Approach towards Crisis Management
I feel myself priviledged for working in a healthcare organization, catering to the wellbeing of the people. I am employed in the post of assistant manager in the gynaecological department. Every day, the organization undergoes several operations for providing quality care and treatment to the clients and the customers. We, the managers attempt try our best to look after the needs, demands and requirements of the client. Our skills and expertise helps in approaching the tasks in a strategic manner. However, sometimes crisis stalls our productivity, compelling us to encounter severe loss. I can mention an example, which tested my leadership skills, abilities and competencies.
Once, there was an emergence of an unknown disease, which took a toll on the health of the people. The symptoms of the disease were skin irritation, red eyes, headaches. There were numerous patients, who had to be admitted in the hospital. Coincidentally, at that time, I only had some file work to complete. From my office window, I can see the reception of the gynaecological department. I saw many people coming to admit their relatives. I saw the receptionist was trying to tackle the crowd. At that time, I experienced an eagerness and willingness to extend support. At once, I rushed to the department and ordered the staffs to prepare the beds. They informed me that the vacant beds are not enough to accommodate all of the patients. I was about to express my anger, when I realized that I have to handled all the things tactfully for earning respect from the patients.
Immediately, I called the research team for experimenting the symptoms and finding the precautionary measures. However, I succeeded in getting only few of the researchers. Apart from this, I also informed the statutory bodies for deciding the matter with them. They investigated the fast food sellers. Meanwhile, the researchers tested the quality of the foods. Without wasting time, I called in the experts and healthcare professionals from foreign. A conference was held for making the public aware of the harmful effects of eating fast foods. Along with this, campaigns were conducted for enhancing the awareness of the public regarding the diseases, which they can suffer. In all of these activities, my focus was on ensuring the speedy recovery of the people, who have been the victim of such a disease.
After two months, the researchers discovered large amount of calcium silicate in the foods. This was specifically found in the pasta and spaghetti noodles. The report regarding the number of persons affected alarmed me. I immediately ordered the doctors and the nurses to start the treatment of the patients. They were to be on the duty 24 hours with breaks. After few weeks, there were noticeable improvements in the patients. I feel my spontaneous action resulted in the improvements in the health of these patients. Rationality and planning helped me in achieving positive results.
Understanding the Five Practices Specified in the LPI Statements
In order to enhance the leadership skills, abilities and competencies, one needs to follow the five practices specified in the LPI statements. These practices are- Modelling the Way, Inspiring a Shared Vision, Challenging the process, Enabling others to act and Encouraging the Heart.
Modelling the way can be related with the statement, “Where there is a will, there is a way”. Eagerness and willingness to fulfil the targeted goals and objectives automatically opens avenues before the individuals (Leithwood and Azah 2016). Only need is to select the right path to achieve success. I think extending support towards the distressed people opened a prospective way towards earning respect and enhancing my professionalism. This humanity justifies my position, skills, expertise, abilities and competencies.
I agree with the fact that within an organization, the employees share a common goal and vision, that is, the achievement of success. However, when there are numerous employees in an organization, conflicts, discriminations and harassments are bound to occur. This destroys the unity and coordination between the team members (Hargett et al. 2017). Including the staffs within the decision making process helped me to value their viewpoints. Along with this, the approach assured them that I was approachable in times of difficulty. I tested their skills by assigning them challenging and enduring tasks. Here, my main focus was to test the spontaneity of the staffs regarding the allocated duties and responsibilities. I provided training to the staffs about the basic managerial activities. Provision of motivation and encouragement assured them of my capabilities. I particularly remember about one of staff, who asked several questions before performing the tasks. This delayed the process; however, it reduced the chance of mistakes. Inquisitive nature of the staffs justified me as a leader.
I encouraged the staffs to follow an ethical approach towards the needs of the patients. Whenever, there was a conflict, I felt like expressing my anger. However, I was conscious of representing myself as a leader. Therefore, I took the help of statutory bodies for the achieving negotiations in the time of conflicts. I also organized open forums for giving equal chance to the staffs regarding voicing out their opinions about the issues, which they are facing. Herein lays the appropriateness of enabling the others to take part in the mainstream activities (McSherry and Pearce 2016).
