Personal leadership strengths and weaknesses in healthcare management

Leadership self-assessment
Analysis of my leadership strengths and weaknesses
I think that leadership is mainly the ability to inspire colleagues and employee and motivate them towards the realization of given goals/objectives and to provide adequate guidance to satisfactory and successfully motivate any incidences and situations. This thought inclines to two main types of leadership; transformational and contingency types of leadership.
I am an articulate person and ordinarily, I have a clear vision of what needs to be done to realize a given goal or purpose. in the context of a team, I have the skills on how to rally each person towards the target goal and how to realize the target goal. Ordinarily, I am confident and optimistic that, with the right skills, the set goals can be realized within the realistic set time. I also believe that, with the right people/professional, any set objective is attainable. I believe that when working in a team, I have to roll up my sleeves and get dirty, not just give instructions, but also participate (Stanley, 2016). In addition, I believe that I have to be ready to take charge and address each and every situation that affects the realization of a set goal. Before starting on a new project, I seek advice from experienced professionals on issues that I might not fully comprehend. In a team, I keep a closer look at persons handling the critical parts of a project and provide the relevant support whenever needed. However, I find myself taking too much time in planning for tasks. At times, I am carried away by emotion and may overlook the existing state of affairs. In case of a crisis, I may at the time be more directional with systematic and decisive manner (Stanley, 2016).
The above analysis is obviously biased because it is about my opinions and done by me, thus it is mainly inclined towards the positives and probably some of the negatives might be thought to be positives, mainly if they have served to my benefit previously.
Leadership in healthcare
Given the strengths of transformational leadership, I believe I am adequately skilled to lead in the complex field of healthcare and to manage change. One of the skills that I possess that will be useful in the field is the ability to inspire and rally colleges and employee towards the realization of an established goal (Lo, McKimm, & Till, 2018). For example, I have previously worked in inpatient healthcare that worked towards reducing patient falls. With seven nurses working under my supervision, I was able to motivate them to undertake nurse-rounds with increased frequency and my team had the best results. To achieve this, I worked with the team, not as their supervisor, but as their colleague. In addition, before the start of the program, as a team, we undertook brainstorming sessions on how to mitigate falls given the causes of falls in the hospital.
To promote the management of change in healthcare, sustained engagement of staff all through and the development and optimization of processes across all involved areas within the facility. One of the important skills of leadership within healthcare is the ability to make all the involved areas e.g. nursing, physicians, accounting, and security to work in synch (Lo, McKimm, & Till, 2018). In the above example, to reduce inpatient falls, it was important for the various department to work together e.g. nurses and IT department to ensure that nurses have and understand bedside signals. It is the role of the leader to ensure that there is synch between the various stakeholders and secondly, that processes are developed and optimized to accommodate the required change.
To become more effective in leadership in the healthcare field, based on my previous experience, there is a need for me to develop on decisions making, and to be more aware of the opinions and concerns of other staff members and third parties. in some cases, especially under stressful conditions, I have relied on emotion and passion to make decisions, and overlooking the truth and reality of affairs (Stanley, 2016). In addition, under the drive of the target goals and the vision, I have at times overlooked the rights of team members e.g. the need for rest.
Leadership in building collaborative relationships
One of the leadership characteristics that will be of great help in building collaborative relationships is horizontal leadership. transformational leadership breaks down silos and walls and builds functional networks on the basis of communication and trust (Valero, Jung, & Andrew, 2015). in my work in an inpatient ward, I was able to work with nurses despite being their supervisors, working with the security agents, and IT personnel closely and with open communication, hence establishing long term and sustainable networks. In addition, transformational and contingency leadership involves constructive conflict and sharing of relevant information openly, both horizontally and vertically (Stanley, 2016; Valero, Jung, & Andrew, 2015). In the healthcare field, the open sharing of information is normally perceived as advice and it has a positive effect in building long term collaborative networks, especially when it is given as a corrective measure, rather than reprimanding and punishing junior staff.
To improve on building collaborative relationships, using balanced motivation and contextual intelligence strategies will come in handy. Transformational leadership seeks to create value through the use of inspiration to influence social change and create value for those involved (Ansell, 2016; Mandell & Keast, 2009). In addition, both transformational and contingency leadership styles have a wealth of contextual intelligence which is vital especially in the healthcare field e.g. in the context of culture, decision-making, and language, this type of leadership facilitates teams to improve on agility. Using these two strategies I’ll be able to improve on collaborative network building.
Two leadership characteristics that I will need to develop on for development in collaborative skills are the creation of psychological safety and the promotion of diversity. In the current healthcare workforce, diversity in a common feature and due to the various challenges and barriers in the workforce, it is important to embrace diversity more and to help create psychological safety respectively (Ansell, 2016; Valero, Jung, & Andrew, 2015). To create psychological safety, as a leader, I will need to have increased confidence in my skills, competencies, professional qualifications, and experience thus far. On the other hand, I will need to work in more diverse healthcare center for example, with LGBT patients, members of the indigenous communities, and different cultures e.g. Asian Americans, Latin American, and African-Americans.
