Important Leadership Topics:
-Self-Management
-Team-building
-Communication strategies
-Professionalism
-Networking
-Self-awareness
-Socially awareness
-Building and maintaining personal relationships
-Strategic thinking
-Self-Management
-Team-building
-Communication strategies
-Professionalism
-Networking
-Self-awareness
-Socially awareness
-Building and maintaining personal relationships
-Strategic thinking
Self-Assessment Report:
Emotional Intelligence Team Project:
Emotional Intelligence Reflection Essay:
I was able to learn a lot from my group project on emotional intelligence. One thing I learned was that it is possible to improve your emotional intelligence by assessing your strengths and weaknesses yourself, by doing things like taking Daniel Goleman’s course on emotional intelligence. Second, emotional intelligence is something that can be improved by simply making a conscious effort to develop it, you don’t necessarily need professional help and your emotional intelligence strengths and weaknesses are not necessarily irreversible. Lastly, it is possible to be proficient in certain emotional competencies like self-motivation but have trouble with self-management. People’s emotional intelligence is stronger and weaker in different areas; it is different for everybody.
As for myself, I believe I am stronger in some emotional intelligence areas than others. My social awareness and empathy is very solid. I am easily able to sense what others around me are thinking or feeling. I am also able to connect with them and relate to how people feel. My social skills are very developed as well. I can successfully interact with all kinds of people and am able to gage their thoughts and reactions. This makes it so I am able to work with all kinds of people successfully. One competency of mine that needs improving is my self-motivation. Sometimes when I am feeling stressed, anxious or overwhelmed I am not able to complete a task as well as I should be able to.
There are several things one can do to improve their emotional intelligence. You can either work to improve it on your own or you can get help from a professional. Life coaches are available to help with things like this. Since I am looking to improve my emotional intelligence on my own, I will follow certain steps. Practicing observing how I feel, paying attention to how I behave, taking responsibility for my behavior, and creating a positive environment are all easy steps I can take toward improving my emotional intelligence. I can also do things such as take personality tests or come up with a personal mission statement to live by.
Before this assignment I had little understanding of what emotional intelligence was or it’s importance. Emotional intelligence is the backbone to professionalism and success both inside and outside the work force. By acknowledging one’s strengths and weaknesses in regards to emotional intelligence, you can develop both professional and personal skills.
As for myself, I believe I am stronger in some emotional intelligence areas than others. My social awareness and empathy is very solid. I am easily able to sense what others around me are thinking or feeling. I am also able to connect with them and relate to how people feel. My social skills are very developed as well. I can successfully interact with all kinds of people and am able to gage their thoughts and reactions. This makes it so I am able to work with all kinds of people successfully. One competency of mine that needs improving is my self-motivation. Sometimes when I am feeling stressed, anxious or overwhelmed I am not able to complete a task as well as I should be able to.
There are several things one can do to improve their emotional intelligence. You can either work to improve it on your own or you can get help from a professional. Life coaches are available to help with things like this. Since I am looking to improve my emotional intelligence on my own, I will follow certain steps. Practicing observing how I feel, paying attention to how I behave, taking responsibility for my behavior, and creating a positive environment are all easy steps I can take toward improving my emotional intelligence. I can also do things such as take personality tests or come up with a personal mission statement to live by.
Before this assignment I had little understanding of what emotional intelligence was or it’s importance. Emotional intelligence is the backbone to professionalism and success both inside and outside the work force. By acknowledging one’s strengths and weaknesses in regards to emotional intelligence, you can develop both professional and personal skills.
