My Leadership Qualities from the ACHE Exercise

My Leadership Qualities from the ACHE Exercise

I have always felt that I am a competent person when it comes to leading others. When I learned that there was an exercise to test my leadership skills and perception towards leadership, I thought that this was the best moment to evaluate my skills. I also felt that it was the right time for me to know who I am as a leader. I have a strong desire to serve others. “Others,” in this case, refers to people below me or those that do not subscribe to my beliefs. I am compassionate towards the needy. Each time I see people struggling, I feel that I have a role to play in easing their pain and helping alleviate their suffering.

I think that some of the qualities that define me as a leader spring from within. As a servant leader, I believe in improving the lives of people around me. I believe in serving and enhancing people around me and nurturing skills of others. When communicating to others, I try everything within my capacity to adhere to Greenleaf’s ten principles of a servant leader. I give people chances to express their opinion and ideas they have. I believe in the transformative leadership style. Greenleaf organization (2019) defines servant leaders as those that are compelled with the desire to serve before leading. They derive satisfaction in seeing others prosper. This is what characterizes me as a servant leader. Whenever giving instructions to my followers, I make sure that I am concise and clear to avoid confusion.

If a person asks me what defines me as a leader, I would respond that I have a strong desire to volunteer in service. I am a servant leader that is not motivated by benefits from service. Instead, I spend time working on improving my life and that of the people we work with. The American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) (2017) defines a leader as a person that can inspire and influence others to meet the common goals. I have encountered this criterion of leader during one of my internship programs in the past. Whenever the supervisor was not around, I made sure that I did my best under minimum supervision.

My Strengths as a Leader

Servant leaders are characterized by unique qualities and traits that make them efficient in influencing others. One of my strengths is innovation and creativity as discussed in Greenleaf (2014). Each time I face a challenge, I make sure that I commit myself to make sure that I have solved it. I am honest in my commitments and hardly promise things that I cannot deliver. I encourage teamwork when working with others. I am impressed when I see colleagues excel in service. I detest procrastination because I view time as an economic resource that should not be wasted.  I also think that accountability is one of my strengths as a servant leader. I hardly make excuses whenever an error occurs from my side. Instead, I take responsibility for my decisions. Considering that I intend to serve in the healthcare sector, I often make sure that I do not give misleading information. I rely on accuracy, and whenever I am in doubt, I make sure that I seek clarification from colleagues.

My Weakness as a Servant Leader

In spite of my strengths above, I have some weaknesses that I discovered after taking the leadership competence test from ACHE (2017). The table below summarizes the areas I scored one or two.

Leadership test   My score
  1. Communication and relationship management
Develop and maintain supplier relationships 1
  1. Leadership
Adhere to legal and regulatory standards 2
  1. Professionalism
Conflicts of interests in organizational policies 1
  1. Knowledge of the healthcare environment
Healthcare trends 2
  1. Business skills and expertise
Promote and apply problem-solving philosophies 2

From the table above, it is evident that most of my novice areas are associated with the cultivation of external relationships. Some of the weaknesses are linked to my failure to understand the expectations of others and work towards helping them or developing strategies to relate with them. I do not see these weaknesses as permanent. Instead, I will use them as opportunities to enhance and improve my strengths to help others. The section below discusses my implementation plan for each of the weaknesses I discovered.

Action Plan for Addressing my Leadership Weaknesses

            I will use my strengths to address my weaknesses that have affected my score in this test. In the next three ways, I am going to develop a vision and set goals in addressing my limitations. I will design a chart and list ten things that weigh down my leadership qualities. Each day I do anything that addresses my weakness, I will mark my chart. One of my strengths is that I am passionate about anything I do. This implies that I can turn around challenges into opportunities. Whenever I start doing anything, I make sure that I give it maximum attention. This will be fundamentally important in addressing personal weaknesses in areas of professionalism, issues with the healthcare environment, and business skills.

I also think that mentors play a significant role in nurturing skills and competencies. I am planning to identify a mentor in each of the areas that I am struggling with. I will ask my mentors what they have done to overcome their weaknesses. I will document everything I learn to make sure that I apply it to my personal life. I also intend to visit healthcare facilities, watch videos about the healthcare environment, and use social media channels to interact with healthcare institutions. I will find friends that share my passion and what they intend or what they have already done to propel them towards their goals.

The healthcare sector thrives on ethical codes of practice. I have to do everything to avoid conflicts of interests when working in hospitals. I understand that I have to shun partiality whenever I am making decisions. To develop skills in this area, I will start reading and talking about the ethical codes of practice o others. I do not intend to work alone. Whenever there is an opportunity for me to test my leadership competencies, I will make sure that I capitalize on the available opportunities.

This exercise has helped me discover who I am as a leader. Due to my passion for serving others and developing their competencies, I fit in the category of servant leaders. Servant leaders feel that they are called to serve instead of leading. They commit their time and resources to help others excel. The test has also helped me discover areas of my weakness in leadership. I intend to use my strengths to tackle the weakness I have.

 

References

ACHE healthcare executive 2017 competencies assessment tool.

Greenleaf, R. (2015). Ten principles of servant leaders. Retrieved from https://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.a4pt.org/resource/dynamic/forums/20141118_213556_12077.pdf

Greenleaf, R. (2014). The servant as leader. Servant Leadership: A Journey Into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness. Retrieved from https://lopes.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=587729&site=ehost-live&scope=site&ebv=EK&ppid=Page-__-27

What is servant leadership? (2019). Greenleaf Organization. Retrieved from https://www.greenleaf.org/what-is-servant-leadership/

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