Performance Improvement Plan, part 1

The last decade of my nursing career transitioned from direct patient care to managerial positions. Although I possessed formal education in employee management, I must confess that it was the most painful and challenging time in my life. As nurses, our clinical practice is regulated by the Board of Nursing; therefore, we are unable to deviate from the standards and prudent regulations for administering patient care.

With that in mind, one would imagine that the problems are few in dealing with highly trained healthcare professionals. Not so! Every day there were multiple staff issues, including patient complaints. Since most of my career was spent in nursing, I can share that the policies are very stringent. After all, nurses are dealing with human life, and errors must be minimized. So here is the challenging part; although I gave verbal counseling, the employee usually failed to show improvement and required subsequent disciplinary action to address the policy’s breach. 

Praying before meeting with the employee provided the strength to deal with their denial, justification, and blame on circumstances to avoid the consequences of their non-prudent actions or omissions of care.

Policy breach in the nursing profession is always substantial because patient safety is compromised. Even so, there were only a few employees that accepted accountability for their actions. The Performance Improvement Plan was a concerted effort to retain the employee and modify counterproductive behaviors. Unfortunately, the majority chose to resign immediately from their position and carry unacceptable behaviors to yet another employer.

Have you accepted Jesus as your personal Savior, and still think, speak, and act the same way? The Bible is our standard for living godly lives. We should experience a significant change when we transition from Unbeliever to Believer. This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! 2 Corinthians 5:17

The Word of God reveals all that we need to know to possess Christ-like characters. It is up to us to diligently study the Bible to self-evaluate and develop a Spiritual Performance Improvement Plan. It is only through humility, faith, obedience, and trust in God that His power, grace, and mercies can produce a complete transformation within us. 

Possessing love is the foundation required for change.

Jesus replied, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.”… Matthew 22: 37-39

But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! Galatians 5:22-23. 

With God, we can change by eliminating all displeasing inherited character traits and learned behaviors. Human Effort + Divine Intervention = Victory!

Bible Reading: So get rid of all evil behavior. Be done with all deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, and all unkind speech. Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment, now that you have had a taste of the Lord’s kindness. 1 Peter 2:1-3

God, we confess and ask forgiveness for not living according to your standards. We possess character traits that do not reflect love. It is our desire to live holy, and acceptable lives. Please extend your grace and mercy along with your supernatural power that we can experience a complete transformation. We ask for your strength to achieve daily spiritual growth. We ask this prayer in the Worthy Name of Jesus. Amen.

© Sonya Johnson Ruiz 2020, No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted for commercial purposes without the written permission of the author.