Large, successful organizations only transform after failure. If everything is going well, there is a tendency not to challenge methods. It is only once things have gone radically wrong that a successful organization starts to reexamine their methods and culture. This book is about organizational leadership, but provides a unique spin to promoting innovation, inclusion and transparency among employees.

It examines co-author Steven Rotkoffs experiences as a retired US Army Colonel and Red Team strategies used by the military and the corporate world to make better decisions and improve organizational culture and applies them to nursing in both clinical and academic settings. Centering cases derived from US-based academic  and clinical settings, the book discusses how and why some strategies do and others dont work and examines how these military and corporate strategies apply effectively to nursing settings. Turning a lot of the available literature on its head, this book offers new models and methods to foster better conversations, particularly between managers and staff.

Nursing has changed in both academic and clinical settings. Just as military and corporate organizations have had to change their organizational behavior and leadership styles and methods to meet the needs of todays employees and consumers, the nursing profession must change to meet the needs of faculty, an inter-professional health care environment and our increasingly inclusive and diverse environments.

Leslie Neal-Boylan, PhD, APRN, CRRN, FAAN, FARN
Mansfield Kaseman Health ClinicRockville, MD

Col. (Ret.) Steven Rotkoff

Part One: Why Red Team?.- 1. Nursing Leadership in a Segmented Discipline.- 2. Why Red Teaming is a Better Way.- 3. The Red Team Toolbox: Improving the conversation and changing the frame of reference.- 4. The Red Team Tool Box: Understanding the Problem and Envisioning the Future.- 5. Applying Red Team Tools.-Part Two: Cases.- 6. Budget Cuts at Green University.- 7. Horizontal Violence in Pink Hospital.- 8. Strategic Planning at Yellow Institute.- 9. Whos in Charge at Orange School of Nursing?.- 10. Conflict between the front and back office staff at Purple Clinic.- 11. Hierarchy at Blue University School of Nursing.- 12. What to Build at Turquoise University School of Nursing.- 13. Merging Brown Visiting Nurse Association with Gray Health System.-Part Three: Conclusion.- 14. Conclusion.