What Is Leadership and What Kind of Leader are You? Leadership means Influencing others towards a common goal. This was how I viewed leadership ten weeks prior, before I started this online class. The deflation itself stems from experiences brought about by memberships of the Junior Jaycees, university student councils and medical organizations. Extracting the definition comes easily. It may be correct but not necessarily complete. It is implementing it that’s tricky.
Previously, I viewed leadership as it is in a box. A common goal is handed out to you. Then you’ll have to pick out which roads to travel to reach that goal. There was no formal training. At the conclusion of this course, the leadership definition above still holds true. But it is not as it is in a box anymore. It’s like trying your hand at golf. You may score a hole-in-one without perfecting your swing. But crafting your swing based on appropriate training and stance would definitely Increase your chances of achieving that hole-in-one.
The Journey towards that coveted hole-in-one would be more meaningful as It would be objectively guided. According to Dan Clark, “Leadership is a process by which a person influences ore cohesive and coherent”. Based on this definition and the concepts learned during the course, I would view myself as using more of the transformational’ leadership style with a tinge of transactional’, and Just currently implementing the ’empowering style. Transformational leadership entails inspiration and the conversion of a follower’s motivational state. 1 have always evoked inspiration as a leader, ever since I started taking responsibilities in small organizations in high school. This was how I managed to extract a good outcome out of the members. The transactional aspect Just came into existence on an accidental discovery. Having been raised frugal, I used to Just purchase myself a warm creamy Struck coffee on a really bad day as a pick-me-up. When I felt good after a sweet sip at the start of the day, I noticed my productivity increased. So, I bought some for my staff. It was the best day ever at work.
Everyone shared a smile despite the high workload and stress. This also strengthened my bond with the staff. They viewed the free morning gourmet coffee as a personal reward. So once in a while, I give out incentives to staff to boost up their creativity and efficiency. That small gesture of a gourmet coffee led o gift cards, birthday party celebrations, etc. On the other hand, the empowering style of my leadership has Just been developed during this course. It is indeed a new concept and is a work in progress. It does make sense.
Not only would I be able to delegate tasks to the members, but this would also foster ownership and further training for them. Empowering the staff would increase their self-esteem, skills and productivity. There is a lot of overlap between the leadership styles and collaborative leadership. According to The Community Toolbox by the University of Kansas, the raids of collaborative leadership can be summarized as follows: ; Collaborative problem-solving and decision-making. It’s not the leader’s Job to decide what to do and then tell the group.
Rather, the group considers the problem, decides what to do, and counts on the leader to help them focus their effort. ; Open process. The leader, or some other interested party, doesn’t Just start with his goals in mind and steer the group in that direction. Collaborative leadership means that the process of decision-making is truly collaborative, and has no set end-point when it begins. The ND result is worked out among all the participants: that’s collaboration. Leadership of the process, rather than the group.
The purpose of collaborative leadership is to help the collaborative process work, rather than to lead the people involved toward something – to a particular decision, for instance, or in a particular direction. For me, ‘collaboration’ is taking all of the leadership styles mentioned above and gently infusing them into your members’ style, so that they would be leaders in their own small fields as well. This would definitely not unfold itself overnight but would finitely entail tons of patience and training, as well as rewards.
With these concepts, equipped with the course discussions and readings, which were applied to experiences in the past, present and the future, led me to the discovery of my own authentic leadership. We all have the capacity to inspire and empower others, but we must first be willing to devote ourselves to our personal a product of our life stories and hardships. It is for this reason that finding out your own authentic leadership should begin with awareness of self and the environment. In lieu to this, the leadership development plan would serve as the first step awards discovering my authentic leadership.
The objectives of this leadership and development plan are as follows: a) Based on the assessment questionnaires done, on top of the concepts learned in class, I would be able to increase my awareness of self and environment, acknowledging my strengths and weaknesses. B) By summarizing the concepts significant to my situation, I would be able to discover my current leadership style and modify or develop it as best as possible according to what I have learned. C) I would be able to create a specific action plan towards the development of my authentic leadership style. I would be able to apply the modified leadership style on a real-life situation. By preparing this leadership and development plan, I hope to achieve the objectives as listed above. This would serve as my unbiased guide as I embark on my most significant real-life leadership journey, which actually started a few weeks ago. Section 2: Lessons Learned This course has defined some previously unknown leadership traits and taught me lessons that would be valuable tools for the development of my authentic leadership style.
I have summarized them as follows: a) Awareness of self and environment Awareness of self and the environment have been recurrent themes during the whole course. I should agree that I have unfolded some layers of myself as the weeks went by. I have repositioned myself in my career environment differently. Working as a primary care physician and opening up a new private practice during the current economic environment requires a lot of courage. The Beamer health plans have recently reduced reimbursements to physicians.
Although some positive changes are already in effect, health insurances still remain a huge business industry in which patients and physicians fall victims of. Having a Protean Career Orientation, and being aware of it through the assessment questionnaires, provided a cushion against these changes. Nothing provides more reassurance than knowing that regardless of how difficult the business climate might be, my boundaries career orientation would somehow survive and prosper. Of course, the latter depends on the subjective definition of success.