Professional Network Joined:
LinkedIn
FHE
FHE
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Code of Conduct and Ethics:
LinkedIn
http://investors.linkedin.com/documentdisplay.cfm?DocumentID=8816
Long Term Care
http://www.ltcombudsman.org/sites/default/files/ombudsmen-support/training/Local-Code-of-Ethics.pdf
http://investors.linkedin.com/documentdisplay.cfm?DocumentID=8816
Long Term Care
http://www.ltcombudsman.org/sites/default/files/ombudsmen-support/training/Local-Code-of-Ethics.pdf
Relationship Building and Networking Team Project:
http://padlet.com/lanesj1/101_6netRB
Team Plan on Team Building:
Multiple factors related to team formation that contributed to poor performance
· No authority over the people he invited
· Communication via email instead of face-to-face
· Didn’t explain the benefits that the QI team in the e-invite
· No clear expectations
· Team selection was randomized and unclear
· Didn’t look to see if the clinical people were directly involved in patient care at the time of the meeting or if members of the administrative team were meeting as well on other topics
Team building techniques for Jeff
· Clear expectations, objectives, & purpose must be given for what the QI team will achieve
· Look for people with commitment and genuine interest for QI who will be engaged
· Look at what each individual can contribute to the QI team
· Express the importance on teamwork to solve issues
· Try to build relationships with the people he wants to form a team with so they will better understand his position in the hospital and how passionate he is about QI in the hospital—the things he wants to solve may help the workflow of their own departments
Team Engagement
· Get senior leaders involved so they can motivate other employees to be involved in the QI team
· Create a motivational culture
· Focus on communication
· Create feedback mechanisms
· Flexible with hours of meetings to encourage the highest amount of participation
· Drive issues that is important to the members and their departments
Maturing to the Performing Stage
· Once the team is finally formed and team members become associated with each other and their roles in the QI team, they must brainstorm ideas for which issues to try to solve. There will be controversy about what issues to look at first since they are all from different disciplines with different agenda—it will be a test of the team’s communication and willingness to work together to find what problems must be addressed first and to perform at an optimal level. Once they are chosen, they will approach the norming phase in the group where they become more comfortable with each other and begin to actively learn about the matters discussed. They must all be on similar, if not the same, page in the team process of solving problems to move on to the performing stage of actually producing results in QI.
Resources
http://www.enterpriseengagement.org/articles/content/8289281/10-steps-that-ensure-employee-engagement-success/
Rubino, L. Salvador, E. Yolanda, CR. (2014). New Leadership for Today’s Health Care
Professional: Concepts and Cases. Jones and Bartlett Learning: Birmingham, MA.
· No authority over the people he invited
· Communication via email instead of face-to-face
· Didn’t explain the benefits that the QI team in the e-invite
· No clear expectations
· Team selection was randomized and unclear
· Didn’t look to see if the clinical people were directly involved in patient care at the time of the meeting or if members of the administrative team were meeting as well on other topics
Team building techniques for Jeff
· Clear expectations, objectives, & purpose must be given for what the QI team will achieve
· Look for people with commitment and genuine interest for QI who will be engaged
· Look at what each individual can contribute to the QI team
· Express the importance on teamwork to solve issues
· Try to build relationships with the people he wants to form a team with so they will better understand his position in the hospital and how passionate he is about QI in the hospital—the things he wants to solve may help the workflow of their own departments
Team Engagement
· Get senior leaders involved so they can motivate other employees to be involved in the QI team
· Create a motivational culture
· Focus on communication
· Create feedback mechanisms
· Flexible with hours of meetings to encourage the highest amount of participation
· Drive issues that is important to the members and their departments
Maturing to the Performing Stage
· Once the team is finally formed and team members become associated with each other and their roles in the QI team, they must brainstorm ideas for which issues to try to solve. There will be controversy about what issues to look at first since they are all from different disciplines with different agenda—it will be a test of the team’s communication and willingness to work together to find what problems must be addressed first and to perform at an optimal level. Once they are chosen, they will approach the norming phase in the group where they become more comfortable with each other and begin to actively learn about the matters discussed. They must all be on similar, if not the same, page in the team process of solving problems to move on to the performing stage of actually producing results in QI.
Resources
http://www.enterpriseengagement.org/articles/content/8289281/10-steps-that-ensure-employee-engagement-success/
Rubino, L. Salvador, E. Yolanda, CR. (2014). New Leadership for Today’s Health Care
Professional: Concepts and Cases. Jones and Bartlett Learning: Birmingham, MA.
Reflection Essay on Talents Inquiry:
Strength Scan
For my talent inquiry, I contacted five different people from different contexts of my life. This included a co-worker, mentor, friend, sorority advisor and parent. I found their responses to be somewhat similar, and very useful, encouraging and noteworthy. Here are the questions I asked them, and their responses:Con
What are my standout strengths?
