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My journey into leadership has been vast Leadership has not always been an easy road for me, but has provided me with several challenges. One of my first experiences was in high school and has continued through out my nursing career. My first experience in leadership was my being elected to represent the French club In my high school-SST Plus In the South Bronx. I remember being so nervous not knowing how to lead or communicate effectively with my fellow students. I felt I knew French, but not as proficient as my native tongue of Spanish. New I could persevere f I organized special events and outings to encourage my fellow students to love this language and culture of France as much as did. This to me was my first experience in leadership and it helped me in college where I was pushed to participate in the National Hispanic Society for Nursing and develop ideas on cultural discrepancy, language barriers and discrimination In the Latin community within NYU. I felt challenged, but I knew by providing an outline of my personal experience as a Latin woman growing up in Spanish Harlem, that had many thoughts and ideas on the
Latino experience and their obstacles. Outlined my ideas and presented them to my colleagues as well as people of other ethnic groups, My contributions to the NASH allowed other ethnic groups to have a better understanding of the Latino culture and the barriers we have to overcome. This also helped me overcome challenges and differences by expressing myself among different personalities, ethnicities, and cultures. This experience stayed with me as I entered my nursing career. Wealth my first year as a staff nurse at NYU Hospital, I was given the opportunity to mentor any new hires.
My proven abilities in such a short time allowed my manager to encourage me to use my talents and leadership skills in becoming a team leader to my co-workers, within my shift, in the Nero-Surgical ICC. She felt my ability to learn quickly, communicate well with others and to adapt to new surroundings was a great addition to enhance the team and become a compassionate leader. I had to lead a mix of new hires and seasoned nurses. I was nervous at first, but everyone was there to help guide me with situations that may have been overwhelming and a stressful.
One tot the team members with the most experience came over to help guide me in order to keep the flow, coordination with other departments and communicating with the supporting staff. Every time I found myself with hesitation or doubt, I had a team member ready to step in with guidance and encouragement. I felt empowered when the shift was covered with no problems. We all worked together as a team and everyone participated. As my confidence increased and my overall knowledge Increased I introduced new concepts that I thought would help everyone.
The culture f the Institution was to encourage and empower you to excel. There was a ladder system that encouraged the individual to excel. You were encouraged to think and step outside “the box”. Was excited to work with this team and needed to perform at the level that they expected from me as part of the team, We all worked together to accomplish our goals. I enjoyed working with people who were knowledgeable and had different points of view. They were open to your views and if there were ‘ Off looked at the failure as an encouragement to find a better solution toward a positive ay with no Judgment.
Each member valued all points that were made and we learn from each other. To strengthen my leadership ability would be to be more verbal and persuasive with different personalities who may be argumentative and confrontational . I felt at times I played a passive role when confronted by these personalities. I do not verbalize my true thoughts and opinions in order to keep the peace. This does not mean that at time it may be right. I have become stronger through out my nursing career, because I have had to confront issues and become an advocate for patients and coworkers, I have become stronger in communicate my ideas.
As a nurse I learned communication is a valuable skill which allows you to accomplish goals and manage crises in difficult situations. I use communication to achieve a better outcome. Using a teamwork approach is the best method for managing staff. This method has worked in my career. I could be a better leader by choosing a role and having others go into other roles of collaboration to guide and lead. My strongest leadership competencies is my ability to communicate well with there, adapt to new surroundings, be an active team member and be a compassionate leader.
My spiritual gift is to accept others no matter what their cultures or beliefs are with compassion and understanding. There are many different competencies within the field of leadership. Leadership is the ability to define a vision and guide individuals and groups toward that vision while maintaining group- promoting teamwork, commitment, and effectiveness. Teamwork embraces the productive aspects of group cohesion and it focuses on the leader’s ability to ensure hat team member relationships are collaborative and productive. Bernstein) My Leadership Development plan has strengthen my ability to confront difficult personalities. By attending courses to improve my skill in communication and negotiation I can enhance the team work environment. In seeking the perspective of other when they differ from mine will help me develop my leadership plan. When there is a disagreeing point of view I will focus on bring the team together to work toward a common interest. I will organizes team meeting in order for the to staff monomaniac there point of view of agreement.
I will achieve this goal in 12 month from today, with subjective surveys and comments from my coworker. A standard survey will be given to colleagues every 2 month to measure my effectiveness as a leader until my goal is meet. ‘ will find resources with my manager, on the Job assignment on better managing and conflict resolution. I will seek out staff conflict and find resolution. All this will help in pursuing my degree in Management Organizational Leadership. My vision is to move forward in obtaining more knowledge in leadership Journey.