Question
Leadership and Group Collaboration
Leadership and Group
Collaboration Scenario
Use the following scenario as a
basis to complete the assignment.
Imagine that you were hired for
the job that you applied for at Western Medical Enterprises and you have a few
months under your belt. One day your boss stops by your office and says the following:
Hi, I just have a couple of minutes.
Please forgive me for stopping in without advance notice. We got the results of
a recent employee survey at one of our remote clinics – Lakeland. The survey
indicates we have some issues to address. The data show 75 percent of the
employees have concerns about at least one of the following: diversity issues,
workplace incivility, and poor work-life balance.
Senior leadership has asked me
how I plan to respond, and my first inclination is to put you in charge of
assembling a team to address one of the issues. You have demonstrated effective
organizational and communication on other projects and I think you will be a
great asset as we move forward.
I have to run right now, but I’ll
send you an e-mail with more information before I leave today.
See you later!
Subsequent E-mail
Thanks for carving out a few
minutes for me this morning. I just want you to know that this is really a great
opportunity for you. I know you have been interested in taking steps to
becoming a leader in this organization, and now it’s time to realize your
potential.
As you know, we opened the
Lakeland Medical Branch Clinic to serve area residents who were unable or unwilling
to use the services offered at the main hospital. The first two months of
operation saw strong patient volume. Since then, the numbers have dropped off
dramatically. This prompted leadership to start asking some questions, which
led to the internal survey that I mentioned yesterday.
I just met with leadership and
they determined that the priority right now is the diversity issue because we have
the opportunity to improve outcomes for both employees and the community.
This is part of an e-mail I got
from the clinic director last week:
“. . . after careful examination
of all aspects of the organization and talking with some neighborhood leaders,
we have concluded that residents in the community do not feel comfortable
coming to the clinic. It seems the staff are lacking the ability to develop a trusting
relationship with the residents, primarily because they do not understand the
cultural values and norms. The neighborhood residents, which you know are
predominantly Haitian, often feel their beliefs, values, and health practices
are not understood.
When staff members were hired,
we only considered their past work experiences, education, and potential. We may
have failed to fully consider their ability to work with diverse populations.”
This information is intended to give you a better understanding of the issues to be addressed. Things need to move quickly. I want you to assemble a committee to clearly define the problem and ultimately provide guidance on solutions. Before introducing you to the clinic director and executive team, I want to review your approach specific to leadership and collaboration. I would like three things from you in a written document (Use the Leadership and Group Collaboration Template).
First, identify and analyze a
leader you would choose to lead a project like this and explain why. It can be
anyone who is qualified. Considering someone you know personally may give you greater
insight and depth of knowledge. Consider how they inspire a shared vision,
challenge the process, enable others to act, encourage the heart, and face
challenges and opportunities.
Secondly, select one of the
characteristics or traits that make them successful and compare it to yourself.
Your choice will tell me a lot about your leadership approach and priorities.
Describe your role and style in leading the group. How will you lead and
communicate? Will you be an authoritative, collaborative, democratic, servant,
or transformational type of leader? Analyze the strengths and weaknesses of
your approach in the context of this project.
My third and final request is
related to your leadership and fostering of teamwork and collaboration among a
group of interdisciplinary professionals. We are looking for 4–6 members to
serve on a committee who will be considering the diversity issue and ultimately
making a recommendation on how to address it. I want you to describe how you would
facilitate collaboration to maximize team effectiveness. You might consider:
Communication technologies.
Practices (accountability, decision
making, delegating). Techniques for sharing information and ideas.
Share other ideas you might
have.
Remember this information will
be shared with the clinic director so keep it clear, focused, and professional.
Creativity is important; however, we want to be sure that your ideas and approaches
align with current healthcare organization trends and practices, so include
references from current academic or professional resources to support you points.
