Running head: LEADERSHIP GROWTH

Leadership Portfolio Project

Analysis of Leadership Growth
Medaille College
Lorraine Sennett

Author Note
This paper was prepared on January 10, 2016 for MOL 630E, taught by Marianne Sullivan.

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OVERVIEW OF MY EXPERIENCE
I have found the overall experience of pursuing my online advanced degree in
Organizational Leadership to be challenging and thought provoking. I have found the material to
be suited to the degree and have learned a wealth of knowledge that will help me as I pursue
future leadership roles. I am quite confident that the information coupled with my life
experiences both personally and professionally, will accelerate my ability to gain entry to a
leadership role in the future. The information presented has provided me with increased insight
into myself and provided me the opportunity to reflect on my past experiences as a leader while
shaping and defining my present and future roles as a leader. The skills that I have acquired
during this program will allow for growth and advancement in my current organization. I feel
that I have a better understanding of leadership theory and concept that will help in my ongoing
development of leadership. I believe I have grown and matured during the program in the areas
of change management, improved critical thinking and analytical skills, greater understanding of
human behavior and ethical behavior as well the important role that diversity plays. I have
gained a better grasp of finance operations and functionality along with methods to develop
successful business strategies in todays modern day business world. The information is
practical in its application and relatable allowing for me to grasp different concepts, theories and
strategies. This has increased my level of competency allowing for confidence within myself to
feel I can more effectively lead teams by shaping the environment within organizations and
increasing the ability for them to be both profitable and sustainable. I feel that having healthy
ethical principles is fundamental to a good leader and found the information to be a good
reminder to be aware of negative influences that can impact ethical behavior and decision
making.

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ACTIVITIES AND ASSESSMENT TOOLS

The assessment tool that I found to be the most beneficial in terms of gaining insight to
myself as a leader was the completion of the DiSC and ESCI assessments. I found the
information to be helpful by being able to take a candid look at myself both before and after the
course. The ESCI tool was helpful in gaining feedback from others and being able to compare
their perspective to that of your own on in different areas of competence relevant to leadership
qualities. I found the information to be helpful in being able to take and honest look at where I
thought as I was in identified areas of self-awareness, self-management, social-awareness,
relationships management, and cognitive awareness as opposed to where my peers felt I was
based on their observations and interactions with me. The DiSC assessment provided me to see
areas of change in my own self by first taking the assessment and then retaking it. There is
further assessment of this area in Section 2 of my portfolio. I also find the decisional analysis
tool to be one of value as it offers an approach that is systematically addressing a problem rather
than just being reactive to it.
CHALLENGES
I knew that pursuing my Masters Degree while working full time and raising a family
would be challenging. This has proven to be true and one of the biggest challenges to date in my
life. I have learned how to maximize my time in ways that I had not thought possible. I have
learned more than ever that self-care is an important part of being an effective leader. This
entails knowing when, where and how to establish healthy boundaries that will provide a suitable
balance that is manageable. Other challenges included working virtually with others to complete
work, a valuable skill that will help in continuing to adapt, learn and grow in the current Digital

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Age. I feel proud and accomplished by taking on this challenge and have learned from others that
I may not have ever had the opportunity to work with if not for the current technology. I also
may not have been able to complete my advanced degree without having to make more personal
sacrifices if not for the current technology so for that I am grateful. Learning how to utilize
different programs and websites has built added confidence that will help me to have a working
knowledge as a leader in regards to current technologies and their applications. The other big
challenge for me related to coursework was learning new models such as casual loops and
financial models. I am proud to say that I have learned some added skills in these two areas and
have gained improved knowledge and skills that will help as a leader. Having financial
knowledge is an essential skill that a leader must have as their job relates to organizations having
successful outcomes and profitability is a main factor in the sustainability of any business.
EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP
My definition of a leader is one who is honest with self and others. It is a person that is
self-aware of their own strengths and weaknesses and has the ability to listen to others and take
feedback and do their own self-assessment. A leader is emotionally intelligent and has mutual
respect with personal accountability and responsibility for their own actions. A leader is also one
is knowledgeable and skilled with the ability to grow and learn while being an active part of any
change process. A leader is one who has vision and shares this with his team and is able to take
risks with the guidance of others. I find that there are traits that come naturally to me when it
comes to leadership, most notably being empathic towards others. I believe my genuine
compassion for others is something that is intrinsic and have based my life and career on helping
others. I am committed, hard-working and open minded to change. My passion can at times be
to a fault as I can get frustrated when things are not moving at a pace or up to my standards.

