Sarah Crawford-Bohl

Research from VitalSmarts, a global leader in organizational performance and leadership, tells us people would rather quit their jobs than address a challenging situation.

In this post-pandemic time, with baby boomers retiring and a wave of quiet resignation upon us,

The world seems to be working short-staffed.

I'm a nurse and have worked in healthcare leadership for a long time.

And I'm here to tell you, in this profession, we can't risk losing anyone, especially not for the reason of avoiding a challenging conversation.

In a world where we are experiencing increasingly rapid cycles of change, we can expect difficult conversations, particularly in the workplace, to happen more often than ever before.

Moments such as sharing feedback, identifying mistakes, or calling out disrespect.

They're not always easy, but often critical to the performance of both individuals and a team.

In healthcare, where stakes are high, our willingness to raise concerns can be vital to the quality of care we provide, but also to the safety of patients and the care team.

In fact, research also tells us that when we do speak up, we experience more job satisfaction, increased team morale, and in my world, support better patient outcomes.

I've experienced this for myself.

Now, I don't have all the answers and I don't always get it right.

In fact, I make a mess of it sometimes.

But often I've found it's a bit like cardio or weightlifting.

Well, we feel a bit vulnerable at the time.

With practice, we start to experience the benefits.

It gets easier and we get better at it.

We need to find a path to help us get past that initial fight, flight, or freeze response to get us to the table and make leaning into uncomfortable conversations the desired action for our own benefit, as well as to benefit those around us.

Now, I was fortunate.

I had some amazing role modeling by parents who encouraged me to use my voice, specifically when I knew I should but didn't want to.