Creating Value at Work: A Nurse’s Guide to Shifting Culture and Preventing Burnout

One of the most common stressors nurses face is feeling undervalued. This stems from a variety of situations: poor staffing ratios, not being heard, heavy workloads, attitudes of management, coworkers or patients.

Feeling undervalued can also stem from the well-intentioned, but misaligned, attempt by management to show appreciation by giving everyone a mug with the facility’s name on it instead of ensuring that employees get their break or that the cafeteria is open for the nightshift staff.

These situations are real, and difficult, and yet we deal with other demanding situations with less struggle.

The research shows that FEELING undervalued contributes to nurse burnout. While we may not be able to change the cafeteria hours, we CAN affect change on our emotions. Although it seems that how we feel is the consequence of outside forces, it is actually the direct result of how we think. As such, we can change how we feel by actively working to shift our thinking towards things that support us.

This may sound idealistic especially when we all agree that the night shift deserves the cafeteria, but one truth does not have to negate the other. The real challenge is how to promote a culture of being valued despite the systemic or interpersonal challenges of the work environment. 

What if feeling valued at work began with us creating value? What if feeling valued was viewed as a health promotion activity?

We can use our energy to start a movement instead of just surviving.

It takes just a few steps/questions to get started.

1. Decide to invest the time and energy in yourself and your work environment. Investing in the work culture will, like other investments, have compounded returns. Are you willing to actively work on preventing or deconstructing the “us vs. them” mentality? Are you willing to try strategies that may change your experience AND the experience of your coworkers?

   
   

2. What do you have in your environment that supports you? Spend a few minutes making a list. This helps undo the belief that “nothing is supportive” and subsequently opens us up to valuing the good parts of work. If we want others to value us, we need to start looking for value as well. 

   
   

3. Can you value your coworkers? Can you be the person that you want others (or administration) to be? This is different from liking the people you work with. Value includes dignity and inclusion, even of those who aren’t our favorites. This may sound really hard to do (especially if you feel you have been wronged in the past). If this is the case, remember a time when you accomplished something difficult. Can you take that chutzpah and skill and apply it to valuing the staff that rubs you the wrong way? 

   
   

There is a trick to this if you struggle with giving up your criticisms of your coworkers (and let’s face it, we all have some criticisms of our coworkers, even the ones we like). 

Engage the mindset that you use with your patients, approach it like an interaction with a difficult patient.

• Recognize the unique needs of each individual

• Listen to understand, not to check off a box. As you listen and really see your coworkers and their struggles and perceptions, you gain understanding. With understanding comes compassion. Compassion is the skill that makes all others easier while giving meaning to our work.

• Show up as someone who really wants to help the situation.

• Listen to what you are thinking. 

Challenge the “yeah, but…” thinking, this is what keeps us stuck. For example, “yeah, but my coworker is always on her phone” or “yeah, but I am working harder.” These may be true but do not support a culture of value. Maybe the coworker is on her phone because of family issues, or maybe she is overwhelmed and uses it to cope and check out for a minute. We can understand the need for a break. Maybe she has ADHD and uses the phone to regulate herself so she can keep working as a nurse- this would be pretty impressive. 

This brings us back to the above strategy of recognizing the unique need of each individual. It is really unlikely that a coworker is on their phone because they don’t care and yet this is our default thinking. 

5. Consider the protective factor of doing the above activity. Protecting our own is protecting ourselves. It builds community and a sense of team. It promotes a sense of ownership and autonomy. It gives us meaning and purpose beyond just patient care. 

Caring for our work environment through developing a team mentality, meaning and autonomy IS the solution for burnout. 

If we want our life to look a certain way, then we need to take responsibility for creating that. If we can learn to want what we already have in our coworkers and ourselves, we can better deal with the work challenges that are not within our immediate control. 

It goes back to stacking the odds in our favor AND relying on our nursing skills to create a healthy (and valuable) culture.

Be the change you want to see in the world.

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We don't have to settle for the way things are. Change is possible and it starts with us.