5 Common Director of Nursing Services Interview Questions & Answers

One of the personal qualities that makes me an effective manager and problem-solver is my ability to step back and see the big picture. In the heat of a stressful moment, the details matter, but so does the overall objective. Another trait I believe helps me to succeed is my ability to collaborate. When time is short, you have to work together to reach your goals. I believe in hiring the best nursing teams, offering them outstanding leadership and support, and then letting them do their jobs.

First, I expect to encounter frustrating people and situations. It is part of the job and I don’t allow challenging individuals or circumstances to rifle my efficiency or demeanour. Whether it‘s an employee conflict, a management issue or a patient situation, I look to both sides for information and solutions. I find that if I keep myself personally out of the conflict, it is much easier to arrive at a fair decision.

During my previous employment, I attended multiple staff meetings and had to combine information and decisions from each consultation into my day-to-day operations. When I arrived on staff, the department meeting was always held after the executive meeting. This led to a great deal of repetition. I rescheduled the staff meeting to before the executive discussion. I informed my team of issues that directly affected them and allowed them a few minutes to give comments. Our department’s voice was heard much more efficiently, and we needed only a few minutes to communicate feedback from the executive meeting during our own staff conferences.

At my previous position I managed a team of 15 nurses. When I was hired as the director, patient satisfaction was around 50 percent. I let the staff know that my goal was to increase that number to at least 75 percent. I then asked them what resources or changes they needed in order to make that happen. We used a brainstorming session to gather ideas and implemented many of those suggestions. Over a period of four months, we were able to increase the level of patient satisfaction to 78 percent, and the staff felt a real ownership in the change, because much of it was a direct result of their own ideas.

Respect is an essential component of a successful work environment and I believe it always starts at the top. In order to expect respect from employees, I show respect to each individual, no matter their position. While it is important to establish and maintain a leadership role, this can be done with regard for the individual lives and talents of the other workers. I do my best to quickly learn all the names of people I work directly with. I also find it helpful to promote an open-door policy, so that if there is ever a problem, employees feel comfortable coming to me without fear of retribution.