Leadership and Group Collaboration

I am thankful for the consideration in taking on the leadership position of the proposed project to address diversity. I am excited at the prospect of taking on the challenge of leading others. I believe that the project will be better served with competent leadership to achieve success. In this case, leadership is the practice concerned with helping self and others to do the right thing. The group leader would be expected to set direction, build an inspiring vision, and create something new in the process of working with others. In an ideal situation, the leader would map out what the group needs to do in order to achieve its goals, with the leader focusing on presenting dynamic, exciting and inspiring approaches that would keep the other stakeholders interested. Even as the leader sets and maps the group’s direction, there is a need to apply management skills that guide the group members towards the desired direction in a smooth and efficient way (Kantanen et al., 2017).

The present letter discusses some of the unique leadership qualities that are necessary for the ideal project leader. It is my strong belief that I would be the ideal leader for the diversity project since I exhibit unique leadership skills that are of value to the project’s successful completions. I have worked at this facility for four years, during which time I have gained an awareness of the organization’s culture, approach to diversity, and existing problems. As the project leader, I would exhibit two significant leadership qualities that are of much value to this project that tackles diversity. This is particularly so in the face of cultural diversity, gender differences, and group dynamics at the facility (Stewart & DeNisco, 2019).  Leadership and Group Collaboration Essay Paper

Firstly, I have a good understanding of cultural stereotypes. As the project leader, I would leverage this quality to avoid stereotyping and personal biases while being open minded to the differences that exist. A good understanding of cultural stereotypes is important for genuinely valuing others for their contributions and not for their social identities or demographics (Dauvrin & Lorant, 2015). Failure to be conscious of cultural stereotyping and addressing them would result in the failure to build trust and productivity while hindering commitment. In addition, the awareness helps with developing an objective leadership approach that deals with facts and does not rely on assumptions. Besides that, it helps with setting a good example and acting as a role model on what the desired conduct entails. Additionally, this quality helps with enabling the leader to respect others and support them in reaching their full potential. This quality focuses on leveraging respect and aspects of ethics and morality to lead and support others to avoid developing negative stereotypes (Butts & Rich, 2018).

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Secondly, I have self-awareness of my weaknesses and strengths as a leader. This is important as it determines how the leader would react to situations demanding decisions. Having knowledge of self-limitations, strengths, weaknesses and behavior patterns helps the leader to be a more effective performer across the different cultural settings. This quality helps the leader to capitalize on advantages while overcoming stereotypes, all key responses for addressing diversity. Furthermore, the quality helps the leader to appreciate any differences that exist between individuals thereby developing an awareness of the complex and multicultural environment in the organization. This helps with appreciating the uniqueness among individuals. Every individual in the organization and part of the project team has specific cultural background, life experiences and values that shape how they behave. An understanding of these differences is vital for appreciating the diversely valuable insights that each individual brings into play. Moreover, having an understanding and appreciation of similarities is important for narrowing the existing cultural gaps (McEwen & Wills, 2018). The two identified leadership qualities would be invaluable for leading the diversity project.

If I were to pick a nurse leader from outside of this organization to lead this project, then I would choose Barbara Nichols. She is the first African American president of the American Nurses Association. She broke the cultural barriers to take on a leadership position in a national organization, a journey that required her to regularly confront cultural and race barriers. She started practice nursing in the 1950s, at a time while the profession was subject to institutionalized discrimination that kept the ethnic minority groups from practicing as nurses and advancing in the professional ladder. As a nurse who was just beginning her professional practice and career, Barbara was faced with segregated hospitals and nursing education institutions. The institutionalized discrimination targeted ethnic minority groups through a rigid quota system. Few nurses from minority groups had an opportunity to earn a Bachelor’s degree or other advanced degrees, and fewer were able to take on leadership roles in the profession. Barbara surmounted all these hurdle and eventually created new history as the first African American nurse to be elected into state-level and national-level leadership positions in nursing. All through her career, Barbara was able to help others from minority backgrounds to enter and advance in the nursing profession, a mission she is passionate about. Barbara describes her career as one that has been spent raising the issue of ethnic and racial exclusion in nursing and looking for effective ways to include the excluded groups into the profession (Sullivan, 2013). Barbara has been a role model in tackling the issue of diversity and would leverage her extensive experience in leading the project.

