Insights into the Dynamic World of Nursing

Recently I sat down for a conversation with Kathleen Kaminsky, MS, RN, NE-BC.  Kathleen is the Senior Vice President, Patient Care Services and Chief Nursing Officer for Englewood Health in New Jersey.

Rhonda Williams:  Kathleen, thank you for sitting down with me today.

Kathleen Kaminsky:  Thank you, Rhonda. It’s my pleasure.


Q:  Kathleen, can you share a bit about your leadership journey at Englewood Health? It looks like you’ve had quite the impressive tenure here.

Kathleen Kaminsky:  I’ve been with Englewood Health for 39 years. I started as a unit secretary prior to becoming a nurse. I began to advance and served as the Chief Quality Officer for nearly 20 years. Around 2015, I stepped in as Interim Chief Nursing Officer for under a year before returning to focus on population health and quality. In 2018, I officially became the Chief Nursing Officer, and quality remains a part of my focus.

When I transitioned into the CNO role, I immediately recognized challenges and opportunities for growth, particularly vacancies in critical specialties like the emergency department, ICU, and operating rooms. One of my first priorities was establishing support programs for new graduates, such as an emergency department residency program. We started with critical care and expanded to areas like the ED and L&D. This was all happening just as COVID struck, which significantly influenced the early-career experiences of new nurses. Many had more simulation-based training and fewer live patient interactions. Post-COVID, we faced retirements and turnover, but we’ve remained focused on developing excellent nursing professionals and fostering stability in our units.

Q:  You mentioned developing a pipeline for nurses and new graduates. What specific initiatives have you implemented?

Kathleen Kaminsky:  We’ve taken a multifaceted approach. For example, we added PCAs (Patient Care Associates) and BSN students. We encourage team members in other roles—like transporters—to pursue nursing. Tuition reimbursement has been critical in this effort.

We were also fortunate to receive a $10 million philanthropic gift from the Kaplen Foundation and its president, Maggie Kaplen in March 2020 dedicated to nursing, which allowed us to establish the Kaplen Institute for Nursing Excellence. The institute provides scholarships, supports professional development, and fosters innovation. This framework has been pivotal in our goal of developing a sustainable nursing pipeline and ensuring ongoing nursing excellence.

Rhonda Y. Williams:  Your dedication to creating a structured pipeline for nursing talent is commendable and speaks to the importance of intentional leadership. It sounds like The Kaplen Institute not only addresses immediate staffing needs but also invests in the long-term development of future leaders in nursing.


Q: Generational differences are a growing focus in workplaces today. Many workplaces have four or five generations working together. How have you seen this play out across your team?


Kathleen Kaminsky:  Generational differences have certainly shaped how we work. I’m from the last cohort of Baby Boomers, a generation known for its commitment to staying with one organization for decades. Today’s workforce is different. Many younger nurses prioritize work-life balance, flexibility, and career mobility.

We’ve responded. For example, we have moved to 12-hour shifts for most units because that’s what our staff wanted. We’ve also embraced flexible schedules, allowing nurse managers to choose between four 10-hour shifts or five 8-hour shifts. This has been well-received and helps accommodate varying needs.

However, this shift has changed team dynamics and continuity of care. If a nurse only works three days a week, they might not see the same patients or colleagues consistently, which impacts relationship-building and team cohesion.

To address this, we invested in mentoring programs. We encourage senior nurses to mentor newer staff. One of our units even partners with academic institutions, allowing nurses to mentor students who may later join the team. Having you join us for this presentation on intergenerational communication is also in alignment with our goal of fostering open communication across generations. It is critical and fosters a more connected, collaborative environment.

Rhonda Y. Williams:  Generational differences aren’t just about work preferences; they shape how individuals communicate and collaborate. Training on generational understanding along with tools like DiSC personality profile assessments can help teams understand these differences and foster stronger relationships by identifying both generational and individual behavioral tendencies.


Q: Leadership development is a critical element of a healthy workforce. Can you share a little about your processes for managing this?


Kathleen Kaminsky:  When I stepped into this role in late 2018, we identified a huge opportunity to revamp our leadership development processes, particularly for nurse managers. At that time, the structure of the program was still evolving, and the orientation process had room to better align with the needs of our workforce. We rebuilt it using the American Organization for Nursing Leadership competencies and framework, focusing on creating a more structured and intentional approach.

