Leadership is an integral element in any job, regardless of the work title. However, it is important to recognize that leadership is not just one single skill;

Running head: LEADERSHIP AND GROUP COLLABORATION 1

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Leadership and Group Collaboration

Learner’s Name

Capella University

Collaboration, Communication, and Case Analysis for Master's Learners

Leadership and Group Collaboration

December, 2019

LEADERSHIP AND GROUP COLLABORATION 2

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December 28, 2019

Lynnette

Lakeland Medical Clinic

Hello, Lynnette! I am thankful and excited to take on the proposed project. I strongly

believe effective leadership in health care is a critical component in the success of an

organization. This project is a great opportunity to enhance my skills in solving

organizational issues such as the diversity issue at Lakeland Medical Clinic. I understand

from your e-mail the primary issue we must focus on is the staff’s lack of cultural

competence. Culture affects the way we comprehend our reality, how we communicate, and

how we perceive our surroundings (Center for Community Health and Development, 2019).

As our population becomes more culturally diverse, it is important for health care centers to

be culturally competent. For an organization to be culturally competent, it is important for

employees to communicate effectively and appreciate the diversity of cultures (White,

Plompen, Tao, Micallef, & Haines, 2019).

To handle the diversity issue effectively, a health care leader must possess skills such

as excellent communication, strategic thinking, interpersonal skills, and the ability to plan

efficiently. A leader should communicate to the staff the vision and the goal of the diversity

project in a manner that creates a sense of unity and purpose among the staff members. A

leader must plan strategically to change the system by anticipating problems that the staff

might face while implementing new processes. A leader should encourage staff members

from interdisciplinary teams to actively voice their opinions to validate the processes that

have been implemented and suggest changes that could enhance the efficiency of the staff's

involvement in these processes.

LEADERSHIP AND GROUP COLLABORATION 3

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An individual I would choose to lead a project such as this would be Dr. Lisa E.

Harris, medical director and chief executive officer of Eskenazi Health, Indianapolis. For 30

years, Dr. Harris has practiced medicine and has been committed to improving medical

services for minorities. She is constantly engaged in research, teaching, and patient care.

Today, the Eskenazi Health campus is one of the largest health care campuses to achieve a

gold certification in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (Eskenazi Health, n.d.).

Dr. Harris is an excellent example of a leader who practices the transformational style of

leadership. Dr. Harris’s success can be attributed to her ability to take risks to achieve her

goals. She has actively worked toward developing the quality of health care services in local

communities. She ran a successful campaign to seek voter approval for the construction of a

new hospital that could solve existing health care issues, revolutionize health care, and

provide affordable health care. There are certain similarities and differences between Dr.

Harris’s and my leadership style. The similarities include leading by example, being

approachable, demonstrating strong work ethics, being willing to train and motivate

subordinates to achieve their goals, and working to fix issues in the system.

For the proposed project, I would implement a process flow that provides enough

room for innovation. Dr. Harris implemented a complex workflow that could reduce the

bandwidth for innovation within the organization. This approach might not be ideal for a

clinic setting, especially when tackling sensitive issues such as diversity. Consequently, my

approach would differ from Dr. Harris’s; I would encourage a diverse and inclusive

workplace that also promotes interprofessional collaboration. This, in turn, encourages the

sharing of experiences and expertise among staff members and opens avenues for innovation.

Steps to Address the Diversity Issue

When leading the project at Lakeland Medical Clinic, I will utilize key qualities of

both transformational and collaborative types of leadership to effectively address the

LEADERSHIP AND GROUP COLLABORATION 4

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diversity issue. One approach is to set up a multicultural collaboration between the staff at the

clinic and the residents. This can be achieved by forming an interdisciplinary committee that

consists of staff members from different disciplines as well as members from the community.

Collaborations between physicians, nurses, and other health care professionals promote

knowledge sharing and can make the processes that have been set up to achieve staff and

patient satisfaction more efficient.

