This study provides evidence that a theoretical empowerment framework and strategies can empower nurse leaders, potentially resulting in staff empowerment.

Leader empowering behaviours have been shown to be associated with more engaged staff and healthier work environments. Based on study results, we suggest that these behaviours are teachable, and they should be emphasized in leadership development programmes.

Leadership development programmes should emphasize relational competencies, including leader empowering behaviours, given their potential for enhancing organisational commitment.

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In 1990, after twenty years of service, the psychiatrist who had been Director of Psychiatric Services at Alpha Hospital decided to take an early retirement. What followed was a dramatic leadership struggle, which peaked with the resignation (in the summer of 1992) of most of the hospital's psychiatrists. In the years since, there has been a great deal of healing. The psychiatrists are all back at work. Joint leadership of the services is established under the direction of a (psychiatrist) Clinical Director and a (non-psychiatrist) Administrative Director. Management of the programs and services has been reorganized to a much more efficient and effective system. And feelings among the key players are more trusting and collaborative. This paper will explore how this crisis may be understood in terms of change theory. It will also outline the process utilized to resolve the crisis, and will draw implications for other mental health administrators who, in these times of rapid and dramatic change, will undoubtedly confront similar challenges.