Health Manager Development Plan
Self-reflection and self-evaluation are vital tools for a leader to have in their arsenal. Taking the time to view one critically creates the opportunity to better oneself (Loh et al., 2019). I have found that self-evaluation has been very helpful in improving upon my strengths and eliminating my weaknesses in my role as a health manager. In the course of this exercise, I realized that I have various strengths and weaknesses. From a personal perspective, I have determined that my capacity to express a caring attitude and to apply diplomacy is moderately weak since they are affected by my current workload and how fatigued I am. Moreover, I have discovered that I have excellent problem-solving skills, that I am highly adaptable, and that I have very high dedication to my job.
Caring
Caring is showing kindness and concern over the wellbeing of others. During my self-evaluation, I have identified caring as one of my more significant weaknesses. The reason for this, I have further found, is primarily external. The meaning of this is that my environment tends to dictate whether I express concern towards a patient’s wellbeing and the level of care that I show. Looking over the times I have been at work, I have found that I tend to be more solicitous of a person’s comfort when I have a low workload, or when I am just starting a shift. However, when the health care facility becomes busy, and my workload increases, I tend to reduce the amount of concern I display to people and only focus on the work that I have to complete. Alternatively, I tend to be more reserved towards the end of my shifts, and that reserved nature prevents me from expressing concern to others.
Moreover, I have identified this pattern even outside of work. For example, I find myself to be more personable when I am well-rested, as opposed to when I am at the end of my day and quite tired. After careful consideration, I can conclude that my external environment – including how busy I am and how tired I am – contribute significantly to the level of kindness and concern that I show towards others. As a Health manager, I must learn how to express the characteristic of caring more when dealing with staff, patients, and other health care administrators.
An essential aspect of expressing a caring attitude is showing compassion. Research has been unanimous in teaching that compassion (and thus, caring) is vital to health care delivery in that it produces numerous benefits. For instance, increased displays of kindness, concern, and compassion lead to improved patient outcomes, including higher mortality and higher patient enablement (Fotaki, 2015). Besides, empathy improves patient satisfaction, and, with it, reduce the number of malpractice complaints filed against a health care organization. Besides these tangible and practical benefits, expressing concern for a patient is unanimously viewed as a moral good that should be taught early, nurtured, and communicated often. With regards to patients, they are often at a scary juncture when they visit a health care facility, with their injury or illness threatening them with the loss of autonomy, dignity, their future lives, and even death (de Zulueta, 2015). At this point in their lives, a compassionate approach will go a long way towards helping them cope with their situation. In a similar vein, medical staff experience unique and significant stressors at work, which may negatively impact their performance. Due to this, they are often in need of compassionate leadership which understands the challenges they are facing and supports them in their time of need (Fotaki, 2015). Such action improves performance. Therefore, caring is a vital capability to possess and use.
In light of my less-than-stellar skills in showing a caring, compassionate, and kind attitude, I have chosen to keep a close watch on my energy levels and workload throughout the day. I take note of the interactions I have with the staff members for whom I am responsible throughout the day. In the evenings, I reflect on these interactions to determine whether I have made it clear to them that I care for more than just their performance, but their personal and professional well-being as well. Once I have identified interactions where I was less than compassionate, I make a note to approach the colleague the following day and address the issue. Furthermore, I have begun to arrange my workload to ensure that it is more evenly spaced throughout the day, rather than have to deal with periods of high workloads and then periods of low workloads. By doing this, I expect to have fewer instances where my urgent workload prevents me from expressing care towards a patient or a colleague. By implementing these measures, I will be able to strengthen this capability and become a more effective health manager.
Dedication
Dedication to one’s profession is a vital characteristic to possess. As part of my self-evaluation, I have found that I have very high levels of dedication to my job, which is one of my greatest strengths. The inscription refers to the quality of commitment; that is, the ability to place a particular purpose as the main priority in one’s life. For me, my goal is to ensure that the departments in which I work operate smoothly, effectively, and efficiently. As a health manager, it is my job to manage regulatory compliance issues, manage finances at the point of contact, maintain and update various records on the available services, and facilitate communication within the department. Besides, I am as well in charge of supervising other fellow administrators. High amounts of dedication are required for this job.
