Download D024Professional Presence Reflection PaperCollege of Health and more Lecture notes Accounting in PDF only on Docsity! 1 D024 Professional Presence Reflection Paper College of Health Professions, Western Governors University Professional Presence and Influence – D024 2 Professional Presence Reflection Paper Professional presence has a day-to-day, moment-to-moment impact on individuals, workgroups and systems. It is imperative to effective leadership. Individuals and workgroups benefit because it fosters strong cooperative partnerships, and it develops constructive behavior patterns into the fabric of a team dynamic. Behavior expectations that include civility and respect demonstrate value to each team member and create a safe workplace that encourages equal participation. Professional presence is like balancing; it is not achieved in the static sense but maintained consciously and with continuous effort. It is acquired through mastering power skills; each power skill carries its own significance and importance to the effectiveness of a leader. Five Social and Emotional Intelligence Power Skills The five Social and Emotional Intelligence (SEI) power skills include: self-awareness, self- management, interpersonal communication, executive function, and social awareness (Western Governors University [WGU], n.d.). Each of these are their own unique set of skills that contribute to professional presence and the effectiveness of nurse leader. Take the following situation: A nurse manager begins a new job at a new facility in a new unit. She quickly realizes the level of interprofessional collaboration is poor and the overall climate is far from healthy. She recognizes incivility and bullying that is lateral between nursing staff but also exists between the disciplines. It is apparent in her initial dealings with staff that they resent her arrival and they do not trust her ability to lead the unit. Despite her initial opposition from staff, she prioritizes tasks focusing on interventions that lay the groundwork for civility. She is self-motivated to improve the environment and protect her staff. She reviews the six essential elements of a Healthy Work Environment (HWE) from the American Association of Critical Care Nurses (AACN) and develops an action plan, including SMART goals. She organizes her interventions 5 takes a methodical approach to garnering input and feedback from staff through employee rounding. She uses a scripted approach to facilitate conversations with even the most difficult of staff. These conversations are opportunities for social interactions that do not come naturally to the nurse leader. Social awareness starts with self-awareness and the ability to identify personal bias or convictions that may impede interactions with others of a different mindset. This power skill allows the professional nurse to acknowledge their feelings in conjunction with differing mindsets and still deliver patient centered care with less moral distress over time (Ponte & Koppel, 2015). Executive Function Executive function is the ability to critically think, plan, organize and solve problems creatively (WGU, n.d.). In this scenario, the nurse manager is self-directed and reviews the six essential elements of an HWE; she researches actionable ways to implement change before developing a plan. She knows where to find the resources to support achieving her goals. She demonstrates executive function skills such as critical thinking, planning and organizing, problem solving, research, self-directed learning and agency. Because executive function is a culmination of the other four power skills that provide an individual with the self-discipline and mental agility required, mindfulness techniques also help develop the resiliency necessary to develop executive function. Personal Application The scenario used above is a personal account of actions and interventions used by this writer to establish professional presence in a new role. The experience identified personal strengths and weaknesses that were addressed through self-reflection and required building on personal resiliency through daily mindfulness activities like breathing and practicing gratitude. 6 The scripted approach to employee rounding required discipline and supported this writer in having conversations with resistant staff. It created opportunities to demonstrate compassion and build relationships that paid off as more staff had the opportunity to provide input; it built the groundwork necessary to assimilate into the team. It identified immediate problems that could be solved as small acts of support demonstrated to the staff by addressing matters that were important to staff. The first step in the process included using the AACN’s HWE survey to establish a baseline measurement of the work environment. This was followed by employee rounding to solicit input from the staff. This input addresses the first step in the IHI Framework for Improving Joy in Work (Perlo et al., 2018). Utilizing the HWE standards, opportunities for improvement were identified. Impediments to successful implementation were considered and addressed to support successful actions; these actions are step two in the IHI Framework (Perlo et al., 2018). One of the HWE standards is Effective Communication which includes establishing civility expectations and this was addressed collectively and with individuals as required. The third step in the IHI Framework is committing to a systems approach to making joy in the workplace a shared responsibility for all (Perlo et al., 2018). This was accomplished by identifying actionable items for each of the six essential elements and communicating the action plan to all staff. These actions include leadership’s responsibilities as well as individual’s responsibilities to our overall success. The fourth step in the IHI Framework is using improvement science to test and measure progress (Perlo et al., 2018). This will be accomplished using the AACN’s HWE survey at scheduled intervals, reporting the outcomes and adjusting strategies as required. 7 Overall, the IHI Framework for Improving Joy in Work couples well with the AACN’s HWE standards and required more of the power skills than anticipated. The ability to be introspective and grow through the process has given this author a sense of accomplishment that has been both humbling and rewarding.
