Nursing has been at the forefront of our lives, as the global pandemic has dominated our countries and way of life. Never in living memory has there been such a strong demand for the expertise of the well-respected profession and strong demand for highly qualified nurses all over the world.
The nursing profession allows for one to specialize in a wide variety of health, social, education, and policy areas to name a few. However, nursing also relies on strong leadership to guide large staff groups, ensure high-quality care and help design social health policy.
In an interview with the Analytics Insight Magazine, CEO of The Australian College of Nursing (ACN), Adjunct Professor Kylie Ward FACN shares her inspiration and knowledge behind providing world-class education opportunities, advocacy of the nurse's voices to government, and strong support to the profession right across Australia. Her work at the helm is committed to enhancing the health care of all Australians.
The Australian College of Nursing (ACN) is the national leader of the nursing profession and a community of dynamic and passionate nurses.
ACN provides exceptional member and non-member opportunities for learning, networking and inspirational events, policy, advocacy, well-being support, awards, curation of the historical contribution of nursing, support for gender equality in nursing, and provides recognized higher education courses, which allow nurses at all levels to stay informed, skilled and connected.
ACN supports industry and community programs including, 2020 International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife; Nursing Now – a three-year global campaign with ICN and WHO; Close The Gap – Australia's peak Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander campaign; Our Climate, Our Health – Australia's response to the Paris Agreement regarding the 'right to health' in the national climate policy context; and awareness campaigns including Community In Nurses Week; Nursing Expos, and National Nursing Forums for nurse leaders.
ACN has 11,500 individual members, represents over 120,000 nurses through its corporate memberships, and has an average monthly audience of 300,000. During the last year, ACN provided educational courses to 106,000 nurses, including the RN and EN refresher courses, as a response to the need for more nurses due to the pandemic.
ACN supports NurseStrong, a peer-to-peer support Facebook group to 6,700 nurses, many of who aren't members but seek support and guidance from their community. During the qualifying year, the membership of NurseStrong increased by 423%.
ACN has offices in ACT and NSW but relies on a network of 19 Communities of Interest and 8 State and Territory Chairs, who further support regional teams. ACN also has five policy chapters: emissions reduction, end-of-life care, chronic disease, aging, and workforce sustainability.
The College's approach to customer service is exemplified by having a 'customer care team, because they know what individual nurses need, across the 56 disciplines their members represent.
Kylie, CEO of the Australian College of Nursing (ACN) is a Policy Reformer, Humanitarian, Visionary, Nurse, For-Purpose Leader, Equality Warrior, Adjunct Professor, Executive Coach, Mum, and Transformation Specialist.
She was born and bred in the outer western suburbs of Sydney. Life was simple but she wasn't. She was a -described dreamer. However, what she didn't know then was she was destined to become one of the most influential health professional leaders of the country and a formidable, passionate advocate for health, women, and equality.
As the CEO of ACN, Kylie has led a program of transformation at the college, turning around membership numbers to increase revenue and tripling student numbers – all within five years.
She has done this by leading the ACN community to find their relevance through policy leadership, political and industry influence. ACN is now widely regarded as Australia's beacon for Nurse Leadership.
Kylie holds honorary academic appointments with five leading Australian Universities and was ministerially appointed as the Director to ADHA (Australian Digital Health Agency) and NHMRC Health Translation Advisory Committee (HTAC) whilst holding numerous other board positions. In 2020 she was named as one of the Top 100 Health Voices for LinkedIn worldwide and in 2021 was recognized as a National Influencer by AuSAE, the leading body for Association Executives.
In 2017, Kylie won Telstra Businesswoman of the Year in ACT for Purpose and Social Enterprise.
According to Kylie, the last five years at ACN have been punctuated by major achievements. They are many and varied and include achieving financial success and the implementation of numerous programs such as:
There are hundreds of men who are nurses. Being a staunch warrior in the fight for gender equality, Kylie launched a successful campaign to assist with dismantling the 'stigma' around men in nursing.