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Through good mentoring and coaching I have been able to be more self-aware and mindful of
my emotionality and as a result have what I believe to be high emotional intelligence. The skill I
have had to develop most during this program is those associated with finances along with
learning different terminology related to technology. I feel this has brought more attention to
areas that will balance me out in the role of leadership giving me a bigger picture of the whole
and how the parts all work together to make the whole. I found theory work to be helpful
reinforcing human behaviors and how we must be mindful of perception, interpretations, belief
systems and how biases have an impact on thinking and behaviors. I enjoyed the segments on
learning organizations and mental models discussed best by Peter Senge and found this aligned
with my own philosophies of how we can learn from others and the importance of having high
performance teams that are cohesive and working towards a shared vision. I myself try to work
towards my own personal mastery of being a member of high performance teams and feel it is
one of the building blocks to becoming a great leader.
LEADERSHIP SKILLS AND BEHAVIORS
There are many different facets to an organization and by having a better understanding
of the complexity of organizations, I can better ascertain the proper strategy and directive to take
when faced with the challenge of solving system problems. The first step to being able to solve a
problem is to understand what the problem is. The skills I have learned related to problem
solving have been some of the most valuable skills I have learned during this process. The
information on systems thinking also contributed to this process. I strongly agree with the
information that was provided by Russell Ackoff and feel strongly moved and motivated by his
theories. I can see how the whole is a sum of its parts and find myself referencing this almost
daily in my life as I approach a situation. It has strengthened my own philosophies on working

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as a cohesive team and being able to approach a problem from various angles. There has to be
the ability to look at the bigger picture and have vision as to what this is in order to come to
any types of decision. I feel that the more we are able to get to the root cause of the problem, the
better the outcomes of long term solutions. I find that reactivity to problems can cause more
harm in the long run and find that by taking the time to engage in the proper steps of a decision
making process will produce higher rates of success in solving the problem. The information
provided in the decision making class was very helpful providing resources that can be
applicable to real life situations. The book Yes or No was one of extra value to me offering
information that was quick to decifer with practical application. I have learned that decisions
must be made quickly but with good analysis and feedback to ensure the risk one is taking will
be the best one possible. There is also room for failure and to learn from failure is imperative
with ongoing assessment of the decision making process critical to any organizations
sustainability. There has to be the ability to reflect on where mistakes have been made in order
to improve and a leader must be a part of this process with the ability to also look at themselves
in the process, not just others. This in essence is the foundation of a learning organization that is
optimal for being able to grow and adapt to the globalization of todays modern day business
world. The tool I have been using that I acquired is the PrOACT that offers eight elements of
making smart choices including; problem, objectives, alternatives, consequences, and tradeoffs,
uncertainty, risk tolerance, and linked decisions. The model is helpful to me as it supports the
philosophy that problems need to be fully defined and understood prior to proceeding forward.
This will help me to make decision in the real world and decide confidently.
MISSION STATEMENT

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My mission statement is to be able to effectively lead others in an empathic way while

providing quality customer service. I will lead with integrity, respect, passion, honesty and
determination. It is my desire to touch the lives of my peers, community and patients I serve.
FUTURE PLANS
My future plans are to obtain a position in leadership at my current organization and to
facilitate change by leading high performance teams within the healthcare system. I would like
the opportunity to provide mentorship to others who have a passion for helping others and
providing the highest quality of care possible to people in our community. I believe that I am a
good candidate and have been encouraged by my peers including those within leadership to
pursue my advanced degree to be able to pursue opportunities within leadership. I find the
prospect of this to be very exciting and feel the information provided to me through this program
has given me the advanced knowledge and skills that I need to succeed. I will continue to
practice upholding healthy values and principles of a leader in both my personal and professional
life.