Leadership and Strategy Question 1

Leadership and Strategy Question 1 Response In devising a leadership strategy to lead the initiative for combating HIV/AIDS, the most critical leadership attributes are credibility, communication and organization. Credibility must be present in any initiative as far-reaching as an HIV/AIDS initiative, which literally impacts every demographic segment of a nation, from both a preventative educational and treatment perspective. Credibility is also essential for the re-aligning of blood transfusion and the management of a nations' blood supply. These two areas of focus, the processes by which blood transfusions are managed and the management of a nations' blood supply require a leader highly skilled in medical technologies, with high levels of credibility in these fields if an entire nation is to be protected from this epidemic. Second, communication is critical, because the leader of a national HIV/AIDS campaign must stress both the urgency of preventative educational and treatment measures, getting equal levels of funding and intensity of focus from other governmental agencies. This aspect of communication is what can transform a mediocre but effective leader into a global evangelist against HIV/AIDS, attracting more global resources to their specific nations' problems than has ever been possible before. Communication and the ability to seek to first understand and then be understood, in short the ability to create empathy, is absolutely essential for a leader of a national effort to stop the spread of and hopefully eradicate HIV/AIDS from a nation. The communication skills of this person must be at the level of someone so passionate about the stopping the spread of this disease and treating patients in their nation already infected that they can quickly gain the cooperation of other departments, ministries and nations by their ability to impart the urgency of stopping this epidemic from a universal perspective. The third skill of organization, along with credibility and communication, is absolutely essential in a leader taking on an initiative to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS in their nation. The organization of their department, division or ministry must be such that it puts only two or three strategic objectives at the forefront of all efforts. Yet the organization cannot be so rigid as not to be able to respond to the needs of those it serves. Organizational expertise is also critical for a leader of this initiative so they can accurately gauge the level of resources needed for accomplishing one strategic objective relative to another. Finally, organizational skills are what make the combination of communication and credibility capable of delivering on their promises. In terms of the three leadership strategies, these need to be first, the principle of personal vision, second the principle of interpersonal leadership, and third, the principle of creative cooperation. Beginning with the principle of personal vision, the best leaders are the most passionate people you will ever meet. Personal vision is critical for the leader of this initiative to provide a strong sense of direction in the efforts to stop and eradicate HIV/AIDS from their nation. Second, the principle of interpersonal leadership is also critical, as this strategy will make the passionate leaders' personal vision easily shared with and believed in by others. Third, the principle of creative cooperation is also essential, in that the leader must be able to bring together many different, quite dissimilar teams to accomplish the strategic objectives of stopping the spread of AIDS/HIV in their nation. Taken together, the personal vision provides the passion and the two other strategies make it possible to share the vision passionately with other key members of the initiatives' team and network.

Question 2 Response Exploring the differences and interrelationships between monitoring and evaluation as surveillance strategies center first on a specific scope or area of activity which could be example the processes physicians use in treating emergency room visitors with cuts and bruises, broken bones or victims of auto accidents. Monitoring as a strategy of surveillance in the instance of an emergency room and the many incoming patient conditions it treats would lead to a distribution of patient visits by type of injury, what their treatment was, what their record of treatment in the emergency room was, if they were a native of the country or a visitor from another nation, and the extent of follow-on treatment programs. The use of monitoring can be very effective surveillance strategy to ascertain if their existing hospital facilities can treat the type of accidents and conditions that incoming emergency rooms are getting. For example a monitoring surveillance strategy could tell a nation that they need more heart specialists and possibly an entire medical clinic dedicated to heart disease to treat both their aging population and the emergencies more elderly visitors to their nation experience. Conversely an evaluation strategy of surveillance would look at the processes in use throughout the emergency room and see which are performing well, which aren't and what can be done to make the processes physicians and nurses use to treat patients more efficient. The underlying difference then of an evaluation versus a monitoring strategy is the focus on improvement to a specific goal or objective. Evaluation strategies of surveillance focus on progress to a specific goal or objective first, while monitoring strategies seek often to quantify the behavior of any process, procedure or approach to treatment from a healthcare perspective. Question 3 Response In the nation you serve there is a serious problem with tens of thousands of children not receiving the necessary immunizations for Hepatitis A and B, Diphtheria, Tetanus, accellular Pertussis (DTaP), Influenza type B, Measles, chickenpox vaccine and Pneumococcal conjugate vaccines on the correct schedules, if at all during the first three years of their lives. This is leading to chickenpox epidemics in the rural parts of the nation, spreading to adolescents and adults. Simply put, an entire generation of your nation is at risk of having major health problems if these vaccines cannot be delivered, on schedule, to the literally thousands of children born every day. What is needed is a diverse cross-functional team that will handle the procurement, distribution, delivery, and immunizations to every child in the nation, regardless of economic status or location. The vision of the program is to have these vaccinations available through local clinics on a daily basis to treat the children and keep them healthy. As the leader of this massive effort, the three attributes you realize you must show is a strong sense of personal vision and ability to lead such a diverse effort. This strategy must be communicated with much passion, as members of your organization are going to be called upon to make personal sacrifices to the benefit of the nations children. In fact the strategy of a personal vision, passionately communicated, will be the impetus that brings those government agencies initially not directly affected by the problem to your team. Take for example the Department of Transportation. Only through your compelling vision of every child immunized will it happen. The second strategy is one of interdependence, and appealing to the fact that all government agencies are first citizens of the nation, and that the children need their assistance which can only be delivered through a concerted effort to eradicate the childhood diseases through the delivery of vaccines and the construction of clinics, if necessary, in rural and often impoverished areas to ensure the children have the necessary medical treatment to stay healthy. Interdependence as a second strategy also would also be very effective in giving each division or ministry which is part of this national effort a sense of ownership in the results. This is a critical aspect of leadership, and especially critical when creating, managing, and guiding a large cross-functional team. Each member, to the individual level, must see how their contributions are making a difference. This concept of ownership of the objective is what must be accomplished in the context of the interdependence leadership strategy. Finally and most significantly, the strategy of creative cooperation must also be present, as you as the leader of this initiative must show the win/win in every governmental division or ministry choosing your specific objectives and efforts amongst the many they are requested to participate in every day. This concept of creative cooperation is also critical from the standpoint of giving every person involved a sense of accomplishment in eradicating disease from the nations' children by focusing on their role in developing, delivering, and vaccinating the nation's children. Through the strategies of personal vision, which would underscore the importance of protecting the next generation of your nations' children from disease, the strategy of interdependence showing how each division or ministry contributes to the common goal and finally with the strategy of creative cooperation where there is an abundance of win/win, the strategic objective of delivering vaccines in clinics across the nation on a daily basis could be achieved.