Jami Nordmann
May 2026
Jami
Nordmann
,
RN
Birth Center Director
CentraCare - St. Cloud Hospital
St. Cloud
,
MN
United States
She is a compassionate visionary, always looking to what could be and bringing others with her towards excellence in care.
Time is a valuable thing for nurse leaders in health care today, where you place your time is where your priorities lie. Jami is the type of nurse leader who doesn't just put out every fire that flames up in front of her; she thinks proactively about ways she and her team can do more than just extinguish fires, but instead spark a new kind of powerful fire in her team, with flames of engagement, collaboration, psychological safety, and support.
It can be all too easy for leaders to focus on the task-based aspects of their work and adopt a wait-and-see/pray-and-hope approach to their team's culture, often because the task-based stuff feels more comfortable, and the culture-based reformation is much less familiar. Yet, by assessing the root cause of the current fires popping up in her department and compassionately considering the impact of these on her team, Jami has led her team through a cultural refresh to ignite true, meaningful change.
Jami has keen insight and observation skills, and one of the most important things she does is to bring others into collaboration early by saying, "I noticed this happen. I think there is more to this than it seems. What do you see?" As a result of seeking and listening to diverse perspectives early, she has been effective in proactively shaping often-ignored culture-shaping work for her team in pursuit of stronger team collaboration and excellence.
She has been willing to listen before taking action, then assessing the next steps after carefully and compassionately considering her team before choosing the most appropriate action steps. As a result, she has integrated feedback and initiated difficult feedback conversations in ways that strengthened relationships and trust within her team, while also implementing strategic steps to guide her team through effective communication under stress.
As a result, her teammates have shown more compassion to one another, collaborated better, and been more engaged in partnering with others. This increased engagement and kindness have been noticed not just by team members, but by executive rounding experiences during stressful times as well.
In addition, Jami willingly supports other leaders and invites them into her experience and shares her learning, stating, "I am proud that we are working on our culture. We are doing something and not ignoring it, and that is something to be proud of! You can tell anyone about the work we are doing if it means that what we are doing can help them!
Jami is willing to put in the time, effort, and energy to improve culture by enhancing her skills. She became an OBBWM facilitator to better support her team and model what she has learned. Jami demonstrates compassion through generous, grace-filled listening partnered with genuine accountability. She models compassion and collaboration by daily demonstrating and verbalizing OBBWM values. In addition, she collaborates by continuously getting feedback from diverse sources and not trying to fix everything herself.
She is skilled at learning the strengths of each team member and collaborative partner and reaching out to them to enhance the effectiveness of her leadership or of her team. For example, she noticed a new nurse on her team who wasn't progressing in orientation as quickly as anticipated. She reached out to my team and me, wondering if there was an element to the new nurse's experience that she and her team may not have considered that may be showing up in the orientation experience. As a result of her collaboration, not only was that nurse more effectively supported, but Jami's insight was elevated to an enhanced team to consider how other leaders may experience the same concern and what can be done at a broader level to support these nurses more effectively.
Overall, I am nominating Jami because her leadership is extraordinary in both ordinary and extraordinary times. She is a compassionate visionary, always looking to what could be and bringing others with her towards excellence in care. She is lighting the flame for the path forward, for herself, her team, and others lucky enough to work with her or know her.
It can be all too easy for leaders to focus on the task-based aspects of their work and adopt a wait-and-see/pray-and-hope approach to their team's culture, often because the task-based stuff feels more comfortable, and the culture-based reformation is much less familiar. Yet, by assessing the root cause of the current fires popping up in her department and compassionately considering the impact of these on her team, Jami has led her team through a cultural refresh to ignite true, meaningful change.
Jami has keen insight and observation skills, and one of the most important things she does is to bring others into collaboration early by saying, "I noticed this happen. I think there is more to this than it seems. What do you see?" As a result of seeking and listening to diverse perspectives early, she has been effective in proactively shaping often-ignored culture-shaping work for her team in pursuit of stronger team collaboration and excellence.
She has been willing to listen before taking action, then assessing the next steps after carefully and compassionately considering her team before choosing the most appropriate action steps. As a result, she has integrated feedback and initiated difficult feedback conversations in ways that strengthened relationships and trust within her team, while also implementing strategic steps to guide her team through effective communication under stress.
As a result, her teammates have shown more compassion to one another, collaborated better, and been more engaged in partnering with others. This increased engagement and kindness have been noticed not just by team members, but by executive rounding experiences during stressful times as well.
In addition, Jami willingly supports other leaders and invites them into her experience and shares her learning, stating, "I am proud that we are working on our culture. We are doing something and not ignoring it, and that is something to be proud of! You can tell anyone about the work we are doing if it means that what we are doing can help them!
Jami is willing to put in the time, effort, and energy to improve culture by enhancing her skills. She became an OBBWM facilitator to better support her team and model what she has learned. Jami demonstrates compassion through generous, grace-filled listening partnered with genuine accountability. She models compassion and collaboration by daily demonstrating and verbalizing OBBWM values. In addition, she collaborates by continuously getting feedback from diverse sources and not trying to fix everything herself.
She is skilled at learning the strengths of each team member and collaborative partner and reaching out to them to enhance the effectiveness of her leadership or of her team. For example, she noticed a new nurse on her team who wasn't progressing in orientation as quickly as anticipated. She reached out to my team and me, wondering if there was an element to the new nurse's experience that she and her team may not have considered that may be showing up in the orientation experience. As a result of her collaboration, not only was that nurse more effectively supported, but Jami's insight was elevated to an enhanced team to consider how other leaders may experience the same concern and what can be done at a broader level to support these nurses more effectively.
Overall, I am nominating Jami because her leadership is extraordinary in both ordinary and extraordinary times. She is a compassionate visionary, always looking to what could be and bringing others with her towards excellence in care. She is lighting the flame for the path forward, for herself, her team, and others lucky enough to work with her or know her.