I think most people are familiar with Psalm 23. It’s the one that starts with “The Lord is my shepherd,” talks about walking in the shadow of death… you know, that one. 

If you don’t go to church or synagogue, you still probably have heard this psalm in a movie or TV show. It is perhaps the most famous of all Psalms. I was recently reading it, and it got me thinking about sheep and shepherds. 

And I am going to take the liberty of making a comparison of sheep being our staff and shepherds being leaders. No one should be insulted. You’ll understand soon.

I learned a lot about sheep. First, sheep wander, like really wander off, if the shepherd doesn’t keep watch of them. They will go off and do their own sheepy things. 

Think of it as a poor leader not ensuring the staff have the appropriate education and skills they need to do their job. How many times have we rushed a new staff member to the floor when clearly they were not ready, but your excuse is that you needed a body (and then are surprised when they leave you within a month)? How many times has a corporation made an economic decision to let go of all the regional and corporate educators to save money? Do we daily lead and teach or do we just think that is something we can do now and then?

Sheep will actually wander off a cliff if they aren’t kept in the fold with the other sheep. Like, kumbaya oneness with the other sheep. Do we take the time to create a culture of “oneness” among our staff, so no one is off doing their own sheepy thing? Do we actually create a culture of living our mission, vision and values? 

Did you know that a shepherd will leave the other sheep and go get the one that wandered away? The shepherd doesn’t say, well, I’ve got these 99 so that one can wander off. No, the shepherd goes after the lost sheep to help it. And let’s face it, sheep follow each other (kind of like lemmings). So, if you have one sheep going off doing its own thing, isn’t it a danger that other sheep will follow it? Go after that sheep, see what’s going on and bring it back in the fold. Maybe it just didn’t know you cared. 

Next, did you know sheep won’t drink from rushing or moving waters? (I know, like, who knew?) Sheep need stillness and calm to drink. Sheep will hydrate by the dew on the grass, by still waters such as a pond or lake, and by water drawn from a well. Doesn’t that speak to us as “shepherds”? Daily, shouldn’t we be the dew that hydrates our staff? “How are you doing? How’s it going? Do you need anything? Good job with that.”

You should be the calmness amidst the “rushing waters” of daily life. No one can learn or be guided when things are chaotic. Lead your staff to still waters first, before you want them to learn something. Also, be that calming still water for them when they need to talk when they are unsure of something. Heck, be a human valium! 

And yeah, sometimes you have to do the work of digging a well. You might be totally dry, got nothing to give, but you are their shepherd. So, dig deep, get to that water and be there for your people. You don’t want your sheep wandering away, looking for better waters down the street!

Just keeping it real,

Nurse Jackie

The Real Nurse Jackie is written by Jacqueline Vance, RNC, CDONA/LTC, Senior Director of Clinical Innovation and Education for Mission Health Communities, LLC and an APEX Award of Excellence winner for Blog Writing. Vance is a real-life long-term care nurse. A nationally respected nurse educator and past national LTC Nurse Administrator of the Year, she also is an accomplished stand-up comedienne. The opinions supplied here are her own and do not necessarily reflect those of her employer or her professional affiliates. 

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