Fostering Engagement: Leader Communication Within Ethnically Diverse Environments

Communication poses a concern in culturally diverse environments. As the Latino population continues to grow in the United States, the need for a culturally diverse workforce heightens. The current registered nurse workforce does not reflect the increasing diversity of the population. Demands on nurse leaders include the ability to retain a skilled, diverse, staff. The leader’s communication style directly influences the nurse leader-staff nurse relationship, coordination of work, and staff nurse satisfaction with the work environment. In health care, the nurse leader must have skills that position the organization for success. These skills include the ability to develop and retain an engaged and skilled nursing workforce.

A study investigating the links or associations between nurse leader communication competence, turnover, and engagement took place in 2 acute care hospitals in the border city of El Paso. The population of El Paso is 82% Hispanic. This demographic makeup was unique in the study and provided implications in a diverse workforce setting. The United States has an increasing diverse workforce and there is an underrepresentation of research of Latinos in the nursing profession.

Study Description

The correlational study collected data using a survey tool and retrospective hospital statistics on turnover and retention. Respondents consisted of 247 registered staff nurses in one of two acute care hospitals located on the border between the United States and Mexico.

The research survey consisted of established instruments, the Supervisor Leadership Communication Inventory and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale. Demographic data was also a component of the survey tool (age, gender, ethnicity, tenure, shift worked). Collection of ethnicity data provided descriptive information about the unique characteristics of the participants. Aggregation of data occurred through identification of the work unit of the nurse and of the correlating nurse leader who had accountability for that unit (as determined by the organizational chart).

Findings

The leader’s role in developing and promoting engaged workers lies primarily in the leader’s ability to form professional and social relationships with staff. In addition, the leader’s ability to communicate effectively, linking the vision, mission, and goals to the work of the staff, promotes staff engagement. The analysis demonstrated that higher leader communication competence scores was associated with higher staff nurse engagement scores. Analysis of data in the current study also linked other aspects to job engagement. Leadership was positively correlated with job engagement. This indicates an association between higher leadership scores and higher staff nurse engagement. Employee behavior was also linked to job engagement. The data demonstrated an association between positive employee behaviors and a more engaged staff nurse. The final variable measured linking to engagement was organizational outcomes. The correlation was large, indicating an association between positive organizational outcomes and staff nurse engagement.

Recommendations

The recommendations are threefold
1. First, organizations need to evaluate the communication competence of current leaders by asking staff.
2. The second recommendation is to prioritize individualized communication training plans for nurse leaders, which must include enhanced diversity training.
3. Last, nurse leaders must focus on increasing engagement among staff.

The role of the nurse leader in promoting a positive work environment aimed at increasing staff engagement will become increasingly important for organizational success. Hospitals remain the highest employer of nurses at 61% of the total work force. Latinos are the fastest growing ethnic group and the number of Latino nurses is expected to grow. This highlights the need for more research with the Latino ethnic group. The current study investigated the role of nurse leader communication in nurse turnover, retention, and job engagement within a diverse workforce. The study supported an association between leader communication competence and RN engagement.