Mutual respect, trust, and collaboration are some characteristics of an effective team.

Collaboration in a health care setting involves professionals taking on complementary roles

and work together, sharing responsibility to solve problems, and formulating effective plans

for patient care. An important aspect of collaboration is open and effective communication,

which builds respect and fosters trust. The roles and responsibilities of team members must

be clearly communicated to prevent conflicts of interest. Another approach would be to

analyze the strengths and weaknesses of team members through an internal assessment and

delegate work based on their capabilities. Training sessions should be set up for team

members who lack certain skills. It is important to motivate and encourage team members by

identifying and valuing their contributions. My approach would be to mandate shared

decision-making within the team to encourage negotiation, openness, and trust. Shared-

decision making can make way for various innovative strategies for handling the clinic’s

diversity issue (Morley & Cashell, 2017).

Diversity issues can arise from practical problems such as language barriers and

cultural practices or from deeper systemic issues such as staff prejudices and racism. To

address diversity issues stemming from practical problems, we will initiate training programs

for staff to sensitize them to Haitian culture and values. Diversity coaches can be hired to

train staff members. Diversity training provides information about dietary needs and

restrictions, language barriers, and psychological triggers (Cooper-Gamson, 2017). Staff

LEADERSHIP AND GROUP COLLABORATION 5

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members who actively participate in improving their cultural competency should be

recognized and rewarded to motivate and encourage other staff members to do so. To address

systemic issues, we will require an organization-wide assessment of employees and their

cultural biases and provide mandatory antiracism and diversity training (Shepherd, Willis-

Esqueda, Newton, Sivasubramaniam, & Paradies, 2019).

Another approach would be to tweak existing hiring policies. We should assess the

cultural competency of candidates, rather than just their academic qualifications and previous

work experience, before recruiting them. A more diverse workforce can help improve an

organization’s cultural competency (Rahman, 2019). We can provide employment

opportunities to individuals from the local community by setting up training camps that can

equip them with the required skills to work at the clinic, thereby improving cultural diversity

in the workforce.

In this e-mail, I have presented multiple strategies to address the diversity issue such

as initiating staff training and hiring diversity coaches along with suggestions to change

existing hiring policies. Implementing these strategies can increase the organization’s cultural

competency and workforce diversity. Improving an organization’s cultural competency

assures improved efficiency of clinical staff as well as patient satisfaction (White et al.,

2019).

LEADERSHIP AND GROUP COLLABORATION 6

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References

Center for Community Health and Development. (2019). Community Tool Box. Section 8.

Multicultural collaboration. Retrieved from https://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-

contents/culture/cultural-competence/multicultural-collaboration/main

Cooper-Gamson, L. (2017). Are we bridging the gap? A review of cultural diversity within

stoma care. British Journal of Nursing, 26(17), S24–S28.

https://doi.org/10.12968/bjon.2017.26.17.S24

Eskenazi Health. (n.d.). Lisa E. Harris, MD. Retrieved from https://fsph.iupui.edu/doc/news-

events/Lisa-Harris-Bio.pdf

Morley, L., & Cashell, A. (2017). Collaboration in health care. Journal of Medical Imaging

and Radiation Sciences, 48, 207–216. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmir.2017.02.071

Rahman, U. H. F. B. (2019). Diversity management and role of leader. Open Economics,

2(1), 30–39. https://doi.org/10.1515/openec-2019-0003

Shepherd, S. M., Willis-Esquesa, C., Newton, D., Sivasubramaniam, D., & Paradies, Y.

(2019). The challenge of cultural competence in the workplace: Perspectives of

healthcare providers. BMC Health Services Research, 19.

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-019-3959-7

White, J., Plompen, T., Tao, L., Micallef, E., & Haines, T. (2019). What is needed in

culturally competent healthcare systems? A qualitative exploration of culturally

diverse patients and professional interpreters in an Australian healthcare setting. BMC

Public Health 19, 1096. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-019-7378-9