Authentic Leadership Interview

Authentic Leadership Interview

Leadership is a broad concept that includes the application of various leadership traits, behaviors, and traits. Understanding leadership from a leader’s perspective can help understand how a leader can lead authentically. For this project, I interviewed a leader from Druid City Hospital in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where I work as the Revenue Cycle Manager. This report will summarize the information shared by the leader about complexity leadership, leading with purpose, and authentic leadership in healthcare environments. The main sections of the report will include a summary of traits of authentic leaders exhibited by the leader at Druid City Hospital, his application of systems thinking, organizational dynamics and governance in times of change, his qualities of an innovative, gaging, and effective leader, his approach to communication and relationship management, his opinion about the importance of self-awareness, empathy, accountability, and ethical behavior and his level of understanding of the health systems and organizations.

Traits of Authentic Leaders

According to Roe (2020), authentic leaders focus on empowering and making a difference in their followers. During the interview with the leader at Druid City Hospital, I asked him about his leadership style and purpose to determine whether he had the traits of an authentic leader. He responded that he uses transformational leadership because his purpose is to improve the lives of his followers and create a positive impact on them and the organization. I also asked him about his leadership traits and identified the traits linked to authentic leadership. The main traits of authentic leaders I recognized from the interview included a sense of purpose, compassion, and emotional intelligence. I gathered that the leader prefers setting short-term and long-term goals to communicate his sense of purpose and motivate his followers to work towards achieving those goals, thus demonstrating authentic leadership. I also established that the leader uses compassion and emotional intelligence to connect with his followers to identify their needs and ensure they are met to maintain productivity.

Finding your True North, Complexity Leadership, and Leadership Purpose

The interviewee was asked about his opinion on finding a person’s true north, complexity leadership, and leadership purpose. He stated that finding the true north requires aligning personal values with personal and career goals to get a sense of direction. He also stated that aligning values with personal and career goals is essential in developing a leadership purpose because it guides the leader’s actions, interests, and behavior. In his response about complexity leadership, the interviewee stated that complexity leadership requires using various complexity leadership strategies. The complex leadership strategies that I learned from his response include conducting a detailed analysis of the problem, its context, its history, and the people involved, applying systems thinking, determining the conflicting aspects of the problem, and offering innovative ideas and new working practices by using interdisciplinary teams and getting different perspectives from the team members. Conducting a detailed analysis of the problem, its context, its history, and the people involved and determining the conflicting aspects of the problem can be used immediately. Consequently, systems thinking and offering innovative ideas and new working practices by using interdisciplinary teams and getting different perspectives from the team members should be worked on.

Systems Thinking, Organizational Dynamics, and Governance in Times of Change

During the interview, I asked the interviewee how he applies systems thinking, organizational dynamics, and governance in times of change to establish his complex leadership. According to Shaked & Schechter (2017), systems thinking considers a system as a complex and integrated composition of interconnected components that must work together for the system to work successfully. In the interview, the interviewee mentioned that he uses systems thinking to ensure that all employees are involved in decision-making, change initiation, and implementation in times of change to prevent resistance to change. He also stated that he applies the concept of organizational dynamics in times of change by maximizing the employees’ strengths in the change implementation process and ensuring that all employees understand the need for the change and how it will affect functions within the organization. The interviewee added that he uses governance to prevent resistance to change by mobilizing all employees affected by the change to give their feedback and recommendations on how the change can be implemented with minimum resistance.

Qualities of Innovative, Engaging, and Effective Leaders

I asked the interviewee about his approach to innovation and engagement to determine the impact of the qualities of innovation and engagement on effective leadership. The main qualities of innovative leadership I identified in the leader included problem-solving skills, adaptability, and risk-taking. The interviewee mentioned that after the COVID-19 pandemic, he guided his team in taking risks to continue treating patients despite the shortage of PPE and advised them on how to reuse the available PPE to avoid exposing themselves to the virus. The interviewee also mentioned that during the COVID-19 pandemic, he adapted to competing in new roles after some employees quit. The interviewee mentioned that he prefers soliciting new ideas from his followers by sharing his vision to maintain engagement and create a sense of belonging. He also mentioned that he prefers dividing his followers into teams to complete tasks to ensure all employees are engaged in the organization’s operations.

Communication and Relationship Management

Communication plays a significant role in relationship management because it influences trust (Diers-Lawson, 2019). The interviewee mentioned that communication is vital in his interaction with his followers because he uses the transformational leadership style that requires establishing and maintaining a relationship with his followers. He stated that he encourages open communication among his followers and observes transparency when sharing information to build trust and an environment where the followers feel free to share information. The interviewee also mentioned that he applies emotional intelligence to manage his relationship with his followers. He stated that emotional intelligence enables him to understand his followers’ needs and ensure they are met. The interviewee also mentioned that he encourages followers to use the communication channel they are most comfortable with when sharing information as long as they maintain professionalism. He also added that he has to check all his emails and messages on other communication channels to avoid missing important messages from his followers.

