This course has been one of the most enlightening educational experiences that I have had thus far. I have learned about improving my self-awareness and gaining strategies to become an ideal leader in a complex adaptive system like healthcare. I was previously concerned with learning technical skills and being considered the most intelligent. What I have come to find out was that being the best version of yourself is so much more than the technical aspects and runs on a much deeper level emotionally than I ever took the time to think about. Also, I gained knowledge that emotional intelligence (EQ) tends to win out over intelligence quotient (IQ) when comparing career and lifetime success.
So....Who am I?
This is home me, Kari Accurso, stepmother of two handsome boys. I use the same principles that I do at work, but shift the focus to creating a home environment that is optimal for them. I'm attempting to shape their minds to one that is filled with hard work. Leading by example and showing them what hard work means with the hope that they can succeed in this evolving workforce.
Always a leader. Always an advocate. This needs to be a truth whether it be at work or at home. Putting your best self forward and showing others what needs to be done rather than telling them what needs to be done. It's easy to say but actions always speak louder than words.
I had been wanting to further my career for a few years now but kept saying I didn't have the time. This is one of the most often used excuses. There is never going to be enough time to do everything, you just must choose what your priority is and take the first step to accomplishing it. Learning more about yourself and how to lead those around you in never going to be a regret for my future self.
100%👏👏👏👏Who is my Leadership Idol?
Through the entirety of this course, I have resonated deeply with the words of Simon Sinek. He speaks in a way which is meaningful to me and makes me examine the way that I handle daily interactions. At the start of this course, I delved into the book, Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don't, by Simon Sinek, and was able to pull out a multitude of insights that I can use on my leadership journey.
The overarching theme in this book explains how leaders must create a positive work environment to create an optimally motivated and productive team.
How do leaders create a positive work environment according to Sinek?
One of the main tactics that leaders do to accomplish this are to make the workers feel valued and respected. This gives them a sense of security within the team and employees tend to perform better when they have this internal feeling of safety due to a strong leader.
Next, Sinek discusses on multiple occasions throughout the text about the concept of tribal leadership. This term means that we are by nature social beings and have a sense of wanting to belong to a group, or 'tribe.' It is the leader's goal to try to make every member of the team feel like they are part of a united group rather than allowing the team to break into a series of multiple cliques as this will decrease the feeling of togetherness and teamwork.
Three of the main ideas that Sinek reiterates throughout the book include a leader that has empathy to the employees, develops a sense of trust within the relationships with workers, and has a large degree of transparency as this makes the employees want to do better if they are fully aware of what they are working towards.
What Did I Learn about Being a Leader?
The leadership role is rapidly evolving and increasing in complexity! We are moving from more Newtonian concepts of the 20th century to quantum leadership principles, and it is happening on an expedited timeline (Albert et al., 2022). If a leader doesn't jump on the bandwagon and adopt these principles, they will fail to keep up with the demands of being an effective leader. The newer quantum leadership is a type of leadership that is nonlinear, focused on interrelatedness of parts, and is value driven.
In today's rapidly changing healthcare environment, leaders must possess adaptability to new challenges and changing circumstances. This requires flexibility and an openness to new ideas and approaches.
A quantum leader knows that innovation must be incorporated into the infrastructure of an organization, or it will fail to progress. Leaders need to embrace and support innovation and assist with integration of new innovation within their organization. Leaders must be able to think critically and make strategic decisions that will lead to the long-term success of their organization.
Leaders with high emotional intelligence understand and manage their own emotions, as well as those of their team members. This helps to create a positive work environment and build strong relationships. Approximately 90% of the average leader's responsibilities involve dealing with human behaviors and interactions (Albert et al., 2022). Therefore, learning effective conflict management strategies is one of the most important aspects of the leadership role. Conflict is normal and synonymous with human differences which are becoming even more prevalent due to the increasing diversity of populations within healthcare systems.
Leaders need to have a wide variety of adaptive and predictive skills, particularly when dealing with the management of a crisis. These characteristics were put to the test most recently during the COVID pandemic as the impact on the healthcare systems caused one of the biggest crises to the profession. The best leaders have plans in place that would account for many of the crises that could take place within an organization, or are able to shift their focus quickly to manage an highly unexpected occurrence. Leaders must be well versed to allow for abilities to be more proactive to a crisis state rather than merely reactive.
