Health Care Leadership

Submitted by Beverly Rivera

Tags: Authentic leadership health care professionals leadership leadership in nursing leadership skills

Leadership

Leadership is the innate ability to guide, direct, and foster a multitude of people toward improvement or a shared goal. In leadership, a person must have a vision of a common goal to share with others to be fruitful by effort, dedication, and commitment. Other elements of leadership include being a motivator, service of the team, having emotional intelligence o empathy, or creativity and thoroughness. An active leader can create an environment that fosters members of the group to develop their skills and imagination, so that they can succeed at the tasks and vision for the organization.

My personal experience about health care leadership

A personal experience that informed my thoughts about health care leadership was when I had the task of running an entire night shift by myself. As the medication technician on duty at nights, I am the supervisor for the shift. When I learned that my co-worker would not be in attendance one night, and Resident Services Director could not find an employee to take the shift, I had to lead that night. I am usually calm in times of pressure, so I came up with a strategy of how I would accomplish all the tasks for the night by myself. In the end, I made sure the residents had their medication, assisted those who were not independent, and finishing the duties listed on the task sheet. With this experience, I was able to put my knowledge of multitasking to use while achieving the results that was necessary to excel on that shift.

Traits of an authentic leader

The qualities of a genuine leader involve many aspects of a person’s ability to accomplish what they set out to do. A genuine leader will possess integrity, commitment, a sense of purpose, and exemplify core values. An article in Forbes magazine by Bill George (2015) describes authentic leaders as “People of the highest integrity, committed to building enduring organizations, who have a deep sense of purpose and are true to their core values who have the courage to build their companies” (George, 2015). As George (2015) states, an authentic leader will display qualities, such as awareness of their purpose, practicing strong principles, leading with soul, integrating positive relationships, and demonstrating self-will. In essence, authentic leadership requires character, self-awareness, and having the ability to motivate, coach, inspire and empower others to lead.

Developing skills or habits of an authentic leader

A useful exercise in developing the skills or practices of an authentic leader involves engaging in activities with employees in the workplace. For example, I had an emergency one night, and I could not go to work. My supervisor, the Resident Services Director (RSD) of the personal care home could not find an employee to cover my shift. As the RSD, she would have to work the shift since there was no one else to do it. In my opinion, this shows leadership, willingness to learn, taking charge, and leading by example. The RSD had to adopt a style that was met with an unexpected situation; therefore, making decisions that were beneficial to the organization. An individual must be genuine, trustworthy, and know that achieving success will involve continuous growth (Garrett, 2018).

Benefits of becoming an authentic health care leader

As George (2015) states, “Becoming authentic is a developmental state that enables leader’s to progress through multiple roles, as they learn and grow from their experiences”. The exercise and real-life event mentioned above shows that when leaders foster quality relationships, the result is rewarding with higher job satisfaction, which produces positive productivity and performances. Health care leaders educate their team members, participate and encourage teamwork in the workplace, which is beneficial towards becoming an authentic leader.

Conclusion

As a healthcare leader, developing, implementing, and managing programs are essential to the delivery of effective leadership. However, benefits of becoming an authentic leader require respect, trust, and a person that fosters teamwork to assist in a cohesive working environment to deliver exceptional services. Therefore, when an individual knows who they are, the qualities that they possess, and can demonstrate it they can thrive and grow successfully professionally and personally.

References

Garrett, H. (2018). Authentic leadership in nursing. RN Journal, Journal of Nursing. Retrieved from http://rn-journal.com/journal-of-nursing/authentic-leadership-in-nursing
George, B. (2015, November10th). The true qualities of authentic leaders. Forbes magazine. Retrieved from forbes.com/sites/hbsworkingknowledge/2015/11/10/the-true-qualities-of-authentic-leaders/#559726eaf74d