M茅lanie is a member of the project鈥檚 Executive Committee and is the co-chair of the Evaluation Committee alongside听Kathleen Boies. Our Project Administrator Anna Adjemian spoke with her about her interest in SBNH as a tool to mobilize and empower teams and leaders, as well as the power of putting shared language to the implicit values of the nursing profession.
Anna Adjemian: Please give us a short background/summary of who you are and what you do professionally.
M茅lanie Lavoie-Tremblay: I am currently the Vice Dean of Research, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship at the Faculty of Nursing, University of Montr茅al. This is a new opportunity for me; I began this job at the beginning of September, 2021. For the last 16 years, I was an Associate Professor at the Ingram School of Nursing (ISoN) at 捆绑SM社区. This is where I met Laurie Gottlieb and her team. I have also been a researcher at the Centre de recherche de l鈥橧nstitut universitaire en sant茅 mentale de Montr茅al (CR-IUSMM, Universit茅 de Montr茅al) for the last 16 years as well. I have a PhD in Occupational Health, and my expertise is the attraction and retention of new nurses, and healthy work environments.
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Why did you get involved with this project?
I was lucky to have Laurie and Bruce Gottlieb as colleagues at the ISoN. I knew that they had received this great opportunity from CIHR and SSHRC, and when Laurie asked me to be a co-investigator, it was such a unique invitation; I was very pleased to accept it. I had never worked closely with Laurie and Bruce before 鈥� Laurie was my colleague, but we had never been co-researchers. I knew about SBNH, because we had adopted it as the underpinning philosophy and approach at the ISoN, but I had never been involved in the research. I thought it would be a wonderful first time to work on this topic, as well as to get to know Laurie 鈥� she is an exceptional scholar, and she brought a lot to the School of Nursing. I鈥檓 very impressed by her and was honoured to be involved with this grant, and to be able to work with her.
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What does SBNH mean to you?
I鈥檓 a very positive person. SBNH resonates with me because it looks for the strengths 鈥� it鈥檚 so important to look for strengths and take a positive view, despite all the challenges we go through. We need to have inspiration to be able to move forward. It鈥檚 natural for nurses to look for the strengths of their patients 鈥� it鈥檚 something that we have been trained for; we want our patients to achieve their goals through their strengths. The pillars and values of SBNH give a common vision and common language, to translate what is difficult to see or to put into words, so we can become stronger as a nursing profession.
For leadership, SBNH brings that positive component: look through the lens of strengths. It gives leaders leverage, and helps to mobilize a team; it can appeal to people, be an attraction. In creating the SBNH Leadership Program, we have transformed this approach through language that people can understand. The program helps to break down all the aspects of SBNH, and gives different ways to talk about strengths 鈥� things like uniqueness, and self-determination. Through SBNH nurses can see all the strengths that they bring to their work, and they can feel more confident. It puts words to what we are already doing, the values that we share, so that the participants [in the SBNH-L program] can operationalize it, make it concrete, and put it into action. This shared language helps to mobilize people and makes the value of nursing clear to other professions as well. Through the SBNH approach nurses see their own contributions more clearly, and they are able to communicate them when they discuss with an interprofessional team.
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What does this project mean to you/what do you hope to see come out of your work on this project?
We did not plan to do this project during a pandemic when we applied for it. Now, I hope to see this approach give tools to leaders and nurse managers to support or rebuild their teams through and following this pandemic. We need to support resiliency. We鈥檝e seen a lot of strengths among nurses and leaders throughout the pandemic. Leaders now have to mobilize teams that are tired, that have been through so much. The SBNH approach, re-framing and looking at strengths, will be helpful to move forward and create healthy workplaces. I鈥檓 fascinated by how people react to the SBNH approach: they become very engaged when they understand the concept. It鈥檚 an approach that mobilizes people quickly, and engages them in a concrete way. This project will give the language and the community to move the nursing profession forward in terms of policy as well. Through Laurie鈥檚 leadership, she brings out the strengths among the partners on the grant, brings out the best of all the co-investigators and collaborators, to create a project that goes beyond what we had planned. I thought this would be a great opportunity, but it has fulfilled more than what I was expecting. It鈥檚 a true learning experience, to see how Laurie brings out people鈥檚 strengths, how we enjoy working together, and how we can move mountains.