Overview
Assess your leadership approaches in a 2,250–3,000-word job application questionnaire.
Chances are that you are planning to be a leader in your career (maybe, you already are). Knowing how to answer why a leader is adept or weak will inevitably make you a stronger leader.
Assessment Instructions
Overview
In this assessment, you will evaluate your leadership abilities in a job application questionnaire.
Preparation
Use the following to complete this assessment:
1. Western Medical Application Questionnaire [PDF].(attached/provided)
2. Application Questionnaire Response Template [DOCX].(attached/provided)
Scenario
After exploring online job postings, you submitted an application and resume to Western Medical Enterprises. A few days later you received the following e-mail:
Western Medical HR E-mail
Dear Applicant,
Thank you for your interest in employment at Western Medical Enterprises. We have received your application packet. The next step for all candidates is to provide a narrative response to the questions in the attached document. Please return your completed document to me.
Once we receive your responses, we will review them and notify you of the next steps.
Good luck!
Sincerely,
Thomas Hardy
Human Resources Recruiter
Western Medical Enterprises
Instructions:
Respond to the scenario by answering the questions in the Western Medical Application Questionnaire [PDF] in the Application Questionnaire Response Template [DOCX].
Additional Requirements
Your assessment should also meet the following requirements:
• Format: Submit your responses using the Application Questionnaire Response Template.
• APA format: Use current APA style and formatting.
• Length: 750 words per question (3 questions total) (2,250-3,000 words amongst all 3 questions)
• Font and font size: Use Times New Roman, 12-point font and double-spaced lines.
• Written communication:
o Express your main points, arguments, and conclusions coherently.
o Use correct grammar and mechanics.
o Proofread your writing.
Competencies Measured
By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and assessment criteria:
• Competency 1: Analyze leadership traits and styles.
o Analyze one’s own leadership qualities and actions relative to a specific experience.
• Competency 2: Apply accepted leadership practices and behaviors.
o Analyze one’s own actions designed to motivate and foster collaboration among stakeholders.
• Competency 3: Communicate professionally and effectively.
o Convey clear meaning in active voice, with minimal issues in grammar, usage, word choice, spelling, or mechanical errors.
o Describe an instance where one was required to lead a team to collaborate.
Suggested Resources
The following optional resources are provided to support you in completing the assessment or to provide a helpful context.
Leadership Principles and Practices
Being an effective leader is challenging. You cannot do it alone. Effective leadership takes a strong foundation, the commitment of leaders and followers and content that will ensure everyone is working toward a successful outcome.
Read the following:
• Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2017). The leadership challenge: How to make extraordinary things happen in organizations (6th ed.). Wiley.
o Chapter 1, “When Leaders Are at Their Best.”
o Leaders have to make a commitment to clarify values. When beginning your leadership journey, it is essential that you find your voice and affirm shared values.
View the following informational item:
• Leadership Styles and Characteristics.(attached)
o This highlights the styles and characteristics commonly associated with effective leadership.
Sharing Values and Vision
Walt Disney said:
We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths. If you can dream it, you can do it. All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.
These words could not be more true and critical for effective leaders to embrace. Leaders need to model the way and inspire a shared vision for their followers.
Read the following:
• Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2017). The leadership challenge: How to make extraordinary things happen in organizations (6th ed.). Wiley.
o Chapter 3, “Clarify Values.”
o Leaders have to make a commitment to clarify values. When beginning your leadership journey, it is essential that you find your voice and affirm shared values.
View the following Capella video:
• Three Circles of Effective Leadership. (transcript attached)
o This video discusses interpersonal relationship and motivational leadership skills.
Solution
Western Medical Enterprises Application Questionnaire
Leadership Experience
I had just graduated from high school when I decided to pursue a vision that had bothered me for years. When leaving school for home each day, I would pass by groups of idle youth, some who had left school ahead of me. The sight was more troubling during the holiday when the groups would increase, and it was clear that they lacked any purpose. Besides, most members of the teams were from low-income families. I was always concerned about these young people since they could easily be lured into drugs or join gangs since they were idle and their socioeconomic status made them vulnerable. The risk of crime among such individuals was high, and I realized that if these young people, full of energy, got something productive to do, they would not spend time on the streets in groups. I lacked the resources to get an outlet for their energy, but I had an idea that would help. My vision was to approach a local CEO to help the community create a recreation facility for youth to engage in activities, such as athletics and sports after school and during holidays, with a long-term impact of reducing the rate of crime, drugs, and gangs.
In the beginning, I was not sure whether my idea was viable, but I knew such a facility was necessary and urgent to save our community and the youth. I decided to approach some other young people from the community to share my idea. I had to convince them that it was viable and with long-term implications for the community. Besides, I reminded them that since we all loved the neighborhood, we had the responsibility to improve it and loved to see the youth become productive members. While they loved the idea, they did not know how we would realize it since we did not have any financial means. I am from a middle-income family, and my family would not have funded the project. I assured them that I needed their support to sell my idea and explain the target source of the necessary financial resources. Although I had to persuade them further to agree to the proposal to approach the target businessman in the community, they finally agreed and began brainstorming ideas.
