W3 Analysis of Leadership Traits and Strengths

Post 2 by Lauren Greene Analysis of Leadership Traits and Strengths

My current position is my first time in a leader position apart from being a supervisor at Subway in High School, which looking back I suppose I always possessed leadership qualities. Upon taking the position, I was fully aware that working closely with the current medical director may be difficult. Being employed as a staff nurse initially I was able to learn many of her ways and characteristics. I view her as a visionary. She was very innovative, owning a vaccine company in addition to the free clinic here in Providence she also has one in Mali. These accomplishments show how persistent, focused and optimistic. These are all qualities of a visionary leader. One quality in which she lacked according to some staff and brief interactions that I had with her was the ability to listen to others. Approximately one to two weeks after taking the position, I was asked to organize and open a pop-up vaccination site to open in about the same time frame in one of the hardest hit zip codes in the state. I attempted on numerous occasions to vocalize that I wanted at least a weeks’ time to train staff on procedures, policies, and the computer program that the state was utilizing and refusing to send a link to until our application was approved, and a site visit was completed. She was so anxious to get vaccines in arms that she was not listening to her associate medical director who was telling her that time should be taking to properly train staff. To make a long story short, the vaccine site opened and although we had no incidents regarding patients, there were many little fires to be extinguished daily and staff was burnt out after a few weeks and was still expected to work the main clinic. Emotional Intelligence (EI) can be defined as the ability to perceive and express emotions, to use emotions to facilitate thinking, to understand and reason with emotions, and to manage emotions effectively within oneself and in relationships with others (Northouse, 2017). Had my superior listened to me and the concerns of the staff, the vaccine site would have opened with staff that was fully trained and felt secure in themselves and their work. Also, trainings would have allowed for a more efficient workflow which could have decreased employee burnout.

There are numerous ways to increase EI. Managing your negative emotions is one of the ways to increase your EI. When you can manage and reduce your negative emotions, you are less likely to get overwhelmed (Stahl, 2018). This quality allows you to look a situation from different point of views and can often change your perspectives on certain situations. Practicing empathy is another way that one can increase their EI. This can be done by focusing on other individuals’ feelings and emotions. This topic of EI was one that I haven’t heard of prior to starting this weeks readings and assignments. The greatest way to increase EI in leadership is trainings. Greater attention is needed to be establishing and standardizing the measurement of EI in health care providers (Mintz, 2014). the most successful emerging models will effectively address the shift from a culture of physicians as lone healers to a culture of collaboration and interaction.2 Effective leadership in health care will be needed to execute this shift, and many observers have suggested that emotional intelligence (EI) is a critical health care leadership competency (Lobas, 2006).

References

Northouse, P. (2020). Introduction to Leadership Concepts and Practice (4th ed). SAGE Publications, Inc. https://doi-org.regiscollege.idm.oclc.org/10.1002/nml.21468

Stahl, A. (2018, May 30). 5 Ways To Develop Your Emotional Intelligence. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/ashleystahl/2018/05/29/5-ways-to-develop-your-emotional-intelligence/?sh=781be4656976

Mintz, L. J., & Stoller, J. K. (2014). A systematic review of physician leadership and emotional intelligence. Journal of graduate medical education, 6(1), 21–31. https://doi.org/10.4300/JGME-D-13-00012.1

Lobas JG. Leadership in academic medicine: capabilities and conditions for organizational success. Am J Med. 2006;119(7):617–621. doi:10.1016/j.amjmed.2006.04.005