1. Ability to remain calm in crisis, handle stress and prioritize responsibilities
2. Cognizant of your surroundings has the ability to survey an environment and summarize what is going on. Very aware of other people’s feelings and attitudes whether or not they are outwardly expressed.
3. Self confident enough to pursue and assume leadership responsibilities
4. Very respectful of other people, very much in tune with reality.
5. Lacks any sort of cloudy judgment. Cares greatly about the well-being and happiness of others, puts that before herself.
What are my moderate strengths?
1. Sticks to values, morals and ethics. Always does the right thing.
2. Communications effectively and really listens. Listens to other people’s opinions before expressing her own.
3. Very dependable…in general, whether it is related to job duties, school or personal.
4. Can get along with anybody, makes people feel very comfortable and at ease and very personable.
5. Can be held accountable. Not ever worried about giving her a task, responsibility, or information, and wonder what she’ll do with it.
How would people describe me?
1. Hardworking, funny, outgoing, empathetic, caring
2. Loyal, dedicated, funny, and kind
3. Likable, funny, responsible, reliable
4. Hilarious, giving, selfless, has the ability to brighten anyone’s day and make someone laugh
5. Personable, involved, trust-worthy, well-mannered
What are my overdone strengths?
1. Very cognizant of other people’s feelings, strong desire to please people
2. Handling crisis
3. Cares a lot, almost too much
4. Ability to focus on one issue at a time, can’t stop until its perfect
5. Working best under pressure
What are two skills I should strengthen?
1.You put others first so much, you sometimes forget to give yourself a break!
2.You have such wonderful ideas; don’t be afraid to share them!
3. Negotiate/consider different viewpoints and perspectives to arrive at a common understanding or agreement. Will be extremely useful in career as you move into positions of management and increased responsibility…where you will have to get buy-in from others to further agents and goal attainment
4.Time management; will alleviate some stress!
5. Controlling anxiety, don’t be so worried about getting something wrong that it inhibits your success.
Talents Inquiry
Having so much work and leadership experience has enabled me to recognize talents of mine that I would necessarily notice if I didn’t have those experiences. I have a knack for communicating with people effectively, and reading people. I am able to tell someone’s emotions without him or her saying anything and without having to know him or her very well. This is something I have been good at for as long as I can remember and has helped me keep healthy relationships as well as develop new ones. This also explains why I enjoy working with people so much. It is not stressful to me and does not make me anxious, like some people can get. I enjoy myself the most and find myself losing track of time when I am communicating and working with other people.
Though I do have some natural talents, there are several things that do not come naturally to me that I want to work at. I am not good at handling a large amount of tasks at a time. I work much better when I am given one thing to do and given a time frame to complete it in. This is something that I really need to develop skills in in order to be a successful worker. I also need to be able to work better under stressful conditions, where it is imperative the work I complete is my absolute best. For example, during final exams, final research papers, or final work projects, it is extremely hard for me to stay on task and not overly stress out about the final product.
Team Project on Strategic Thinking:
http://padlet.com/lanesj1/101_6CS132
Interview Questions and Responses:
1. Can you describe your responsibilities as CEO?
I am responsible for all daily operations (clinical and non-clinical), business operations (service line development, revenue/expense management, patient experience (outcomes, satisfaction, disposition to desired discharge destination, etc.).
2. Have you ever had a supervisor that was a poor leader? What made him such?
I have definitely had a supervisor that was good at his job, but was a poor leader. When a situation would arise where someone (he) would need to step up and take the initiative, often times he would step back and watch it happen. He did not handle conflict or disagreement well.
3. How do you stay cognizant of your employee’s feelings and stay socially aware?
I try to regularly communicate with my employees, ask them how they are doing as well as other employees. They know I have an open door policy and that they can talk to me about anything and everything. Having over 20 years working experience I am able to easily pick up on social cues. Knowing your employees is important and is key.
4. How self-aware in the workplace are you? Why do you think that this is an important trait to have?
I try to be very aware of the feelings I am portraying and how I am coming across to other employees. You want your coworkers to continue to believe you are approachable. I also think it is extremely important you are able to know what your strengths and weaknesses are so you know what you’re doing right and what you can improve on.