While COVID disrupted our progress for several years, we’ve recently started revisiting and enhancing these efforts. One area we’ve recognized as critical is providing consistent orientation—not just relying on preceptors but addressing knowledge gaps like operational rules and foundational processes.

Our workforce also takes advantage of development programs offered by Human Resources through the Englewood Academy’s Leadership Development Institute.   These programs are designed to meet team members at different stages of their careers.  Each session is carefully crafted to provide valuable insights and practical tools that align with the individual’s role and experience level.

Rhonda Y. Williams:  Thank you for sharing that with us. Development of leaders is never an event, but instead it is a process. In our work at Thunderbird Leadership Consulting, we know how important that is, and we help organizations understand their leaders and teams at a deeper level using assessments. We firmly believe once you truly understand who they are as people, then we can enhance relationships, communication and overall workplace morale and productivity. Effective leadership development must address three key groups: new leaders, experienced leaders who need ongoing growth, and newly promoted leaders who may feel overwhelmed. Structured programs that include mentorship and continuous training are essential for building a resilient leadership team.


Q:  Many nursing leaders are actively engaged in the practices you
ve shared here with us and Im sure theyll find value in what you have shared. Can you briefly speak to leadership burnout and what you are seeing on your team. Its such an important topic for todays workforce dynamics.

Kathleen Kaminsky:  I think having flexibility, work life balance and fostering a healthy work environment are essential to reducing the risk of burnout in our leaders.

All team members have access to wellbeing resources. For instance, we have a Team Wellness Primary Care Access Center designed exclusively for Englewood Health employees and their immediate adult family members. Englewood Health offers confidential mental and emotional health resources to our team members.

Available services are visible on our employee portal, promoted during employee wellness fairs, and we have presentations and information that goes out regularly for the team. Leaders are educated to ensure that if team members express a need or would benefit from referral to team wellness services, those referrals are made.

Rhonda Y. Williams:  Thank you, Kathy. Just as each organization is unique, challenges around stress and burnout are similar but different. I appreciate hearing about Englewood’s comprehensive approach.

Q: What’s your vision for the future of leadership at Englewood Health?

Kathleen Kaminsky:  My hope is to see our leaders continue building their skill sets and toolkits. It’s essential to provide nurse managers with the resources and support they need to succeed. Succession planning is also critical. By focusing on strategy and mentorship, we can prepare our leaders to navigate the evolving challenges of healthcare.

I also want our team to feel like they have work-life balance. That’s important because it was something they asked for.

Finally, I want to thank my executive team. I have a lot of support to lead in the way that is best for our team.

Rhonda Y. Williams:  It’s not easy leading a dynamic healthcare workforce today. Thank you for recognizing the importance of flexibility and strategic development so you team can provide the best possible care to patients, families and each other.

I realize you are incredibly busy, and I thank you so much for your time today.


Final Thoughts

This conversation with Kathleen Kaminsky highlights the importance of intentional leadership, adaptability, and continuous development in today’s healthcare environment. From addressing generational differences to creating structured leadership pipelines, Englewood Health’s initiatives serve as a backdrop for the evolving needs healthcare teams experience today. For leaders across industries, the lessons shared here are universally applicable: understand your people, invest in their development, and adapt to meet their evolving needs. That is a recipe for success.

Balancing Optimism with Realism: How Leaders Can Counteract Toxic Positivity

By Tresha Moreland, MBA, SPHR, Fellow (FACHE)

In the modern workplace, leaders often emphasize the importance of staying positive, especially when navigating tough times. However, when optimism becomes excessive and dismisses legitimate concerns, it turns into toxic positivity—or “glossing.”

Glossing is the tendency to mask challenges with relentless positivity, creating an environment where employees feel unheard and their struggles minimized. Leaders who recognize and address this tendency can foster trust, empathy, and open communication.

Understanding Toxic Positivity

Toxic positivity is the compulsion to react to distress with superficial assurances, such as “Everything will be fine” or “Look on the bright side,” without acknowledging the real challenges at hand. While a positive outlook can motivate, consistently brushing over problems stifles open dialogue and invalidates emotions. The result? Teams may feel pressured to hide concerns or adopt a “just keep smiling” attitude, which erodes trust and authenticity.

