A Critical Exploration of Nursing Leaders Storied Experiences of Phronesis within the COVID-19 Pandemic
Abstract
In this critical hermeneutic study, I critically explore nursing leaders’ storied experiences of phronesis within the COVID-19 pandemic. Phronesis is the ability to perceive a situation and deliberate well in order to determine the best course of action for human beings. Theoretically informed by critical social theories, I considered how the enactment of phronesis was often performed according to normative discourses and the socio-political historical situatedness of nursing leaders. I utilized Frank’s (2012a) narrative dialogic analysis to interpret and bring into conversation participant stories, and multiple discursive voices. Based on Pinkola Estés (1995), I use the metaphor of the wild wolf to frame the narratives of nursing leaders’ who, I argue have at times, relegated their ‘wildish nature’ to the poorest lands of their authentic self. Amidst the chaos and unknowns of the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic nursing leaders collaborated with leadership “command teams” to make decisions based on institutional and government directives. The findings in this research demonstrate how phronesis is often performative based on socially constructed leadership models that have created images of how to be a competent and effective leader. Managerialist discourses and hegemonic cultures are argued to lurk in the shadows and to sustain the health care hierarchy shaping nursing leaders’ prioritization of dominant views over nursing perspectives. While nursing leaders in this research often framed their thinking and actions based on altruistic values and beliefs, the discrepancy between values, beliefs and actions was also evident in the data. It is argued that a consideration of what is “best” in nursing leadership practice requires reflexivity and a critical understanding of how discourses influence one’s identity and world view. Phronesis was revealed through nursing leaders embodied sense of the right thing to do and the articulation of clear principles that underpin decision-making and actions. Recognizing how hegemonic cultures shape one’s ‘self’ has the potential to transform and (re)connect nursing leaders with their authentic selves. Additionally, interpretations offer considerations for nursing leadership education and professional development by taking into account how managerialist and institutional discourses shape nursing leader’s ontological perspectives. Greater attention to critical perspectives, reflexivity, knowing and naming institutional discourses and cultures has the potential to inform a reimagining of phronesis as a ‘way of being’ for nursing leaders.