The strategic leadership of nursing directorates in the context of healthcare system reform

Abstract

In Quebec, the strategic leadership of nursing directorates remains poorly documented despite its importance for the performance of their organizations. Using three focus groups and 31 individual semistructured interviews, a qualitative descriptive study was conducted, including 35 participants from 18 of the Quebec 34 health institutions created in 2015 by the last reform. Seven themes emerged: (1) taking ownership of the strategic positioning, (2) developing and communicating a vision, (3) making strategic, systematic, and measured choices, (4) reframing roles, (5) getting involved in the strategic decision-making processes, (6) developing the political capacity, and (7) building alliances. Four professional and organizational components influenced the nursing directorates’ leadership capacity: clinical credibility, a sufficient number of people educated at the graduate level, organizational culture, and size of the institution. It is expected that these results regarding nursing directorates’ exercise of strategic leadership will lead to better governance and quality of nursing care.