I have confidence in you! Lynnette
Expert Solution
Selected Leader and Analysis
The Human Resource department manager would be a great
asset in this project, helping identify interventions to increase workplace
diversity and their actualization. Firstly, the HR manager has an influential
position in the office to train and inspire the staff, which translates to how
clients are treated within this medical organization. Additionally, the manager
acts as an intermediary between the branch’s top leadership and the employees
and can determine the skills necessary before staff employment in the future. The
Haitian culture represents a blend of both European and African roots. The HR
manager has been proficient in understanding these roots since the foundation
of the branch. The desire to understand by listening keenly to the women, men,
and children streaming in has enabled the manager, in my observation, to create
the need for diversity within those that lead in the HR department. The manager
has great insight into the organization's mission and vision. While diversity
was not a key organizational driver, it can continually inspire the workforce
to achieve organizational goals while treating Haitian patients with optimal
consideration of their culture. In addition, the manager has great
communication skills and is a patient trainer, as evident when there are new
employees, and can lead the workforce to understand the importance of diversity
and how to enhance it while extending patience when they fall short. This, in
addition to the manager's proven qualities of problem-solving and conflict
resolution among staff, will improve the diversity management process and
result in higher patient turn-up. Thus, the HR manager's skills and qualities
would be a great addition to identifying and actualizing diversity management
in the branch.
Leadership Comparison
The HR manager has a great vision understanding, which I
would emulate in addition to collaborative leadership as I lead this project.
One of the organizational goals is to provide quality services to customers
while maintaining environmental sustainability and ethical considerations. The
HR manager continually communicates this with the workforce, asks for feedback
or questions the team may have to clarify, and ensures everyone is at par with
current organizational goals. This quality has influenced how the workforce
responds to tasks assigned to them by the HR department and their commitment to
execution, which I would desire to achieve in my team. I hope to be a
collaborative leader in this project's execution. Through collaborative
leadership, I can ensure that all members of the team are engaged in
decision-making. Additionally, brainstorming during meetings and zoom calls
will be encouraged to enable the generation of ideas on how to improve
workplace diversity. For instance, where collaborative leadership was employed
in the past, the allocated project team identified different leadership styles
that could improve the performance of millennial workers. Through collaborative
leadership, emotional and practical intelligence can be applied (Farhan, 2021).
Emotional intelligence is important when the workforce needs to develop
relational connections with their leaders, influencing their output in the
workplace (Farhan, 2021). Through practical intelligence, a leader can identify
people's varying levels of decisiveness, assertiveness, and proficiency in
problem-solving, determining their strengths in application to the process
(Farhan, 2021). Though my strength is collaborative leadership, I struggle with
exerting authority over those I lead. These shortcomings may include calling
out leaders who don't meet timelines, communicating effectively, and delivering
quality work. Collaborative leadership enables leaders to train their workforce
patiently, which may improve their weaknesses in the process. I hope this
strength will overshadow the shortcomings in my leadership. Therefore, by
applying the qualities of visual acuity and collaborative leadership, I hope to
lead my team effectively.
Collaboration and Motivation
Using technological applications, various modes of communication and role delegation will improve the team's function in this project. Leading a team of 4-6 people will require the ability to listen attentively to each team member's inputs and choose the best reasonable option among all that have been tabled. Since the workforce already has allocated duties in the office, employing technological applications for communication such as Zoom calls, Google Meet, and Kenet web conference will be important for the interconnection of the team members, regardless of their location, during the timelines allocated for the project. Additionally, different communication skills will be employed depending on each team member's preferences and the practicality of this project. For instance, written and oral communication will be employed for people who express themselves better through writing or orally passing messages. Written communication enhances precision and clarity (Prabavathi & Nagasubramani, 2018). Through written reports, team members can adequately prepare and give chronological presentations to leaders and fellow team members. Through verbal communication, however, clarity is achieved since team members can seek clarity for areas they did not understand in written reports or oral presentations (Prabavathi & Nagasubramani, 2018). Therefore, the exchange of ideas is optimally achieved using the two main modes of communication. Before meetings, team members will be required to submit reports to other team meets of research, as I would advise them. Through these reports and physical meetings' findings, I will compile a general team report to be presented to the top leadership for accountability and reporting of our progress. As discussed in the previous section, different team members will engage with the leadership and other workforce members and report to this project's team through collaborative leadership. Therefore, team execution of this project will be possible through technological advancements in communication, various communication methods, and role delegation.
References
Farhan, B. Y. (2021). Customizing leadership practices for
the millennial workforce: A conceptual framework. Cogent Social Sciences, 7(1),
1930865. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311886.2021.1930865.
Prabavathi, R., & Nagasubramani, P. C. (2018). Effective oral and written communication. Journal of Applied and Advanced Research, 3(1), 29-32. https://dx.doi.org/10.21839/jaar.2018.v3S1.164
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