Before starting this course, I wasn’t very interested in the
content honestly. I thought it was going to be the same old information about
leadership and how to be powerful and successful. Thankfully, I was pleasantly
surprised and learned a lot while taking this course. To me, before this
course, a leader was supposed to be strong and powerful and never took no for
an answer. The leader was often time headstrong and “bullied” their way into
getting what they wanted or knew was right. I never imagined leaders should be
vulnerable and always looking forward to new changes. While taking this course,
I learned that both of those attributes are not only prevalent, but desired in a strong leader.
I believe the shift away from the Industrial Age has been a
positive shift. Porter-O’Grady and Malloch describe the Industrial Age’s
leadership as being “a good manager, guiding one’s subordinates like a good
parent, and directing their activities in the interests of the organization”
(2015, p. 3). They go on to explain that leaders in the Industrial Age had
critical skills that were necessary for proper planning, organization, leading,
implementation, controlling and evaluation. I do believe that a good leader
must still be able to use those skills on a daily basis. However, the role of
the leader has evolved into so much more
than just those skills and I think that it is important to remember that. This
course has made me realize that being a good leader doesn’t just mean that you
are the boss, but a colleague and mentor as well. This course has also made me
realize how to spot a poor leader and a good leader. At work I find myself
thinking back to course content when I am speaking with a charge nurse or to
someone else in another leadership type role. Often times it is easier to spot
out the poor leaders than the great leaders due to the degree of their competence.
A poor leader will often times show their distaste for a particular change and
spew off negativities because of it. A good leader is humble and often times
quieter in order to listen to all sides of the story before coming to a
conclusion and decision on how to guide the direction of change and how to
engage their staff in the mentioned change.
Before taking this course I very much struggled with the
idea of conflict. Porter-O’Grady and Malloch state “Conflict should never be
avoided or suppressed. Instead, it should be embraced as a fundamental part of
every human interaction” (2015, p. 204). After reading the required readings
and watching the videos about conflict, I have come to understand what
Porter-O’Grady and Malloch mean when they say that. It is true that conflict is
a factor in every single human interaction. We cannot run from it or hope it
will go away. As a leader, it is important to embrace conflict and resolve it
in some sort of way before it escalates. Heathfield’s article states several
actions to avoid when dealing with conflict resolution. These three actions
include not avoiding conflict in the hopes that it will go away, not meeting
separately with the people involved in the conflict, and not believing that
only the people central to the conflict are the only ones being affected by it
(2016). These actions hold a lot of truth, especially when in the leadership
position. From my own personal experiences, I have found that meeting with
people separately who are in the conflict does more harm than good. Words are
taken out of context, things are misunderstood, and the conflict grows because
of it. People will start to talk behind each other’s backs in a “he said, she
said” fashion. Therefore, it is much more appropriate to gather everyone
involved in the conflict and air everything out in the open. Also, due to
personal experiences, I have felt the negative aftermath of conflict that has
not been resolved by people who I work with. I may not be in the midst of the
conflict, but it most certainly has an effect on those who aren’t in it. Like
Heathfield says, people will start to feel like they are walking on eggshells
around those who are in the conflict and that in turn creates a hostile
environment for everyone (2016). Because of this course I hope to become even
more comfortable with conflict and face my problems head on, rather than hoping
my grievances will disappear without any action taken.
Quantum theory is an interesting concept that I think will
have a very big positive impact on future leaders, like me. Porter-O’Grady and
Malloch explain “Quantum theory has taught us that change is not a thing or an
event but rather a dynamic that is constitutive of the universe” (2015, p. 7).
They go on to say “Change cannot be avoided because it is everywhere, but we
can influence its circumstances and consequences” (p. 7). Another way to look
at this is by realizing that we can give change a direction. Following this
idea of thinking, we can then mold how a quantum leader should act. An article
by Curtin states three fundamental requirements of a quantum leader. These
three fundamental requirements are:
·
“Acting with moral purpose to make a positive
difference in the lives of organizational members and society as a whole.
·
Building relationships that nurture both
individuals and organizations.
·
Making truly informed decisions by acquiring
knowledge through listening to and empowering members.” (2013).
