A Healthy Work Environment: It Begins With You

In a healthy work environment (HWE) professionals use skilled communication styles to achieve positive outcomes. In the HWE literature, the major communication emphasis to date has focused on the manager's responsibility to facilitate skilled communication. This article focuses on the individual nurse's responsibility to become a skilled communicator. Parse's Theory of Human Becoming is used to conceptualize a Five-Factor Model for Becoming a Skilled Communicator. These five factors include awareness of self-deception, along with reflection, authenticity, mindfulness, and candor. After reviewing key communication-healthy work environment documents, the article describes five behaviors that help nurses reach their goal of becoming skilled communicators.