Having filled out the “Meaning of Career and Life Success” questionnaires helped confirm what matters to me as I find my way through this journey. Helping other people, achieving a work/life balance and personal growth eve been consistent in what I want in life and career. This is important because the health care system for physicians has been very rigid. With a young career, as mine, most of my colleagues resort to being employed and managed by hospitals or larger private groups. It is not financially conducive to open up a private practice at the onset.
So, I am technically swimming against an opposite current, and the lessons from the readings have pushed me into moving forward despite of. I do not deny, of the easy path and revisit the generous employment offers I had. When this does occur, the Protean trait comes in handy and muffles out all doubts and anxiety. B) Leadership style/vision In a few weeks, I will be managing a business on my own. This definitely requires a multitude of organizational skills. As much as I have already implemented most of the lessons learned in this course, I would still be requiring the assistance of and probably revisit these reviews most often.
The transition from being an employee to embracing an employer status would surely extract all the leadership qualities that I could muster. First off, I envision myself as a collaborative leader, making more use of he transformational as well as empowering leadership styles with a tinge of transactional method as well. The balance of these techniques depends on every situation I would encounter. Empowering others and myself has been one of my strengths, mainly because helping out and teaching have always been my calling.
This would definitely come in handy when I exercise these different leadership styles. Furthermore, I also want to be a leader who would embrace technology and use all resources available in my grasp for the betterment of the organization. Currently, social media has done away with geographical barriers. When used appropriately, it loud also bridge the cultural gap and communication barriers within the company. I wonder what the outcome would be if I implement a supervised “backbone/twitter” equivalent among the staff and management, tapping into hidden resources and skills within the group.
In my line of business, I want recommendations from patients and staff heard. But because the latter sometimes become hesitant to give out ideas, it is difficult to pry their walls open unless they feel comfortable to expose themselves. That would be interesting to see. I bet there are still tons of instances when you can make technology work for you. I would want to be that kind of leader who listens to those needs/changes and responds appropriately, with or without technology. On the other hand, aside from leading with both the head and the heart, I also want to lead by example.
I have been raised with a solid Catholic foundation and ethics. I want to employ this kind of culture in my organization and allow it to trickle down to the staff as well. I have seen a lot of employer physicians take advantage of employed doctors due to monetary benefits. There is nothing wrong about proportioning the balance sheets and net profits, as long as you have not roused the ethical boundary lines. Business should be practiced with a conscience. C) Leadership behavior changes When work demands increase, I find myself accidentally encroaching on family life.
This is why the readings on work/life balance impacted me the most. The assessment questionnaires on this topic realigned my priorities. My husband and l, both physicians, strive so hard to give our two young children the quality time they deserve. From the onset, I have done away with inpatient practice and Just focused on working in an outpatient setting with no weekend calls. Although most of the time, office hours go beyond the usual am-pm schedule, as we tend to finish patient have learned to balance work/life more in terms of quality and quantity of time.
Instead of restricting my kids’ schedule and designing it to accommodate mine more, I have given up some activities that would take away parent time. For instance, instead of attending a dinner lecture presentation for continuing medical education, I would Just spend this time with my family and read up on the topic whenever I can during work time. Another topic that brought great impact to me was on managing the boss. As a leader, you have to stay in tune to the needs of your superiors as well as your subordinates. The lessons learned from these readings were an eye-opener.
I have experienced instances when I went beyond the employed physician Job description. The intentions were noble as I saw opportunities for improvements. However, my superiors took these the wrong way. Awkward relationships would have been avoided then. Now I definitely know better. Section 3: Next Steps and Development Action Plan Most of my colleagues refer to my passion for life, both including work and family, s an unending reservoir. This has been because whenever I strive for a goal, I offer a hundred and one percent of myself into it.
Most of my goals don’t have a straight path towards their fulfillment. So by maneuvering around them, I have learned to detach from pessimism, maximized my resourcefulness and sharpened my initiative skills. Life’s hardships molded me into a stronger person, as an individual and as a leader. Passion, hard work, dedication and perseverance are qualities that helped me reach my achievements professionally and personally. What I need to improve on is time management. I always keep my hands full as productivity is my priority.
Sometimes, albeit a multi-taster, I hit tardy marks often as I underestimate my hectic schedule and squeeze in as many tasks as possible. In addition, the more I worked, the less I played. Lifestyle integration has been a struggle also. So, based on the course concepts, here is the summary of the things I need to work on or do differently as a leader in the future: a) Better time management In order to have a visual picture of my hectic schedule, I need to make use of an accessible electronic calendar so I can add or delete new events. I have already explored the calendar application in my phone and this has worked so far.
I have also added the alarm feature to avoid being tardy. Correct estimation of preparation and travel time also is paramount. With two young kids in tow, anything could go wrong with preparation time, including unexpected stains on new clothes to lost shoes. Preparing and laying out the needed clothes/shoes/paperwork the night prior to the activity also helped a lot. This avoided unnecessary cramming and lost patience during the morning of the activity. Establishing a new or calling on an existing social capital or network would also e my next move.
