leadership in health professions education |
Demonstrate leadership in health professions education through innovation, mentorship, and reflective practice
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Great leadership in any career field requires frequent introspection from the leader in order to identify and address our own strengths and weaknesses for improvement. It also requires the leader to be innovative when proposing solutions to new problems that arise, and to mentor their followers through project completion and team changes. In my Leadership in Health Professions Education course, we recently learned about the difference between multipliers and diminishes as leaders. Multipliers trust their team members, keep the lines of communication open and do not make decisions in a bubble. They are mentors that are able to stretch a follower almost to their limit, without letting them break, in order to see them grow into their role. I am incredibly lucky to have had a few fantastic multipliers as mentors during my medical education and I now try to model their behaviors with my own team members as I take on more leadership roles. The first artifact I have chosen for this is a project I recently completed, which is my leadership plan for implementing an ergonomics curriculum at UNMC. Using an innovative approach and emulating a multiplier when addressing my team members, I outline a 5 phase plan for how to take this curriculum from inception to implementation across multiple peri-operative specialties and care teams on campus. My second artifact addresss the final portion of this goal: reflective practice. This artifact is a discussion board post from the Leadership course examining our own leadership style, including strengths and weaknesses as both a follower and a leader. Using some of the exercises provided in the text, I was able to better understand myself as both, and identify areas where I can improve both my skill and confidence in the future.
artifact 1: Leadership Plan: Implementing Ergonomic education
Link to full video: https://univnebrmedcntr-my.sharepoint.com/:v:/g/personal/kelsey_tieken_unmc_edu/Eaw-bQbZVeJNi2Dp-ngYIbsBPlhP5BADbjtlvX4gzHtrZQ?e=zFQ0Cn
artifact 2: discussion board post on reflective leadership
Overall, I was not incredibly surprised by most of the results of the assessments we took this week. I scored exactly an 80 on exercise 3.1, however I will admit that I found it difficult to assess my own skills in this area truly objectively. The categories where I scored myself the lowest were those relating to ability and confidence in my leadership capabilities, which makes sense given the fact that I have had few opportunities for true, direct leadership in my career so far. I think in order to improve on this score, I need to jump in and gain experience, not only by acting as a leader but by gaining further knowledge and expertise in the content areas where I wish to lead. I scored in the 3.1-4.0 range for the interpersonal trust scale, which I think is fairly accurate. I find that, as a follower, I tend to generally trust my leader until/if they prove otherwise and in a leadership role, I am generally equally trusting of my followers to do their part. My Indicators of Intelligence assessment found my highest categories to be visual-spatial and interpersonal, with my lowest in the musical rhythmic category. I love design, and can easily visualize different objects, colors, and actions in spaces. Not surprisingly, this category described visual-spatial intelligence in careers such as surgery, sculpting and painting; while I don't intend to pursue a second career in fine arts, I do love hobbies that require fine motor and design skills and working with my hands, such as painting, drawing, and crocheting. I am definitely an introvert, but recently in annual reviews with my department I have been told one of the strengths others recognize in me is an ability to relate to and connect with my team members in a variety of settings. I was reminded this week by the TedTalk by Susan Cain that being introverted doesn't mean I can't or don't want to connect with others, just that I also value personal space and introspection.
Ultimately the additional research or knowledge I need to gain to become the best leader I can be comes down to added experience and being willing to put in the extra time to become an expert in my content areas. Specifically for my project, I have some expertise in the area of ergonomics from previous projects but will need to do more reading and connecting with other leaders in the field to learn as much as I possible can. Thankfully, already through these discussions, I have been given contacts of other content experts at UNMC to help bring the project together, so I am getting started on the right track!
Ref:
Manning, George. The Art of Leadership, McGraw-Hill US Higher Ed USE, 2021. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/unmc/detail.action?docID=6463787 Links to an external site..
TED. (2012, March 2). The Power of Introverts [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0KYU2j0TM4
Ultimately the additional research or knowledge I need to gain to become the best leader I can be comes down to added experience and being willing to put in the extra time to become an expert in my content areas. Specifically for my project, I have some expertise in the area of ergonomics from previous projects but will need to do more reading and connecting with other leaders in the field to learn as much as I possible can. Thankfully, already through these discussions, I have been given contacts of other content experts at UNMC to help bring the project together, so I am getting started on the right track!
Ref:
Manning, George. The Art of Leadership, McGraw-Hill US Higher Ed USE, 2021. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/unmc/detail.action?docID=6463787 Links to an external site..
TED. (2012, March 2). The Power of Introverts [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0KYU2j0TM4
