Lieutenant Colonel David Ginn Self Reflection Paper

INTRODUCTION

Self-Reflection Paper

Lieutenant Colonel David Ginn, MPAS, PA-C

University of Lynchburg

School of Graduate Health Sciences

Department of Physician Assistant Medicine

Doctor of Medical Science Program

Michael Estrada, MS, DHSc, PA-C

PA910: Organizational Behavior and Leadership

Self-Reflection and SWOT Analysis

May 29, 2022

Self-Reflection

When contemplating the subject of leadership style, I reflecton my youth. Growing up in an impoverished household, I quickly realized that I would garner praise and attention by working hard, which was not often given. After graduating from high school, I joined the military. Again, my efforts to work harder than my peers paid dividends in praise andmonetaryincentives with promotions. As my career progressed over twenty years, I always held that you reward hard work and creative thinking. In reviewing the literature, the concept of the transactional leadership model would be most fitting to describe my daily leadership styleas an Army Officer.1Describing the activities of a Soldier in my unit from day to day becomes an

abstract discussion due to training for our various military occupational specialtiescoupled with taskings that come down from higher headquarters.

DISCUSSION

Impact of Leadership Style

As a senior leader in my unit, I provide general instruction as to what will be accomplished in training to prepare us for inspections, training evaluations, and our wartime mission. These various tasks require my subordinate leaders to prioritize what their subordinates need to do to meet the multiple requirements of the unit. As a transactional leader, I give instructions on what the object of the training needs to be, but I don’t lead the training; that is done through the ingenuity of my junior leaders.2Roles in the unit are identified, with everyone performing a vital task to accomplish unit requirements.1 I take a passive approach to leading my team, providing intervention only if performance measures are not met.1In providing corrective action due to inadequate performance, I make corrections only one or two levels down in the chain of command. I hold my junior leaders responsible for the performance of their sections and require them to do the same for their subordinates. Input is given from section leaders and based upon their appraisals; Soldiers are rewarded for their abilityto perform their dutieswith time off, awards, and promotions.3

Within the military system, clearly defined roles and responsibilities must exist to facilitate the execution of our wartime mission. The difficult task in the military comes when there is no longer any war. You must then use the transactional leadership model to ensure training is completed to standard with clearly outlined performance measures. Once a clear understanding of what is required,exercises can be conducted in a manner that is based on best practices from military doctrine. To effectively maintain a fighting force, a peacetime leader

must use incentives to motivate an increased level of performance and corrective action to ensure underperformance is not tolerated.

While I clearly define the tasks to be completed by my junior leaders and the rewards that will be given based on successful completion, I also provide the vision for the unit.3 Serving as a military officer, you must possess traits of the transformational leadership model to inspire Soldiers in combat that willingly put themselves in harm's way to protect our great country.4 The majority of military members I have met, including myself, did not join the military to defend the county from all foreign and domestic enemies; yet, through transformational leadership, I have led Soldiers into situations in which we accepted the risks of serving our country. As a transformational leader, you must foster an environment that inspires individuals to perform beyond their expectations by providing vision and purpose for the required task.4

SWOT Analysis

Strengths.I learned the value of hard work and dedication in realizing your goals from a young age. These ideals learned earlyhave led me to be tactically and technically proficient in my military duties. Whether I am leading Soldiers as a commanding officer or treating patients in an emergency department, fundamentally understanding why I am doing what I am doing is paramount to the mission's success. As a leader, you don’t have to understand every facet of a subordinate's job, but you mustknow why that individual is performing that job. Through years of experience coupled with tireless study, I have positioned myself to understand the “why.”

Weaknesses. As someone who has always been driven, I sometimes have difficulty leading a poor performer. I feel this is an area of growth that I must confront to take that next step in my level of performance. Being able to harness the strength of someone who may not be

suitable for one position by appreciating the attributes and facilitating their success in another job is an area I need to improve. At times I tend to write off individuals for not being able to meet their objectives, but I would be better served by trying to appreciate barriers that prevent them from being successful.

