SI Leadership Reflection

The work in this cycle helped me to grow as a equity-driven leader by providing me with numerous opportunities to engage in investigating, planning, acting and reflecting on the knowledge, skills and abilities needed to provide equity and excellence for each and every student at my school site. I have also realized that when it comes to leading for change, school leaders must have exceptional knowledge base in classroom observation, analysis and feedback. Furthermore, this cycle required me to be self-aware, courageous and resilient in the face of bias, cultural misunderstanding and resistance.

In my view leadership is one’s ability to make a positive impact based on the needs of many. As a leader, I consider myself to be energetic, team orientated, encouraging, and a hands-on leader that focuses on the developmental of all my staff and individuals around me. Over the week, I have been instructed to complete three assessments: Strengthsfinder 2.0., DISC, and Jung Typology Personality to provide insight on my leadership style. From these assessments, I have learned a greater understanding of my leadership style. I will be reflecting on the results and comparing patterns across the three assessments.

When I began this course I was very nervous because I had no idea of the scope of the course. I was unfamiliar with the Canadian education system and other students. After receiving instructions from my professor, I introduced myself to the person beside me and this process helped to break the ice. I developed a good friendship with the student and this technique used by the professor helped me develop better communication and relationship skills. After few classes, I felt very comfortable and the nervousness and anxiety faded away. I learned about leadership, power relationships in the profession, personal, cultural, professional and organizational, each of which is very important in the nurse’s career. I also gained knowledge regarding client centred care.

One of the beautiful things about leadership is that it is all encompassing and fluid. Leadership is defined as “the action of leading a group of people or an organization”, yet that definition doesn’t even come close to actually defining and describing what leadership can mean to a person. Leadership is a complex value, and it took a long time to grasp and apply it to my life. Through my experiences in high school and my church youth group I have come to realize that for me, leadership is the ability to inspire and positively impact the lives around me with quiet examples and actions.

“It is unequivocally clear that leaders are not like other people” (Kirkpatrick and Locke, 1991, as cited in Northouse, P. G., 2016, p.22). I have always thought that I was not like other people; I see the world through a different lens. This difference, which sets me apart from my peers, has sometimes restrained my progress; however, after studying my differences and seeing them as strengths, I can now focus on these strengths that make me a unique, passionate, progressive leader. In reflecting on my leadership skills, I will analyze the results of the leadership questionnaires, as presented in Peter Northouse’s book, Leadership:Theory and practice (7th ed.), connect those result strengths with the

I am committed to continuous learning and have a strong desire to inspire others to action through exceptional leadership and a clear vision that promotes the delivery of superior services, both internally and externally. The Behavioral Health Division will benefit by receiving the highest level of competence and ethical practice along with a personal commitment to quality. I embrace challenges and will initiate and support any necessary changes within the organization. This program will further promote my creativity and innovation, which will enhance the work environment and the delivery of services to the public. My leadership style is a combination of charismatic and innovative. I am extremely energetic and motivate others to move forward

During Phase I of the course, leaders are trained on common core skills and leader development, with emphasis on Army Writing leadership, physical fitness, property accountability, NCOER's equal opportunity, train the force, and risk management. As the course progresses, it focuses on training skill level 3 enlisted personnel to supervise shop operations and diagnose wheeled vehicles and material handling equipment. In addition, this course centered on senior wheeled vehicle mechanic and maintenance supervisor skills and duty positions. Training focused on enhanced skills in leadership, communication and logistics management, practical and classroom exercises, discussions, presentations and lectures. Topics include Ordnance history, stress

The three most important things that I have learned are based on the foundation of systems theory. Communities are made of a giant system and immeasurable subsystems acting and reacting with one another. When the various systems become unstable, resulting needs arise. Often, there are so many contributions to an issue; one has a great deal of difficulty understanding the source of the problem. Rather, the primary importance is accepting the relationships between individuals and environments. Communities must recognize that those within the system are responsible for taking the steps to provide stability for existence and intervening to strengthen existing structures (Homan, 2011).

For over 14 years, I have been at the forefront of initiatives that have positioned human/social services organizations to foster significant growth both programmatically and fiscally. In addition, my efforts have turned around struggling and problematic departments to regain the respect of the people being supported, their families and industry partners. While exhibiting a keen ability to conceive new ideas, guide new infrastructure initiatives to include, ensuring the morale of all parties involved despite periods of instability and change.

Leadership course give a huge opportunity to develop my personality and leading skills to meet patient care outcome and quality of care in clinical practice also, Knowing that all my personal characteristic is consider as strength and how to use them in my area in effective way to increase organization productivity let me think in a different way to develop my skills as a leader. Effects of leadership have been demonstrated in relation to work-life balance, staff well-being, positive nursing outcomes, patient safety, openness about errors, and patient and staff satisfaction (Munir, Nielsen, 2013). Which is really mean that leading a group is consider as art. According to Harvard business review 2016 mention the Most Important Leadership Competencies,

When reflecting on what was completed this week, Strategic Leadership would be the standard in which the tasks would fall. The first day was an introduction of what is expected as being the newly assigned assistant principal. I will oversee buses, custodians, and discipline. In addition, I will complete evaluations on teachers and oversee PLCs.

During the 2016-2017 school year, I engaged in an Educational Leadership Internship. The journey to gain an Administrator I Certificate began in 2015. My personal belief is that the world can only change one child at a time. Therefore, I was a classroom educator for 12 years. In those years, I found educating 3rd and 4th grade students to be extremely fulfilling. For 3 years I have been a small group intervention teacher focusing on mathematics with approximately 60 students. A part of my professional practice is to reflect at the end of each school day and at the completion of each school year. At the end of the 2014-2015 school year, I asked myself, “If I could inspire 30 children as a teacher per year, 60 students as an intervention specialist, how many could I reach as an administrator?” That question has led me to this insightful and thought provoking internship.

Before coming to USAWC I think that my experience and knowledge gained during the twenty-five years of service is an important quality to possess. At one point I thought: “A few years until retirement, and probably no special secrets for me to discover during the academic year. I can only confirm existing knowledge, gained some new and meet an interesting people before returning home". Much to my surprise, already after the first reading and discussion at the seminar, I realize that this will be more interesting than I had hoped. The first lessons were related to leadership and I was wondering what's new here. I thought I knew a theory about leadership. After all, I am an author of a document about the leadership in SAF.

As an educational leader, I have encountered several new and existing school policies. I never thought deeply about the various processes and the stakeholders involved in policy formulation and implementation. This semester I am engaged in the course Managing Educational Policy as School Leaders (EDLM 6005). This is Semester III, 2016/2017. My course coordinator is Dr. Timar Stephenson. Dr Stephenson was my course coordinator once before and was very helpful whenever I needed clarification or when I had a difficulty. I am thrilled to embrace the new ideas and learning opportunities embedded in this course since it teaches issues which I experience at work. Dr Stephenson, during his introduction reminded his entire class that success in this course would only be realized through hard work, dedication, and commitment. Therefore, it is imperative that I have the right attitude as I navigate this course. The course involves seven weeks of intense work. I am pleased to have a wonderful group facilitator by the name of Rhonda Joseph who has already given us a BBC to explain the requirements of the course and our first two modules.

Due to my passive nature, I’ve always avoided leadership roles. With that being said I still aspire to be someone who can be looked to as a leader. In order to reach that goal I observe and try to mimic the actions of people that inspire me. There have been many people I’ve taken orders from, but I have “followed” few. Those are the ones I consider to be true leaders, and have tried to be like myself.