- BHA FPX 4102 Assessment 1 Personal Leadership Reflection
Personal Leadership Reflection
Leadership is a process of social influence that maximizes the efforts of others, working towards achieving a goal (Kruse, 2013). To become a successful leader, one must look internally to identify areas of strength and weakness. Strong leaders motivate and help others achieve their and an organization’s goals. A leader is not necessarily someone with a title or pay grade. Leadership happens among people, not done to people (Draft, 2018A).
Leadership Strategies
The American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) offers a competency assessment tool for healthcare leaders to understand better their strengths and weaknesses in critical areas of healthcare management. The competencies are categorized into five domains: Communication and Relationship Management, Leadership, Professionalism, Knowledge of the Healthcare Environment, and Business Skills and Knowledge (ACHE, 2021).
Communication and Relationship Management: A Key Domain in Healthcare Leadership
The first domain, Communication and Relationship Management is arguably the most important of the five domains. ACHE (2021) defines this domain as the ability to communicate concisely and clearly with customers internally and externally to establish relationships and facilitate constructive interactions with individuals and groups. The subcategories of this domain are relationship management, communication skills and facilitation and negotiation (ACHE, 2021).
Teamwork and communication go hand in hand. The lack of teamwork can result in poor communication within the teams that cater to the patient’s needs. Teamwork works to provide a higher level of care without medical error and, therefore, ensures the safety of the patients (Pidgeon, 2017). Communication issues are considered the leading cause of medical errors in the healthcare industry (Haynes & Strickler, 2014). Communication strategies are also used to develop and enhance relationships within the organization. Collaborative communication strengthens management by encouraging conversation between stakeholders, sharing experience and knowledge and reducing complexity within healthcare organizations (Al-Sawai, 2013).
I have developed strong communication skills in my current position as an intake coordinator for a home health agency. Ensuring all documentation needed to complete the referral to the community liaisons is vital in getting patients admitted promptly to receive the care they need. Public relations is the competency that I need to strengthen as I am not currently in a position where I directly impact the agency’s image to the public, so I do not have much experience in doing so.
Leadership: Inspiring Excellence and Managing Change in Healthcare
The second domain included in the assessment tool is Leadership. ACHE (2021) describes Leadership as the ability to inspire excellence individually and organizationally, creating a shared vision and successfully managing change to achieve successful performance.
This domain includes leadership skills and behaviour, organization climate and culture, communicating vision, and managing change. Leadership aids the organization to run smoothly and successfully. Leadership has been described as an individual’s behaviour when managing the activities of a group toward a shared goal and vision (Al-Sawai, 2013). Leadership encourages teamwork, supports diversity, and mentors those with high-potential talent. Leadership is the most influential component in shaping the culture of an organization. (West, et al., 2015).
BHA FPX 4102 Assessment 1 Personal Leadership Reflection
Leaders must embrace diversity and be inclusive to ensure individual and organizational success (Begun et al., 2018). The leader must know every aspect of their team to know the potential impacts and consequences of decision-making. Healthcare is a constantly changing environment, and leaders must be able to promote and manage the change. My leadership skills and behaviour are above average, as I was recently inducted into the National Society of Leadership and Success (NSLS) last year. During my induction process, I had the opportunity to self-reflect on my leadership skill set. I am aware that I need to work on managing change. Change often scares me, and I may not always be optimistic about upcoming changes.
Professionalism: Upholding Ethical Standards in Healthcare Leadership
The third domain is Professionalism. ACHE (2021) defines Professionalism as the ability to align organizational and personal conduct with ethical and professional standards that consist of responsibility to the patient and community, a service orientation, and commitment to improvement and lifelong learning. The subcategories of this domain include personal and professional accountability, professional development and lifelong learning, and contributions to the community and profession (ACHE, 2021). The primary reason Professionalism is so important is to promote patient safety (Warnock, 2008).
Professionalism requires accountability and encourages ethical behaviour. The principles of Professionalism are vital to establishing leadership goals for individuals and the organization. In addition, leaders must have techniques to manage time and stress. Time management is necessary to ensure adequate time (Pidgeon, 2017). My strength regarding Professionalism is acting ethically. I deeply understand the expectations and consequences of unethical actions, personally and professionally. I identified the need to improve my stress management techniques. I let my stress level get the best of me.
Knowledge of the Healthcare Environment: Navigating Systems for Effective Leadership
Knowledge of the Healthcare Environment is the fourth domain in the competencies assessment tool. ACHE (2021) defines this as understanding the healthcare system and the environment in which managers and providers function. The subcategories for this domain include healthcare systems and organizations, healthcare personnel, the patient’s perspective and the community and the environment.
