Personal Leadership Reflection
Leadership qualities are necessary to enhance performance within the healthcare setting. Identifying strengths and weaknesses related to leadership helps leaders identify the area of improvement and make adjustments. Leadership skills facilitate making sound decisions in the clinical environment and improve patient satisfaction and care standards. The American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) provides an assessment instrument to analyze five domains of leadership along with strengths and weaknesses. The research uncovers the five domains of ACHE, the positive and negative aspects, and leadership qualities. The assessment also analyzes the personal leadership skillset and initiates a one-year personal development plan to enhance leadership abilities.
Part 1: Leadership Self-Reflection
Five Domains of ACHE
The ACHE has developed an assessment tool to measure a leader’s competency in five leadership domains. The five domains of ACHE highlight the significance of knowledge and which healthcare leaders require to excel in the field. These domains provide a comprehensive framework for healthcare leaders to develop and use the skills required to perform the job successfully.
Communication and relationship management is the first of the five domains which evaluate a leader’s capability to communicate effectively with stakeholders. Communication helps develop strong relationships and timely conflict management (American College of Healthcare Executives, 2021). The strengths include active listening, empathy, and trust development among the team. However, the weaknesses include a lack of collaboration to form a shared goal or vision.
The second domain of ACHE is leadership. It facilitates assessing a leader’s ability to make effective decisions and execute strategic plans. Leaders can analyze information and make timely decisions adhering to the organization’s mission (American College of Healthcare Executives, 2021). The ACHE identified strengths are the competence in making sound decisions and the utilization of critical thinking to follow through with the required adjustments. In contrast, the recognized weakness is less experienced in strategic planning in an organization which may lead to numerous obstacles in achieving the goal.
Professionalism, the third domain, helps the leader manage the team effectively while commanding professional behavior to achieve the set goals on time. In addition, fostering a culture of accountability and making a cohesive team encourages the team members to participate in delivering high-quality care with enthusiasm (American College of Healthcare Executives, 2021). Strengths in professionalism are setting clear goals and instilling a culture of accountability. However, the weaknesses are a lack of vision and mismanagement of the team.
Knowledge of the healthcare environment is the fourth domain that helps the leader to comprehend the healthcare industry. Leaders must know healthcare policies, evidence-based practices, and patient-oriented care to enhance the organization’s performance (American College of Healthcare Executives, 2021). Information and expertise to integrate the technology and policies to enhance the organization’s performance are strengths. The knowledge gap and less familiarity with the healthcare industry reduce the likelihood of positive outcomes and are considered weaknesses.
The fifth domain is business skills and knowledge, which involves leader competence in applying the organization’s resources effectively. Leaders must have the expertise to manage financial and material resources and reduce risk and financial loss. Nurturing a culture of improvement by alleviating risk and utilizing resources facilitates achieving the desired goals (American College of Healthcare Executives, 2021). The key strengths are possessing financial management and resource allocation capabilities, and commitment to accountability. In contrast, poor financial management and lack of transparency in utilizing resources are considered weaknesses in this domain.
Strategies to Develop Leadership Skills
Strategies are necessary to develop strength and cope with the weaknesses of the leadership domain identified by the ACHE tool. The five domains have positive and negative aspects, so strategies help enhance leadership qualities. Practicing active listening techniques help enhance team collaboration and develop a relationship with the stakeholder in the communication and relationship management domain (Jonsdottir & Kristinsson, 2020). Transparent communication also enhances the trust between the team members, which is vital to achieving the goal.
According to the identified strengths and weaknesses of the second domain of ACHE, participating in a different leadership program and adopting a change management approach helps cultivate a culture of professionalism. The Lewin Change Model or Six Sigma can be used to pursue organizational change and achieve the targeted goals accordingly (Harrison et al., 2021). The strategy for enhancing the professionalism domain is an integration of continuing professional development programs. The programs help in improving communication skills and enhancing a culture of reflective practice. Simulation-based learning will enhance the leader’s understanding of the different processes in the organization (Labrague, 2021).
Integrating diversity in the healthcare environment is the strategy used to develop the qualities of knowledge in the healthcare domain. Diversity facilitates providing care to all people without discrimination and eases the communication process between patients and healthcare professionals during the healthcare processes (Gomez & Bernet, 2019). Additionally, participating in healthcare industry conferences provides opportunities to collaborate with other healthcare executives and learn about healthcare policies and new trends.
It is pivotal in the last domain, business skills and knowledge, to have operational skills and experience. Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA), another organizational change model, helps leaders in planning and utilizing resources carefully (McNicholas et al., 2019). Furthermore, learning financial management skills enhances business knowledge for leaders in the healthcare industry.
Incorporating the above-mentioned strategies facilitates healthcare leaders to perform their job more effectively. The strategies facilitate the development of leadership skills and help integrate healthcare best practices. Participating in continuing educational leadership development programs provides great insight into the leadership role helping healthcare leaders stay committed to their work and thereby enhance the organization’s performance.
Qualities Needed by Leader
Leadership is multifaceted and requires a diverse range of abilities to optimize the team and organization’s performance. The key qualities in a leader include commitment, clear vision, honesty, critical thinking, and effective communication. Effective leaders can make timely decisions and communicate with the team for collaborative decision-making, securing team buy-in (Logan‐Athmer, 2022). Communicating constructively is a quality of successful leaders as it helps empower staff members to practice teamwork; teamwork facilitates achieving leadership goals. Communication helps set a clear understanding and encourages team feedback (Hicks, 2020). Other important leadership attributes are the capability for empathy, strategic thinking, and long-term planning. Empathy plays an essential part in a leader’s understanding of stakeholders’ hindrances and assists the leader in formulating a resolution (Logan‐Athmer, 2022).