Leaders must balance optimism and realism to create a supportive, truthful, and productive environment.

Why Glossing Is Detrimental to Trust and Team Dynamics

Glossing can erode trust and team cohesion in subtle but damaging ways:

  • It suppresses open communication: When leaders ignore or downplay difficulties, employees may feel discouraged from voicing concerns or offering feedback. This can create a culture of silence where critical problems are overlooked until they escalate.
  • It fosters disconnection: Employees must feel that their leaders understand and empathize with their experiences. By glossing over challenges, leaders risk appearing out of touch or insincere, damaging their credibility.
  • It undermines problem-solving: Productive teams thrive on tackling problems head-on. Toxic positivity prevents teams from discussing obstacles and finding real solutions, ultimately hindering growth.

Practical Strategies for Leaders to Avoid Glossing

Recognizing tendencies toward glossing is only the first step. Leaders need actionable strategies to maintain a healthy balance between optimism and realism. Here are some practical approaches:

1. Embrace Transparent Communication

Transparency is the antidote to glossing. Leaders should be clear and upfront about challenges without being defeatist. For example, during periods of organizational change, it’s more effective to say, “We’re facing a difficult transition period, but I’m confident we have the resilience to navigate it,” than to say, “Don’t worry; it’s all going to be perfect.”

Practical Tip: Share facts and context. Discuss what’s going well and acknowledge what isn’t. This builds a culture where employees know they’re getting the full picture and can trust leadership to be honest.

2. Encourage Empathetic Leadership

Empathy allows leaders to connect with their teams on a deeper level. When employees feel understood, they’re more likely to engage openly. Empathetic leadership means acknowledging stressors, asking questions, and listening without judgment.

Practical Tip: Practice active listening during meetings and one-on-ones. Instead of moving quickly to solutions, pause to acknowledge what’s being shared. Phrases like “I hear you” or “That sounds challenging” can create a safe space for honest communication.

3. Create a “Safe-to-Speak” Environment

One of the best ways to counter toxic positivity is to clarify that constructive criticism and honest discussions are valued. Employees should feel safe sharing their concerns without fear of reprimand or dismissal.

Practical Tip: Establish regular feedback sessions where teams can discuss both wins and challenges. Implement open-door policies that encourage employees to voice their thoughts outside structured meetings.

Balancing Positivity with Realism

Optimism can still play a significant role in leadership—when used correctly. Positive reinforcement motivates teams and helps maintain morale. The key is to balance optimism with realistic acknowledgment of the current situation.

How to Balance:

  • Acknowledge the struggle and celebrate efforts: “I know this project has had its difficulties, but I want to recognize the effort everyone’s put in. We’ve overcome some major hurdles, and I believe we can keep pushing forward.”
  • Model vulnerability: It’s okay for leaders to share that they don’t have all the answers. Saying, “This is tough, and I’m still figuring out the best path forward,” can make leaders more relatable and inspire confidence.

The Long-Term Benefits of Avoiding Glossing

By counteracting toxic positivity, leaders foster a work culture that prioritizes transparency, empathy, and trust. This, in turn, creates:

  • Stronger team morale: When employees know they can be honest without repercussions, morale improves. They feel valued and seen, which boosts overall job satisfaction.
  • Better problem-solving: Transparent dialogue allows teams to identify challenges early and develop solutions collaboratively.
  • Sustained resilience: Teams that face challenges head-on are better prepared for future uncertainties. They develop resilience by learning to adapt, pivot, and support each other through change.

Wrapping it Up

Leaders don’t need to choose between positivity and realism—both can coexist in a healthy balance. By recognizing and counteracting glossing tendencies, leaders build trust and foster an environment where open dialogue thrives. The result is a workplace where employees feel empowered, engaged, and equipped to navigate challenges together.