Understanding the healthcare system is vital for leaders, as they must know how the system flows to keep the organization running smoothly. This includes, but is not limited to, understanding the terminology, continuum of care levels, the correlation of quality, access, and cost, and physicians’ and other nonclinical professionals’ roles in the healthcare system (ACHE, 2021).
Understanding the alignment of continuity of care across many parts of the organization ensures high-quality care (West et al., 2015). Practitioners, policymakers, and governmental agencies increasingly agree that health and social care services must all be effectively integrated into the needs of the patients and communities (West et al., 2015).
In addition, leaders must deeply understand healthcare trends and compliance laws and regulations to ensure the organization remains compliant and relevant. My identified strength in this domain is understanding the continuum of care levels. As the intake coordinator, I follow patients from doctor’s offices into hospitals and transfer them into skilled nursing facilities, rehabs, etc. I identify my weakness in compliance laws as I have not had to apply knowledge of this competency directly to real-world experiences.
Business Skills and Knowledge: The Intersection of Healthcare and Management
The last domain listed by ACHE is Business Skills and Knowledge. ACHE (2021) defines this as the ability to apply business principles, such as systems thinking, to the healthcare environment. This domain includes general management, financial management, human resource management, organizational dynamics and governance, strategic planning and marketing, information management, risk management, quality improvement, and patient safety (ACHE, 2021).
These skills comprise all the management aspects leaders must process to ensure a successful organization. This domain focuses on the business side of the healthcare organization. For example, ensuring leaders know about business plan development, demonstrating critical thinking, evidence-based practice, and management functions are all vital competencies in Leadership. Leaders must engage external stakeholders to develop the relationships needed for the organization to perform high-quality care while functioning efficiently (West et al., 2015).
BHA FPX 4102 Assessment 1 Personal Leadership Reflection
Evidence-based approaches should be used to produce a return on investments. This domain also lists competencies in decision-making, problem-solving and policy-making. Problem-solving requires leaders to provide employees the freedom to develop creative solutions (Pidgeon, 2017). The business side of healthcare still involves consideration of what is best for the patient. My strengths in this competency consist of problem-solving and identifying solutions. My weakness is in financial management. I have not had much experience in managing financial planning or financial statements. I need to increase my knowledge and experience in the financial management aspects of healthcare.
Leadership Qualities
Pioneers have expressed qualities that set them apart from people who are not pioneers. Sensible Leadership requires generally making heads or tails of interpersonal endpoints, power, personal uprightness, drive for commitment and drive (Draft, 2018B).
In like manner, pioneers should have sureness. Certified goals are the single brand name that is the most standard among top bosses (Draft, 2018B). For instance, pioneers should see giant entryways where others could see issues. Pioneers should have a rising perspective and work to impact others to see the vision with quality to spread out a positive workspace.
Personal Development Plan
Seeing qualities and shortcomings and getting out the openings requiring further planning will guarantee a strategy for overseeing extended-length achievement and sensibility in Leadership (Bedgood, 2019). Having many targets and courses of events to appear at those objectives will assist with making the degree of progress that clinical thought experts try to reach. Next is a short outline of my goals for BHA FPX 4102 Assessment 1 to accomplish in the coming year.
References
Al-Sawai, A. (2013). Leadership of healthcare professionals: Where do we stand? Oman Medical Journal, 28(4), 285–287. https://doi.org/10.5001/amj.2013.79
American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE). (2021). 2021 competencies assessment tool. Capella University. Retrieved from https://www.capella.edu
Bedgood, C. (2019). The transformational healthcare leader of tomorrow: A leadership paradigm shift requires new approaches and strategies to meet industry challenges. ISE: Industrial and Systems Engineering at Work, 51(2), 28–31, 33.
Begun, J. W., Butler, P. W., & Stefl, M. E. (2018). Competencies to what end? Affirming the purpose of healthcare management. The Journal of Health Administration Education, 35(2), 133–155.
Daft, R. L. (2018a). What does it mean to be a leader? In The leadership experience (7th ed., pp. 2–30). Cengage Learning.
Haynes, J., & Strickler, J. (2014). TeamSTEPPS makes strides for better communication. Nursing2014, 44(1), 62–36. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.NURSE.0000438725.66087.89
Kruse, K. (2013, April 9). What is Leadership? Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/kevinkruse/2013/04/09/what-is-leadership
Pidgeon, K. (2017). The keys for success: Leadership core competencies. Journal of Trauma Nursing, 24(6), 338–341.
Warnock, G. L. (2008). Reflecting on principles of Professionalism. Canadian Journal of Surgery, 15(2), 84–87.
West, M., Armit, K., Loewenthal, L., Eckert, R., West, T., & Lee, A. (2015). Leadership and leadership development in healthcare: The evidence base. Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management. https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/sites/default/files/field/field_publication_file/leadership-leadership-development-health-care-feb-2015.pdf