More so than previous experiences, my personal leadership philosophy has tremendously evolved as I have been both a follower and a leader responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. I have been a leader in a Public Health Unit during an unprecedented time when changes were inevitable. This paper aims to clarify and define my leadership philosophy. To me, leadership is a mindful art of influencing others in their human complexity to help others become successful and achieve results. I am thrilled that current leadership qualities and styles are transitioning from hierarchy, individually-centred achievement and goals to a more collaborative approach that motivates and encourages team members to reach their full potential in obtaining personal and professional growth. My leadership philosophy aligns with my personal values and encompasses building trust for productive relationships, self-awareness, and fostering a supportive and safe learning environment to grow new leaders.
Trust
Merriam- Webster (n.d) defines trust as an "assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something." Trust has been one of the most important guiding principles in my life, personally and professionally. I believe it is a core component of developing and maintaining productive and collaborative relationships. Trust is the key component of social exchange, the glue that catalyzes and enables relationships (Schoorman et al., 2007, as cited in Soderberg & Romney, 2022). Leading in the COVID-19 pandemic response, where changes were inevitable and constant, I have learned firsthand that trust is a relational concept between followers and leaders. Exemplifying trustworthiness through transparent communication, including active listening, leads to mutual respect and a willingness to grow, collaborate and respond more positively, even in vulnerable situations where leaders manage change, discuss performance or have other difficult conversations. Like my stance on transparency, Spalluto et al. (2020) state that information shared by leadership is truthful and participatory and requires openness, communication and accountability in how the organization shares the current status and future decisions. As a leader, I foster regular, intentional interactions with transparent communication that builds the principle of trust, demonstrating my core personal values of transparency, benevolence and integrity.
Self-Awareness
Self-awareness is key to being emotionally intelligent to understand and empathize with only other people's emotions, feelings and needs but to know your own. I believe that to be effective in leading people; it is important to have a sense of your team's different personalities and abilities, but just as important to have a well-developed sense of who you are, including your thoughts, behaviors, strengths and limitations. Consistent practice of self-awareness while new to a formal leadership role responding to the global pandemic of COVID-19 allowed me to lead mindfully, clearly and calmly in stressful situations so that I could support others and make informed decisions based on best practices. Early in the pandemic, I learned the importance of pausing for a moment and self-reflecting to become more aware and apply new perspectives while striving for progression, not perfection. I practice self-awareness through regular self-reflection, asking questions and seeking feedback from colleagues, including followers. There were situations involving constant change where my emotional reaction indicated reactive panic in my communications, and the transferability of my response to others was evident. Being humble in my willingness to admit that my response was a mistake allowed me to have the courage to share my self-reflective practice, including a new perspective. This humble in-depth discussion of my self-awareness amongst team members cultivated trust. Through active listening, perspective and insight into my team member's thoughts and feelings were obtained, which supported the development of their own self-awareness and further growth for everyone involved who may have been struggling with similar emotions. Knights et al. (2020) indicate the importance of self-awareness as a continuous process where leaders must first understand their qualities and limitations to become aware of their own emotions and how they react, including how others react to them. As I am still evolving as a leader, every new experience presents an opportunity for me to reflect, analyze, adjust and grow through self-awareness. I believe that growing through self-awareness will, in turn, support the growth of others and the organization.
Growing New Leaders
As a leader, I feel that Jack Welch's (n.d) quote, "before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others," could not be more accurate. Fostering a supportive and safe learning environment to inspire and grow new leaders is another important principle of my leadership philosophy. I am profoundly committed to extending myself through contagious leadership to grow and develop others. I feel that now more than ever, amid our nursing shortage crisis, leadership is needed at every level and across all settings, not only in formal leadership roles. Through a mentor relationship developed over time and based on trust and mutual respect (Mazzoccoli & Wolf, 2016), my formal leadership journey began when my mentor recognized my potential and willingness to lead and supported my growth with a profoundly positive impact. Hancock (2014) emphasizes the use of mentorship from a leader to provide individual feedback and support to improve performance and career development. As a leader, I communicate ongoing feedback on performances for competencies in an open and trustworthy manner so that it fosters growth and development in areas identified as requiring improvement to support any future goals that they may have. I encourage reciprocated feedback so I can grow and improve along my leadership journey. I also contribute to growing new leaders by hosting regular team meetings and communications for collaborative brainstorming, allowing everyone to engage, lead and influence practice and vision. Like Soderberg & Romney (2022), I believe that a big part of growing and developing new leaders is stepping back and giving someone the autonomy and space to learn and strategize independently.
Conclusion
Leadership is a mindful art of influencing others and an exceptional combination of values and guiding principles. As previously stated, I believe my leadership philosophy aligns with my personal values and provides a strong foundation that guides my actions and decisions and leads others by example effectively. Building trust is critical to my leadership philosophy because many other factors depend on it. Once there is distrust, leading while rebuilding trust and relationships becomes challenging and complex. Building trust is a daily commitment and can be achieved through many trustworthy actions combined with integrity, including transparent and benevolent communication, which I strive for with every interaction. Self-awareness is the second principle that I highlighted in my leadership philosophy. I practice self-reflection regularly to gain a well-developed sense and awareness of who I am, allowing for new perspectives and personal growth, which I believe will support the growth of others and the organization. I believe that both building trust and self-awareness are significant for aspiring and growing new leaders, the third principle I have outlined in my leadership philosophy. As a leader, I am committed to exemplifying building trust for maintaining relationships and embracing opportunities to reflect and grow through self-awareness that will support, inspire and grow new leaders. Adopting this philosophy, along with other principles that align and resonate with my personal values, leadership style, and collaborative approach, will enable me to grow along my career journey in leading others.
References
Hancock, B. (2014). Developing new nursing leaders. Coaching – and a unit culture that supports it -promotes leadership potential. American Journal of Nurses, 114(6). 59-62. http://www.neltoolkit.rnao.ca/sites/default/files/Developing%20New%20Nursing%20Leaders_June%202014.pdf
Jack Welch Quotes. (n.d.). BrainyQuote.com. Retrieved September 24, 2022, from BrainyQuote.com. https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/jack_welch_833427
Knights, J., Grant, D., & Young, G. (2020). Developing 21st century leaders, a complete new process: We call them Transpersonal Leaders. Journal of Work-Applied Management,12(1), 6–21. http://www.emerald.com/insight/2205-2062.htm
Mazzoccoli, A., & Wolf, G. (2016). Mentoring through the leadership journey: From novice to expert. Nurse Leader, 14(4). 253-256. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.mnl.2016.05.012
Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Trust. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. Retrieved September 24, 2022, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/trust
Soderberg, A. & Romney, A. (2022). Building trust: How leaders can engender feelings of trust among followers. Business Horizons, 65(2). 173-182.https://0-doi-org.aupac.lib.athabascau.ca/10.1016/j.bushor.2021.02.031.
Spalluto, L., Planz, V., Stokes, L., Peirce, R., Aronoff, D., McPheeters, M., & Omary, R. (2020). Transparency and Trust During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic. Journal of the American College of Radiology, 17(7). 909-912.https://0-doi org.aupac.lib.athabascau.ca/10.1016/j.jacr.2020.04.026.
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