Teaming to Drive Organizational Change

By Teresa Ong

At the League’s 2024 Innovations Conference, Chancellor Lee Lambert from Foothill-De Anza (FHDA) Community College District and Dorothy Sisneros from Thunderbird Leadership Consulting (TLC) presented a session on teaming and context-based coaching as a method for executive leaders to cultivate and sustain high-performing teams. FHDA is actively implementing teaming and context-based coaching as part of its leadership professional development initiatives. This article provides a first-hand narrative of the use of this approach with two college leadership teams.

College Context

FHDA is a two-college district with two college presidents who report to the chancellor. In 2023, the district welcomed a new president at Foothill College followed by a new chancellor, all within a span of five months. Within his first 100 days in office, Chancellor Lambert brought in TLC to facilitate teaming sessions for the new Executive Leadership Team. It was imperative that he quickly grasp the lay of the land and immerse himself as part of the college team. Shortly thereafter, President Whalen at Foothill College invited TLC to do the same with the college-based Senior Leadership Team; she had already been working with the Foothill team for several months and wanted to accelerate their work.

Purpose of Teaming

Generally speaking, a team can be defined as a group of individuals with various expertise working together for a common purpose. Simply putting people together does not, however, equal creating a team, nor does it ensure that the group is effective or high performing. How one builds a team is essential to its success.

Teaming is the intentional shift from leaders thinking as separate and distinct individuals to seeing themselves as members of the organizational team (Stein binder & Sisneros, 2024). A great way of explaining teaming is that it is a verb, not a noun (Harvard Business School, 2012). Teaming is a dynamic set of behaviors as well as a mindset anchored in shared values and expectations. And while teams and their goals may change, teaming does not.

Assessment and Alignment

TLC facilitators worked with FHDA’s chancellor and president to prepare and design sessions that were geared toward understanding each team member and their individual roles, followed by expectation setting. What did members of each team expect from each other? What did they expect from their leaders? Conversely, what did each leader expect from their respective teams? This process sets up team norms and defines how leaders treat each other; the right norms reinforce organizational alignment and create a cohesive culture (Duhigg, 2016).

For the team at Foothill College, this process began in early 2024 with monthly teaming sessions. Over the course of these sessions, the Senior Leadership Team engaged in deep conversations about shared values, individual work, and communication styles and how that might impact others. The team considered and learned how to have confidence in each other’s leadership and in themselves as a team. This does not happen in one or two team-building sessions, but over multiple facilitated gatherings.

Aside from cultural cohesion, another outcome from these sessions is a physical playbook that serves as a guide to which current and future leaders can refer. The playbook guides behavior and expectations and clearly spells out team values. It also presents clear frameworks for responding to difficult situations or new challenges, similar to playbooks used by professional sporting teams. During facilitated sessions, leaders role-play and practice various scenarios in a safe space so that when a situation arises, it is not everyone’s first time figuring out what they ought to be doing. In other words, teaming is to leadership teams as spring training is to baseball players. You have to practice playing together in order to work cohesively and deliver high performance.

Self-Awareness

An important aspect of teaming is for each leader to understand their inherent strengths, communication styles, and motivators. Every leader completed a personality profile and used it to improve their awareness of how their style could be dialed up or down to be more effective. Continuing with the baseball analogy, consider each leader as a pitcher on a baseball team facing a batter. The pitcher can adjust their fastball or curveball depending on which batter they face to garner three strikes. Similarly, a leader might adjust their work style in varying situations to be more effective.

FHDA used Everything DiSC (https://www.everythingdisc.com/).® by Wiley as its personality assessment tool and platform. What was most helpful was the ability to see each leader’s profile and compare how one aligns with others and where areas of tension might arise. The president’s executive assistant was offered the opportunity to take this assessment as her role supported the Senior Leadership Team. The awareness of her own personality coupled with a more granular understanding of the executive leaders she supported greatly improved her efficacy and leadership. This executive assistant is now leading the charge for other administrative assistants to take the assessment to help them excel in their work.

Everything DiSC has had a cascading impact at Foothill. It is a desired practice, not a mandated one. Aside from the administrative assistant team, three other divisions are slated to use this self-­assessment tool to spark conversation. We should soon be able to see DiSC profiles across the college and district. Collectively, this has also resulted in a common language on work styles.