Opportunities. Having been in the military for over twenty years, I have found that my sense of drive has wavered over the past few years. I have become somewhat complacent in my military duties, no longer the hard charger I have been throughout my career. With the realization that I must reinvigorate my work ethic, I enrolled in the Doctor of Medical Science program, providing a challenge that I have not had in many years. I am excited to hone my skills as a leader in the military and the medical community.

Threats. Over the past several years, I have developed a bad habit of putting things off that I feel I could quickly complete. This habit has recently caused me to think that I could jeopardize my endeavor to earn the doctorate I desire. I must aim to correct the complacency that has crept into my career with the requirement for more administrative duties and less clinical medicine over the past several years. To be a more effective leader, I need to own the space I am in currently, at least until I retire in the next three years from the military. I need to work harder in utilizing my knowledge and experience to grow others around me. My focus for so many years has revolved around tackling the next obstacle, but now I find myself in a position where I need to take the next step in being a leader by doing more mentoring and coaching.

Future Goals

Over the next few years, I look forward to retiring from the military and taking a role back in clinical practice. I plan to move to North Carolina or Florida and work in emergency medicine part-time. Several years ago, I had the opportunity to precept physician assistant

students, and I found this opportunity rewarding. The opportunity to take an academic position and be involved in the training of the next generation of physician assistants is an area that I want to explore. During my time deployed overseas, I worked in remote areas with no access to lab or x-ray, which helped to hone my skills in taking patient histories and performing physical examinations. I plan to enter academia by working part-time in a physician assistant program

The idea of entering academia would also support my long-term goals of settling down in one location for more than a few years. Due to my military career, I have moved extensively and now desire to settle down in one place. This desire to settle down is also rooted in my son; he was born with a left frontal lobe malformation and severe autism. Long term, I hope to be involved in starting a group home for adults who have autism. I feel my medical knowledge and experience as a parent would help in creating a center that works holistically to assist adults with autism in realizing their potential. Completing my doctorate will give me the knowledge tocritically reviewmedical literature to provide an evidence-based approach to care at the group home.

CONCLUSION

During my youth, I was fortunate to learn the value of hard work and dedication; these traits have served me well in my career. Leading Soldiers in both times of peace and war has taught me the need for both the transactional and transformationalleadership models. In times of peace, when it is hard for a Soldier to see why they must conduct a thorough inspection of their vehicle before leaving the base, I feel the transactional leadership model is the most effective approach to increasing performance. Soldiers may be forced to knowingly put themselves in harm's way during times of war; situations such as these require the transformational leadership model.

As a leader, I have many strengths that help provide clear direction and buy-in from subordinates. Understanding one powers require that you must also understand your weaknesses. To become the leader I want to be, I must work harder to harness the strengths of my subordinates by putting them in positions in which they have the best potential based on their unique skill set. I also need to transition myself into a leader that provides more mentoring and coaching to develop the next generation of leaders. By challenging myself to complete my doctorate, I am positioning myself to be successful in the next chapter of my life, which revolve around taking care of my son and giving back to the physician assistant profession.

References

1.Borkowski N, Meese K. Organizational Behavior in Health Care. 4th ed. Jones & Bartlett Learning; 2021.

2.Ma X, Jiang W. Transformational Leadership, Transactional Leadership, and Employee Creativity in Entrepreneurial Firms. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science. 2018;54(3):302324. doi:10.1177/0021886318764346

3.Alrowwad A, Abualoush SH, Masa’deh R. Innovation and intellectual capital as intermediary variables among transformational leadership, transactional leadership, and organizational performance. JMD. 2020;39(2):196-222. doi:10.1108/JMD-02-2019-0062

4Kark R, Van Dijk D, Vashdi DR. Motivated or Demotivated to Be Creative: The Role of SelfRegulatory Focus in Transformational and Transactional Leadership Processes: MOTIVATED OR DEMOTIVATED TO BE CREATIVE. Applied Psychology. 2018;67(1):186-224. doi:10.1111/apps.12122