Leading the Nurse Within: Developing Confident Leadership Skills for New Graduates.

All too frequently, newer nurses are expected to take on leadership roles without any formal leadership training or education. For nurses to be successful change agents, it is imperative that they develop the necessary leadership skills to take on leadership roles, ultimately improving employee satisfaction and nurse retention. A course was designed to engage new graduate nurses and help them to develop leadership skills, with the goal of increased confidence to act as leaders among their peers. The pilot program consisted of a 1.5-hour interactive workshop designed to promote and develop leadership skills. Following completion of the leadership training course, overall responses to a postsurvey demonstrated an increase in confidence levels toward leadership behaviors. Participants also felt more confident in their ability to be leaders among their peers. Results of this pilot study have validated the effectiveness of a leadership training course as an arena to identify future nurse leadership potential. J Contin Educ Nurs. 2018;49(8):356-359.