Context-Based Coaching

Context-based coaching, which is very different from typical executive coaching, is a key component to TLC’s teaming process. TLC coaches meet with TLC facilitators who provide context and meaning to the challenges leaders might face. Coaches are aware of the organizational culture and are updated on major issues that might be at the forefront of leaders’ minds. Each college leader works with a coach to build on their strengths and modify behaviors that impact the team or their efficacy. They help leaders build behaviors and perspectives that will enhance the success of the team first, which in turn creates success for the leader (Steinbinder & Sisneros, 2024).

One leader on the chancellor’s executive team describes coaching this way:

Coaching helps me as a leader when I am stuck on something. The coach is someone who understands the organization but is not in the organization. They have the context, dynamics, and know the other team members. Thus, they are able to quickly hone in on the issue. More importantly though, they help you grow as a leader.

Unlike a friend or colleague, a coach will really tell you the hard stuff. It could be a place of discomfort. In my first two sessions, my coach asked me to try something I would normally not do. It was uncomfortable. I was skeptical about it. I thought “really?” But after I reflected more on it, I gave it a try. It was very uncomfortable but it actually helped. That’s valuable. Those are not things we get from other sources.

Practicing Infectious Positivity

Working in higher education can often feel like you are on a losing team given the volatility of state budgets, student demands, and public pressures. Rituals of appreciation and celebration can help leaders to take themselves out of a sea of negativity and fear, and to rethink and reframe ideas and situations. This is similar to the practice of experiencing awe. Recent research suggests multiple psychological benefits to triggering awe on a daily basis, including decreased heart rate and deeper breathing (Reese, 2023). There is a sensation that you are part of something vast, bigger than yourself; it also quiets the negative self-talk. One of the best ways to practice awe is by witnessing the goodness in others.

In the first facilitated session at Foothill College, leaders were initially hesitant to show glee over a family birthday or to commend a colleague for a small gesture. Perhaps it is conventional thinking that leaders should only be wrapped up in serious thoughts, multi-tasking, and making tough decisions about budget cuts or managing difficult personnel. The practice of awe gives leaders permission to share and celebrate with others their moments of joy. Just the 5-10 minutes taken at the beginning of each weekly huddle to share appreciations and celebrations resets the tone and perspective of leaders. Taking the time to notice the goodness in others, to share someone else’s happiness, triggers joy and wonder, and reminds leaders of the good they originally set out to do.

At Foothill College, this practice is currently being deployed beyond facilitated teaming sessions. It is practiced at Instructional Leadership Team and Administrative Leadership Team meetings. This practice of infectious positivity is a daily reminder of each leader’s personal desire to be a force for good in this world. More importantly, though, when the organization can share in one’s own personal joy, leaders can see themselves as part of the organization and not separate and distinct individuals. The culture shift is quite palpable.

Expanding Teaming Efforts

FHDA would like to scale efforts in teaming across the district. We are at a nascent but promising stage. Department teams have heard about it, and there is a groundswell of requests for such facilitation. There are skeptics, of course. Some of the push back received includes privacy concerns (“I don’t want my personality profile on a shared platform”), disbelief in the evidence for teaming (”This isn’t evidence-based”), and general cynicism (”This is academia, not corporate culture”).

To the naysayers, I offer this: Consider the Monday morning email from a colleague that starts with, “Hello team!” Do you cringe and say, ‘What team”? Or when you are at a meeting and no decision can be made, so more people are invited to the next meeting. Or perhaps you’ve been asked to go to a meeting, and you have no idea why you are there. Are you rolling your eyes yet? My personal favorite was being in a meeting whose task it was to understand why we had so many meetings. These are all symptomatic of being a team-in-name only. Work may be completed, and goals may be met, but at a much higher cost. At the core of such an organizational culture is dysfunction because there is no real team.

Conversely, teaming is about getting to a space where leaders can disagree, but still commit fully to decisions (Startup Archive, 2023). It is not a rah-rah team-building exercise, but, rather, a paradigm shift. Leaders across the organization have space to disagree, but they do not subsequently second guess that decision, snicker at it, or say “I told you so” when it fails. They move forward and execute the plans just like it is set out in the playbook. When this happens, the organization can begin to tackle more complex problems, and at a much greater speed, instead of simply reaching for the proverbial low-hanging fruit and settling for titanic speed. Many would agree that the problems community college leaders face are much more complicated and volatile than in years past, and that the role of community colleges is more essential now than ever before given the skyrocketing costs of higher education. Imagine if community colleges could pivot quickly and nimbly to deliver student­-centered results. Doing so starts with investing in teams that drive organizational change. Teaming should be every community college executive’s number one priority.