I believe that my charge nurse is a prime example of someone
who embodies all of these specific qualities. She always acts with the patients’
best interests in mind. Not only that, but she always tries to act with her
staff members’ best interests in mind as well. Her decisions always involve
talking to her staff to get their ideas and perspectives of how to make a
situation better. For example, we are starting to discharge our postoperative
patients a lot sooner than a year before. Often times we are discharging our
total joint replacement patients a day after their surgery. Recently our upper management
has decided that all postoperative patients should be given the opportunity to
shower the night of surgery before they go home the next day. This is in
addition to the other patients who want to shower who are staying in the
hospital for 2+ days. So in short, when our unit is full (we have fifteen
beds), the night shift staff would have to offer showers to all fifteen
patients regardless of when the patient is discharging. There was a lot of
conflict because of this new decision due to time and staffing constraints, and
worries about safety. My charge nurse talked to all of us about this new change
and made us all feel empowered enough to voice our opinions regardless of
whether we all agreed with each other or not. She listened to all the concerns
and complaints and took our concerns to the nurse manager. Because of her
listening, she was able to understand why it would be extremely difficult to
shower all of the patients on the same night. In the end she decided not to go
with the new change, but to direct the change in a different direction which
would work for everyone a lot better. I hope to direct my leadership skills in
a direction like my charge nurse’s. Meaning that I hope I am never afraid to
bring new ideas to the table, but to be open and vulnerable enough to listen to
all of the team member’s opinions and then make an informed decision that will
guide the team in the appropriate direction, rather than causing more conflict
than necessary.
When I first heard the term “servant leadership”, I
instantly thought “I don’t want to be a servant.” However, after delving deeper
into the meaning I found that the qualities of a servant leader are quite similar
to quantum leaders in certain ways. A servant leader has the desire to serve.
That does not necessarily mean to be someone’s servant, but having the desire
to help others (Keith, 2017). Keith explains that there are other qualities of being
a servant leader. These include listening and understanding, acceptance and
empathy, foresight, awareness and perception, persuasion, conceptualization,
self-healing, and rebuilding community (2017). To me, these qualities are
somewhat similar to being a quantum leader in the sense that both types of
leaders are there to serve a purpose of being there for the community or
organization in a positive manner, and being an empathetic, vulnerable leader
who listens to their team member’s concerns and joys. This is the type of
leader I strive to be. I want my staff or coworkers to feel like I am not only
working for myself, but also for them. I want people to feel that I am trying
to engage others in the pursuit of creating a better organization or community
as a whole. I feel that this course has lead me in the right direction by way
of self-realization and reflection to not only make positive changes in myself,
but also by making positive changes in the community around me. Even when I am
faced with a particularly challenging change of events, I hope to dig deep and retrieve
some of the aforementioned qualities to give the change a positive direction.
Emotional competency is an interesting subject that I also
did not know anything about prior to taking this course. Porter-O’Grady and
Malloch explain “For healthcare leaders, emotional competence involves the
interpretation and translation of personal feelings into the processes of the
workplace” (2015, p. 396). They also give a list of characteristics that make
up emotional competence including self-awareness, mindfulness, openness,
impulse control, personal humility, appreciation of ambiguity and paradox,
appreciation of knowledge, willpower, compassion, passionate optimism and
resilience (p. 396). To me, the individual who is emotionally competent has
full control over their emotions and is always willing to learn. Said
individual is not a “know it all”, but is self-aware of their accomplishments
and strengths. The road to emotional competence is started by being emotionally
intelligent, which enables the person to learn the skills of becoming
emotionally competent (2015, p. 405). I believe that being emotionally
intelligent and competent is a requirement of being a fair, strong leader. I do
not think that the journey to becoming emotionally competent is an easy one,
but I do think that leaders who realize the importance of it are much better
leaders in the end. Not only should leaders strive toward being emotionally
competent, but I think that all human beings who are hoping to better
themselves should work towards this goal. I know I still have a long way to go
before being emotionally competent, but I also know it does not happen
overnight. As a future leader I now have a better understanding of the
importance of being emotionally competent and why it makes someone a stronger
leader, so I am willing to make changes to myself in order to work towards that
goal.
Over all I very much enjoyed the content of this course. I
feel like I have a strong foundation in leadership skills now and have a good
understanding of what it takes to be an exceptional leader in the healthcare
field. As I stated earlier, I feel that the movement from the idea of what a
leader was in the Industrial Age to the idea of what a leader is today, has
been a positive change. Leaders are now seen as someone who can also make
mistakes and errors, but who are able to move on from those errors and work to
prevent the same mistakes from happening in the future. Not only that, leaders
are allowed to be more honest, humble and vulnerable, which is not to be viewed
as a fault, but in fact a success. It gives me comfort knowing that in the
future when I take on more of a leadership role, that the ideas of leaders have
changed for the better.
References:
Curtin, L. (2013). Quantum leadership: Upside down. Retrieved from https://www.americannursetoday.com/quantum-leadership-upside-down/
Heathfield, S. (2016). Workplace conflict resolution. Retrieved from https://www.thebalance.com/workplace-conflict-resolution-1918675
Keith, K. (2017). Definition of servant leadership. Retrieved from http://toservefirst.com/definition-of-servant-leadership.html
Porter-O'Grady, T., & Malloch, K. (2015). Quantum leadership (4th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
