A blog from Adriana D Glenn, Director of RN-BSN Program Track, GW School of Nursing
Can we all sit around the campus quad and sing “kumbaya” as members of an academic community and just live in harmony? The answer is NO! HOWEVER, if you are a leader with aspirations to improve how you work with people – your faculty and staff on your academic units, participating in GWALA will certainly enhance your skillset. You may not have harmony per se but, you will attain elevated levels of understanding, compassion, empathy and movement toward transparency in your interactions with the various members of our academic community. Each month, I eagerly looked forward to connecting with my colleagues from across the GW community for learning and fellowship.
My leadership journey has not been a straightforward path, nor one that I was consciously aware of or actively pursuing. GWALA’s pre-work assignments, speakers and assessments have helped me to recognize my potential as an effective leader. All the sessions were very interesting. A big takeaway for me was the need to become more intentional in my decision making as a leader. I learned, often in decision making, we have time to gather more data, speak to others and respond to a situation in an informed, thoughtful way. This approach facilitates trust and acknowledges a circumstance has been viewed from multiple perspectives with deep thought and the actions that follow are with purposeful intent.
Oh, and did I mention there is a project you need to do if you chose to embark on this 7-month GWALA journey? Well, let’s forget about that part because it really is not bad AND some of those skills you learned in the sessions will be used as you develop your project. Let’s take for example, emotional intelligence (EI), a learned behavior which is type of social intelligence involving self-awareness and self-regulation. EI requires the ability to understand and manage your own emotions, as well as recognize and influence the emotions of those around you. Emotional intelligence is important because it can help you improve your interpersonal relationships (personal and work) and by handling emotions, you will be able to guide and help people which are traits of a good leader!
My lessons learned on why EI is important at work:
- Allows a leader to be more efficient when one is empathetic and understanding of others’ emotions.
- Permits the leader to adjust his/her/their behavior before it becomes a problem for the coworker(s)
- EI requires active listening, positivity, and empathy and these are traits good leaders possess.
- Awareness of nonverbal communication and cues allows a leader to proactively address a situation before it becomes an issue.
- Leaders possessing strong EI are encouraging to others - “great leaders don’t tell you what to do but show you how it is done.”
Two areas for improvement of EI that resonated with me included: asking for help and the importance of being intentional regarding daily EI practice. Asking for help is a good way to facilitate the feedback you are seeking to improve communication while daily practice of EI does not make it perfect but facilitates improvement.
GWALA has been carefully constructed to be interactive, appeal to various learning styles and to keep the fellows engaged. GWALA provides the tools and a foundation from which you can grow in your leadership and inspire those around you. So, while you may not get to kumbaya in academe, you may be able to reach nirvana.
Wishing you all the best!
Adriana D Glenn, Cohort 3