References

Duhigg, C. (2016, February 25). What Google learned from its quest to build the perfect team. The New York Times Magazine. www.nytimes.com/2016/02/28/magazine/what-google-learned-from-its-q­uest-to-build-the-perfect-team.html (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/28/magazine/what-google-­learned-from-its-quest-to-build-the-perfect-team.html).

Harvard Business School. (2012, April 25). The importance of teaming. Working Knowledge. https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/the-importance-of-teaming (https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/the-importance-of-teaming).

Reese, H. (2023, January 3). How a bit of awe can improve your health. The New York Times.

Startup Archive. (2023, December 18). Jeff Bezos explains what it means to disagree and commit [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Afoh23PHVP0 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Afoh23PHVPO).

Steinbinder, A, & Sisneros, D. (2024). Creating a vibrant organization using the dynamic leadership model and a teaming approach. Nursing Administration Quarterly, 48(2), 139-150.

Teresa Ong is Associate Vice President, Workforce and CTE Programs, at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills, California.

Opinions expressed in Leadership Abstracts are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the League for Innovation in the Community College.

Volume: 37, Number: 7 / July 2024 / Leadership Abstracts

Sponsorship: A New Imperative For Leaders

  by Dorothy Sisneros and Kevin Monaco

Impact of the sponsorship

Dorothy Sisneros

Have you ever been a sponsor or mentor?  Or have you been sponsored or mentored?  Chances are that at this point in your leadership journey, you have experienced one or all of the development opportunities offered by your organization or have hired external coaches to assist with your goals.  In this blog, Kevin and I will explore the nuances and role of mentorship and sponsorship support and how you can become a protégé or sponsor a protégé regardless of your current role in an organization.  The path to advancement for women and minorities usually includes being sponsored. Therefore, organizations should consider adding sponsorship to their talent management and succession planning programs.  

I have had many amazing sponsors and the odd part is that until the last six months, I didn’t have an official term for what I had benefited from along my journey.  I had mentors and coaches help me hone my skills and figure out what I wanted to do and where I wanted to be professionally.  In reading several articles, I became aware of sponsorship and realized that my life has been shaped by the fact that several of my sponsors considered me a protégé and that my talents and abilities had been shared with an audience who were receptive to the amplification, boosting, connecting, and defending (Chow, 2021) from my sponsors.   

Teachers can be our first sponsors as they open doors, write letters of recommendation, and help guide us into careers they hope will be a match for us.  My first sponsor was my high school English teacher and basketball coach.  Mr. Richard A Martinez (RA) was an exceptional teacher and incredible coach.  He decided that college was in my future and that attending on a basketball scholarship was possible.  He connected with the new Women’s Athletic Director at the University of Arizona and my role as a protégé began.  He told Dr. Mary Roby about my athletic abilities, my academic strength and shared his endorsement of me as a person. 

RA was my first sponsor – he found an audience (Dr. Roby) and connected her to me by telling stories and creating a positive impression.  He amplified my abilities by sharing my accomplishments, boosted my potential and readiness for the college basketball experience, and defended me by ensuring her that a small-town “star” would be fine at a large university.  Thanks to RA, I attended the University of Arizona on a basketball scholarship and I didn’t let him down.  RA was my brand manager and publicist in the days before YouTube, Instagram or TikTok.  I share this story as an example of the importance of a sponsor in our lives.  I have had several other amazing sponsors and I’m grateful for each of them—I have been a willing protégé. 

So, what is the difference between a sponsor and mentor?  A mentor is someone who can provide immediate support in the form of guidance, advice and is usually someone who has had similar experiences in the job or position within an organization.  The relationship is between the mentor and the mentee.  In sponsorship, there is a 3-way relationship between the sponsor, the protege and the audience (Diagram 1).  Chow (2021) stresses that sponsorship opportunities for minorities and women need to be intentional.   For me, a Latinx woman from a small community of fewer than 100 residents, my path to success was linked to one sponsor who intentionally helped me by using his social capital and persistence to open the door for me and then walking with me into a new world.  I still am connected to RA Martinez – we text every day and I can always count on a positive message from him to start my day.  