Application of ethical leadership principles
In the profession of practitioner-scholar in public health, the main ethical issues include; adherence to the set guidelines of practice on a day to day basis, maintenance of integrity and observance of a strong character in team management and leadership, ensuring that members of my team adhere to the principles of non-maleficence, beneficence, and practice in autonomy (World Health Organization (WHO), 2017). The principle of beneficence is geared towards ensuring that the beneficiary of practice is the patient as per the code of ethics in the public health profession (Fowler, 2008). Non-maleficence is meant to ensure that in practicing their art, public health officials do not harm the patients and autonomy grants a patient the right to self-determination, thus as a practitioner, I will have to accept it if a patient refuses to accept treatment. It will be my job as a leader to inform and guide the staff towards following these principles. For example, in my practice, I ensure that on our weekly team meeting, I remind the staff to update themselves with the code of ethics and adhere to it in their practice, and this has been successful.
To help improve outcomes on ethical practice, I will lead my team in applying ethical principles in day to day work. By taking a lead role, I will set a good example for others to follow. To ensure that each member of staff understands the various ethical principles to be followed, ethical policies will be written in clear and concise language that is understandable to all and made available in a public area. In addition, the various members of staff will be trained on the various ethical policies and monitoring measures put in place to ensure that they are implemented fully (Fowler, 2008).
The area where I would like to grow with regard to ethical practice is the maintenance of integrity and observance of a strong character in team management and leadership. T do this, I will cultivate a culture of servant leadership within my team (World Health Organization (WHO), 2017). Through servant leadership, I will cultivate a culture where ethical practice is an integral part of health care delivery.
Importance of diversity and inclusion
Diversity and inclusion within the healthcare field help to improve effectiveness in patient care. Diversity among hospital staff implies a distribution of power, other than a humanistic approach, and the various members of the society are comfortable seeking healthcare services in a facility with a diverse staff (Simms, 2013). Diversity and inclusion are a crucial element in combating healthcare disparity in the society. Through transformational and contingency leadership style, I will be able to provide education, training, and programming and scheduling to ensure that all the members of the healthcare staff are culturally intelligent to effectively address diversity concerns among patients. For example, in working in an inpatient ward, I was able to train beginner nurses on the need for family and the home, for indigenous patients during the end of life care. Even though end-of-life care is a matter taught in colleges, some aspects of it can not only be learned through experience. for this reason, I make sure that members of my team understand the need for language, e.g. common local greeting, the Dos and Don’ts when dealing with the various patients, especially members of indigenous and other minority/special groups. Teaching such qualities like empathy and adaptability are also a vital feature in ensuring diversity is accommodated in healthcare.
To be an effective leader in a diverse workplace, I will need to improve on my adaptability, empathy, and compassion. Compassion and empathy are important in understanding members of the various groups, both cultural and professional (Simms, 2013). In addition, I will introduce programs that target to integrate the various members of the diverse background within the healthcare center, at all levels, with a particular focus on the professional and management positions. To familiarize members with others, cross-cultural activities will be introduced and held frequently. In case of staff grievances and conflicts, empathy and active listening will be used, and open discussion arranged with the aim of talking about any discriminatory behavior, and solve the conflicts that arise between staff members.
Research skills and critical thinking
To be an effective leader and make the best decisions, there is a need to embrace research. Through continued research, a leader is up-to-date with the latest information available and thus, able to make informed decisions and policies. In this field, the skills and experiences of a practitioner-scholar are highly relevant. Research in the decision-making process is indispensable, as it feeds directly on decision-making. Research is of conceptual use as it changes the practitioner’s understanding by providing him/her with new and better ways of thinking. Research provides a decision maker with mobilizational support as it works as an effective tool of persuasion. Moreover, research has a wider influence on a team, especially in a leader-team scenario, as research findings in decision-making come in through collaborative relationships, through researchers – generally acknowledged and accepted in the field, and through these, they are an effective tool in changing policy paradigms and belief communities (Straus, Tetroe, & Graham, 2011).
With the knowledge available through research, critical thinking is vital in filtering all this information, and more importantly, applying it to the prevailing situation. As a leader, decision making is not done in a vacuum or in abstract, but it is done to address real issues affecting real people. For this reason, it is important that a reader is able to understand the information/data available, and the influences/biases and assumption available, and effectively navigate through these to make a decision that is not only relevant, but also meets the various standards of reasons e.g. clarity, logic, significance, fairness, and accuracy (Straus, Tetroe, & Graham, 2011; Stanley, 2016).
Therefore, research skills and critical thinking make information available for a leader and enable the application of this information to address the specific issues with a team or organization. Moreover, ethical research and critical thinking guide bring about effectiveness in healthcare service delivery through effective decision making and adherence to integrity. The evidence-based approach in decision making brings about integrity as it improves leadership qualities in line with professional ethics.

Bibliography
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