298 ■ III: ROLE FUNCTIONS OF DOCTORAL ADVANCED NURSING PRACTICE
of defined leadership tasks. At a more complex level, it is about how we develop and
embody leadership consciousness. This chapter explores the route toward leadership
consciousness by mapping its many domains.
Executive coaching is a leadership development intervention that can guide the
new DNP through role transitions and into greater leadership consciousness. It focuses
on helping clients perform to the best of their potential, both in successfully achiev-
ing their role responsibilities, and in finding their own best way of accomplishing this
goal. The process of executive coaching involves a relationship of mutual respect and
engagement between the coach and coaching client (or coachee), which leads to feed-
back and support for the client’s growth and development. This chapter defines exec-
utive coaching, describes what it entails, and clarifies how it works. It presents a case
study of coaching at a college of nursing and identifies its successful outcomes, while
also acknowledges the need for a body of empirically based research to establish the
generalized effectiveness of leadership coaching.
■ TRANSITIONS IN PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
We are living in turbulent times. On the global front, threats to safety have generated
widespread anxiety. On the home front, our economic instabilities have created fears of
the future. In the midst of our domestic worries there is uncertainty about the state of
national health care, which causes further worry in the general population and stress
within the nursing profession. The DNP is opening new possibilities for the nursing
profession and health care; however, this new degree will lead the profession into un-
charted territory where there are no clear maps for moving forward. The DNP graduate
and our health care system are transitioning at the same time, heightening the chal-
lenges for managing change. It is of paramount importance that attention is placed on
DNP professional development during such times of transition.
The academic, corporate, and practice world is accustomed to change and transi-
tion. As doctoral-level nurses transition into leadership roles, DNPs must develop skills
to negotiate the politics and hierarchies of the workplace setting. Given the shortage
of DNP leaders, there will be few comparably educated role models in the discipline.
As new DNPs are promoted to advanced practice, faculty, and executive positions, a
broader spectrum of new competencies will be required. As the role is defined, many
challenges will emerge.
With each shift, there are different skill sets for DNPs to develop. Some of these
skills are grounded in content related to a nursing specialty, but many fall under the
umbrella of management and leadership. It is the goal of DNPs as leaders to: (a) earn
the trust of the organization; (b) be deeply engaged with professional colleagues;
(c) earn legitimacy and mobilize people around a focused agenda; (d) devote considerable
efforts to develop employees and build the organization’s collective leadership capabili-
ties; and lastly, (e) strive for high performance that is committed to the larger institution
(Eisenstat, Beer, Foote, Fredberg, & Norrgren, 2008). Clearly, major shifts in the role from a
clinician to a leader create the demand for change on many fronts for the DNP.
Role shifts create change in all our relationships, both personal and professional.
They create change, as well, in how we see ourselves. There is no external promotion
without an internal shift; no new leadership position is embodied without personal
growth and development. This transformation can be both invigorating and also dis-
orienting. In addition to the excitement, delights, and satisfactions of new leadership
positions, transitioning into them involves a labyrinth of twists, turns, and invisible