Sponsorship – diagram 1

I have taken on the sponsorship role with zest and am intentionally sponsoring several individuals who I admire and respect.  I am using my social capital, my connections, and my influence to open doors and walk them through to meet others who can benefit from their talents and potential.  I’ve been called a connector and I am proud of that title.

As I reflect, I am grateful to my sponsors – Rosalie Vigil, Richard (RA) Martinez, Dr. Mary Roby, Dr. Amy Steinbinder, Linn Billingsley, Mary Briden, Dr. Marie Pepicello, Dr. Rufus Glasper, Mary Lou Bessette, Sandy Shroyer, April Myers, Dustin Fennell, Dr. Wendy Leebov, Dr. Jan Gehler and others—who saw something in me and connected me to opportunities and experiences that were beyond my dreams as a young adult growing up in a small town in Northern New Mexico.  

Chow, Rosalind, Don’t Just Mentor Women and People of Color. Sponsor Them. Harvard Business Review, June 2021.


The Platform and the Protégé

Kevin Monaco

When I first entered the workforce as a high school teacher at a small private school, I had very little knowledge of how to elevate my professional status, and I certainly did not know how to reach my audience. I had many mentors that eagerly shared their passion and knowledge for teaching and I enjoyed a great deal of collaboration with my colleagues. But as I gathered experience and honed my skills in the field, I began to feel that I could contribute at a higher level, in a greater capacity. There was one problem. I had little idea of how to get there. My deepening desire to expand my path led me to ask the questions: How can I surround myself with successful people whom I admire? How can I nurture a desire in them to invest in my success?

I began by identifying people in my life who could serve as my sponsors. Over time, I devoted purposeful attention to these relationships and they burgeoned into formal sponsor/protégé roles. When I reflect on the ways in which sponsorship has changed my career trajectory, the single most important part of the process has been the ‘platform.’ The platform is the protégé’s stage. It is their time to showcase their skills in front of a crucial audience. When we are given a platform, we can be directly involved in the process. Our role is amplified.

The sponsor shares this powerful tool as a way to leverage connections and bring the protégé into the fold. It provides purpose and focus for the protégé’s skills, imparting opportunities to get involved, demonstrate one’s capabilities, and create vital networks along the way. It enables others to notice the unique value the protégé adds within the field or institution. This is why the role of the audience is so critical to this process. When we are elevated on a platform, we can be recognized for our achievements. We can garner experiential growth opportunities that are vital to our professional advancement. We can strengthen our current skills and we can be supported in acquiring new ones. 

But there is an important reciprocation as well. It is true that the sponsor carries the connections and social capital, but an effective sponsor/protégé relationship enriches the professional lives of both. This is why the relationship continues. While being teachable and receptive are important qualities of the protégé, it is important to note that the protégé must also be a willing contributor to the conversation, ready to step up to the plate! This is the essential charge of the protégé. It may seem like a lot of pressure, but we must understand an essential facet of the relationship. The foundational cornerstone of sponsorship is that of mutual respect. It is an indispensable ingredient for the success and continued forward movement of the relationship. There must be deep personal and professional respect between individuals in these roles, and respect leads to trust.

On a personal level, it is this precise trust in my sponsors that continues to provide me with the encouragement I need to level up. In a society that largely suffers from imposter syndrome (and I am no exception), we all need assurance at times that we have champions and cheerleaders in our corner. When we trust that we are respected and supported by experienced individuals in our fields, we feel capable of tackling the next stage. The expertise of the sponsor and the potential of the protégé collide to create a mosaic of collaboration, excellence, and purpose. It is through this amplification process that we expand our view of what is within our grasp.

The Imposter Syndrome – How to shift your self-doubting thoughts

Yikes!  Surely, someone is going to recognize I really am not that smart, that I have been lucky – in the right place at the right time. How long will I be able to keep this secret?  Can my family, friends, and colleagues see the real me? Yes, I have accomplished a great deal, but truly, it has all happened by chance.