5. What traits are do you notice in employees who display incredible leadership abilities?
Employees that stick out to me as leaders are always proactive and very open-minded. Always respectful of the time, feelings, thoughts and opinions of others.
6. Describe how you build and maintain personal relationships?
Like I previously explained, start with becoming self-aware. You must also listen, answer questions about their lives, remember details and just be interested and act interested. Valued personal relationships seem to make the work environment much more enjoyable and at ease.
7. Define professionalism, as you would describe it
In my mind, someone that displays characteristics of professionalism takes pride in their appearance, is polite and has proper etiquette. They can be held accountable and they are organized. They have high standards set for themselves, and lead ethically and morally sound work lives.
8. Do you offer any community outreach programs? If not, what are your plans to begin to?
We currently are not holding any community outreach programs. We are very interested in the public health of the community and looking to begin reaching out to lower income populations in the area, and begin a new program to better provide for those patients.
9. What kinds of leadership styles work best within your organization?
Working at any healthcare facility including HealthSouth requires folks that build others up and put others first. One that exhibits democratic leadership is also crucial. With this, employees feel that their opinion counts and all opinions are taken into consideration. Healthcare is such a complex field, it is important all viewpoints are acknowledged.
10. What self-assessment techniques does your company find useful?
Twice a year we distribute self-assessment surveys to employees. These surveys give employees an opportunity to discuss where they feel like they excel and also a chance to share where they want to improve. It also serves as a way for supervisors to clarify job duties and expectations.
Reflection Essay-Interview with a Healthcare Leader:
For my interview with a Healthcare executive, I contacted Tracy Turman, CEO of HealthSouth Hospital to answer some questions regarding leadership competencies. I was pleasantly surprised by the results, and found them very helpful and beneficial to understanding what traits I need to possess in order to be a standout leader in healthcare. I found it very helpful to know the reasons an employee could be a great worker, but poor leader. That is one thing I never thought of, I always assumed you could not be one thing without the other. I also now believe being social and self-aware play a crucial part in your success as a worker. Knowing more about yourself as well as the people around you will help both you and your coworkers develop into greater healthcare employees. Overall, it was very helpful to get an idea of what a healthcare executive’s opinions and thoughts are on certain competencies. I think by having a better idea of what professionalism is and not just a textbook definition will be very valuable as well. I now have a much better idea of what I need to keep in mind while aiming to be a more valued and efficient healthcare worker.
Reflection Essay on Cultural Awareness/Competencies:
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Cultural Competency is an important aptitude an employee must possess, especially in the healthcare field. Those possessing the highest level of cultural competency are not in any way prejudice, they are fair and they are honest with themselves. After completing a cultural competency analysis on myself and learning more about cultural competency in the process, I now realize what an important role this intelligence plays in ones growth as a healthcare worker, and in the healthcare field in general.
I chose to take the competency assessment, Cultural Competence Self-Test Video. This eighteen question video was written by JCPS Employees in attempt to educate their employees on areas they need improvement on. I found this assessment extremely beneficial in both learning how to assess cultural competence and what areas I can improve upon. One concept of cultural competency I realized is an individual’s ability to speak their language of origin is in no way an indication of a lack of effective communication abilities. Also regarding language, I realized that an individual might not be literate in their language of origin as well in addition to English. A second concept regarding values and attitudes is the importance of avoiding imposing values that may conflict or be inconsistent with other cultures or ethnic backgrounds. As well as that, it is important to show cultural sensitivity and avoid racial bias and prejudice. A third concept regarding family and gender relationships is that those are different for each and every family. Life-cycle factors also vary with every patient, which must be considered when interacting with patients and families. A fourth concept of cultural competency is regarding the meaning of medicine and that to some families and cultures the value of medicine and health education varies greatly. This must also be taken into consideration, and is often not considered. Lastly, it is crucial that employees know the resources they have regarding how to handle patients and accommodate them based on their backgrounds. Keeping up to date on concerns and issues of different populations around one’s geographical location is key. Being aware of socioeconomic and environmental risk factors around one’s geographical location is very important as well. After further researching how other organizations promote cultural competency I came across a check sheet that was developed