With support from five youth, I was prepared to lead them and others to the target businessman who would help us realize the vision. I had met the man through my father, but I was not sure he remembered me. Nonetheless, when I introduced myself, he could remember our initial interaction and was willing to listen to my proposal. The process was challenging, but I had mastered communication skills that would help me to put the idea across clearly and convincingly. I explained the need for the young people in the community to engage in recreational activities to use their energy in productive undertakings instead of idling in the neighborhood. The businessman was excited about the idea and the underlying concepts portrayed in the proposal. I allowed the other five team members to express their views to feel part of the project. I knew their ownership would help me pursue the plan since they were part of the target population. Besides, they would help to communicate to the rest of the target youth.
The businessman was thrilled about the idea since he grew up in the neighborhood and would not love to see others perish in drugs and crime. Furthermore, he was pleased about my leadership capability and my compassionate view. I had a passion for the community and its youth. The businessman requested I write a detailed proposal for the program and prepare to meet community leaders, who would help in the implementation process. While leaving the office, I informed other team members about the need to meet and write the proposal since the businessman needed an official document to finance our project. I was excited to lead the team through the first leg of success in realizing the vision. I was also confident that the community would support the idea and help to create the recreational facility. The success also motivated us to work further and realize the dream of a recreation center in the community.
I spent a week with the team to discuss and write the proposal that included a $4000 budget to create the recreation center at a facility owned by the businessman. We met him once since he was busy as a CEO of a multi-million dollar company during the period. Regardless of the tight schedule, we completed the proposal, which he accepted with minimal changes and gave us the role of communicating to community leaders about the project. I concluded that he was pleased by my leadership qualities and trusted that I could continue leading the rest of the process. Within the next two months after the proposal, the community had a recreation center in a businessman’s existing sports facility. I was excited to know that youth in the community would spend their time productively instead of being idle and running the risk of being delinquents.
Leadership Approach
The experience taught me the need for a vision when leading. Success in the leadership experience revealed that I had an idea that I communicated to the subordinates and their support made it a reality. I began to show my leadership capability by asking the team to approach a businessman in our community to help create a center to train youth in different activities, such as football, instead of remaining idle after school and during holidays. In the beginning, the vision appeared unrealistic, but I was persistent since I was passionate about the idea. Through leadership traits, such as compassion, empowerment, passion, and communication skills, I managed to attract a team of five youth in our community that would work with me to write the proposal and present it to the businessman. I realized that while any other leadership approach would work in the situation, the most effective was participatory leadership that would allow every team member to give input in the decision-making process.
The ability to persuade was the core of effective leadership in the project. An effective leader should be able to influence others to support the vision. Besides, I needed to ensure that they understood the proposed project’s impact on the entire community. Thus, I needed to be an effective leader from the beginning to gain everyone’s confidence in the recreational plan. Furthermore, I used diverse skills, political and interpersonal, such as negotiating, creating ownership, and team building, to ensure support for the project. While it was challenging since some stakeholders, such as community leaders and parents, were older, my humility and respectful communication motivated them to listen. At the same time, I realized the need for emotional intelligence when working with others. Besides, I convinced them that a change was necessary for the community to avoid losing many young people to crime.
One thing was clear, if I did not engage the youth in the plan, they would easily resist, and my vision would die. Kouzes and Posner (2017) support my view by suggesting that subordinate buy-in was necessary for the plan to succeed. However, I had to have a clear strategy and show compassion for their situation to convince them to join me in pursuing such an endeavor, which would help them. Besides, I had to communicate my plan to all stakeholders as a shared vision. I had to persuade them I had no other interest in the project but to help them get something productive for young people instead of being idle on the streets after school and holidays. Thus, besides my communication skills, I had to be persuasive to achieve the objective. Although I did not realize the management and leadership principles at the time, I knew that I needed to be compelling when presenting my plan. Besides persuading the youth to buy the idea, I convinced the businessman to support the vision and provide the necessary resources to support the proposal.
Participative leadership was a significant factor in the project’s success since it achieved buy-in and support for the project. Besides, I used an engaging approach to empower the community by creating a program that would save the community from crime. Stakeholder engagement is necessary to prevent resistance to change (Hickey et al., 2018). For example, leaving out the affected youth would cause resistance, such as failure to engage in recreational activities. Therefore, the leader should ensure that every community member feels a part of the project. The approach was successful since the message was well received and supported. Interpersonal skills were also necessary to communicate with others and work together to realize the team’s objectives. For example, I desired to work with others without conflict from the beginning to the end. I developed and supported others to cultivate interpersonal skills to avoid conflicts that might affect the project.