These types of thoughts are common for professionals who are experiencing Imposter Syndrome, a phenomenon first identified in 1978 by psychologists Pauline Rose Clance and Suzanne Imes.

I recall going through my professional life and believing my opportunities and achievements resulted from what I called the “Mr. Magoo phenomenon”. If you aren’t familiar with this nearsighted cartoon character, let me explain. Mr. Magoo had a TV series in the 1960’s. His extreme nearsightedness led him into harrowing predicaments, yet always, just in the nick of time, Mr. Magoo would take the right action that would lead him to his desired outcome.

Well, I felt my career was a lot like Mr. Magoo. I would find myself not knowing which direction to take in my clinical career, in different leadership positions, and even in academic pursuits. But just as I was feeling most confused, a great option presented itself and the choice was made. As each of these “lucky” occurrences reinforced my belief in mitigating circumstances rather than my own talent, abilities and experiences, the notion of being an imposter was confirmed.

Research is replete with information on the Imposter Syndrome. In fact, did you know more than 70% of us experience feelings of being an imposter at some time or another? There are many highly accomplished people who admit they too have felt like an imposter. Maya Angelou, a three-time Grammy award winner, Tom Hanks who appears in more than 70 films and John Steinbeck a literary giant – all shared something in common at times during their careers –  they described themselves as feeling like frauds. However, they were able to overcome these doubts to have amazing, successful careers.

So, what can the rest of us do to overcome imposter syndrome paralysis when it happens? I asked two of my colleagues at Thunderbird Leadership Consulting to share their wisdom and useful tips to navigate the perils of imposter syndrome.

Carla J. Rotering, a physician, coach and consultant, takes the approach of embracing the self-doubt.

Carla J. Rotering

Carla J. Rotering

“Imposter syndrome is nearly a universal phenomenon regardless of the ‘outer image’ we may see in others. Nearly everyone has almost certainly felt like a fraud at some point. It’s what we do, and it often creates the fear of being ‘found out’ and exposed. There are lots of suggested ways to manage that fear. I personally use a way that at first may feel a little harsh – and yet it is the thought that has proven the most useful for me.

“What if I simply say it is true? I am an imposter. We are all imposters. There is a standard out there somewhere called ‘perfect’ and that is the bar we have set for ourselves. But we are not perfect, any of us. The human condition is simply imperfect by definition. Any claim of perfection is therefore fraudulent.

“When I can recognize that – without judgment, but just with awareness of that FACT – I can tap into a more authentic, humble self. I can use my ‘imposter’ moment as a springboard to growth, learning, and fresh thought. I can let my ego off the hook and alleviate my own suffering and shame. I can lay that useless emotion aside, and then I can acknowledge what I don’t know, ask for assistance when I need it, and lean into the well of information, wisdom, and knowledge that will allow me to grow closer to that bar to which I aspire.

“I can realize I am human – that I am and (hopefully) always will be a work in progress.”

When Nathan Bachofsky experiences Imposter Syndrome, he turns to mentors to seek a reality check.

“I have wrestled with Imposter Syndrome at many points throughout my career and still experience relapses from time to time. A few years ago, I made a transition into a new role that required more of me in terms of leadership and responsibility. There were many challenges that came with this transition that left me feeling like maybe I was not ready or enough.

Imposter Syndrome Quote

I found great comfort in the counsel of my trusted mentors. It helped immensely for me to open up about my challenges to then hear an esteemed mentor in my field say, ‘Oh yes, I felt that way many times,’ or ‘I am still waiting for someone to realize they hired the wrong person’ I thought, ‘Wait, THEY went through this? But they are so confident and successful!’

“We can shine a light on the darkness of Imposter Syndrome through the vulnerable act of sharing our experiences with others and reinforcing the notion that no one is alone in this feeling. I have found my experience with Imposter Syndrome to ebb and flow, but by talking openly about it and maintaining positive affirmations, my relapses can be drastically shortened.”

If you or any of your colleagues are experiencing feelings of being a fake or being lucky in your achievements, know that you are not alone and that you too can shift your thinking. If you’d like to talk to one of our team at Thunderbird Leadership Consulting, please feel free to reach out to us at info@thunderbirdleadership.com