Both management and health care disciplines emphasize the role of dedication from both a leadership and follower position. Research has shown that commitment possesses various significant benefits to an individual. Moreover, expressing one’s devotion, especially when they occupy a leadership position, provides added benefits to others. Dedication offers an individual with focus and commitment to one set of priorities (Gill & Mathur, 2007). Such increased focus results in better time management, improved discipline, fewer errors, more work effectiveness, and greater efficiency. Besides, leaders who show dedication engender dedication within their employees. Research has shown that one of the most effective leadership styles is transformational leadership. Under this type, leaders aim not to coerce or incentivize their subordinates to work harder. Instead, leaders seek to help the employees to want to work harder (Gill & Mathur, 2007). Dedication plays a vital role in this dynamic, and as such, a leader expressing devotion results in statistically significant improvements in the work levels of their subordinates.
As a health manager, dedication is of great benefit to me at work. I focus on my job as I often go above and beyond my duties. Furthermore, I never arrive late and ensure that my workload is completed on time. Throughout my employment, I have been able to set standards through my dedication to my job that others have strived to maintain, such as arriving to work on time and timely completion of all assigned tasks. From an individual perspective, my dedication to my work has helped me form a greater discipline in my work as well as have more focus. Therefore, dedication has allowed me to work more effectively and get more done.
Diplomatic
As a leader in a health care facility, one needs to have diplomatic skills. Diplomacy refers to the capability to deal with issues between and among people in a productive, sensitive, and tactful way. The typical workplace is often rife with professional and personal disagreements (Loh et al., 2019). To this end, diplomacy is essential in that it allows the leaders to solve such disputes without disrupting workflow. In conducting my self-evaluation, I have found that my diplomatic skills may be lacking. Due to the nature of the responsibilities of a health manager, significant interactions with other staff members are a part of the job. However, while I am competent in resolving disputes that may arise, I tend to lack the necessary tact required to achieve solutions that benefit all the parties involved. However, this does not happen all the time. It appears correlated to my immediate external pressures, such as my current workload or how exhausted I am, similar to my expression of compassion.
As research has shown, diplomacy within a health care environment is increasingly important. Diplomacy allows a health care leader to facilitate a harmonious working environment and minimize work disruptions. The smooth flow of work is essential to providing care to all patients and positively affects patient outcomes. Diplomacy requires other specific skills, such as communication skills, interpersonal skills, and dispute resolution mechanisms, among others (Loh et al., 2019). With these skills, one can apply problem-solving strategies and implement dispute resolution procedures within the workplace. Other benefits of diplomacy include higher levels of staff motivation, better discipline, more productive work, and, on the patient’s side, better patient outcomes and higher patient satisfaction rates. Therefore, diplomacy is vital in keeping the peace.
To improve my diplomacy skills as a health care leader, I have chosen to study the requisite skills during my free time at home. I will research communication skills and interpersonal skills to be a more effective and wise communicator. If need be, I will enroll in a course for the same skills that I feel may be more effective if my studies do not bear fruit. Studies have shown that leaders who have had previous training in communication and interpersonal development often have more effective teams and more motivating subordinates. Thus, since it is a part of my job to ensure that the workplace is peaceful and workflow moves as harmoniously as possible, I will require these courses to improve my skills in diplomacy.
Adaptable
Yet another vital capacity to have as a health care leader is adaptability. Health care facilities, more than other workplaces, are known for their unpredictable nature. Besides, the work performed here tends to be a matter of literal life and death. As such, how leaders and their subordinates respond to unexpected occurrences may decide whether a patient lives or dies. Furthermore, health care facilities are often in a state of flux owing to the continually changing regulations and policies regarding their operations (Liebler & McConnell, 2012). Given this, it is evident that it is not only the medical staff that needs to be able to adapt to situations as they arise and to longer-term changes. Instead, administrative staff, such as health care managers, must ensure that they possess the adaptability mindset (Carthey et al., 2011). Such a mindset is vital to creating and facilitating a work environment that is flexible and adaptable enough to deal with any challenges that may arise.
My self-reflection has shown me that I am highly adaptable. I have a penchant for developing solutions to any unexpected problems that may arise in the workplace. Furthermore, I have worked to build connections and relationships with others so that I have a network that allows me to gather whatever resources are required to meet unpredictable events. The only challenge I have here is that my fellow administrators and health managers are yet to build a system that encourages flexibility and adaptability, even without our presence. In effect, each administrator has their way of handling crises that crop up. Thus, while the spirit of adaptability exists within the administrative staff, it does not reflect the systems and processes that currently exist.
