Fallout from the recent recession has temporarily eased the shortage of leadership talent in healthcare, and in nursing in particular. But this talent shortage still is coming in a big way. In addition, my research in advance of a recent keynote talk to the GMU Nursing Leadership Academy identified at least five areas where the skills of nurse managers and executives will have to change dramatically in the next decade. If these changes don’t occur, there will be serious consequences for hospital profitability.

With Medicare reimbursement rates increasingly tied to patient satisfaction, hospitals will depend on their leaders in clinical units to deliver safe, high quality, and cost effective care. There are at least five areas where nurse managers and executives will have to excel in the future if they are going to deliver the results top management expects. Ironically, most of these capabilities are going to be necessary for leaders in other industries, as well. They include:

1. More technically savvy — Nurse leaders won’t be programming in HTML. But they must be able to play a bigger role in decision making over the design and implementation of technology systems that will become increasingly central to patient care. The proliferation of electronic medical records is just one of many new technologies that leaders will have to deal with confidently.

2. Take on a systemic view of the healthcare system. Viewing the hospital and follow on care not in silos, but as a continuous system will be key to enhancing the coordination of care. Effective nurse leaders will accept a larger span of control over transitioning care. This will be essential for improving patient outcomes and, hence, reimbursement rates.

3. Managing more multigenerational, multifunctional teams. This will be a key capability for nursing leaders who will be called on to manage a mix of older and younger nurses, as well as a much more ethnically diverse workforce. Boomer nurses and their much younger millennial counterparts have already demonstrated significantly different values in the workplace and successful leaders will need to be able to motivate and inspire both generations.

4. Turning conflict into opportunities for innovation and growth. Increased diversity in the workplace means healthcare leaders need to confront conflict effectively, using disagreements as an opportunity to develop creative solutions and to increase collaboration between different parts of the healthcare system.

5. Create an intensive learning environment. Because so many veteran nurses will be retiring in the next decade, strong leaders must find new ways to maximize the learning of their younger staff. One capability required will be the ability to coach subordinates effectively on behaviors that will increase patient safety and satisfaction.

As in many industries, the pipeline of future nursing leaders is uncomfortably thin. This looming talent shortage is exacerbated by the fact that the leadership skills needed to succeed in the new healthcare environment are changing. Does your organization have an accurate read on the quality of its leadership pipeline? And have you clearly articulated the specific skills and behaviors that will define the type of leaders needed to implement your organization’s strategy long term? The five capabilities described above are a good place to start.