by the National Center for Cultural Competence. This check sheet addresses the above concepts as well as others. It has instructions to promote both cultural and linguistic competence in the forms of organizational, practice & service design, community engagement and family in consumers. Before researching further, I had no idea that cultural competency needed to be addressed on all of those levels in order to be effective. By aiming to address the listed concepts in all aspects of a healthcare organization, employees can significantly reduce health disparities because patients are educated, understood and feel respected. Before this assignment, I assumed I was well educated, knowledgeable and understanding of cultural competency and firmly believed that I didn’t need much improving in it. After realizing how much went into being culturally competent what being culturally competent actually meant, I realize I have improving to do. I realize I need to be more honest with myself in how I feel about other groups of people. I need to work to ignore and amend these feelings when interacting with these people. I need to work to become more competent and cognizant of other cultures and religions besides my own. I also need to realize that I in fact can unconsciously act differently towards someone that reminds me of someone I know of, have heard of or have seen on television. I believe that if I use this information I have learned about cultural competency I will become a much more commendable, knowledgeable healthcare worker. If healthcare organizations also work to become more culturally competent we can eliminate health disparities and create health equity for all. |
Class Activity Documents:
Daniel Goleman Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJhfKYzKc0s
Hometown Demographics
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/37/3732260.html
Hometown Community Outreach
http://www.hollyspringsnc.us/index.aspx?NID=546
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJhfKYzKc0s
Hometown Demographics
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/37/3732260.html
Hometown Community Outreach
http://www.hollyspringsnc.us/index.aspx?NID=546
Major Reflection Essay:
Over the course of this class, I was able to learn an extensive amount about self-awareness, being socially aware, emotional intelligence, leadership, communication skills, building and maintaining personal relationships, diversity, building consensus, and strategies to effect change. It was through individual assessments, assignments and team activities I was able to fully understand each topic, as well as my strengths and weaknesses in each.
Being able to understand one’s emotions and fully comprehend one’s feelings in certain situations is a skill that is imperative in all aspects of life, not just the working environment. One thing that I became more aware of after these assignments was that I had a good understanding of the negative aspects of myself, like impatience and criticalness, but not the positive characteristics I possess, that my peers see in me. The talents inquiry was extremely uplifting and encouraging to complete, and gives me more motivation to workout some of my adverse characteristics, while continuing to improve my constructive ones. From the group project on emotional intelligence I learned how to create an improvement plan for improving aspects of my emotional intelligence competencies, and how to go about suggesting the same for my peers. By evaluating areas of improvement, developing an action plan for developing the noted emotional intelligence deficiencies, and evaluating again, one can improve basic core emotional intelligence competencies. Fully comprehending what emotional intelligence is and why possessing emotionally competent qualities is important, is crucial to one’s personal development inside and out of the workplace.
Along with being self-aware, being socially aware is equally as essential. Being able to understand people’s needs and behavioral attributes is crucial to be able to collaborate and communicate effectively. It is also important being socially aware so you have an increased ability to work in teams and have a more developed understanding of interpersonal and organizational knowledge. Like self-awareness, I was able to get a better understanding of my capabilities through the self-assessment tool as well as the two videos on emotional intelligence. The group project on emotional intelligence also furthered my understanding on being socially aware. Being sensitive to other’s needs and perspectives is important when communicating with people at all times, whether they are in your work environment or not.
Emotional and behavioral intelligence encompass both self and social awareness. Overall, learning about what all emotional and behavior intelligence consists of was extremely valuable to study. It is so crucial to consider the behavioral needs of your colleagues to further enhance relationships. After completing the Emotional Intelligence project and assessment and self-assessment, I was better to acquire a better understanding of the importance of social skills and the ability to interact professionally and effectively in social situations. I also discovered how important it is to keep control of my emotions and be able to focus on problems by problem solving. These are all examples of self-management proficiencies and are other vital aspects of emotional and behavioral intelligence. Developing an emotional intelligence improvement plan for such a realistic employee and situation was so helpful because I was able to apply what we used to address and amend the situation, to situations concerning my own emotional intelligence that I could foresee occurring.