Encouraging by heart refers to the individual praises and recognition of the efforts put in by the employees. This generates confidence within the staffs regarding the exposure of better performance. Rewards and recognitions are an efficient way for luring the staffs towards the services of the companies and organizations (Barr and Dowding 2015). I think the Thanksgiving day proved appropriate in terms of thanking the staffs for their hardwork. I specially took the initiative to rewards the staffs for their spontaneous approach towards ensuring proper care and treatment of the affected patients. This was in the presence of the patients, which enhances their awareness towards the activities, which took place in the organization. I proposed other managers to arrange for media coverage of the whole incident. This acted as an example of celebrating the achievements. I took special initiatives towards presenting mementos and certificates to the staffs for their memorable contribution.
Kousez and Posner’s Ten Commitments for Enhancing Leadership Skills
Kousez and Posner proposed ten commitments, which the leaders need to make towards the enhancement of professionalism. The first commitment inspires the individuals to find their voice through the clarification of the values. This commitment relates with the evaluation, which helps the individuals to assess the effectiveness of their workplace behaviour (Northouse 2018). The helpless condition of the receptionist to handle such adverse situation invoked my inner voice towards extending support. Here, I can relate value with that of humanity. The second commitment needs the individuals to set an example before the others by performing the actions according to the core values (Kelloway, Nielsen and Dimoff 2017). I feel my spontaneous reaction towards the helping and supporting the patients would act as an example for those who shred off their responsibilities saying that the manager of that department will look into the issue.
The third commitment is related with the undertaking challenging and enduring tasks, which add spice into the lives of the people. Achieving success in these tasks is assistance in terms of estimating the future conditions (Bharwani et al. 2017). After the Thanksgiving Day, I evaluated my performance and could envision myself as a trainer in the future. This was through the consideration of my performance throughout the period of crisis. It was a thrilling experience for me to move forward in my life. The fourth commitment is enlisting the others by appealing and inspiring them towards a common vision of success. I included all the staffs, healthcare professionals and others in meetings, conferences, discussions and open forums. This brought out positive results in terms of gaining an insight into the issues, which they are facing towards executing the allocated duties and responsibilities (Delmatoff and Lazarus 2014). I also provided them with training programs for upgrading their knowledge, skills and expertise on managerial issues. Here, I encouraged them about the capability to do the tasks in an efficient and effective manner. I think this encouragement inspired the staffs to envision success.
Seeking innovative ways for achieving growth and development is the fifth commitment, which the leaders are to follow. For this, the individuals need to consider the experiences of the past. This consideration is assistance towards gaining an insight into the ways and means towards achieving prospective avenues, which they can avail for achieving success (Montano et al. 2017). Herein I can relate the meetings, conferences, discussions and open forums. This is where I involved all the staffs for evaluating the effectiveness, appropriateness and feasibility of the steps taken towards curing the patients affected from food poisoning. Feedbacks from the staffs helped me to gain an insight into their approaches. This insight, in turn, enabled me to think about innovative changes, which would alter the workplace scenario of the healthcare organization.
Enhancing the Skills and Abilities of Staff Members
Risks are an inevitable part within the business and are the sixth commitment for the individuals to emerge as leaders. Experimenting with the preconceived knowledge helps the individuals in testing the feasibility of their skills in terms of the workplace operations. Undertaking challenging tasks is bound to achieve losses in the initial stages. However, with practice, the type of performance improves, lessening the occurrence of mistakes (Spurgeon, Clark and Ham 2017). Therefore, setting short-term goals would improve the focus of the individuals towards the allocated duties and responsibilities. Constantly evaluating the performance upgrades the standards and quality. I feel that planning process seemed beneficial for me and the other staffs in approaching the treatment in a strategic manner. At the initial stages, I received losses in the form of staffs expressing disinterest towards obeying the orders. However, I took trainings, where I showed them the intensity to which the people are getting affected from consuming poisonous foods. Seeing the results, they were ready to extend their support and help to these people.