Decision-making processes and outcomes were flexible through the participative approach. I allowed every member of the team to present their views and opinions in the decision-making process. Since the project affected every community member, everyone’s voice needed to be heard in the project. However, it was impossible to work with everyone in the community. Thus, I had representatives from various groups, such as youth, community elders, and parents, who were facilitating the implementation process. The representatives made critical decisions relating to the recreational facility. I collected all views and presented them to the project sponsor (the CEO) for the ultimate decision-making. Such engagement and participation was critical in the ultimate success and provided important lessons for leadership roles in the future.
Leadership Collaboration
I realized the importance of collaboration to achieve the intended objective of creating a recreational facility for the youth in our community. While I bore the idea, I could not have realized the vision without others’ input and support. I achieved collaboration through participative and democratic leadership. First, I made every team member feel welcome to the project and give their ideas and opinions regarding how to realize the vision. For example, when I realized the need for the project, I approached other youth in the community to create the team that spearheaded the process. I needed stakeholders from the target population to realize the vision and achieve objectives. Besides, each team member had a special talent and strength that I could use to realize the vision. Therefore, I could lead a team that would approach the CEO and communicate the message to the rest of the community.
I encouraged the youth to participate in the project by explaining how the recreation facility would benefit the young people in the community. A leader should communicate and market the vision for others to buy and support it. While I did not have a background understanding of collaboration since I had not studied the subject in school, I recognized the need to work with other affected parties to gain support and increase the chances of success. Therefore, I called a few people whom I knew would influence others to support the vision. I explained to them and informed them that the project belonged to us and would benefit our community. We worked as a team, and I shared everything with them involving the project. I also allowed them to offer their opinions regarding the proposal. Working together was one reason we succeeded in the task and received the CEO’s support. The CEO was impressed by the team, and how focused we were on the goal.
Internal motivation played a crucial role in my leadership and the project’s success. According to Coccia (2018), intrinsic motivation emanates from within the subordinates by having ownership. Therefore, I created a sense of ownership from the beginning, which motivated others to realize the vision. I also explained to the smaller team to use the same approach when communicating to the rest of the community, including leaders. For example, when we met community leaders, we explained that the project would save our society from crime, and young people would engage in productive activities. The motivational skills facilitated the project implementation and success since every member felt free to work with others. Furthermore, we agreed that we could collaborate to reduce the cost since each member had unique talents that would support the implementation. For example, some community members decided to coach various sports to cut the cost of employing a coach. Such efforts made the project easier to implement and hence, achieved success at a relatively low cost.
Another essential element of collaboration that supported the project was trust. Since the beginning, I informed the team members and other stakeholders that I did not have any vested interest in the project. My focus was to help the community to have a place that could create productive youth instead of spending their time aimlessly. The message made a high level of trust between other community stakeholders and my team and motivated them to support the project wholeheartedly. Bligh (2017) focuses on crucial aspects of leadership quality by suggesting that only teams built on trust between the leader and followers can succeed. Besides, confidence improved the relationship between the leader and the team and ensured fast resolution of conflicts before they affected the project’s success. As a result, none of the disputes between team members were big enough to kill the dream of having a recreational facility in the community. Diversity was evident in the project, which created the need for the leader to understand and appreciate differences. Through effective leadership, diversity in human personalities became a strength instead of separating the community. Competent community members were motivated by the idea and the need for their input to save the community from crime. I also recognized the role of transformational leadership in ensuring that every team member was motivated to support its success. The style suggests that each person can be a leader at some point due to empowerment and project ownership. Notably, all the members were empowered to support the vision and motivated to earn positive results.
The CEO’s role in the project was critical since this gave the initiative a high credibility level. However, together with other community members, the CEO applauded my leadership capability and acknowledged that I could make a great leader in the future. The experience will come in handy in the current workplace since I will apply the skills and abilities to lead others to achieve corporate objectives. I will also continue to learn and develop further knowledge and experience in leadership. The experience will help me in my new career at Western Medical Enterprises since I already understand how to lead teams to achieve departmental and corporate objectives. I am prepared for any leadership role the company offers to support its mission and objectives. Besides, I will work with other subordinates and my superiors through positive interpersonal relationships. Overall, I will be part of the strong team and add value to the organization that has offered me the opportunity.
References
Bligh, M. C. (2017). Leadership and trust. In Leadership Today (pp. 21-42). Springer, Cham.
Coccia, M. (2018). Motivation and Theory of Self-Determination: Some MANAGEMENT Implications in Organizations. Journal of Economics Bibliography, 5(4), 223-230.
Hickey, G., McGilloway, S., O’Brien, M., Leckey, Y., Devlin, M., & Donnelly, M. (2018).
Strengthening Stakeholder Buy-in and Engagement for Successful Exploration and
Installation: A Case Study of the development of an Area-Wide, Evidence-Based
Prevention and Early Intervention Strategy. Children and Youth Services Review, 91, 185-195.
Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2017). The Leadership Challenge: How to Make Extraordinary Things Happen in Organizations (6th ed.). Wiley.
Order an Essay Now & Get These Features For Free:
Turnitin Report
Formatting
Title Page
Citation
Outline
