I’m proud to share the publication of “Workplace Safety Champions: Strengthening Safety Culture Through Nurse Engagement” in Nursing 2026, work I had the opportunity to contribute to alongside Catherine Capp, Mel Brouillette, Nancy Havill, and Ashley Amorello Kellish.
The article shares the development of a Workplace Safety Champion program created to strengthen the response to workplace violence. The idea was simple but important: build knowledge and confidence in the people closest to the work, and give them the tools to support the people around them.
The program prepared nurses and other team members with greater knowledge of deescalation strategies, reporting processes, available resources, and ways to support their colleagues. Over time, champions were represented across nearly every inpatient and emergency department, helping create a broader network of people prepared to recognize concerns, respond, and keep important conversations about safety going.
What I keep thinking about
Looking back at this work now, I see a connection to something I believe deeply about leadership.
We can spend a lot of time trying to develop better systems, better processes, and better solutions. Those things matter. But some of the most meaningful change happens when we invest in the people actually doing the work.
Give people knowledge. Give them tools. Create opportunities for honest conversation. Ask questions. Listen to what they are seeing. Then trust them to do something with it.
That idea has stayed with me, and it is one I carry into my coaching work today.
I don’t believe coaching is about having the right answer for someone else. It is about creating space for a different kind of conversation. One where someone can say what they are actually thinking, look at something from another angle, question an assumption, or see an option they may not have noticed before.
In many ways, that is also how we expand leadership capacity. Not by creating more dependence on the leader, but by helping people strengthen their own ability to think, respond, and lead.
This article is about workplace safety, but I think the lesson underneath it reaches much further.
Develop the people closest to the work. Make room for honest conversation. And trust what they are capable of when we give them the opportunity to lead.
I’m grateful to have been part of this work and especially grateful to the colleagues and champions who brought it to life.