NHS FPX 5004 : Leadership and Group Collaboration

Dear Lynette,

It was such a pleasure speaking to you earlier and I am looking forward to being a leader for such an amazing project that will help to present solutions to the cultural issue that lies within Lakeland Clinic. Diversity is a vital issue that need to be addressed in our clinic to better service and achieve quality health outcomes for our patients. The community that we are serving will continue to culturally develop and I believe we should be at the frontline of being culturally competent. Our staff needs to have a level of appreciation for different cultures they are to encounter to better service them. With any project like such we will need to understand how other leaders have lead projects with similar issues in the healthcare field. I will also need to internally explain why the characteristics I possess as a leader will be effective in leading this project. Finally I will address the different approaches needed to effectively lead collaboration within this team of other health care individuals.

Leadership Qualities that are Desirable for the Project

With this project certain characteristics that a team leader will need to have will include effective communication, collaborative skills and commitment. It is noted that unsuccessful leaders of project tend to focus on the “what” behind the change. Successful leaders communicated the “what” and the “why.” Leaders who explained the purpose of the change and connected it to the organization’s values or explained the benefits created stronger buy-in and urgency for the change (Center for Creative Leadership, n.d). To lead a project I will need to gather a group of individuals with different ideas, opinions and characteristics. Being able to speak to each person individually and collectively with respect but provide support and teaching will be important. Another quality that is needed will be effective collaborative skills. Being able to bring different people together from different walks of life to carry out the same goal is easier said than done. However, it will be important to include the staff in the early decision making/policy changing because this will help them to feel apart and increase staff compliance. Another quality that is needed will be commitment. Carrying out a project as such will require determination, resilience and persistence. It requires a leader to not only come up with ideas but also be the head of carrying out any changes to come in the organization. It will require a leader can encourage and foster a positive environment for the staff. 

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A successful health care leader that inspires me is Cassandra Willis-Abner. Cassandra is currently the VP of Diversity and Inclusion for the Trinity Health System. She has worked with the Trinity Health System for four years since 2017 however her accomplishments go beyond the short years with the organization. She is a leader in diversity to almost 100 hospitals and more than 100 nursing home facilities. Under her leadership Trinity Health hired diversity and inclusion leaders across the ministry tasked with integrating the activities of existing processes, which has resulted in a more diverse and inclusive organization for patients, residents, families and colleagues (HealthCare Diversity Council, 2019). As she handles many different facilities, Ms. Cassandra is aware that she cannot teach or reach every single health care professional. It is very important to understand her significance of assisting with hiring other diversity and inclusion leaders in the organization. Her interest in developing other leaders has caused a catalyst effect on diversifying the organization. This shows that she understands that she cannot reach everyone by herself and in order for change to occur it will require bringing up other leaders, like her. I can compare myself to Ms. Cassandra in someway. We both are interested in teaching and developing health care professionals that culturally competent. We also are driven to utilize processes/policies put into place to further develop the organization and health care staff. We have similar qualities of effective collaboration. Although the staff Ms. Cassandra leads are larger facilities we both must have effective collaborative skills (which we do possess) to lead a team. This requires being able to motivate and inspire individuals, which is a quality that I possess. Another quality that I possess is the ability to take time to effectively listen to the concerns of individuals and take the time to speak to people one on one to make them feel comfortable. Ms. Cassandra lead many facilities so it is less likely that she has the ability to speak to individuals on a one on one basis. 

Transformational Leadership

As a project leader, I believe that transformational leadership qualities will be necessary to effectively have positive outcomes. Transformational leaders are driven by the people themselves in close collaboration with the leader (Lowe & Bathula, 2019). Being a leader who is interested in developing other individuals will assist in making individuals feel that they are apart of the process and reduce resistance to new policies or strategies put in place. A transformational leader is one who has the ability to inspire and motivate other individuals. A level of motivation will be required because it will take health care individuals to have a positive attitude to the new strategies that will be put in place to deal with improving cultural diversity.

Approaches for Effective Collaboration

One approach that I will use to facilitate effective collaboration would first be to create a cultural diversity committee designated to handing and detecting cultural diversity issues. Creating this committee can consist of different individuals from the health care staff and they should meet once every two week or month. This team will detect and address any issues that have occurred with the patients in the clinic not feeling respected due to their cultural differences. The team will aid as a check and balance system for everyone. The team can also hand out card for the patients of the clinic to write a review of their visit that day which goes into a lockbox at the door before they leave. At the sessions, we can discuss the negative reviews if they pertain to any cultural issues and create ways in which we can resolve them. 

Another way to help improve the cultural diversity issue would be to have multiple in-service /teaching classes for the staff to understand different cultures of patients as well as have them take tests from the class to ensure they understanding the information and can perform with cultural sensitivity and competence. 

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is important for us to address cultural issues within our organization. If it is not handled, it can deter patients from coming to the clinic and decrease positive health outcomes within the patients we currently have. Being a leader requires a leader to be able to effectively communicate, collaborate and make a commitment to the team and to the project. A transformational leader works to inspire develop and motivate individuals to be the best that they can be. I look forward to developing a strong team that can be tasked with making our clinic more culturally competent.

References

Center For Creative Leadership. (n.d). How to Be a Successful Change Leader. https://www.ccl.org/articles/leading-effectively-articles/successful-change-leader/). 

HealthCare Diversity Council. (2019). Cassandra Willis-Abner. http://healthcarediversitycouncil.org/2019-national-healthcare-diversity-conference/awards/cassandra-willis-abner/. 

Lowe, Kevin & Bathula, Hanoku. (2019). Charismatic and Transformational Leadership. 10.1093/obo/9780199846740-0160.

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