My Leadership Learning Experiences

Leadership Learning Experiences Throughout my professional career, the following leadership experiences has helped shaped me to be the leader I am today and define the role of leadership. The Health Program Coordinator role provided me the time and space to practice my public speaking skills. This role empowered me to address the health concerns in my community and increased my courage to speak in public. Secondly, my team lead role provided me several analytical, technical, and quality skills to supervise a team of twenty. These skills allowed me to enhance my operation, supervision, and efficiency skills to increase productivity. It also allowed me to expand on my coaching skills and increase my emotional intelligence. In addition to my …show more content…
All the learning experiences prior to my engagement supervisor role were sweet and simple. I did not get exposed to a leadership figure in which my position will be on the line. Leadership to me, as an individual contributor, used to be more about making a change to improve the lives of others. Leading others who wants to follow and believe in the same goals and values. However, the engagement supervisor role gave me a different perspective of leadership. It challenged me in so many different ways; intellectually, mentally, emotionally, physically, and …show more content…
Being salaried, performance is based on getting the work done versus being timed on the clock. Several issues I faced in this role are time management and ensuring there is supervision for my team. In order to get my work done and ensure staff are being productive, I find myself putting in more hours than I probably should; which has put me through exhaustion. From this experience and from reading the book Leadership on the Line, I have come to accept that I need to set time to anchor, know my limits, and my vulnerabilities (Heifetz and Linsky, 2002). If I don’t know myself and my limits or vulnerabilities, I will push myself to exhaustion and still have no solution. As leaders, it is okay to feel overwhelmed and hunkered down. But at the same time, leaders need to step out of their role from time to time to be in touch with reality. To be with family, friends, and the community. Balancing work, personal life, and having a place of sanctuary is detrimental to reflect on ongoing issues. Being fully charged physically, emotionally, and mentally can help leaders, like me, tackle difficult issues day in and day out with an open