Being able to effectively work on a team and lead a team are two important abilities any person should have. Being in this leadership class and working in teams almost every day, it was imperative we develop these abilities if we did not already possess them. Studying the case study about Jeff, we were able to the problems in the way he was leading his team. Jeff’s situation is similar to many others and by learning what went wrong and why, we can gain knowledge on our own situations we might face. Some useful information I gathered from this case was that you should always try and communicate face-to-face, set clear expectations, build relationships and express the importance of teamwork to solve issues. To improve team engagement it helps to get supervisors and/or senior leaders involved, to help hold member’s accountable. Creating an environment where members motivate and encourage each other is also very important. Making sure to focus a great deal on communication is equally important, with solid communication abilities comes increased feedback, ideas and contribution. The readings in chapter 7 also encourage the same measures be taken. This part of the leadership class was so useful, especially since I had not learned any small group forming and leading techniques, a skill that will be useful for the rest of my career.
The ability to communicate effectively is an attribute that is necessary for every aspect of leadership. Without communication skills, all facets of your career and relationships are hindered. All the activities I participated in this semester attributed to my increase in communication skills. Class discussions helped me vocalize my thoughts and opinions to a larger group of people. Reflection essays helped me practice my written communication skills, and getting my thoughts from my head onto paper. Like the reflection essays, padlet walls were also very helpful in developing my communication skills. I was able to practice both my verbal and written communication skills with my group members by discussing answers and recording them. One thing that I noticed at the end of the semester was how my team developed our communication skills. This was evident through our group project grades, and how much easier and effective it was completing assignments at the end of the year compared to the beginning of the year. I learned that communicating effectively isn’t something difficult to accomplish. One must be willing to really listen to other people, stay patient, be clear and concise, and engage and ask questions.
One aspect of this class I had not had much knowledge or background in was how to build and maintain professional relationships. In our group activity on networking and professional relationship building, I learned several steps to building lasting relationships. Some steps included making a point to build relationships before you need them, regularly attend organizational events with a goal to meet at least one person and ask questions and be approachable. I also learned that it is important to tell people about you, overcome fear of rejection and be persistent. If all of these things are done, there is no doubt new relationships wont be formed. Additionally, I learned what the difference between networking and relationship building is, where to learn to build skills and interpersonal communication tips. By joining a professional organization I was and am currently able to practice relationship building and networking. By reaching out to my peers and previous supervisors when completing my talent inquiry, I am able to continue my relationship with them so I am still able to go to them in the years to come. Learning how to build and maintain these relationships will continue to be so beneficial now and when I still am furthering my career many years from now!
One thing I believe a lot of healthcare employees overlook is the importance of understanding what diversity in the community means and the value in it. I know valuing cultural diversity is something that I definitely appreciated before this lesson, but I believe I still learned the most from it. Growing up in the outskirts of Raleigh I have always been well aware of different socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds and have grown up with many friends that have different religions and language of origins. Something I didn’t realize until we began this lesson and until I completed my cultural competency reflection was how important it is to be honest with yourself on how you view other groups. It may be something you subconsciously think when you see a person with a certain skin color, or that someone you see reminds you of a prominent character in pop culture. There are so many aspects of being culturally competent and to appreciating diversity, and all of them are equally important. From the case study on page 73 I learned how understanding racial differences can be communicated in an offensive way. (Rubino & Esparaza, 73) I can relate to this kind of behavior; I realize that I am not particularly patient with people that are difficult to understand because of language barriers, which is something I am continuing to work on.
I believe the most difficult learning outcome we learned in class was the building census and influencing others. Though difficult, it caused my group to have to think extensively thus learning a lot. In the case St. Michaels Medical Center had many unsafe problems including: physician departures, employees perceiving the environment as poor quality and low morale (Rubino & Esparaza, 132-133). The goal for our team was to create a SWOT analysis, a list of major problems, list key players/stakeholders, and a 90-day, 6 month, and one year action plan. While completing this assignment, I realized how difficult yet crucial it is to influence others to become more involved. I believe I am going to be able to use this information immediately in the workforce, and can start by using it in things I am currently involved in.
Lastly, the final learning outcome we learned about was identifying and using strategies to effect change. In chapter 10 (Rubino & Esparanza 209-224) I learned a myriad of information regarding leadership styles and what works best for certain people. I also became better acquainted with factors that are likely to motivate people. Holding an executive position in my sorority has brought about experiences where this knowledge has been immensely successful. Everyone differs on leadership styles, and motivational factors which can make it very difficult to appeal to everyone. I firmly believe that the information I gathered from this part of the course will help me in small group leadership settings, and larger group settings.
