Chandra Walls Williams

One of the things that helps me to continue to be successful, specifically in my nursing leadership roles, has been to listen. Listen to the patients, listen to the staff, see what opportunities that are there, and also keeping myself educated on what's new. Nursing is one of those fields that changes, so not just staying stuck in one place, or just staying stuck in what we used to do. Trying to stay with the times and doing the things that are best for the patients. Treating these patients like they're my own family members has been one of the things that has kept me consistent and kept me grounded. They may not be my family, but they're somebody's family, and somebody does care about them the same way I care about my family members, so treating every single patient as if they're somebody's family, and they could be my family. So I treat every single patient, no matter their background, with that respect. Being in this role now going on 10 years almost in nursing leadership, the thing that has kept me consistent and has kept my people, my teammates and employees, staying with me or following me to another job has been that I treat everybody with integrity. I make sure that even if it's a difficult conversation, that you leave with the respect and integrity of knowing that you still are a person. Whatever happened, we can come to a compromise with it, or we can figure out what is best for you. It may not always mean staying here in this role. It may mean that we do need to find another opportunity for you, but I need to make sure that you left my office with your integrity and didn't feel like I beat you down. So I definitely listen to my teammates and kind of see where we are. What can I do for you to better help you in this role? That's taken me a long way. I have one teammate now, we've been together for 15 years, and I've had many roles, but when I switch a job and she feels like it's an opportunity for her, she will see if there's an opportunity that she can come, and she has followed me for many, many years.

If there was a new nurse coming into this field, I would tell her to just take her time, find your niche. Just because it's something that you want to do doesn't mean there's always the fit for you, so find what fits you, and be patient with nursing. There are so many different disciplines and different things to do, but just be patient. It can be overwhelming. No amount of money will seem enough for the job that we do. Sometimes it does seem like a thankless job, but saving one life, or saving one family member for someone can mean a lot to them, and so just take everything with grace, and give yourself some grace on those long evenings and long hours.

For me, I make sure no matter what I do, that I take time out for myself every week, whatever it is, if it's just going to the nail shop by myself to get my nails done, if it's just going to get my eyebrows done, if it's just a hour massage, whatever it is, I take that time out to take care of just me, and I make it a point to spend time individually with my family. That's what's important to me, and I think you can get yourself caught up many times working, working, working, and then you've worked yourself into whatever it is in your family. I never wanted my kids to say she's always at work. One thing that they can say is my mom always showed up. She showed up to the basketball games, she showed up to the football games, she showed up to the cheer practice. I think that's huge, and you can work, work, work, and your work family can love you, but then you can't forget about the family that you've created. I'm very intentional about where my time is spent with my family and being intentional of being in the moment when I'm with them.