Navigating Confrontation at Work as an NP

mentorship on the job learning podcast role transition Nov 28, 2024

Confrontation in Leadership: Navigating Difficult Conversations

Dealing with confrontation is one of the toughest parts of being a leader, especially for new nurse practitioners stepping into clinical practice. Addressing these situations directly and respectfully can improve teamwork and create a better environment for everyone—including patients.

In this podcast episode, a new nurse practitioner from the Real World NP community shared a common challenge: overhearing nurses critiquing their work but not sharing feedback directly with them. Their question was how to handle this without making things worse.

Why Address Confrontation?

Avoiding confrontation can create tension and damage trust within a team. Facing issues head-on shows you care about teamwork and open communication. It also sets an example for others.

A Simple Method to Handle Conflict

A helpful approach is the Nonviolent Communication (NVC) framework by Dr. Marshall Rosenberg. It has four steps:

Observation: Describe what you noticed without adding opinions. For example, “I overheard comments in the nursing room about some of my notes.”
Feelings: Share how it made you feel, like, “I felt unsupported when I heard that.”
Needs: Explain what’s important to you. For example, “I need to feel like we’re working as a team to give the best care.”
Request: Clearly say what you’d like to happen. For instance, “If you have feedback about my work, please talk to me directly— I want to do my best work and work well together as a team.”

Why This Works

This method focuses on facts and feelings without blaming others. It helps turn a tense situation into a conversation about solving problems and working together better.

What’s Next?

If the issue keeps happening, involve your manager so they can help create a more supportive environment. Leadership is also about looking at the bigger picture—like why the problem happened in the first place—and finding ways to prevent it in the future.

Handling confrontation isn’t easy, but it’s an important skill. With practice, you can turn challenging moments into opportunities to build stronger teams and better care for your patients.