After this course is complete, I will make a strong effort to continue my learning and keep building off of what I have learned from this class. I plan on doing this by continuing to hold leadership positions, join more clubs for career, education and networking opportunities and to keep hold of my notes and assignments I have completed for this class. I also will make a point to regularly research new articles and publishings on the learning outcomes we achieved during this course. There are some things I would like to learn more about that I will also make a point to research. I would like to continue my education regarding leadership development, communication skills and professionalism. I will do this by attending workshops and conferences addressing these topics. I will also use campus resources to improve these skills as well.
Rubino, Louis, Salvador Esparza, and Yolanda Reid. Chassiakos. New Leadership for Today's
Health Care Professionals: Concepts and Cases.Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2014. Print.
Being able to understand one’s emotions and fully comprehend one’s feelings in certain situations is a skill that is imperative in all aspects of life, not just the working environment. One thing that I became more aware of after these assignments was that I had a good understanding of the negative aspects of myself, like impatience and criticalness, but not the positive characteristics I possess, that my peers see in me. The talents inquiry was extremely uplifting and encouraging to complete, and gives me more motivation to workout some of my adverse characteristics, while continuing to improve my constructive ones. From the group project on emotional intelligence I learned how to create an improvement plan for improving aspects of my emotional intelligence competencies, and how to go about suggesting the same for my peers. By evaluating areas of improvement, developing an action plan for developing the noted emotional intelligence deficiencies, and evaluating again, one can improve basic core emotional intelligence competencies. Fully comprehending what emotional intelligence is and why possessing emotionally competent qualities is important, is crucial to one’s personal development inside and out of the workplace.
Along with being self-aware, being socially aware is equally as essential. Being able to understand people’s needs and behavioral attributes is crucial to be able to collaborate and communicate effectively. It is also important being socially aware so you have an increased ability to work in teams and have a more developed understanding of interpersonal and organizational knowledge. Like self-awareness, I was able to get a better understanding of my capabilities through the self-assessment tool as well as the two videos on emotional intelligence. The group project on emotional intelligence also furthered my understanding on being socially aware. Being sensitive to other’s needs and perspectives is important when communicating with people at all times, whether they are in your work environment or not.
Emotional and behavioral intelligence encompass both self and social awareness. Overall, learning about what all emotional and behavior intelligence consists of was extremely valuable to study. It is so crucial to consider the behavioral needs of your colleagues to further enhance relationships. After completing the Emotional Intelligence project and assessment and self-assessment, I was better to acquire a better understanding of the importance of social skills and the ability to interact professionally and effectively in social situations. I also discovered how important it is to keep control of my emotions and be able to focus on problems by problem solving. These are all examples of self-management proficiencies and are other vital aspects of emotional and behavioral intelligence. Developing an emotional intelligence improvement plan for such a realistic employee and situation was so helpful because I was able to apply what we used to address and amend the situation, to situations concerning my own emotional intelligence that I could foresee occurring.
Being able to effectively work on a team and lead a team are two important abilities any person should have. Being in this leadership class and working in teams almost every day, it was imperative we develop these abilities if we did not already possess them. Studying the case study about Jeff, we were able to the problems in the way he was leading his team. Jeff’s situation is similar to many others and by learning what went wrong and why, we can gain knowledge on our own situations we might face. Some useful information I gathered from this case was that you should always try and communicate face-to-face, set clear expectations, build relationships and express the importance of teamwork to solve issues. To improve team engagement it helps to get supervisors and/or senior leaders involved, to help hold member’s accountable. Creating an environment where members motivate and encourage each other is also very important. Making sure to focus a great deal on communication is equally important, with solid communication abilities comes increased feedback, ideas and contribution. The readings in chapter 7 also encourage the same measures be taken. This part of the leadership class was so useful, especially since I had not learned any small group forming and leading techniques, a skill that will be useful for the rest of my career.