Support from mentors, friends, family and colleagues would come in handy in times of hardships. They offer advice, lessons from past experiences and resources to use. I used to dismiss gatherings before because I didn’t feel like interacting a lot. Now, I definitely know better. Not only will this process increase my self-esteem, but also widen my network. C) Better work/life balance In order for work not to dominate my precious family time, I have started increasing my productivity at work using the least amount of time. The more tasks I complete at work, the less family time I compromise.
Since we had the discussions on work/life balance, I have already made a promise to leave my work laptop in the clinic. I have never brought it home since then. I strictly drew the line between work and home. This has, so far, helped me a lot. D) Lifestyle integration Everyday, I Juggle various roles. I am a full-time physician, a full-time parent/wife and an upcoming business owner/manager. Before I added an MBA degree on the list, I used to train for half-marathons and marathons. I made a lifelong promise to finish one of each race every year.
I have purposely given that up when my schedule came too hectic, not realizing that that was probably one of the biggest mistakes Eve made. The physical exertion of running was the quick break that I needed in times of stress. Letting go of such led me to be short-tempered and impatient, on top of being less fit. Just two weeks ago, I started running again. Despite my tight calendar, I made a commitment to integrate exercise into it. A few hours during the weekend might not be a lot, but it is a start. My outlook in life changed dramatically.
These few physically exerting hours have been what I needed to last me through the busy week. E) Better boss management Now that I am aware that there exists a concept such as management of the boss, I have to constantly reposition myself in a place where I could examine my superiors appropriately. I have this tendency to want to implement my ideas right away. Without meaning to, I sometimes cross beyond boundaries by being too proactive. This happened multiple times with noble intentions. The lessons from the course helped me a lot in understanding these concepts. ) More cultural sensitivity Although I have gone through the struggles of being a minority, I still need to improve on the cognitive aspect of cultural sensitivity. I need to be pro-active in terms of social and economic issues not only in the US, but also in other countries. Business investments. Because of my hectic schedule, I will make use of the internet as well as my mobile phone to achieve this. I can achieve this by allotting 10-15 minutes before or after work to browse through current events and discuss with other colleagues/staff to enforce motivation.
I have also started making connections with friends of different culture. This weekend, we have attended an Indian birthday party and learned about their food. Now, that’s a start. Section 4: Real-Life Leadership Situation It has always been my dream to start my own private practice as a primary care physician. A few months ago, I have decided to Join a private group, after multiple meetings, for a planned long-term partnership. Due to the recent Beamer health plans, my physician colleagues severed that partnership to channel their investments overseas.
They have announced the change in plans a few weeks after I have declined a generous employment offer from a local hospital to commit to the said partnership. In a span of a few minutes, I was left to carry on a heavy load unto my shoulders. It was a burden that affected not only my career but also my livelihood and family. It was probably the worst thirty minutes of my life. Instead of moping around, I immediately contacted my other friends for resources. I didn’t have a lot of social capital then, as I used to avoid gatherings and small talks.
But during that same week, I found myself already setting up meetings with the local Small Business Development Center to develop a business plan. The more painful the process was, the more Eve learned and grown as a leader. As I added more pages to the theoretical plan, contacted vendors and met with consultants, I gained a glimpse of he technical aspect, financial projections, market analysis of the upcoming new business. And last week, I Just presented the finished business plan to the local bank to acquire a start-up loan.
I have used this leadership hardship as a recurring example as this probably is the greatest challenge I have encountered in my whole life. Besides, it happened in a timely manner such that all the lessons Eve learned during the course have been applied in real-time. It was like attending an on the Job training. These lessons have already been mentioned in the previous sections as well as during the course discussions. And also, without this said challenge, I would never have known that there are resources around us waiting to be tapped on.
I would also never have found out that I have already grown mature enough to turn my adversary into an opportunity. I have discovered layers of leadership traits otherwise unknown to me beforehand. I have made new friends and rekindled old ones for help and advice. It will be a tough Journey ahead of me. I will be hearing from the local bank next week. As soon as the loan approval goes through, I would then proceed to another phase of my leadership development action plan. While the initial phase, as mentioned above (section 3), continues to be in effect, the next phase deals more with office management.
The financial aspect of the new clinic was already taken cared of mostly by the projections made in the business plan. For the weeks employee handbook and organizational structure. These are objective guidelines that guarantee an understanding of the hierarchy/structure as well as assure a smooth management flow. It is best to start out organized and clear about various roles and job designations. After that, orientation and training of the staff will follow. This is where my modified authentic leadership styles would come into play. I have already also chosen my staff based on interviews and my experiences with them a few weeks ago.
I have also started establishing my social capital and referral system to increase the volume of patients. I have also already set-up a meeting with a Marketing consultant to discuss specific strategies based on the market analysis done in the business plan. There will be more tasks ahead in the upcoming days to establish this new private practice. I take comfort in the fact that more responsibilities would mean more opportunities for enhancing my authentic leadership. It is indeed a never-ending work in progress. REFERENCES Clark, D. R. (2013). Concepts of Leadership.
