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What the Research Actually Says About Transitioning Into Academic Nursing Leadership (And What to Do About It)

Nursing faculty leading a meeting in a campus library conference room


If you've ever stepped into (or been nudged toward) an academic nursing leadership role and thought, “Wait, nobody told me it would be like this!”, you are not alone.

 

I know this not just from personal experience, but from my own research. My qualitative study on academic nurse leader (ANL) role development was published in Nursing Education Perspectives. I interviewed 18 nurse leaders across the country — program directors, chairpersons, assistant and associate deans, and deans — to understand how they actually developed in their roles.

 

What I found was equal parts validating and sobering. And because the whole point of research is to use it, I want to share what came out of those interviews — and turn it into something you can actually act on.



First, the Hard Truth

 

The overwhelming majority of participants in my study received no formal orientation to their leadership role. Most learned by doing, or “trial by fire” as one participant put it. Formal mentoring was rare. Graduate programs, particularly PhD programs, left most participants feeling prepared for research but underprepared for academic leadership.

 

And yet (…here's an unexpected part) most participants still felt prepared to lead. Not because of what their programs taught them, but because of what they built in themselves: self-reflection, perseverance, and what one participant called “grit and tenacity.”

 

The system isn't great at preparing ANLs. But ANLs are great at figuring it out anyway. The question is: what would it look like to do that intentionally rather than accidentally?

 

Here are five strategies drawn directly from the findings of this study.



1. Do the Inner Work Before (and After) You Accept the Role

 

One of the three major themes that emerged from this research was a category termed "looking within." This was the foundational, self-reflective work participants had to do when stepping into leadership.

 

Participants talked about asking themselves hard questions:

Do I fit this culture?

Am I the right person to lead these people?

What are my actual motivations here?

 

Some took on the role out of genuine passion. Passion for their students or the success of their program. Others felt pulled in because someone had to do it, and they couldn't watch the program struggle anymore. A few were financially motivated, which is a totally valid reason, too.

 

Understanding why you said yes or why you're considering it matters enormously for how you'll show up.

 

One finding I found particularly striking: participants repeatedly worked through imposter syndrome, and several pointed out that the challenges they were facing were universal to the role and were not signs that they weren't cut out for it.

 

What to do with this: Before you step into a leadership role, or early in the transition, take time to journal or reflect on these questions:

  • What do I genuinely hope to change or protect in this role?

  • Am I taking this because I want it, or because no one else will?

  • What am I afraid I don't know?

  • Where am I confusing imposter syndrome with a real skills gap?

 


2. Recalibrate Your Expectations

 

One of the most significant surprises participants described wasn't about workload or administration. It was about people.

 

Many participants struggled with the shift from colleague to supervisor. Having to lead faculty who used to be peers changes the dynamic, sometimes permanently. And the further participants moved into institutional leadership, the more removed they became from students, too, which was a loss that many described as genuinely painful.

 

One participant said plainly: "Having a title to your name changes that vibe or perspective with a student." Students who might have knocked on your office door now wait until a problem has escalated significantly.

 

This shift isn't a failure. It's a feature of the role. But if you're not expecting it, it can feel like a loss of identity.

 

What to do with this: Give yourself permission to grieve the relationships that change while building new ones. Find ways to stay connected to students in whatever capacity your role allows, even if it looks different than it used to. And be intentional about how you show up for faculty, so the shift in authority doesn't become a wall.

 


3. Build Your Network Before You Need It

 

No participant in this study described having a formal mentor in their current role. Zero. But almost every single one described finding, or building, some kind of support network, and they credited it as essential to their success. Some found peer groups within their institutions. Others reached out to previous mentors or academic leaders they'd worked under. Several participants joined professional nursing organizations specifically to build connections with people at similar levels who could offer unbiased perspective.

 

One participant said something that's stuck with me: "Relationships take work, so you have to work with other people so that you're providing support for them so that, in turn, they provide support to you."

 

That is not a passive strategy. That is a deliberate investment.

 

The mentorship gap in academic nursing leadership is real. The NLN and other organizations have made efforts to address it, but formal programs reach a small fraction of faculty. Most ANLs are building their own scaffolding, and the ones who do it proactively fare far better than those who wait until they're in crisis.

 

What to do with this: Identify two or three people right now who could serve as sounding boards as you move into or grow within a leadership role. At least one should be outside your institution as someone who can give you unvarnished perspective. Then reach out to them. Don't wait for a program to assign you someone.

 


4. Know What Your Education Did (and Didn't) Give You

 

Participants across degree types — DNP, PhD, and EdD — reflected candidly on what their graduate education prepared them for. EdD and most DNP-prepared participants reported some leadership training. PhD participants largely reported none because their programs prepared them to be researchers, not leaders or educators.

 

But here's the nuance that surprised me: almost universally, participants described how their doctoral education gave them something more foundational than specific leadership skills. It taught them to think broadly, to see problems from multiple angles, and to believe they could figure out whatever they didn't know.

 

One participant said it best: "Anytime you enhance your education, it just opens up more windows of your thinking."

 

Your degree didn't hand you a roadmap for academic leadership. But it gave you the cognitive tools to build one.

 

What to do with this: Take stock of what your education actually equipped you with versus where your real gaps are. Then seek out targeted leadership development to fill those gaps through professional organizations like the NLN, AACN, or AONE, or through leadership seminars offered at your institution.

 


5. Advocate for the Infrastructure (i.e. Succession Planning, Orientation, Guidebooks)

 

The final theme in my research was about what it takes to become a successful ANL, and it included something that participants were passionate about: leaving things better than how they found them.

 

Several participants advocated strongly for succession planning, or identifying and developing potential leaders before a vacancy creates chaos. One participant offered particularly practical advice that if succession planning or formal mentoring isn't available at your institution, at minimum, leave a guidebook for your successor. A how-to manual. A map of the terrain.


That's not just a nice thing to do. It's a professional responsibility.

 

The lack of role orientation was a consistent finding in this study, echoing what's been documented in literature for years. Many participants started with no overlap with their predecessor, no onboarding, and no roadmap. Some started in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic with even less support than usual.

 

So, if you're in a position to change that, for yourself or for the person who comes after you, do it.

 

What to do with this:

  • If you're stepping into a leadership role, advocate loudly for even a brief structured overlap with your predecessor.

  • If you're leaving a role, create the guidebook you wish you'd had.

  • If you're in a faculty position, start conversations about succession planning now, before there's a vacancy and a crisis.

 


The Bottom Line

 

ANL role development is, at its core, experiential. You learn by doing, by reflecting, by building relationships, and by seeking out challenges. That's not a flaw in the system — it's actually aligned with how adults learn best, which is why I used Kolb's experiential learning theory to frame this entire study.

 

But experiential doesn't have to mean accidental. The NPs who navigated this transition most successfully weren't the ones who had the most formal preparation. They were the ones who reflected deliberately, built networks proactively, sought out professional development opportunities, and approached every challenge as information rather than evidence of failure.

 

That's the kind of leader nursing education needs. And if you're reading this, I suspect it's the kind of leader you're working to become.



Want to read the full study? 

DelPrete, J.S. (2025). The role development of academic nurse leaders: A qualitative descriptive study. Nursing Education Perspectives, 46(4), 216–221.

 




Jacklyn DelPrete, EdD, CRNP, FNP-C is a family nurse practitioner, full-time graduate nursing faculty member, and founder of The Elevated NP. Questions or topics you'd like covered? Reach out at elevatednpteam@gmail.com.

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