Strategies for Effective Leadership During Staffing Shortages

Staffing shortages continue to challenge senior care communities, contributing to burnout and raising concerns about the quality of resident care. As these pressures intensify, effective leadership has become increasingly important. iAdvance Senior Care spoke with two industry experts about leadership strategies and how today’s leaders can help their communities navigate the ongoing strain of workforce shortages.

How Effective Leadership Can Make a Difference

Patty Jeffrey, international operations executive vice president at MedPro International

Effective leadership plays a critical role in supporting senior care staff during periods of strain, helping organizations maintain focus and stability when challenges threaten to overwhelm daily operations. Strong leaders are able to prioritize safe, compassionate care while responsibly managing resources and balancing operational demands with empathy. “Clear communication, transparency about challenges, and a sense of shared purpose help communities navigate difficult times with trust and resilience,” says Patty Jeffrey, international operations executive vice president at MedPro International.

Today’s healthcare workforce faces a convergence of internal and external pressures. “They’re managing traditional internal conflicts like scheduling disputes, clinical disagreements, and interpersonal tensions while also dealing with new external hostilities including patient and family aggression that has escalated dramatically since the pandemic,” explains Kimberly Best, RN, MA, dispute resolution expert and founder of Best Conflict Solutions, LLC. Without systemic leadership approaches to address these stressors, even highly committed staff members risk reaching a breaking point. “We have to build a culture of collaboration between all these conflicting groups and that’s best done with communication and problem solving,” Best adds.

According to Best, the most effective leaders understand that retention requires more than morale boosters or surface-level interventions. Instead, they invest in what she calls “conflict management infrastructure.” “This is systems, skills, and cultural frameworks that help teams navigate disagreements constructively before they become resignation letters,” she says. “This means shifting from viewing conflict as a sign of dysfunction to recognizing it as a signal that people need better tools.”

Key Qualities for Effective Leadership

Kimberly Best, RN, MA, dispute resolution expert and founder of Best Conflict Solutions, LLC

Effective leadership in healthcare requires a balance of empathy, adaptability, and integrity. Leaders must understand the pressures facing their teams while remaining flexible enough to shift priorities and rethink workflows as conditions change. “Integrity fosters trust. Teams need to know their leaders are making decisions guided by fairness and respect,” Jeffrey says. “In senior care, these qualities are especially vital because the work is deeply personal and emotionally demanding.”

Best believes leaders must be willing to address conflict directly rather than allowing tensions to fester. They must have the humility to recognize when existing approaches fall short and the resolve to invest in skill development, even amid limited resources. Ultimately, effective leaders stay focused on achieving the best outcomes for everyone involved. “Leaders who succeed are those who can sit with discomfort, listen without becoming defensive, and model the communication skills they want to see in their teams,” she says.

Leadership Approaches for Navigating Staffing Shortages

Jeffrey encourages leaders to prioritize collaboration and proactive communication, which can make a difference during stressful periods of staffing shortages. “Leaders who actively involve their teams in identifying challenges often uncover creative, workable strategies and solutions,” she explains.

She also emphasizes the importance of long-term workforce planning. “Communities that invest early in international recruitment or training pipelines are far better positioned to sustain care quality during staffing fluctuations,” she says. “Pairing short-term flexibility with long-term planning builds true workforce resilience.”

Meanwhile, Best has found that focusing on prevention is often more effective than reacting once a crisis has already taken hold. For example, leaders should establish clear pathways for conflict resolution before tensions escalate and work deliberately to build trust so staff feel safe raising concerns.

“When a rural health clinic I worked with faced complete staff turnover, we didn’t start with recruitment strategies. We started by helping leadership shift from a defensive stance to genuine curiosity about what had driven everyone away,” explains Best. “That foundational work made it possible to rebuild differently. From there, teams build their culture based on who they want to be – for one another, for the patients, and for the families.”

Strategies for Supporting Staff

During challenging times, staff often need additional support, and leaders have multiple opportunities to reinforce that employees are valued. Even when operational flexibility is limited, leaders can show appreciation in meaningful, tangible ways, such as handwritten thank-you notes, meal programs, or regular wellness check-ins.

Listening also goes a long way toward supporting staff. Regular feedback sessions can help employees feel seen and heard while also giving leaders insight into what is working and where adjustments are needed. “Don’t just ask what career aspirations your staff have on day one,” says Jeffrey. “Continue to follow up on training and professional development opportunities.”

Best adds that acknowledging staff challenges is only the first step; leaders must also back up their words with visible action. “This might mean rotating particularly challenging assignments, creating structured peer support opportunities, or implementing decision-making processes that give frontline staff genuine input,” she says. “One of the biggest complaints I hear is that people get memos, emails, directions, and not face time. Let staff know you see them.”

Advice for Leaders Facing Staffing Shortages

Jeffrey urges leaders confronting staffing shortages to prioritize transparency, visibility, and empathy. “Celebrate small wins, invest in team-building, and communicate your plan clearly, even if it’s still evolving,” she recommends. “At the same time, it’s important to think strategically. Build partnerships, explore all recruitment solutions, and create a sustainable staffing plan that reduces dependence on short-term fixes. Staff morale improves when employees see that leadership is both compassionate and proactive.”

Best advises leaders to start by taking a hard look at how their organizations currently manage conflict. “Ask yourself: When two staff members have a dispute, what happens? When someone experiences verbal abuse from a patient, what support exists? When clinical disagreements arise, how are they resolved?” she says. If the answer to those questions is “it depends” or “people have to deal with it,” then leaders should start there, developing stronger systems. “Building systematic approaches to these predictable stressors prevents the accumulation of small resentments that eventually drive good people away,” Best says.

Ultimately, addressing staffing shortages will remain out of reach if the work environment pushes employees out faster than new hires can be brought in. “The most strategic investment leadership can make right now is teaching their entire organization the conflict management and communication skills that transform a workplace from one people escape to one where people stay and thrive,” says Best.

Paige Cerulli

Paige Cerulli is a contributing writer to i Advance Senior Care.