BUS FPX 3012 Assessment 2: Leadership and Group Collaboration

Selected Leader Analyzation

A leader which should lead a project which will be addressing the diversity issue of Lakeland Medical Branch Clinic requires exceptional communication and adaptive skills, has an experience with handling diversity committees or an organization with members of diverse background, and has an experience in policymaking and project implementation. As a member of National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA), I believe our current EPYC Program Director possesses these qualities. She is a currently a law student and runs the esteemed youth leadership initiative Empowering Pilipino Youth through Collaboration (EPYC).  She has been a member of different organizations handling bi-racial and multi-racial US citizens/ Furthermore, she is the current head of our EPYC where she shows her excellent policymaking and project implementation skills as she headed several projects including our recently concluded leadership development day last month. She is also an expert in communicating with people as she was born in the Philippines, raised in Mexico and now studying in the United States. This is most specifically helpful in communicating with Haitian clients and patients since they are of Hispanic origin which she is most familiar with. Recently, she started an organization for the Filipino women in their youth who need support in their academics and emotional needs. I volunteered for this organization, and I have seen how passionate she is in helping these women who are going through difficulties. Her passion moved me to have the same concern and empathy to these people. By this, you would realize how effective of a leader she is. 

BUS FPX 3012 Assessment 2: Leadership and Group Collaboration

This passion is what I will bring in leading this diversity group. Effective communication calls for both passion and vision (Becker, 2021). Indeed, a leader that is passionate about his or her vision and goals make a real difference. There is a saying that states that, “People with great passion can make the impossible happen.” Indeed, in order to make a change in the clinic, I will bring this passion which inspires my team and the employees therein. I will be a leader who responds according to the need of the situation. First, I will be a collaborative leader. I would foster collaboration by having an open communication with the employees and residents in the community. This may be done through on-site assessments, surveys, and encouraging suggestions and feedbacks. Second, I will be a democratic leader. I will let the members of the team feel free and empowered in communicating possible actions and policies to reach our common goal. I will be conducting bi-weekly meetings to address concerns, evaluate progress, and plan resolutions. Third, I will be an authoritative leader. I can be an authoritative leader when situation calls for such as when implementing policies. For example, acts of discrimination must be implemented strictly against the employees which would be proven to have acted in that malevolent manner. Being authoritative will not hamper the open communication, in fact it would help in showing he community that the clinic is understanding and welcoming to their culture.

The approach to this project will constitute three steps. First, the evaluation of the community and the policies of the Lakeland Medical Branch Clinic. The strength lies on understanding the root cause of the problem. Indeed, health is a multifactorial concept where there must be a balancing interest between the patient’s beliefs and the clinic’s intervention. Indeed, there exist a conflict which must be addressed by thorough evaluation. The weakness may be the limited number of people who can analyze and create a plan. However, this may be addressed by having the right people with exceptional or at least highly satisfactory set of skills. 

Second, the implementation of the policies and programs to encourage patient’s trust and regain their confidence with the clinic. The strength of the implementation of the new policies depends upon how the employees will adapt to these as they were acclimatized with a routine. This would require maybe a drastic change which must be given due time. However, the challenge will be in terms of reception of the community. Trust is something hard to regain especially when it was broken. Hence, the programs must have a strategic approach to address the confidence of the community.

Third, the evaluation of the implemented project. The strength will be that this method will help further improve the projects and see if they have been helpful in reaching our goal which is to address the diversity issue in the community and the clinic. The weakness, however, lies in the response of the people since it would be difficult receiving evaluation due to the unpredicted number of response.

Collaboration and Motivation

Kouzes, J.M., & Posner, B.Z. (2017) explained that exemplary leaders make the commitment to foster collaboration by engaging in creating a climate of trust and facilitating relationships. These two may be achieved through five steps.

First, reaching out with the stakeholders to assess the situation. This may be done through creating a medical mission with the community to see firsthand what specific acts make he neighborhood uncomfortable in coming to the clinic. Aside from this actual assessment, there will be a system of surveying and interviewing with the people to better understand their beliefs and practices. Furthermore, we will be establishing a system of communciation with the leaders of the community and collaborate with them in assessment by using prior information which could help in the policymaking. This in itself will establish the climate of trust as we will be engaging with the people themselves and not just the information about them.

Second, an initial meeting with the employees of the clinic and subsequent bi-weekly meetings. This communciation technique has been proven to be 34 times more successful than e-mail and other forms of personal communications (Rampton, 2017). The initial meeting will discuss the problems and the possible proposals from the employees on how these may be addressed. The regular meetings, on the other hand, will focus on the progress in implementing the proposed programs and changes in the policy in order to improve them.

BUS FPX 3012 Assessment 2: Leadership and Group Collaboration

Third, the new team will be part of the organizational structure of the clinic for a time being. Having a representative of the diversity committee in every aspect of the business will ensure that every policy, process, and actions are aligned towards the goal of regaining the confidence of the community. For instance, there must be a representative of the diversity committee with the marketing department to ensure that the marketing of the services are culturally appropriate as well as enticing to the residents of the community. This would foster collaboration among the members of the committee and the different departments of the clinic.

Fourth, there will be a bi-annual team building which will be focused on culture sensitivity and adaptation. Aside from this, there must be a quarterly seminar which would help develop cultural awareness of the community. This may be done through collaboration with the leaders of the community which will open the communciation to better understand each other. Furthermore, this will facilitate stronger relationships with the people.

Finally, the feedback and evaluation will be strictly implemented. Evaluation from the patients will be treated sternly and every issue and recommendations will be talked about in the monthly meeting. There may possibly be a creation of a grievance committee which will address the grievances of the residents of the community on the health service given by the clinic. There will also be evaluation of co-employees which will be anonymously sent to the diversity committee. This evaluation will be dealt seriously to ensure that everyone’s sentiments will be heard and addressed. Since everyone will be involved in the evaluation process, this encourages collaboration in meeting the goal of the clinic.

Some practices may also be useful to maximize team effectiveness. First, making the organizational structure more inclusive. Through my experience as a bank teller, I have realized that one of the greatest assets of a company is an inclusive environment and this is achieved by having a more inclusive flow of information where there are few top managers and more employees in the equal footing. This will encourage every employee to step up and be leaders of themselves. Second, collaborate with the people. This may be difficult at the outset but the effectiveness of the team and the company itself will be maximize if people are feeling engaged. For instance, the clinic can get their supplies of maintenance materials and services from the residents of the community. Third, celebrate wins. This is often disregarded but as an employee for almost 6 years, I always look forward to every celebration of our wins since it is an acknowledgement of one’s hard work. Celebrating wins remind the employees that there is progress and motivates them to do better. Lastly, monitoring the team’s communciation will aid in maximizing team productivity. As a leader, I will be more engaging to the employees and observe their daily interactions with the clients and with their co-employees. In this way, I can understand the people and adjust dynamics if there will be a need.

BUS FPX 3012 Assessment 2: Leadership and Group Collaboration

References

Becker, J. (2021, Mar.). Leadership with passion and purpose. Focus. Retrieved from 

Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2017). The leadership challenge: How to make extraordinary 

things happen in organizations (6th ed.). Wiley.

Rampton, J. (2014).  Email Is Great But Face-to-Face Meetings Are 34 Times More Successful. 

Entrepreneur. Retrieved from

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/296590