The primary benefit of adaptability is that it creates a more resilient workplace. Research has shown that work environments with staff that possess flexibility and motivation tend to be more resilient than those who rely on one or a few people to manage unexpected change. Even better are workplaces with systems in place which encourage such adaptability (Carthey et al., 2011). Thus, from my self-evaluation, I believe that to improve the workplace, it is important to put such systems in place as swiftly as possible. To do this, we will need to conduct a needs assessment and determine the resources that may be required in the event of an unexpected occurrence (Loh et al., 2019). Once such an evaluation has been conducted, we will have to find these resources and have them on hand. Finally, we will develop procedures that will allow the health care facility to operate in an environment full of change. With such a system in place, the facility and other members of staff can rest assured that in case of any change – be it an unexpected occurrence or a more fundamental change in regulations and operations – the procedures put in place will ensure a swift and smooth transition with minimal disruptions to the daily workflow.
Problem Solving
One of the most critical roles of health managers as leaders in health care facilities is the problem-solving function. Success in this type of leadership is contingent upon the leader being able to find solutions to problems, regardless of whether the issues are expected or unanticipated. Problem-solving is closely related to adaptability since they both deal with introducing and managing change (Liebler & McConnell, 2012). Again, similar to adaptability skills, I have found that my problem-solving skills are sufficient, but I have failed to create an environment that fosters problem-solving ability among all staff members. Despite this, I am still able to develop viable solutions to problems that arise. Solving emerging issues requires various resources. To improve my skills in this regard, I will need to utilize my networks more, which are multidisciplinary. Specialization of roles tends to narrow one’s focus to only the areas where they are competent. However, it is not uncommon to encounter a challenge that spans across various disciplines (Liebler & McConnell, 2012). For example, winter holidays and weekends tend to come with an increased number of patients, which puts a strain on resources. Using previous admissions and treatment patterns, I have been able to develop resource allocation procedures that take these variations into account. By doing so, I have been able to eliminate the twin challenges of resource scarcity when they are needed and resource surpluses when they are not required. Due to this and other examples, I believe that my problem-solving skills are sufficient.
Essential skills required in problem-solving include critical thinking skills, communication and interpersonal skills, and networking skills. Critical thinking skills are crucial for a leader to examine a situation and determine what resources are required to solve a problem. Such type of thinking paves the way for a multidisciplinary approach to problem-solving (Liebler & McConnell, 2012). Communication and interpersonal skills are essential, especially when a team of people is tackling a challenge. The health manager needs to ensure that information sharing is facilitated among groups working on solving a problem. Besides, the application of communication and interpersonal skills reduce or eliminate instances of friction during the problem-solving task. Networking skills will provide me with the ability to marshal the required resources to meet any challenge.
Overall, the five capabilities in which I performed a self-evaluation are problem-solving skills, Adaptability, diplomacy, caring, and dedication. In my self-assessment, I found that my caring and diplomacy characteristics are moderately weak since they are affected by my level of fatigue and the size of my workload. Due to this, I have developed strategies that will allow me to build on these weaknesses and ensure that I present a more compassionate side and approach interpersonal and communication interactions with tact, kindness, and concern for the well-being of my colleagues. I have as well found that my dedication to my work is a vital strength for me. Since I have a deep-seated passion for my work, I can reap the benefits of commitment, which allow me to be more productive, focused, and disciplined in my work. With regards to adaptability and problem solving, I have found that while I have sufficient skills in these regards, the environment that I have fostered in my workplace is only moderate, which means that it does easily encourage adaptability and independent problem-solving in others. Therefore, I have concluded that I will need to initiate the design, development, and implementation of procedures to ensure that the work environment does not suppress people’s problem solving and flexibility.
References
Carthey, J., Chow, V., Jung, Y.-M., & Mills, S. (2011). Flexibility: Beyond the buzzword—practical findings from a systematic literature beview. HERD: Health Environments Research & Design Journal, 4(4), 89–108. https://doi.org/10.1177/193758671100400407
de Zulueta, P. (2015). Developing compassionate leadership in health care: An integrative review. Journal of Healthcare Leadership, 1. https://doi.org/10.2147/JHL.S93724
Fotaki, M. (2015). Why and how is compassion necessary to provide good quality healthcare? International Journal of Health Policy and Management, 4(4), 199–201. https://doi.org/10.15171/ijhpm.2015.66
Gill, A. S., & Mathur, N. (2007). Improving employee dedication and pro‐social behavior. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 19(4), 328–334. https://doi.org/10.1108/09596110710747661
Liebler, J. G., & McConnell, C. R. (2012). Management principles for health professionals (6th ed). Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Loh, E., Long, P. W., & Spurgeon, P. (2019). Textbook of medical administration and leadership. https://public.ebookcentral.proquest.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=5923114