Context and Philosophy
Growing up at a time my country’s healthcare system was in a dire state of improvement made me realize the importance of systems that are responsive to patient needs and, more importantly, the essence of healthcare professionals with a focus on the continuous improvement of healthcare services. In particular, I dreamt of healthcare workers who went out of their way to ensure patients’ needs are addressed adequately. As I young as was, I couldn’t fail to notice the numerous gaps in the healthcare system. For instance, the patient waiting times before seeing a consultant or other medical workers were abnormally long, mainly due to the limited number of professionals in the facilities I attended. The situation at the emergency and surgical departments was particularly worse, making it challenging to provide prompt services even to the most deserving cases.
Cognizant of the challenges prevalent in my nation’s healthcare system, I decided that once I grew up, pursuing a career in the medical field and other related disciplines would be my foremost priority. The desire to contribute towards enhancing healthcare delivery informed this choice. Accordingly, after completing secondary school, I applied and got admission to study a bachelor of science in surgical technology at the College of Health Sciences in Jeddah. The course provided me with an opportunity to study different subjects relating to human health, including anatomy, physiology, and surgical procedures. The knowledge obtained from the course gave me a great deal of satisfaction, ultimately affirming that pursuing a career in health sciences was a worthy undertaking.
Upon graduation, I worked with the ministry of health as a surgical technologist, a position I held for eight years. Working at the surgical department exposed me to several realities concerning human health and the broader healthcare system. In particular, I realized that even though the delivery of medical services had improved considerably over time, there were significant gaps concerning the provision of respiratory care services despite an increasing number of respiratory care-related cases. Accordingly, after securing a scholarship, I enrolled at the University of Akron’s School of Allied Health, where I undertook a course in respiratory care services. Upon graduation, I returned to my home country, Saudi Arabia, where I work as the head of the department of respiratory therapy and children hospital in Taif.
Working as a senior officer in one of the major children hospitals in Saudi Arabia has opened my eyes to different leadership dynamics. In particular, the experience has enabled me to acknowledge some of the obstacles that might undermine one’s leadership ability and efficacy in service delivery. My first leadership obstacle was making major decisions, especially when an emergency case presented. Even though I had worked as a surgical technologist for eight years, the experience did not play a significant role in enhancing my decision-making ability, mainly in an emergency. Most of the time, I relied on my superiors for guidance. This lack of experience has been a major concern, and honestly, I feel that it might create the impression that I am not a competent leader.
Another leadership obstacle I have noted is my inability to involve the junior staffers in my department. While I acknowledge that service delivery in a healthcare setting should be a team effort, I find it challenging to entrust junior officers with major responsibilities, especially decision-making during emergencies. My failure to engage these parties is partly due to my firm belief that critical decisions should be the responsibility of experienced healthcare professionals to ensure that only the most suitable methods or decisions are adopted. Unfortunately, this hands-on approach to matters leaves me assuming roles and responsibilities that should be attended to by other parties. To be honest, my approach does not augur well with other workers in the department since it creates the impression that I do not have confidence in their expertise.
My hands-on, and somewhat controlling leadership method is attributable to the values and principles my parents imparted on me while growing up. As a child, my parents warned me that I should always chart my course and that as much as advice from other parties is valuable, I should always ensure my opinions and views take precedence. Besides, my father emphasized that the buck stops with the leader, and as such, a leader should always endeavour to ensure to guide the followers in the best way they feel is suitable for the greater good. While those values have been integral in moulding my character and disposition as a leader, I must admit that they sometimes impede my ability to engage other people in my team.
Assessment Questionnaires
Leadership comes with various responsibilities, ranging from providing the broader organizational direction to formulating policies, providing resources, and, more importantly, motivating employees to work towards the realization of organizational objectives. In particular, leaders’ motivational role is paramount since a demotivated workforce undermines the chances of attaining organizational objectives, ultimately making it challenging to obtain the desired profits in a profit-centred setting. Although there are several theories of motivation, the Path-Goal Theory best illustrates how leaders can leverage their positions to offer incentives that can enhance employee motivation. The model provides a motivational outline encompassing four leadership methods, namely participative, directive, supportive, and achievement-oriented leadership styles (Northouse 125). After answering the questions, I realized that I score the highest on the directive management method. The high score was not a surprise since it reflects the leadership values and principles imparted on me by my parents. Indeed, in order to ensure adherence to the laid down procedures, I always issue strict directions and expect the workers in my department to follow them to the latter.
