DesigningA Leadership Strategy Course
Abstract
Enhancingleadership skills amongst nurses is the fundamental subject of thecourse. The objectives culminate to achieving good and constructiveteamwork with efficient work delegation. The leaders would need thetrust of the team and thus will be required to refine theircommunication skills during the delegation process. The leaders willreceive training on other crucial aspects of being a leader such asconflict resolution, stress management, and time management amongothers, each according to their strengths. Assessments will be thencarried out per group before their last and final written exam.
Thisfour-hour course on Leadership Strategies will cater to ten studentswith diverse learning styles. There are three visual learners, threeauditory learners and finally four kinesthetic learners. The audienceintended for this leadership course are nurses that have graduatedrecently. The four-hour course is composed of seven units. The firstsix will be each thirty minutes long. The last hour would focus ondelegation of work and teamwork, uniting all of them together toconclude the course. During each unit, continuous assessments will beconducted through the use of discussions, case studies, andaudio-visual aids.
CourseObjectives
Afterthe lecture recently graduated nurses will be able to:
Describeeffective leadership styles and characteristics. Point out strategiesto contain conflict quickly and effectively. Discuss topicsassociated with the delegation and assessment of work done by peers.Discuss approaches one can use in improving their critical thinkingskills. Identify methods one can use to advance their communicationskills. Express techniques which one can use to improve theircapacity to manage any change and cope with stress. Share strategiesthat improve one’s time management skills.
CourseContent
Thefirst thirty minutes will be a lesson on Time Management. Time is ascarce resource. Time management is crucial to any leadershipposition (Huber,2013).The main aim of any leader is to ensure that any work to beundertaken is carried out at its specified time. The next lesson willfocus on how to the leader can best articulate their vision to theteam members. This lesson will be on Communication Skills. Not onlywill these skills enable leaders to express themselves to the team ina way that they fully understand, but it also helps them when itcomes to developing trust between them and the team members. Trust isvital as the team members will be motivated when they feel like theyare not only heard but respected as individuals at the same time(Kim,Jeong, Jung, & Park, 2015).This lesson would be thirty minutes in length.
CriticalThinking, this thirty-minute lesson that leads us into the secondhour of the four-hour course, will help both the leader and his orher team in coming up with effective and efficient solutions to anyproblems encountered in the field. Handling problems during teamworkare the team’s main goal critical thinking enables them to beobservant of their environment, using what they have to get what theywant. The next lesson will also be thirty minutes long, and it watersdown to a personal level when it comes to handling problems. It isStress Management it helps the leader and the team members to handleany individual problems encountered out of work, this will ensurethat the objectives and clearly met when on the field without anylooming distractions from home.
Thethird hour begins with Conflict Resolution. This lesson aims to quellany misunderstandings encountered win the field between the leadersand their team members. Since we are from varied cultures andbackgrounds, conflict is something that is to be expected in anysociety that has opened its doors to all. The students will learnmore about tolerance and open-mindedness when it comes to workingwith others. The last thirty minutes of the third hour will center onLeadership Styles and Characteristics. People are judged by theiractions and not their words. To be a leader we must know how to leadand what is expected of us as leaders. This lesson will focus onleadership styles such as delegation and characteristics such ashumility.
Thelast and final hour will delve further on Delegation of Work, it isthe most vital lesson of all, without it, the other lessons are notsufficient on their own when it comes to molding a leader. Thislesson aims to show the leader on how to best utilize his or her teamwhen it comes to assigning tasks effectively (Li& Liao, 2014).
LearningActivities
Dueto the minute amount of time presented for training and learning,most of the lessons will be done in groups so as to focus on the coreelement of the course by the delegation of work and promotingteamwork among the members. The three groups will be placed in threedifferent groups for all the units except the last lesson onDelegation of Work it is the only lesson where they will all begiven task as a single class.
Forthe three visual learners, their preferred mode of learning involvesthe use of images. It will comprise of diverse formats and fonts topoint out essential points during the lectures. It includes diagrams,graphs, maps, plans, and charts. Lecturers will be advised to usepicturesque language and gestures when addressing them. Other itemsto be used in aiding the learning process will be videos, pictures,slides and posters (Mathew& Alidmat, 2013).
Forthe four kinesthetic learners, their preferred mode of learninginvolves the use of a practical exercise or field exercises thatstimulate the senses. It often uses the trial and error method toreach a conclusion. Since field trips are out of the question due tothe limited amount of time, lecturers will be advised to giveexamples based on real-life experiences. The students will also betold to act out case studies.
Forthe three auditory learners, their preferred mode of learninginvolves the use of their ears. They prefer to listen, question anddiscuss on issues than act them out.
Studentsare advised to pay close attention to what the lecturers dictate toingest all the information offered fully. They will be given plentyof topics to discuss with themselves and their teachers. Those whoare able can use a tape recorder. They are also advised to read theirnotes out loud when revising.
LearningAssessment
Theassessment of student progress would be achieved through the use of awritten exam that will be out of 70 marks. Three continuousassessment test will also be used. They will cover the three types oflearner’s strengths and weaknesses. The first one would bekinesthetic, followed by an auditory assignment and finally thevisual assignment. They will each be out of 10 marks, adding up to atotal of 30. The continuous assessments combined with the writtenexam will add up to a total of 100 marks. It will ensure that thecourse objectives are truly achieved.
Forthe visual learners, assessment will involve tasks that require themto draw items and or the use of diagrams so that they exercise onturning illustrations back into words
Forthe kinesthetic learners, it will involve tasks that require them toact out or recall past activities.
Forthe auditory learners, it will involve tasks that require them torecall past activities such as talking and listening to the lecturer.Students are advised to speak out their answers inside their heads tofully recall a topic.
References
Huber,D. (2013). Leadershipand Nursing Care Management.Elsevier Health Sciences.
Kim,S.-H., Jeong, J.-Y., Jung, J.-J., & Park, J.-C. (2015). TheRelationships among Transformational Leadership, Trust inOrganization, Leader’s Emotional Intelligence, Members’creativity in ICT Sector. TheJournal of the Korea Contents Association,15(10),400–412. http://doi.org/10.5392/JKCA.2015.15.10.400
Li,A. N., & Liao, H. (2014). How do leader–member exchange qualityand differentiation affect performance in teams? An integratedmultilevel dual process model. Journalof Applied Psychology,99(5),847–866. http://doi.org/10.1037/a0037233
Mathew,N. G., & Alidmat, A. O. H. (2013). A Study on the Usefulness ofAudio-Visual Aids in EFL Classroom: Implications for EffectiveInstruction. InternationalJournal of Higher Education,2(2).http://doi.org/10.5430/ijhe.v2n2p86