Leaders must be adaptable to changing their decisions according to circumstances. They must have the expertise to frame their decision and plan for positive results. It is essential their plans and strategies be open to new ideas (Fagerdal et al., 2022). Team building is another crucial skill that effective leaders must possess. Leaders must build trust and respect among team members to enhance the team’s performance. In addition, team building helps in achieving the target goal efficiently.
Analyzing Leadership Qualities
Clear vision, empathy, strategic planning, critical thinking, and clear communication are leadership qualities that foster a healthy work environment. Leadership qualities I have developed include strategic thinking, effective communication skills, and clear vision. A leader must possess these qualities to achieve desired objectives, clear communication and vision are decisive factors in achieving set goals.
To become an outstanding leader, other skills must be developed such as team building, empathy, and adaptability to make effective decisions in need of time. Developing these specific leadership qualities allows me to upgrade my leadership skills and practice all the key attributes of a leader. Empathy is a learned human sentiment and I incorporate my knowledge of this emotion by consistently applying empathetic behavior towards others. Additionally, I integrate various ways of team collaboration that aid my relationship with stakeholders (Papadopoulos et al., 2021). It helps in fostering a culture of collaborative work to produce positive outcomes. I possess strong communication skills, which are not enough to empower the team for a shared vision. To address this, I will integrate accountability and rewarding achievements to create a supportive work environment (Manzoor et al., 2021).
Part 2: Personal Development Plan
Goal |
Steps |
Measure |
Deadline |
---|---|---|---|
Developing Empathy |
Learn Dissimilar Behaviors |
Collaborate with Diverse People |
5-15-2023 |
Understand Individual Perspectives |
Acknowledge Different Views |
7-15-2023 |
|
Appreciate Diverse Thinking |
Learn Varied Behavior |
9-15-2023 |
|
Team Building |
Coordinate with the Team |
Help in Setting Goals |
5-20-2023 |
Actively Listen |
Provide Feedback |
7-20-2023 |
|
Assign Tasks |
Identify Time Management |
9-20-2023 |
|
Self-Reflection |
Acknowledge Failures |
Suggest on Failure |
5-10-2023 |
Monitor Progress |
Set New Goals |
9-10-2023 |
|
Motivate by Recognizing Achievements |
Keep a Record |
12-10-2023 |
Conclusion BHA FPX 4102 Assessment 1 Personal Leadership Reflection
Personal leadership reflection helps in comprehending the strengths and weaknesses of leadership qualities. Weakness helps the leader identify areas for improvement thereby focusing on where to enhance leadership skills. ACHE’s five domains provide comprehensive details about leadership. The analysis of personal leadership qualities supports my focus on leadership development to seize future opportunities.
References
American College of Healthcare Executives. (2021). ACHE healthcare executive 2021 competencies assessment tool. American College of Healthcare Executives . https://www.ache.org/-/media/ache/career-resource-center/cat_2021.pdf
Fagerdal, B., Lyng, H. B., Guise, V., Anderson, J. E., Thornam, P. L., & Wiig, S. (2022). Exploring the role of leaders in enabling adaptive capacity in hospital teams – A multiple case study. BMC Health Services Research , 22(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-022-08296-5
Gomez, L. E., & Bernet, P. (2019). Diversity improves performance and outcomes. Journal of the National Medical Association , 111(4), 383–392. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnma.2019.01.006
Harrison, R., Fischer, S., Walpola, R. L., Chauhan, A., Babalola, T., Mears, S., & Le-Dao, H. (2021). Where do models for change management, improvement and implementation meet? A systematic review of the applications of change management models in healthcare. Journal of Healthcare Leadership , Volume 13(13), 85–108. NCBI. https://doi.org/10.2147/JHL.S289176
Hicks, J. M. (2020). Leader communication styles and organizational health. The Health Care Manager , 39(4), 175–180. https://doi.org/10.1097/hcm.0000000000000305
Jonsdottir, I. J., & Kristinsson, K. (2020). Supervisors’ active-empathetic listening as an important antecedent of work engagement. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health , 17(21), 7976. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17217976
Labrague, L. J. (2021). Use of simulation in teaching nursing leadership and management course. Sultan Qaboos University Medical Journal [SQUMJ] , 21(3). https://doi.org/10.18295/squmj.4.2021.007
Logan‐Athmer, A. L. (2022). The necessary leadership skillsets for the high‐reliability organization framework adoption within acute healthcare organizations. Journal of Healthcare Risk Management , 42(1), 31–36. https://doi.org/10.1002/jhrm.21500
Manzoor, F., Wei, L., & Asif, M. (2021). Intrinsic rewards and employee’s performance with the mediating mechanism of employee’s motivation. Frontiers in Psychology , 12(12). NCBI. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.563070
McNicholas, C., Lennox, L., Woodcock, T., Bell, D., & Reed, J. E. (2019). Evolving quality improvement support strategies to improve Plan–Do–Study–Act cycle fidelity: A retrospective mixed-methods study. BMJ Quality & Safety , 28(5), 356–365. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjqs-2017-007605
Papadopoulos, I., Lazzarino, R., Koulouglioti, C., Aagard, M., Akman, Ö., Alpers, L.-M., Apostolara, P., Araneda-Bernal, J., Biglete-Pangilinan, S., Eldar-Regev, O., González-Gil, M. T., Kouta, C., Krepinska, R., Lesińska-Sawicka, M., Liskova, M., Lopez-Diaz, A. L., Malliarou, M., Martín-García, Á., Muñoz-Solinas, M., & Nagórska, M. (2021). The importance of being a compassionate leader: The views of nursing and midwifery managers from around the world. Journal of Transcultural Nursing , 32(6) . https://doi.org/10.1177/10436596211008214