Although my use of directions is aimed at motivating my juniors to adhere to the established rules and procedures, I have realized that, more often than not, my actions are demotivating. While most of the staff are always ready to abide by my instructions, I have noted that their compliance stems from the respect they accord me as their senior, not by the rationality of my arguments. According to Sougui et al., leaders should not only require employees to follow a particular direction but also provide compelling and logical justifications as to why the proposed course is suitable for the individual workers and their organization (65). Accordingly, I have realized that beyond issuing directions, I need to engage my subordinates, and in order to make them realize the importance of adhering to the laid down procedures.
One of the common arguments floated about leadership is that people are born with leadership traits. Although I agree with this view, I must admit that some essential leadership traits are acquired rather than genetic. To establish my natural and acquired leadership characteristics, I asked made an effort to complete the Leadership Traits Questionnaire (LTQ). In order to identify my exact characteristics, I asked my relatives, including my wife and siblings, to help me in the endeavour. LTQ encompasses several leading indicators: self-confident, determined, trustworthy, perspective, dependable, persistent, self-assured, and articulate (Northouse 15). Upon rating myself, I scored highly on determination, articulate, and self-assurance. My relatives rated me highly on trustworthiness, persistence, and dependability. However, contrary to my expectations, the group rated me low concerning self-assurance, an indication that I might have confidence issues.
Focusing on the needs of employees is one of the most important leadership traits. In order to establish the extent to which I focus on employee needs, I utilized the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ). MLQ offers several indicators that one can use to identify their leadership style. Among them include transformational and transactional management methods (Northouse 171-173). Upon completing the document, I realized that I scored poorly in transformational leadership. Everything pointed out that my management style is transactional, meaning I am not very keen on addressing employee needs.
Effective management necessitates leaders to cultivate trust with their subordinates. Northouse avers that leaders can build trust by being real with their subordinates, especially revealing their intentions and opinions towards specific issues concerning the organization (205). Accordingly, I used the Leadership Self-Assessment Questionnaire in order to evaluate my leadership characteristics and the ability to inspire trust and confidence. This model focuses on such traits as self-awareness, relational transparency, internalized moral perspective, and balanced processing (Northouse 206). The results indicated that I score highly concerning internalized moral perspective, balanced processing, and self-awareness. However, my performance regarding relational transparency is dismal. Unfortunately, scoring poorly on a construct as important as relational transparency indicts my ability to interact transparently with my colleagues.
Development Plan
Leadership is a critical element in every organization. As such, in order to ensure efficacy in management, it is paramount that leaders embark on a continuous improvement plan. Such a plan ensures that one can identify costly errors that undermine service delivery and formulate the most appropriate solutions to such challenges. I have noted that despite scoring highly in the directive construct of the Path-Goal theory, my performance regarding other important elements such as participative and supportive leadership styles is discouraging. Therefore, I will endeavour to involve all workers in decision making and encourage them to suggest the changes they deem necessary for proper management.
The results of the Leadership Trait Questionnaire revealed some negative aspects of my leadership characteristics. In particular, the results indicated that I am not as outgoing as a leader, making it challenging for my teammates to engage me on critical matters touching on service delivery. Northouse contends that effective leadership requires one to socialize and maintain close relationships with all stakeholders (206). Undoubtedly, my failure to cultivate a close working relationship with my teammates undermines my ability to gain trust, hence making it difficult to govern effectively. Thus, although I am not good at establishing close connections with people, I will endeavour to work on my relationship with other staff members in order to enhance my leadership traits.
The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire also revealed glaring shortfalls in my leadership characteristics. In particular, the results revealed that I am poor concerning transformational leadership, meaning that I employ am imperial leadership styles that do not allow my subordinates to express themselves openly. Accordingly, I will focus on listening to my juniors and incorporating their input into my decisions. Equally, the leadership self-assessment questionnaire indicated that I am poor regarding relational transparency, a factor that makes it challenging for my teammates to trust me or engage with me transparently. Consequently, going forward, I will ensure to be transparent in all my decisions and freely express my opinions regarding all matters concerning the organization.
Works Cited
Northouse, Peter G. Leadership: Theory and practice. Sage publications, 2018.
Sougui, Ali Orozi, Abdul, Talib Bon, Mahamat, Abdoulay Mahamat, Hussein, Mohamed Hagi Hassan “The Impact of Leadership on Employee Motivation in Malaysian Telecommunication Sector.” Galore International Journal of Applied Sciences and Humanities Vol. 1, no. 1, 2016, pp. 55-68.