The ability to communicate effectively is an attribute that is necessary for every aspect of leadership. Without communication skills, all facets of your career and relationships are hindered. All the activities I participated in this semester attributed to my increase in communication skills. Class discussions helped me vocalize my thoughts and opinions to a larger group of people. Reflection essays helped me practice my written communication skills, and getting my thoughts from my head onto paper. Like the reflection essays, padlet walls were also very helpful in developing my communication skills. I was able to practice both my verbal and written communication skills with my group members by discussing answers and recording them. One thing that I noticed at the end of the semester was how my team developed our communication skills. This was evident through our group project grades, and how much easier and effective it was completing assignments at the end of the year compared to the beginning of the year. I learned that communicating effectively isn’t something difficult to accomplish. One must be willing to really listen to other people, stay patient, be clear and concise, and engage and ask questions.
One aspect of this class I had not had much knowledge or background in was how to build and maintain professional relationships. In our group activity on networking and professional relationship building, I learned several steps to building lasting relationships. Some steps included making a point to build relationships before you need them, regularly attend organizational events with a goal to meet at least one person and ask questions and be approachable. I also learned that it is important to tell people about you, overcome fear of rejection and be persistent. If all of these things are done, there is no doubt new relationships wont be formed. Additionally, I learned what the difference between networking and relationship building is, where to learn to build skills and interpersonal communication tips. By joining a professional organization I was and am currently able to practice relationship building and networking. By reaching out to my peers and previous supervisors when completing my talent inquiry, I am able to continue my relationship with them so I am still able to go to them in the years to come. Learning how to build and maintain these relationships will continue to be so beneficial now and when I still am furthering my career many years from now!
One thing I believe a lot of healthcare employees overlook is the importance of understanding what diversity in the community means and the value in it. I know valuing cultural diversity is something that I definitely appreciated before this lesson, but I believe I still learned the most from it. Growing up in the outskirts of Raleigh I have always been well aware of different socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds and have grown up with many friends that have different religions and language of origins. Something I didn’t realize until we began this lesson and until I completed my cultural competency reflection was how important it is to be honest with yourself on how you view other groups. It may be something you subconsciously think when you see a person with a certain skin color, or that someone you see reminds you of a prominent character in pop culture. There are so many aspects of being culturally competent and to appreciating diversity, and all of them are equally important. From the case study on page 73 I learned how understanding racial differences can be communicated in an offensive way. (Rubino & Esparaza, 73) I can relate to this kind of behavior; I realize that I am not particularly patient with people that are difficult to understand because of language barriers, which is something I am continuing to work on.
I believe the most difficult learning outcome we learned in class was the building census and influencing others. Though difficult, it caused my group to have to think extensively thus learning a lot. In the case St. Michaels Medical Center had many unsafe problems including: physician departures, employees perceiving the environment as poor quality and low morale (Rubino & Esparaza, 132-133). The goal for our team was to create a SWOT analysis, a list of major problems, list key players/stakeholders, and a 90-day, 6 month, and one year action plan. While completing this assignment, I realized how difficult yet crucial it is to influence others to become more involved. I believe I am going to be able to use this information immediately in the workforce, and can start by using it in things I am currently involved in.
Lastly, the final learning outcome we learned about was identifying and using strategies to effect change. In chapter 10 (Rubino & Esparanza 209-224) I learned a myriad of information regarding leadership styles and what works best for certain people. I also became better acquainted with factors that are likely to motivate people. Holding an executive position in my sorority has brought about experiences where this knowledge has been immensely successful. Everyone differs on leadership styles, and motivational factors which can make it very difficult to appeal to everyone. I firmly believe that the information I gathered from this part of the course will help me in small group leadership settings, and larger group settings.
After this course is complete, I will make a strong effort to continue my learning and keep building off of what I have learned from this class. I plan on doing this by continuing to hold leadership positions, join more clubs for career, education and networking opportunities and to keep hold of my notes and assignments I have completed for this class. I also will make a point to regularly research new articles and publishings on the learning outcomes we achieved during this course. There are some things I would like to learn more about that I will also make a point to research. I would like to continue my education regarding leadership development, communication skills and professionalism. I will do this by attending workshops and conferences addressing these topics. I will also use campus resources to improve these skills as well.
Rubino, Louis, Salvador Esparza, and Yolanda Reid. Chassiakos. New Leadership for Today's
Health Care Professionals: Concepts and Cases.Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2014. Print.