Successful Shared Governance Through Education.

Shared governance is one way nurses can attain a healthy work environment. Having direct-care nurses involved in raising relevant clinical and operational issues and creating systematic approaches has been linked to greater levels of empowerment which is often transposed into shared governance. Nurse leaders at one hospital used a comprehensive educational strategy to implement shared governance in less than 2 years. An authoritative style of leadership and decision making does not meet the needs of today's complex health care environment; nor does it meet the needs of today's employees. The focus on a very deliberate and educational strategy for shared governance was successful in building the structures and processes needed to take a unit and division from traditional governance to shared governance in less than 2 years.