Although I am no as accomplished in leadership as Barbara Nichols, I believe that I have the capacity to emulate the qualities and skills that made her a successful and memorable leader. While I have not experienced as much discrimination as Barbara

experienced, I have witnessed the changes and efforts made to recognize and improve diversity management. In addition, I do not have as much leadership experience as Barbara, but I am willing to learn thus making me open to new and innovative leadership approaches. In applying similar skills and qualities, I would focus on recognizing capabilities, performance and merit rather than ethnic, social or cultural identifies.

I understand the need for effective leadership as an important feature for ensuring that group members are motivated to provide exceptional performance. As the group leader, I would focus on presenting a culture and environment that encourages participation towards the project success and performance. This is best achieved by applying a democratic leadership approach that focuses on inclusive leadership. This approach helps with building consensus among the group members through shared participation and leadership. All the group members would have an equal opportunity to make contributions towards defining and measuring the project goals. The leadership approach is effective and appropriate for the project since it ensures that the team members take ownership of the project and buy into its decisions, plans and goals. Also, the approach helps to present new and innovative ideas while addressing uncertainties from the members, such as helping a member to understand the importance of a specific activity. Besides that, the leadership approach supports decision-making by offering access to a rich resource of information and knowledge acquired through open discussions (Zaccagnini & White, 2017).

Democratic leadership approach would be appropriate for the project since it encourages participation in decisions that need to be made by creating a form of shared leadership that invites each member to share their opinion, experience and knowledge about the situation. This allows for new ideas to be openly shared without judgement. This leadership approach offers advantages. Firstly, it is easy to apply since the only requirement is to share information and allowing every member to feel that their perspectives and opinions matter. Secondly, it helps to solve complex problems by tapping into the available creative resources and finding new innovative methods. Thirdly, it helps to build team-based relationships. Fourthly, it improves the team’s relevant knowledge. Finally, it creates higher level of satisfaction. Still, the democratic leadership approach presents a concern. It does not always offer a positive outcome as many options are presented and there is no guarantee that the right option would be selected. Besides that, it is difficult to have a true consensus so that the time spent in discussion becomes a waste (Zaccagnini & White, 2017).

If I were to be selected to lead the project, I would apply the discussed leadership quality and approach to effectively facilitate collaborative input from the group members. Leveraging collaboration is important for ensuring that the project team is successful. In fact, collaboration helps in increasing trust levels, engaging the group members, and improving performance. Based on this awareness, as the project leader, I would make collaboration a priority with a focus in integrating cooperative values in the group ethos. I would ensure collaboration among the team members through five approaches. The first approach is repeatedly sharing the group’s objectives. This is important for giving the group members a broad goal for the project, and bringing them together under a common objective even as they

worked towards achieving that objective (Butts & Rich, 2018). The second approach is clearly communicating the expectations for the project and the collaboration involved. This would be the minimum standard for ensuring that the persons involved in the project have a good understanding that collaboration has been prioritized in the project. The third approach is identifying and highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of the individual team members. This is important for developing knowledge of each member and ensuring that they feel appreciated as the group recognizes their value. The fourth approach is fostering honest and open communication that would make the group members to feel that they can meaningful contributions to the project activities and share ideas that improve the productivity of the project. The final approach is promoting a group mentality and working environment. This helps with creating a sense of camaraderie among the team members so that they feel that their perspectives are important and appreciated. This would motivate the members to put more effort into the group activities (McEwen & Wills, 2018). In addition, the application of democratic leadership approach will leverage communication technologies to ensure contact with the team members, particularly emails and private social media group messaging platforms. The contact will facilitate decision making by allowing the group members to present their opinions and hold comprehensive discussions without necessarily having face-to-face meetings (Raingruber, 2017).

