated as not just another employee ID number, I had no idea, honestly that not only was I feeling very appreciative of the time, effort, patience, and compassion as others had also felt during their evaluation period.
I do not believe that a team needs to be close in friendships or daily discussions to be an effective team. We all do not need to know about each other's personal lives, issues, problems, or outside of work activities. Sometimes knowing these things could be a hurtful situation, thus I chose not to really get into much of this talk about others or with others, to me...I know that most of the time this will lead to some hurt of another and I just would rather not.
However, I recently did need to talk about something I am personally dealing with. I did not expect that it would come out during my yearly evaluation with Kristin, I can say, I am not surprised it did. I trust her and I have had talks with her before in confidentiality where Kristin helped me resolve an issue in the unit or led me to the answer that I was looking for. I have many times suggested to my fellow nurse colleagues, who have not yet built a relationship with at least one of their leadership team members....to do so, because honestly, the time will come, for sure for every one of us, to need help and not know how to ask for it.
In the recent last few months, after the time I spent talking to Kristin during my evaluation, where she offered to me, that I could come to her for anything I needed, no matter what it was, that I did. I texted her and asked for help, thankful that I had someone that I completely trust, respect, value, and depend on who was there for me. I will be forever grateful for this gift.
I have been there, as a nurse manager, writing evaluations. I know that when that time of year comes....the pressure is on, because although we try months before they are due to HR to get them completed and signed, one may be tempted to "just get it over with". It can be overwhelming and I have seen many times, sadly in my years as a nurse, how it feels to watch nurses open that manilla folder, sign the eval and put it back in the manager's mailbox. It broke my heart, when the nurses I was not "assigned" to, were actually hurt and jealous of the nurses who got to spend the time with me to actually go over the very thoughtful comments I made. That nurse felt she/he must not have mattered enough to have one interaction in a year where time would be devoted to just them. This is a human being's behavioral instinct...we all need to know how we are doing, and sometimes during this interaction a great relationship of trust and respect can begin. This relationship is not a transactional one. Kristin for me has served as a leader who is supportive, encouraging, and transformational.
I know that I am not just speaking from my own heart, how I feel about Kristin. As I have shared, there are many others who feel the same as me.
Thank you for providing Kristin the support she needs so that she can be there for me and others. We all need someone who we can count on to do as they say and be there when it feels no one else understands and to know that no matter what day or time it is, there is this very special someone here at CHOC that I am eternally grateful for. Kristin is my someone and I am very thankful.
I hope that Kristin can be celebrated in a special way.