Personal Innovation Plan - Essay Example

Personal innovation plan March 24, Personal innovation plan Introduction Organizations have structures that define members’ roles and authorities. Leaders, for example, are individuals who have demonstrated ability to influence organizational factors towards achieving targets. Specific capacities, achievements, and responsibilities are some of the noted traits for leaders. According to Etin, “intelligence, vigilance, originality,” “education, knowledge,” “sociability, adaptability,” and dependability are some of the traits that defines a leader (2012, p. 254). Attaining a leadership role therefore requires a level of competence in these traits and self-assessment or an assessment by peer or a professional can help a person to understand level of competence for ability to assume responsibility at a higher level of an organization’s structure. Assessment also indicates a person’s competence to help the person to maintain attained level or to improve the level of competence and the role of assessment that identifies a person’s strengths and weaknesses explains this (Rebecca and Jones, 2007). With professional growth as one of my objectives and a motivator into advanced education, assessment into development of personal innovation plan is important. Based on each of the course objectives, a self-assessment is conducted for identification of personal strengths and weakness. These then form a basis for development of an innovation plan for achieving my vision of becoming an effective nurse leader. Innovation plan Objective 1: To use advanced communication skills and processes to lead change initiatives in healthcare systems Effective communication is important in the nursing profession for identification of clients’ needs and for communication among healthcare professionals towards effective service delivery. Leadership and advocacy roles of nurses also rely on communication potentials. Relevant concepts that I learnt about communication skills are roles and significance on verbal and non-verbal communication. My strengths in verbal communication include accuracy of conveyed information, objectivity, completeness, and “privacy and confidentiality” (Hally, 2008, p. 141). Conciseness, timeliness, and cultural sensitivity however remain my challenges. In attempting to ensure completeness in my communication, especially to nurses and management in my current organization, I try to include all necessary details on my points and this leads to lengthy messages. Excess work and the need to focus on one task at a time also lead to lateness on some tasks. This however occurs with less important tasks because I always prioritize activities and begin with those that are more important. I am also judgmental and tend to discriminate against other cultures, especially when culture has significant effects on people’s ascents to induce communication barrier. Negative reactions from people have indicated my weakness in the area. While my outlook, facial expression, and eye contact (Hally, 2008) have been commended to facilitating communication, I have been poor in using gestures. The weaknesses hinder my communication objectives, improvement is necessary for effective leadership in the healthcare environment, and below is a prioritized list of elements on which I plan to improve through research on academic materials. I. Cultural sensitivity II. Timeliness III. Use of gestures Ability to communicate on time and positive response to my application of gestures and communication with people from different cultures will be the indicators for successful improvement. Objective 2: To employ effective collaboration and teambuilding skills in professional practice, including leading inter-professional teams in analysis of complex issues and practice improvement The contemporary nursing environment requires intra and inter-professional collaborations for effective provision of care. My organization focuses on personnel specialization for associated advantage of increased level of competence and quality delivery in specific tasks. This requires collaboration among professionals in handling most of clients’ issues. Successful team building and consequently team management requires “trust, open and effective communication,” active participation of all team members, and definite objectives (Harris and Roussel, 2010, p. 101). These skills are necessary for me in leading diversified teams in research into evidence-based practice and advocacy towards better care practices and policies. While my traits demonstrate trust, ability to earn trust from other people, and ability set realistic and measurable goals, influencing active participation among resistant individuals and facilitating open communication among reserved people remains a challenge. I lose patience with these categories of people and often give up on motivating them. This worsens the people’s condition and sometimes has negative effects on individuals who were initially positive. I therefore need to be more tolerant to non-cooperative team members and to be more sensitive to needs of such people. Competence in understanding human behavior and motivational theories are likely remedies and will be my focus for improvements. Studying additional units on the competencies will aid improvement. Managing an all-inclusive team that experiences effective and open communication will be the indicator for success. Objective 3: To develop and sustain relationships with professionals and patients to improve patient outcomes Peplau’s Interpersonal Theory of Nursing identifies a closer role of nurses in care provision. The theory identifies the nurse as the care and not as the care provider (Elder, Evans, and Nizette, 2008) and this means need for an effective approach to initiating, maintaining, and concluding communication with clients (Sheila and Brian, 2014). Some of the necessary skills for assuming the Interpersonal Relations theory are ability to empathize with clients, show respect to clients, interact with clients in honesty and transparency, to be timely in responding to clients’ needs, and positivity in interactions with clients (Sheila and Brian, 2014). The skills influence strong interpersonal relationships with clients to support nurse and client’s commitment to care provision. The attained nurse commitment is also likely to influence collaboration with other nurses towards meeting clients’ needs. Of the qualities, I have identified respect, honesty, positive attitude in my while communicating with clients but timeliness and empathy remains to be major weaknesses. Because of prioritization of activities, I may overlook need to meet or respond to a client’s need on the client’s demand. In addition, even though I remain committed to my tasks, I do not get personal with work and this limits my level of empathy. Improving on time management skills and personalizing work are possible improvement objectives and positive clients’ assessment results will be indicators of success. Literature review on time management skills and practice on personalizing work are the proposed strategies. Objective 4: To guide, mentor and support other nurses to achieve excellence in nursing practice Objective four of the course focused on guiding, mentoring and supporting other nurses towards excellent nursing practice and transformational leadership style that applies “inspiration, motivation, and vision” to develop competence is necessary (Marshall, 2010, p. 20). Self-assessment on leadership style and leadership competence, using Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire and Leadership Practices Inventory identified my leadership competence and transformational leadership style. With transformational leadership style as my predominant orientation and a significant leadership competence level, only improvement is necessary on my leadership competence and the same tools will be used for evaluation. Objective 5: To lead care initiatives with an understanding of current leadership models and applicable technology Need for collaboration among professionals within the nursing and other profession identifies possible interaction with different leadership styles and leadership models. My current leadership potential however identifies bias towards one leadership style to suggest possible inefficiency under environments that demand other leadership styles. Need to develop competence in other leadership style, evidenced my averagely equal scores in all leadership styles, is therefore necessary. Study into traits of different leadership styles and mentorship into competency in the leadership styles, for situational leadership competence (Marshall, 2010), is my proposed improvement plan and self-assessment to identify scores in leadership styles will determine success. Objective 6: To demonstrate sensitivity to diverse organizational cultures and populations, including patients and providers Cultural sensitivity is important to the current nursing environment that requires collaboration with professionals and clients from diverse cultural backgrounds. Effective communication and interpersonal interactions, which influence leadership ability, also identify significance of cultural sensitivity (Halter, 2013). My organization’s environment identifies this diversity and even though my cultural awareness competence is commendable, I am intolerant to cultural barriers to communication and interactions. Self-discipline into tolerance in interactions and development of knowledge on strategies for overcoming challenges from cultural differences are my improvement strategies and as reactions from people has indicated the weakness, it will help in evaluating succefull improvement. Summary My professional development goal influenced personal assessment into development of the innovation plan. Below is a summary of improvement objectives. Personal To improve on time management To improve use of gesture for non verbal communication Professional To be sensitive to cultural diversity To improve understanding on human behavior and theories of motivation To personalize work To diversify of leadership styles Conclusion The course, ‘communication, and collaboration for health leadership,’ has succeeded in equipping me with knowledge on its objectives. Based on the knowledge, I have been able to understand necessary competencies for effective leadership in the cross-cultural environment. The knowledge also formed a basis for my assessment and development of my personal innovation plan. With implementation of the personal innovation plan, I am sure of personal and professional development for a role as a nurse leader. References Elder, R., Evans, K., and Nizette, D. (2008). Psychiatric and mental health nursing. Chatswood: Elsevier Australia. Etin, E. (2012). Discussion about leadership: In different fields. Bloomington, IN: iUniverse. Hally, B. (2008). A guide for international nursing students in Australia and New Zealand. Chatswood: Elsevier Australia. Halter, M. (2013). Varcarolis’ foundations of psychiatric mental health nursing. Cambridge, MA: Elsevier Health Sciences. Harris, J. and Roussel, L. (2010). Initiating and sustaining the clinical nurse leader role: A practical guide. Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning. Marshall, E. (2010). Transformational leadership in nursing: From expert clinician to influential leader. New York, NY: Springer Publishing Company. Rebecca, A. and Jones, P. (2007). Nursing leadership and management: Theories, processes and practice. Philadelphia, PA: F.A. Davis. Sheila, R. and Brian, W. (2014). Achieving competencies for nursing practice: A handbook for student nurses. Berkshire, UK: McGraw-Hill Education (UK). Appendix: Personal innovation plan Competency to be improved Proposed action Due date Time management Research on academic materials June 31, 2015 Use of gesture in communication Research on academic materials June 31, 2015 Cultural sensitivity Research on academic materials June 31, 2015 Knowledge on human behavior and theories of motivation Registering for classes on the topics October 31, 2015 Empathy competency Practicing to be attached to work June 31, 2015 Situational leadership competency Review of literature on situational leadership Mentorship June 31, 2015 November 30, 2015 Read More