I have presented my case for consideration as the diversity project leader and have offered my opinions on the ideal leadership skills, qualities, and approach for the project. A good leader for the diversity project should leverage communication and inclusivity by allowing all stakeholders to participate in decision-making. I believe that this email outlines leadership features that are invaluable for a successful project.

Smarthinking Tutor Response Form

Your tutor has written overview comments about your essay in the form below. Your tutor has also embedded comments [in bold and in brackets] within your essay. Thank you for choosing Smarthinking to help you improve your writing!

Hello, Cassundra! I am Mabel E., and I look forward to working with you on this Grammar and Documentation Review to improve your writing today. Let’s get started!

*Writing Strength:
You do a good job of citing your sources within your text: Also, the approach helps to present new and innovative ideas while addressing uncertainties from the members, such as helping a member to understand the importance of a specific activity (Zaccagnini & White, 2017). Here, you appropriately place the authors’ surnames and the year of publication in parentheses at the end of your sentence. Thus, your readers immediately know where your information comes from. Nice job, Cassundra!

Sentence Structure:

Commas are missing from some of your sentences that enumerate items in lists. Take a look at this: Having knowledge of self-limitations, strengths, weaknesses and behavior patterns helps the leader to be a more effective performer across the different cultural settings.

Here, you already use commas between the first and the second items (self-limitations, strengths) and between the second and third items (strengths, weaknesses) in your list. However, your third and fourth (last) items are not yet properly separated from each other by a comma. You need to properly use serial commas to ensure that your readers will easily identify each of the items that you’re enumerating. Take a look at these examples:

• Children with mental problems need care, love, understanding, and attention.
• For a student to excel in class, she needs hard work, time management, self-discipline, and love for studying.

Now, make sure to use commas in your sentences accordingly.

Word Choice:

Some words are incorrectly used in your draft. Take a look: This is best achieved by applying a democratic leadership approach the focuses in inclusive leadership.

Here, you use the word “the” before “focuses” and “on” after “focuses.” However, those two words before and after “focuses” don’t seem to be the right ones to use in your sentence. Make sure to always use correct words so that your sentence will become clear. For instance, in your sentence, instead of “the,” you seem to need “that” to properly indicate the restrictive clause that modifies the democratic leadership approach that you mention in your sentence. Then, instead of “in,” you need the preposition “on” as this is the correct preposition to pair “focus” with. See this: “She focuses on improving herself.” Now, make the necessary revisions in your sentence, and try to use correct words throughout your draft.

Grammar & Mechanics:

There are unnecessary commas in some of your sentences. Here’s an instance: “This is important for giving the group members a broad goal for the project, and bringing them together under a common objective even as they worked towards achieving that objective (Butts & Rich, 2018).”

Here, your comma only separates the two things that you’re enumerating: 1) giving the group members a broad goal for the project and 2) bringing them together under a common objective even as they worked towards achieving that objective. Thus, this comma only disrupts the flow of your sentence. You need to remove unnecessary commas like this so that your sentence will flow smoothly and your idea will become easy to understand. Remember that some of the main uses of commas are 1) to separate introductory elements from main clauses (e.g. In the US, divorce has already become a norm.), 2) separate items in a list (e.g. Some of the issues a married couple faces are financial problems, lack of communication, lack of time for each other, and lack of trust.), and 3) separate nonessential elements in the middle of sentences from main clauses (e.g. Her parents, John and Mary, were divorced two years ago.). In the case of your sentence, your comma does not fulfill a certain purpose, and thus, it needs to be removed. Take a look at my example:

• With an unnecessary comma: When dealing with clients, good listening skills, and interpersonal skills are important.
• Revised: When dealing with clients, good listening skills and interpersonal skills are important.

Make sure to remove unnecessary commas in your sentences. For additional information, you can follow this link: Commas.

Summary of Next Steps:

• Use commas to properly separate items in lists.
• Use correct words all the time.
• Remove unnecessary commas in some of your sentences.

Thank you for submitting your essay for a review, Cassundra. I enjoyed helping you with this step in the revision process. Have a good day! – Mabel E.

You can find more information about writing, grammar, and usage in the Smarthinking Writer’s Handbook.

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Leadership and Group Collaboration Essay Paper