Running head: LEADERSHIP AND GROUP COLLABORATION 1
Running head: LEADERSHIP AND GROUP COLLABORATION 1
Copyright ©2019 Capella University. Copy and distribution of this document are prohibited.
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