The Importance of Self-Awareness, Empathy, Accountability, and Ethical Behavior

The interviewee stated that self-awareness, empathy, accountability, and ethical behavior have enabled him to become an effective leader and maintain a good reputation with his followers. He noted that self-awareness has helped him to understand his values and apply them to establish his leadership purpose, thus enhancing his leadership effectiveness. He also stated that self-awareness has significantly shaped his ethical behavior because he must respect his values and beliefs when interacting with his followers. For instance, he stated that one of his most significant values is integrity, which influences his decision-making and accountability. He mentioned that accountability is vital in upholding ethical behavior because one of the attributes of ethical behavior is acknowledging responsibility for decisions and actions. The interviewee stated that empathy is essential in becoming an effective leader because it dictates how the leader relates with followers and their willingness to collaborate to meet a shared goal.

Understanding Health Systems and Organizations

I asked the interviewee various questions about health systems and organizations to determine their level of understanding of how health systems and organizations operate. He stated that since joining the healthcare industry, he has been assigned roles in all four health system and organization functions: provision, financing, resource generation, and stewardship. He stated that based on his experience, service delivery, leadership, governance, and health workforce are the most critical parts of the health systems and organizations. He stated that the performance and productivity of the health workforce are influenced by the healthcare environment’s leadership and governance, thus impacting service delivery. Therefore, the three parts should be monitored to ensure they do not negatively impact the health system and organizational performance.

Conclusion

Leadership effectiveness is vital in the healthcare industry because it affects the performance of health systems and organizations. Leaders in the healthcare industry can demonstrate leadership effectiveness by being authentic, applying systems thinking, organizational dynamics, and governance in times of change, being innovative, engaging followers, applying effective communication and relationship management approaches, observing self-awareness, empathy, accountability, and ethical behavior and having an understanding of health systems and organizations.

 References

Diers-Lawson, A. (2019). The stakeholder relationship management perspective on crisis communication. Crisis Communication, 41–55. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429437380-4

Roe, K. (2020). Authentic leadership. Leadership. https://doi.org/10.1093/hebz/9780198834304.003.0007

Shaked, H., & Schechter, C. (2017). Definitions and development of systems thinking. Systems Thinking for School Leaders, 9–22. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-53571-5_2

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Part 1: Leader Interview

By the end of Competency 1, you will complete a course project in which you conduct an interview with a leader of a volunteer organization or another organization of your choosing.

Here are some actions you can take to prepare for the course project:

• Select 1 organization that aligns with what you believe to be your leadership
• Begin to make calls or write emails to secure an interview
• Begin developing a list of interview questions that focus on the concept of “finding your true north,” complexity leadership, and leadership purpose.

If you are choosing to interview a leader at a volunteer organization, search the Points of Light Engage website to locate a leader at a volunteer organization that interests you.

While designing your interview questions, consider the following concepts in relation to authentic and complex leadership in healthcare environments:

• Traits of Authentic Leaders
• Systems thinking, organizational dynamics, and governance in times of change
• Qualities of innovative, engaging, and effective leaders
• Communication and relationship management
• The importance of self-awareness, empathy, accountability, and ethical behaviour
• Understanding health systems and organizations

Here are sample questions you can ask. You will need to add your own questions as well:

• What aspired them to be a leader?
• Can they describe their leadership style, purpose, or essence?
• What skills do they feel are critical for leaders in today’s complex environment?
• What can they share regarding the importance of collaboration, communication, and conflict-resolution skills?
• What is 1 thing they still struggle with today?
• What words of wisdom can they pass on to future leaders?
• What lessons have they learned over the last 2 years with the impact of the pandemic?

Part 2: Presentation

The best way to learn anything is from those with deep experience in their respective fields. Leaders learn from each other the practices that have worked for them in their experiences of success as well as failure. Consider what you learned from your interview with an organizational leader about complexity leadership for teams and share it in a presentation.

Create a 10-minute, 7- to 9-slide voice-over presentation using either Microsoft® PowerPoint® or websites such as Google Slides™, Adobe® Slate, or Prezi. This presentation will cover the interview you conducted with a leader of a volunteer organization or your own organization.

Consider the following as you create your presentation:

• Who did you interview?
• What organization do they work for?
• What questions did you ask?
• Did they know about the concepts of finding your true north, complexity leadership, and leadership purpose? If not, what do they think about it?
• What did you learn in your interview?
• What can you use immediately, and what complex leadership strategies will you have to work on? Be sure to address what you learned in your interview about the following:
• Traits of Authentic Leaders
• Systems thinking, organizational dynamics, and governance in times of change
• Qualities of innovative, engaging, and effective leaders
• Communication and relationship management
• The importance of self-awareness, empathy, accountability, and ethical behaviour
• Understanding health systems and organizations

Note: Protect your interviewee’s privacy, and only mention their name and position if you have permission to do so.

Cite any sources to support your assignment. Format your citations according to APA guidelines.