Health Care Leadership Article
It is well known that in order to have an organization reach its optimum height of success, a proper leader is necessary. This leader must be able to create an environment in which not only the organization can succeed, but the employees and team within the organization can also thrive. For this to be possible, a leader must adapt certain qualities and perfect their methods of leading by adapting certain exercises and understanding what it actually means to be a leader.
What is a leader?
A leader is defined as "a person who influences a group of people towards the achievement of a goal". (Wong, A. 2007, paragraph 1) To me, a leader is someone who has the ability to encourage those around them to be their best selves and reach their full potential. A good leader has all the qualities that make people want to listen to them and trust them. A good leader has the communication skills that creates transparency. They radiate authority without explicitly claiming themselves as the leader. I believe that if a person has all of those qualities and qualities that correlate with having good communication, being transparent, encouraging, charismatic, strong personality, adapt to change, and overcome any obstacles, they are a leader. An authentic leader not only has all of these traits, but an authentic leader has also perfected them.
Personal Experience with Leadership
In my personal experience with leadership, I have found that no matter what type of environment you are in, all skills can be applied universally. I have worked both in the health care environment as well as in a customer service environment and have found that the skills I have perfected throughout the time in customer service as a leader, would be applied the same way in the health care environment with very minor tweaking. It is just important to have a solid foundation in certain skills and those skills can easily be applied in any type of environment.
Effective Exercise for Developing Leadership Skills
An exercise that I have found to be effective in my leadership pursuit to be an effective and authentic leader is practicing to listen closely to peoples perspectives. Being able to hear the point of view of others who confide in you without any judgement is not easy but it is an essential quality to have as a leader. Reserving any judgements without hearing the other side’s perspective is crucial and this is something I try to practice every day in the work environment. The way I implement this exercise is whenever someone comes to talk to me, instead of brushing them off and telling them what needs to be done, I listen to whatever issue they may be having and hear them out. After that, I go on to let them know that I do understand where they are coming from and explain why something must be done a certain way. This creates communication and trust, which is very important.
Conclusion
In conclusion, understanding what exactly is required to be a good leader is important because there is always room for improvement. Adapting new skills and perfecting old ones is necessary for growth as a leader and important to be an authentic one. Knowing is one thing but doing is another. Not only do we need to understand what changes and skills are necessary but, we need to implement them in our everyday routine of being a leader. I do believe that everyone has the potential to be an authentic leader when the proper techniques are adapted. This requires knowledge and implementation.
Reference
Hart, L. B., Hart, L. B., & Waisman, C. S. (2005). The leadership training activity book: 50 exercises for building effective leaders. Amacom Books.
Wong, A. (2007, July). Definition of a Leader. Leader. Definition of a Leader
It is well known that in order to have an organization reach its optimum height of success, a proper leader is necessary. This leader must be able to create an environment in which not only the organization can succeed, but the employees and team within the organization can also thrive. For this to be possible, a leader must adapt certain qualities and perfect their methods of leading by adapting certain exercises and understanding what it actually means to be a leader.
What is a leader?
A leader is defined as "a person who influences a group of people towards the achievement of a goal". (Wong, A. 2007, paragraph 1) To me, a leader is someone who has the ability to encourage those around them to be their best selves and reach their full potential. A good leader has all the qualities that make people want to listen to them and trust them. A good leader has the communication skills that creates transparency. They radiate authority without explicitly claiming themselves as the leader. I believe that if a person has all of those qualities and qualities that correlate with having good communication, being transparent, encouraging, charismatic, strong personality, adapt to change, and overcome any obstacles, they are a leader. An authentic leader not only has all of these traits, but an authentic leader has also perfected them.
Personal Experience with Leadership
In my personal experience with leadership, I have found that no matter what type of environment you are in, all skills can be applied universally. I have worked both in the health care environment as well as in a customer service environment and have found that the skills I have perfected throughout the time in customer service as a leader, would be applied the same way in the health care environment with very minor tweaking. It is just important to have a solid foundation in certain skills and those skills can easily be applied in any type of environment.
Effective Exercise for Developing Leadership Skills
An exercise that I have found to be effective in my leadership pursuit to be an effective and authentic leader is practicing to listen closely to peoples perspectives. Being able to hear the point of view of others who confide in you without any judgement is not easy but it is an essential quality to have as a leader. Reserving any judgements without hearing the other side’s perspective is crucial and this is something I try to practice every day in the work environment. The way I implement this exercise is whenever someone comes to talk to me, instead of brushing them off and telling them what needs to be done, I listen to whatever issue they may be having and hear them out. After that, I go on to let them know that I do understand where they are coming from and explain why something must be done a certain way. This creates communication and trust, which is very important.
Conclusion
In conclusion, understanding what exactly is required to be a good leader is important because there is always room for improvement. Adapting new skills and perfecting old ones is necessary for growth as a leader and important to be an authentic one. Knowing is one thing but doing is another. Not only do we need to understand what changes and skills are necessary but, we need to implement them in our everyday routine of being a leader. I do believe that everyone has the potential to be an authentic leader when the proper techniques are adapted. This requires knowledge and implementation.
Reference
Hart, L. B., Hart, L. B., & Waisman, C. S. (2005). The leadership training activity book: 50 exercises for building effective leaders. Amacom Books.
Wong, A. (2007, July). Definition of a Leader. Leader. Definition of a Leader