FOSTERING LEADERSHIP THROUGH COLLABORATION

Tribute to leadership: Esther Salang Seloilwe

Seloilwe in her office

by Gloria Thupayagale-Tshweneagae

Esther Salang Seloilwe, RN, RM, PhD, is known for many things, but most of all for her love of nursing, her commitment to see it progress to greater heights as a profession and her tireless recruitment of young people into its ranks. The old adage, “Where there is a will, there is a way,” accounts for Seloilwe’s significant contributions to nursing and her recognition as a nurse leader in countries such as Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland, Malawi and South Africa, and around the world.

When she started on the long road to nursing leadership, she had little to guide her, apart from the wisdom that an understanding of history imparts and the inspiration of her parents, especially that of her father. Seloilwe helped raise the profession’s standards during a time when the prevailing perspectives in Botswana and throughout southern Africa were that a nursing degree wasn’t important and that achieving success in nursing was essentially a process of finding one’s way by trial and error. As a result, she inspired many young people in the region to consider nursing as a career.

Bubbly, energetic and daring, Seloilwe will attempt what others shy away from. “When I believe in something,” she says, “nothing can stop me from achieving that objective.” In describing her, three attributes are especially noteworthy: 1) She is a willing and helpful mentor to new nurses, 2) she is hard-working and 3) she is principled.

Mentoring
Seloilwe is one of the few academic nurse leaders I know whose faculty membership is largely comprised of nurses she has mentored. When I asked her how she chooses her mentees, she responded, “I see potential and develop it.” She also noted that a few have asked her to mentor them and that she has consented. Some of those whom she has mentored have been fellow members of professional organizations, and others have been nurse colleagues within the academic environment. When mentoring educators, she pairs with junior staff members to assist them in their teaching.

When Seloilwe attends meetings in other countries, she often takes along two or three staff members to increase their international exposure. When asked about her selfless attitude with regard to mentoring, she is quick to point out that nurses have a responsibility to be selfless when executing their duties.

Hard-working
Whether performing academic duties or participating in professional organizations, Seloilwe works hard, demanding the best from those she supervises and works with. Always an advocate of patients, she became a staff nurse in the 1970s when nurses dared not stand up to medical practitioners, when the word “matron” instilled fear in nurses. Long active in professional organizations, she has served in leadership positions with integrity and enthusiasm. As treasurer of the Nurses Association of Botswana, she kept accurate books and contributed energy to fundraising efforts. As the first chairperson of the nursing council of Botswana, she made immense contributions to the cause of Botswana nurses, including the development of nursing regulations. As a member of the East Central and Southern College of Nursing (ECSACON), she left a remarkable legacy of scholarship.

Principled
Seloilwe is a very principled person, with an abiding commitment to goodness and generosity. She is guided by principles in everything she does. As a nursing student, she studied hard and was always among the top in her class. Not content to achieve success only for herself, she also found time to assist classmates who were having difficulty and falling behind.

From the beginning of her nursing career, she was committed to documentation. She found time to write everything down: tasks undertaken, problems encountered, times when help was requested and times when it was given. As a result, she became known as “the nurse with a black book.”

As an educator, her guiding principle was to remain true to her students, an approach that earned her their respect. As a nurse leader, she espoused these principles, making decisions as the occasion demanded. Even though her principles sometimes opened her to criticism by some of her colleagues, her commitment to those principles contributed to her high regard by numerous colleagues and lifelong friends.

The cornerstone of her success
To ensure the success of an organization and its members, Seloilwe believes that leaders should attract and be surrounded by intelligent, hard-working colleagues who applaud leaders when they do well and who find a way to effectively communicate with them when they flounder. She adheres closely to two tenets: 1) under-promise and 2) over-deliver.

Esther Salang Seloilwe demonstrates what a nurse leader should be. I hope this tribute to her will inspire many nurses from around the world to follow her example by doing all they can to upgrade nursing and to make it an attractive career for new nurses and those who contemplate entering the profession. RNL

Gloria Thupayagale-Tshweneagae, RN, MNS, RM, is a lecturer in the Department of Nursing Education at the University of Botswana in Gabarone, Botswana.