Reflective Journal - Week 2

This week I feel like I learned a lot! I came into this course not really knowing what to expect and wondering how we could take a whole semester talking about the subject of leadership. I think this week my eyes were opened to the broader world of what is involved in leadership as a whole. It is so great to better understand the difference between management and leadership, to begin to understand the differences between leadership styles, and to be introduced into the realm of management/leadership theory.

Discussing our own personal definitions of leaders, in our group we found that we all thought very much alike. The list that was provided to us to discuss, included great people and villainous people, but yet all showed the characteristics of leaders. It was a bit difficult to think of people like Hitler as a leader, but it was also an eye opening experience being able to look at it from other perspectives. I don’t think this discussion really changed my opinion on the subject, but it did help me recognize how more in depth things can be analyzed than I realize at surface level. Being able to broaden our minds and critically think in more depth it a great learning opportunity.

I think one of the biggest things I took out of this week is that there is not one correct management/leadership style over another. Every situation/person may require a different technique. It is similar to how every patient requires in depth and different care even for similar diagnoses. I plan to begin using this in my approach of coworkers and as I hopefully work my way into management/leadership roles. I have adjusted my focus a bit, to not just being constantly assessing patients, but also coworkers and everyone around me.

I feel like this week was a great springboard for me personally into the rest of the course. I am excited to further understand and learn about the topic of leadership. What we have covered so far intrigues me and I am hopeful to learn more. I hope to be able to dedicate extra time into this course, almost as I would treating it as a self-help course. It is my hope that I can use the material we covered this week and that we will cover in the future to better myself as a nurse/manager/leader.