Leadership Homework
Length: 5-7 pages.
The health care environment is complex, requiring leadership that is comprehensive and collaborative in the field. It is essential for leaders to be well-versed in a range of areas (practice, research, education) as a means of effective engagement with interprofessional communities. Effective leaders have heightened awareness of self and individual leadership styles, leading to professional growth, career advancement, and the ability to develop leaders for the future across the fields of practice (nursing, health administration, public health).
This Homework provides an opportunity to analyze your own leadership qualities to create a portrait of the effective health care professional and leader you aspire to be.
By successfully completing this Homework, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and Homework criteria:
1) Competency I: Explain the concepts, principles, and characteristics of effective health care leadership.
a. Analyze one's leadership strengths and weaknesses, in reference to one or more leadership theories or styles found in the literature.
b. Explain how one's specific leadership characteristics enable oneself to guide, educate, inform, and influence others in managing change.
2) Competency II: Explain the role of health care leaders in facilitating interprofessional collaboration.
a. Explain how one's specific leadership characteristics help oneself build and maintain interprofessional collaborative relationships.
3) Competency III: Analyze standards of professional ethics and the principles of diversity and inclusion as applied by health care leaders in real-world situations.
a. Explain how one can best apply the principles of ethical leadership, given one's leadership style.
b. Explain why diversity and inclusion are important to employee relations and the provision of safe, high-quality health care.
c. Explain how one's specific leadership characteristics prepare oneself to develop and lead a diverse team of employees and serve a diverse community, within an ethical framework.
4) Competency IV: Determine the influence of the practitioner-scholar role on professional practice and leadership development.
a. Explain how research skills and critical thinking guide effective decision making and foster integrity in research and professional practice.
5) Competency V: Communicate effectively with diverse audiences, in an appropriate form and style, consistent with applicable organizational, professional, and scholarly standards.
a. Write coherently to support a central idea, using correct grammar, mechanics, and APA formatting.
Instructions
You have been offered the opportunity to apply for a leadership position in your organization. As a part of the application process, your potential employer uses the National Center for Healthcare Leadership (NCHL) competency model of leadership development (NCHL, 2016), which includes a 360-degree evaluation. The evaluation is an Homework that includes anonymous, confidential feedback from those around you, such as your peers, supervisor, direct reports, and stakeholders, as well as a self-Homework on behavior (relational), technical and operational skills, and strategic ability. As a part of this 360-degree evaluation, you will complete the self-Homework component. This information will be shared with the interview committee for the position, so it is important that you demonstrate your knowledge and experience in each of the areas outlined in the self-Homework requirements below.
Note: Remember, you can submit all or a portion of your draft to Smarthinking for feedback before you submit the final version of your work for this Homework. However, be mindful of the turnaround time for receiving feedback if you plan on using this free service.
Reference
National Center for Healthcare Leadership. (2016). NCHL organizational Homeworks.
Self-Homework Content
1) Analyze your leadership strengths and weaknesses.
a. Identify at least one leadership theory or style that you believe best aligns with your own thoughts of what leadership means.
b. Use that theory or style in your analysis. Cite your sources.
c. Consider potential biases or underlying assumptions in your analysis.
2) Explain how specific leadership characteristics you already possess will enable you to guide, educate, inform, and influence others to manage change in the field of health care.
a. Consider examples of past successes.
b. Consider strategies or best practices that could be applied to improve outcomes.
c. Describe at least two additional leadership characteristics you would like to develop to enhance your effectiveness in this area.
3) Explain how your leadership characteristics will serve to help you build and maintain collaborative relationships across, and within, disciplines.
a. Consider examples of past successes.
b. Consider strategies or best practices that could be applied to improve outcomes.
c. Describe at least two additional leadership characteristics you would like to develop to enhance your effectiveness in this area.
4) Explain how you can best apply the principles of ethical leadership, given your leadership style.
a. Identify the main principles of ethical leadership within your field of practice (nursing, health administration, or public health). Cite your sources.
b. Consider examples of past successes.
c. Consider strategies or best practices that could be applied to improve outcomes.
d. Where do you have room to grow in this area?
e. How can you prepare yourself to do so?
5) Explain why diversity and inclusion are important to employee relations and the provision of safe, high-quality health care.
a. Provide an example you have experienced or read about. Cite your sources.
6) Explain how your leadership characteristics prepare you to develop and lead a diverse team of employees and serve a diverse community within an ethical framework.
a. In what ways can you address issues of diversity and inclusion, both within an organization and in serving the public?
7) Explain how research skills and critical thinking guide effective decision making and foster integrity in research and professional practice.
Context
Leadership represents both what we do and who we are. Its crucial role within health care organizations is appropriately described by Manning and Curtis (2012) in The Art of Leadership, where they state, "Leadership is an important and difficult task, but the cornerstone of organizational success" (p. 11). Its challenges seem to be increasingly manifested in the public sector, where views of leadership performance are more accessible than at any other time in history, given continual advancements in communications technologies, such as the Internet and multiple smart devices. Subsequently, there is less tolerance for leadership failure, and skepticism is on the rise, making a strong case for leader awareness and continued leadership development.
As a health care professional and leader, it is important to have an understanding of the universal leadership characteristics and behaviors that produce the most desirable outcomes. Of even greater significance is the leader's need to know his or her own personal leadership style and corresponding implications on decision making.
References
Manning, G., & Curtis, K. (2012). The art of leadership (4th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Questions to Consider
As you prepare to complete this Homework, you may want to think about other related issues to deepen your understanding or broaden your viewpoint. You are encouraged to consider the questions below and discuss them with a fellow learner, a work associate, an interested friend, or a member of your professional community. Note that these questions are for your own development and exploration and do not need to be completed or submitted as part of your Homework.
1) What measure do you use to evaluate your leadership skills?
2) How would your coworkers and friends describe your leadership qualities?
3) What activities do you engage in, and what professional associations do you belong to, that can promote your continued professional development?
Format your homework according to the give formatting requirements:
• The answer must be using Times New Roman font (size 12), double spaced, typed, with one-inch margins on all sides.
• The response also includes a cover page containing the student's name, the title of the homework, the course title, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
• Also include a reference page. The references and Citations should follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.