Vulnerability as a leader is not a negative trait to possess and does NOT constitute weakness as it was previously thought in the Industrial Age. Furthermore, leaders having the strength and courage to admit their limitations actually improve relationships within their organization by setting aside their ego and create an open dialogue among team members. This makes the team feel as though they can be more personable with their leader and feel as though they are more open to have conversations without feeling a huge power imbalance.
Leaders who portray a large degree of authenticity are more likely to be trusted and respected by their team members. This helps to build a positive and productive work environment, where people are more likely to be engaged and motivated.
What Did I Learn about Myself?
After taking a personality assessment I was designated as an advocate type personality according to the Myers-Briggs personality Assessment tool. I tend to be a more introverted type of individual and feel driven by a sense of purpose and need to make an impact on the world. This was discussed as being one of the major life satisfiers for the millennial population as well according to our text (Albert et al., 2022). I'm typically quite empathetic and have the ability to connect with others on a deep emotional level. However, I can often struggle with expressing my own needs and wants. This is by far my biggest hurdle. I like to meet the needs or others and will often put my own needs on the back burner. Being an advocate is a very common type of personality for a person in healthcare but should have some stipulations that come with this type of personality. It is ok to help others and to have it make you feel fulfilled, but also need to be able to find fulfillment in ourselves as advocates as well.
My main conflict management style is an accommodating strategy according to my assessment that I completed. I tend to accommodate another's wants or desires in a conflict, particularly if the stakes in the conflict are low because I place such an emphasis on my relationship with others that I want to please them or make them happy. What I have discovered is that I need to try to focus on making my point of view known in addition to the other parties as my ideas might actually make a valuable contribution to a conflict that could help to come up with a solution that would make both parties involved happy. I need to gain the confidence to know that my ideas are also important and should be heard.
What impact do I want to make?
My goal for making an impact within my organization involves moving into a leadership role to help lead the expansion that is taking place within my organization. I hope to first take on a management role within my current area in the near future, and then move into an area of upper management within my organization as we expand services across the city. The tentative plans at my organization include recent acquisition of another health organization as well as expanding the current parts of my organization by building up on current construction areas due to limited new real estate in the area. With these changes, I hope to be a part of the charge to be able to provide more services to the patients within our city and make our organization one that is well knows across the nation. My hope is to be able to reach more people and to be able to provide more services that are so desperately needed.
Ideas for how I plan to increase my impact:
Lead by example: My personal actions as a leader will have a big impact on the culture and values of your organization, even when you think nobody is watching an impact is always being made. I can do this effectively by demonstrating ethical and professional behavior that sets standard for others to follow.
Foster a positive work environment: I plan to follow the blueprint laid out by Simon Sinek as stated previously from his book Leaders Eat Last, by creating an environment that values positivity, teamwork, and personal growth. All of these factors are used to help build morale and increase motivation within a team.
Develop a vision and strategy: I plan to help myself to develop a clear vision for my organizational goals and a strategy for achieving it by creating a vision board that I can continue to add upon an improve throughout my career's journey. This will help keep me focused on the long-term goals of the organization and my personal goals as a leader and they they intersect.
By using these ideas to reach my goals, I hope to make an impact as a leader by creating value for my team and inspire others to achieve great things. By demonstrating these qualities, I hope to build a culture of excellence and drive the success of my leadership role in the future.
What am I going to do to continue on my path of self-realization and growth?
Not only did this course make me realize my areas of improvement, but also provided me with resources to be able to work on these areas. It has helped me to construct a blueprint of the ways to improve myself as a leader.
Building relationships with key stakeholders and networking. By having the confidence and conversation skills to be able to build these relationships it will help open me up to a wider variety of resources that I can use to help my patients, as well as growth in my personal life.
Continuing education by reading books and articles about emotional intelligence and conflict resolution skills as these are two of the key areas that I have discovered need the most improvement. This can also be accomplished by attending workshops or training sessions that can help me to improve my skills.
Actively practice mindfulness to help me stay present in the moment and improve your self-awareness and emotional regulation. I can incorporate certain practices, such as meditation or yoga, into my daily routine.
Set goals and follow through with them so there is always a target for my future self. I have personally discovered that not having an active goal to reach a milestone in the future often leads to a period of stagnation and feelings of diminished worth.
While this is just the tip of the ice berg, if I continue on with the concepts and motivation that was received during this course, I will certainly succeed as a leader.
References:
Albert, N. M., Pappas, S. H., Porter-O’Grady, & Malloch, K. (2022). Quantum Leadership (6th ed.). Jones & Bartlett
Learning.
Sinek, S. (2014). Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don't. Portfolio Penguin.
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