Ways Leaders Lead

There are many ways that Leaders choose to lead. Each style has merit and could play to the leaders strengths. 

 

This image names some traditional leadership styles. Each plays to a person's strengths.

Someone who has Democratic type of leadership wants others to feel like they can be part of the leadership decisions. It allows for the people who follow to have a say in what goes on. Someone who leads in a Democratic style is looking for the input of people around them and wants their input. 

Someone who takes a Coaching style they are good at helping their followers grow in their roles. People in this style are good at bringing out the best in the people around them.

Someone with a Coercive leadership style is good at getting people to believe in their vision. This style is good at getting things done when they need to be. This leader would have to be good at getting people to truly believe in their visions and ways of doing things. This style would not be successful most of the time. It does not allow for contributions of the team. 

These are just a few of the many leadership styles. They give you a sense of how each on could work for some situations and fail in others. An important part of being a leader is know which style will work with your team and in your situation. If your team is in the middle of an emergent situation then you make not want to use a democratic style because it would take up time to come to a consensus within the group, but a coercive style would allows for things to get done quickly. Each styles has its strengths and weaknesses.

Pharmacists and Doctors and Nurses.. OH MY

A growing trend in the health care world is working on interprofessional health care teams. The goal is to work together to optimize the patients care and outcome. However, working on and interprofessional team is not always a cake walk. The teams consists of different people from different backgrounds who are most likely going to look at the patient through different eyes. To work on an interprofessional team, all professions must understand each other's strengths and weaknesses and have respect for what the other brings to the table.

As part of a Leadership retreat I attended Pharmacy, Nursing and PT students gathered to work together on patient cases. 

We started the day with writing any preconceived notions we had about each others professions. We learned that as professions we did not truly understand what each other REALLY did in our jobs. When we learned the expertise each profession on the team possessed, we were able to gain more respect for each other. 

When we worked on the patient cases it was now easy to see who would be responsible for each aspect of the case. A few main things we highlighted: We knew the nurses would be administering the patients medications and would have the most interaction with friends and family. We knew the pharmacists would be the patients advocate for receiving, taking and understanding their medications. We knew PT would help with rehabilitation of patients physically and with assessment of their home.

We were able to see that as a team, understanding how each profession could help the patient separately would benefit with the patients overall care.

That day we learned important strategies to working well on an interprofessional team. There needs to be communication, respect and organization of each profession's responsibilities and skills for the team to work well. 

The best way of communication was being open and honest. Each profession needs to have respect and listen when needed. Communication was key that day in the Leadership retreat and applies to similar situations in all settings. 

Here are the Pharmacy LEADERS Track members after the interprofessional Leadership Retreat.

Leadership Without the Stress...

Leadership involves a lot of time and a lot of commitment. Especially as a student and a leader the stress can be enough to make you want to rip your hair out. Half the time I think I must look like this:

So how do you manage everything on your plate, get it all done on time, and keep from going crazy all at once? For me it meant organizing my time.

When I started college, like most, I had NO idea how to study. Studying in high school meant looking over my notes the night before the exam. Now I was in college and the material as twice as hard and three times as much. On top of this, I was in leadership roles that involved even more of my time that I realized I didn't have. That isn't even factoring in having a life, going to the gym, being with people I love and eating. I had to find a way to manage my time and not crumble under the stress of every day life. 

That is when I became best friends with my calendar. In order to manage my time I needed to see everything that needed to be done and by when. I think keeping an accurate calendar is KEY to time management. By first noting when the item was assigned and then when it was due I got a picture of how long I had to do it..... 

And this is where the check lists come in. Make short term goals! make midpoint goals. Say you have to write a paper for a class, study for an exam and finish a leadership projection all the same day: plan it out. My keys to reducing stress and managing my time include a few easy steps...

1. Prioritize - which tasks can be completed earlier than the due date: start your study guide as you learn! Do the project first because it doesn't matter if you finish it early.

2. Make a schedule: If I know I have an multiple things to do on the same day I schedule the days leading up. I may chose to write my paper a day at a time: research day 1 and 2, outline day 3, write days 4-7. 

3. Study in short bursts instead of cramming: set out 1-2 hour blocks of time to study the material each day leading up to the exam. By learning 1 or 2 sections a day and reviewing the night before exam you cut out the cramming.

4. Delegate: part of being a leader is knowing that you can't always be the person to do everything. You leading people for a reason and those people can help! I put being a perfectionist aside and learned to trust everyone around me to get the job done.

5. Schedule some time for yourself: It may seem like in the midst of 100 things to do that you don't have time for you, but you definitely do! I always give myself a few hours to do things for myself. I will give time to go to the gym, read a book, or just watch TV. Maybe I'll leave time to go to dinner with a friend, or call my mom. 

There is no foul proof way to manage time, but finding the strategy best for yourself cuts down the stress and keeps a balance. Dividing the things you need to do into smaller tasks makes it less daunting and more manageable.