Teamwork is the seventh commitment towards invoking the leadership. Rationality in the process of team building helps the managers to achieve trust, loyalty and dependence from the staffs (Boyatzis, Rochford and Taylor 2015). I think consideration of Tuckman’s stage development proved beneficial towards formation of a team possessing flexibility towards acting under intense pressure. Fostering collaboration helped me to encourage teamwork, inspiring them to envision success. Here, conflicts, discrimination and harassments were the outcomes, which I received. However, I took the help of statutory bodies for achieving effective negotiation. I feel this kind of attitude is ethical in terms of ensuring the wellbeing of the staffs.
Eighth commitment involves strengthening others, which mitigates the instance of knowledge gaps. Herein lays the importance of the role played by the senior and the experienced staffs towards transferring the essential skills to the employees (Ginter 2018). I think hiring experts for giving training to the staffs, proved beneficial in upgrading their knowledge regarding handling tasks in crisis period. This upgradation is needed in terms of making the staffs acquainted with the societal conditions affecting the lifestyle of the people. Some of the staffs expressed their incapability towards performing the allocated tasks. I encouraged them to try the acts, which would result in failure. I further instigated them to continue performing the tasks, once they would definitely succeed. I motivated them not to give up at any circumstance.
Encouraging Innovative Approaches for Achieving Growth and Development
Appreciation is the ninth commitment, which the leaders need to follow. This appreciation enhances their personality, making them approachable towards the staffs (Guerrero et al. 2015). I individually appreciated the efforts of the staffs towards providing cure and treatment to the patients. Thanksgiving Day was the platform for recognizing the individual efforts of the staffs. This appreciation generated satisfaction in the employees, which reflected my satisfaction. Their satisfaction justified my path towards leadership, simultaneously justifying in position within the workplace. This appreciation added to my professional excellence, adding value to my efforts.
The penultimate commitment relates to the celebration of success with due consideration of the values. Exposure of community feeling adds value to the humanitarian aspect of the individuals (Zulueta 2016). I think the establishment of communities proved beneficial in terms of catering to the specific needs, demands and requirements of the patients. I ordered the staffs to build a community for accommodating the patients. This was possible because of the strategic planning towards executing the activities. I felt happy to celebrate my victory along with the team members.
Pre-conceived skills and abilities act as a cornerstone in terms of upgrading them. Herein lays the appropriateness of the templates and checklists, which enhances the awareness of the individuals about improvements (Kranabetter and Niessen 2017). This upgradation is important for enhancement of the leadership skills and abilities. Along with this, consideration of the five practices and ten commitments helps in exposing appropriate attitude towards embracing leadership.
The word “commitment” relates to the behavioural approach needed for emerging as a leader. Commitment towards the activities results in the achievement of positive results. “Practices” can be considered as the initiatives towards adding value to the commitments. Countering this, “commitments” can be considered as the determination towards abiding by the practices. The numbers five is double of ten; therefore, it can be considered that practices are the agents in terms of enhancing the determinant approach towards embracing leadership (Frankel and PGCMS 2018).
If the individuals are to become leaders, they need to undertake challenging and enduring tasks. Within this, involving the team members generates the feeling of teamwork, which is effective in extracting the labor from the staffs. Herein, lays the effectiveness of the motivation and encouragement, which assists the staffs in executing the tasks in an efficient and effective manner (Jaques 2017). I can relate all these activities with my attitude in curing the patients of their ailments. My spontaneous approach proved effective for the patients extending timely help and support to the patients in distress. Rationality in dealing with the tasks enabled me to achieve positive outcomes. This rationality was also assistance in terms of gaining trust, loyalty and dependence from the customers.
Spontaneously extending help and support towards the distressed patients was the first step towards leadership. Here, my humanity urged me to extend helping hand towards the patients, who are desperately searching for an escape from the ailments and sufferings. I think undertaking this challenging task helped me to prove my capabilities. Achieving failures in the initial stages was inevitable, which sometimes became difficult for me to accept. In these circumstances, my only strength was meditation, which generated positive vibes within me. It improved my concentration, providing me with fresh energy and vigor. During motivation, I became acquainted with myself, which enabled me to know myself better. This introspection was necessary in terms of assessing the effectiveness, appropriateness and feasibility of the steps, which I have planned for providing cure and treatment to the patients. Maintaining consistency in the execution of evaluation proved beneficial for me in terms of upgrading the standards and quality of performance. This upgradation, in turn, enabled me to progress on the path towards enhancing my personality and professionalism.
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