Becoming and remaining an effective leader in any healthcare setting requires a wide range of skills, including most especially the abilities to analyze complex situations and communicate with clinicians from multiple disciplines. The Leadership and Communication coursework provided valuable information and insights concerning these professional needs, but it are also important to reflect on the lessons learned in order to reinforce the learning process. To this end, this four-part reflection paper provides a discussion concerning fresh insight developed with respect to my working style and how I work with others. In addition, an assessment concerning the insights gained regarding conversations and interactions with friends, family, coworkers, and others is followed by a discussion of the strategies that will be used to improve chances for success in the future. Finally, a summary of these four parts and the insights gained is provided in the conclusion.

Part 1: Working Style

One of the more interesting issues that emerged from my working style score were the relatively high scores for the "examine" variable, suggesting that my working style is highly organized, detail-oriented and methodical, which I consider a personal strength. These findings conform to what others have observed about my working style in the past as well as my own preferences for using a step-wise approach to problem-solving and situation analysis. Conversely, the working style score also indicated a challenge with respect to the "explore" variable, suggesting that there needs to be more effort made to ensure that as much information about a situation is gathered prior to making any substantive decisions. In addition, the scores on the "execute" variable reflect a reluctance on my part to actually make a decision, even when I believe that all of the information that is needed to make an informed decision has been gathered. This reluctance easily translates into lost opportunities and diminished effectiveness of performance.

Given these respective strengths and weaknesses, the preferred working style of a teammate would be one in which the individual was highly focused on observing all of the details of a given situation, especially those that might go otherwise undiscerned...
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In addition, the preferred teammate would recognize when all of the requisite information that was needed for an informed decision had been gathered and would therefore be prepared to make a decision and implement an appropriate solution. The combination of these attributes would contribute to the successful completion of a project by ensuring that not only was all of the relevant information needed identified beforehand, the process proceeded in an organized and thoughtful manner.

Part 2: Communication

Over the years, my conversational experiences with friends, family, coworkers, and others have used the various listening modes depending on the circumstances. While I have found that I prefer an accurate listening mode in general, there are situations in which the others are more appropriate. For example, during the holidays when large numbers of family members congregate, some people I have never met or barely know try to convince me other the rightness of their opinions about everything under the sun, including some issues that are important to me, requiring a pretense listening mode.

By contrast, if a close family member does the same thing, my listening mode tends to change to one of sincerity because I am authentically interested in their views and how they agree and disagree with my own. In yet other situations such as workplace conversations that involve initiatives for which I have responsibilities, an accuracy listening mode is best suited to ensure that what is being communicated is received and understood. In sum, my experiences with these different listening modes all tend to reinforce the respective nature of the relationships with others.

Similarly, my experiences with talking modes (i.e., pretense, sincerity, accuracy, or authenticity) in conversations with various people and in varying situations also indicate that different strategies are required for different situations depending on the status of the verbal exchange partner. It is therefore important to reflect on which talking modes are best suited for different situations based on their effects on existing relationships and the outcomes that are achieved. For example, according to Neu (2012), "In all cases and in all senses,…