Men from a wide variety of roles shared their experiences in the nursing profession in a series of 30 videos and an eBook. Each story is a unique, passionate, and raw description of being a man in nursing and highlights the value of nursing as a career path for men.
To spearhead the advocacy of nurses as leaders – to be able to influence others, and to work towards changing the profile of nurses and nursing, Kylie led the development and launch of ACN's Institute of Leadership in August 2019.
This has included the launch of:
Kylie led the initiative that saw the ACN, through its Institute of Leadership, gift members $1,000,000 in scholarships to acknowledge the work nurses have done for all Australians during 2020. ACN made available 1,000 scholarships for members to complete the ACN Leader's Mindset Masterclass Series.
Kylie led the development of a critical strategy – the COVID-19 Nurses Support Strategy, which provided practical help and a six-pronged approach: Information, Upskilling, Advocacy, Support, and Changes to the Health Care System and Community Awareness.
This strategy needed to immediately address the need for accurate research and clinical procedures, as the landscape was moving fast. It resulted in the design, development, and launch of:
Launched in August 2019, the ACNF financially supports nurses through scholarships, grants, awards, fellow programs, and study tours to provide high-end leadership training to keep nurses at the cutting-edge of healthcare. And, Kylie is a foundational supporter.
Around ANZAC Day in 2020, she led a media blitz to raise awareness of Australia's most revered army nurse Lieutenant Colonel Vivian Bullwinkel AO, MBE by telling her story to the press.
"It is my ambition to have a statue and memorial erected at the Australian War Memorial to recognize the work and sacrifices of the nurses and women who fought for Australia", said Kylie. This will be the first memorial statue of a woman and nurse on the grounds of the Australian War Memorial, giving us an opportunity to redefine history with monuments to women.
According to Kylie, there is no greater asset than the relationships we have across and in our organizations and society – from the local to the political, friendships through to formal acquaintances. Our life is a series of relationships and our success comes from how impactful we are to these lives.
"I have learned from being a nurse and a transformational culture specialist that a leader should work to understand and uncover the relationships the organization has to itself, its members, students, community and stakeholders; working to pull and push them for outcomes."
Kylie's answer to what drives innovation is by taking the time to listen and walk a mile in other's shoes. She adds that CEOs have a sense of what is going on with their organizations and people, but only by finding the time to sit and talk, do they get the important nuances of the change that needs to happen.
They can then connect the dots at a strategic level to achieve the change required, but without listening to people through meetings, surveys, results, casual conversations, etc. they will miss the mark. "For example, I work to strengthen the team by enabling them to take up new opportunities, support their ideas and initiatives, ensuring they have the help needed to do their job, whilst cultivating an innovative and compassionate culture", she asserts.
During the pandemic, Kylie supported her staff by giving them each a tailored and generous Care Package filled with well-being-focused items in which all 82 staff received one delivered to their homes. Whilst this might seem like a simple idea, and despite it being logistically challenging, it was timely, practical, and very well received. Items for the Care Packages were sourced from Bushfires affected areas as well as rural and remote communities.
Kylie's advice for budding or emerging CEOs and executives is to understand who they are, what they bring to the position and organization as well as the areas they need to strengthen. She further adds that we should all understand we have more learning and growth to do and we should commit our lives to personal and professional development. This will require finding the right mentors and coaches who will challenge you, and then it is up to us to do the personal work to be authentic and assimilate the learnings into improving the lives of those you serve.
Kylie leads from a position of equality and mutual respect and her personal motto is "Dare to be Different", for when we do this, we become true to ourselves and our greater purpose.
"Surround yourself with exceptional people at every level and let them challenge you and let them soar. Know ahead of time that you will not have all of the answers but stand in your conviction and courage when you do know the right thing to do."
She concluded by saying being a CEO/ business leader or executive comes with great privilege and power but most importantly it comes with great responsibility. Always conduct yourself with integrity, grace, clarity, and purpose and be filled with gratitude and kindness, even when making the tough decisions. Time is the most precious resource today, and it is not renewable so be respectful of other people's time, as well as your own and be decisive so people can follow your lead.
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