**9. Relationship management**

To complete all four elements of the Strategic Leadership Process, managing relationships is essential. As a strategic leader, you need to manage your connections with your colleagues, executives, and employees effectively. Listening and effective talking are two abilities that can help manage relationships.

Being a nurse administrator or leader necessitates a high level of listening skills. (1) Ignoring is a form of listening in which the listener does not pay attention to what the speaker is saying. (2) "Pretend listening" refers to the practice of paying scant attention to a speaker while doing other things. (3) Selective listening usually occurs in a group setting where one tunes in and out depending on the interest of the verbal cues. (4) Attentive listening is focusing on the speaker and not allowing external noise or potential distractions to interfere with the messages being conveyed. (5) Empathic listening is the most successful kind of listening because it allows you to put yourself in the other person's shoes and fully comprehend what they are trying to say. Strategic leadership in the healthcare industry necessitates that the nurse leader is well-versed in all these types of listening styles to effectively engage colleagues and build trust.

Keys to the effective conversation are (1) Candor: setting up an agenda with one's feelings, beliefs, or ideas. That is the act of being open and honest or frank. Conversations with colleagues should be straightforward and sensitive to their sentiments. (2) Clarity: verbal and non-verbal exchange of wants and needs should be the same and specific. (3) Commitment: agreement on next steps. Nurse leaders should learn to agree with colleagues on the next steps to adopt and be committed to them.
