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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
* Leadership succession planning is an extremely important exercise for individuals and organizations to prepare for ambulatory health care in the future.
* There are several opportunity points and approaches to consider for identifying emerging leaders and developing leaders.
* Ambulatory care nurses should consider their own potential for leadership and take steps to develop their leadership competencies.
IN A RECENT ARTICLE, Haas (2009) described strategies for priming the pipeline so that ambulatory care nursing practice is a first choice for new registered nurse (RN) graduates. Innovative methods include offering guided nursing student clinical rotations, employing new RN graduates, and engaging and retaining new RN graduates in ambulatory care. Not only is there a need to prime that pipeline, but it is also critical to begin developing leadership competencies and talent among ambulatory nurses for a variety of leadership roles. Assessing individual talent and future leadership potential in the context of the organization is necessary for new RN graduates and others who may be leading care as staff nurses, leading care as case managers, leading as managers or administrators, or leading their professional nursing organizations or community agencies. How many ambulatory care nurses have a leadership plan, or given any thought to a leadership plan? How many are current leaders? How many aspire to a leadership position?
In this article, the first of two on this topic, the importance of leadership and succession planning will be defined, desired leadership competencies identified, diff e rent opportunities and approaches for succession planning identified, and organizational strategies identified, as well as personal strategies, that may be employed for leadership succession planning. In the second article, in an upcoming issue of Nursing Economic$, the role played by multiple generations in building talent and leadership succession planning will be described.
Background and Significance
Although much has been written in the business literature about leadership succession planning for various levels in organizations, little has been written in the nursing literature. Rothwell (2001) defines leadership planning as "any effort designed to ensure the continued effective performance of an organization or work group by making provision for the development, replacement, and strategic application of key people over time" (p. 6). Further, he advises that organizations systematically develop individuals to retain...