Amber Bartling

Leadership Philosophy Paper

9/3/19

Similar to how leadership theory has changed over hundreds of years, my own personal

view of leadership and my leadership behaviors have changed as well. Growing up, I always

pictured men in business suits as leaders. We were taught not to question these people and they

had an elusive authority to them. Leaders to me were my elementary school principal, my father,

my friends’ fathers, people you saw on tv, and the president. All of these people that we were

taught to listen to and respect were men. Congruent with The Great Man Theory where it is

assumed that leaders are mostly men and are born with the traits to be a great leader (Ledlow &

Stephens, 2018), the leaders in my life were men and I was taught not to question their authority.

As you grow, you learn to question ideas and topics. As a middle schooler, leadership

took on a new form. We worked on more group projects and we were required to think for

ourselves and research questions that we did not know the answers to. I have always considered

myself shy, and this was especially true in middle school. I had the potential to be a good leader

because of my values, work ethic, and good grades, but I lacked the confidence to speak up in

class or stand up for my beliefs to other students. At this time in my life, I was more of an

emergent leader than an assigned leader. Emergent leaders do not hold a leadership role or

position, but they have a desire to share their knowledge, skills, and expertise when appropriate

(Jacobs & McCormack, 2011). When I was confident in a class that I was good at or if I was in a

small group vs a large group, I would be more comfortable being a leader in those situations. In

middle school, my school offered numerous leadership workshops. This supports that leadership

is not a trait that you are solely born with, but it is something that can be taught. Although some
people are born with natural tendencies to be extroverted (a trait commonly associated with

leaders), others can be taught how to be a good leader through watching other leaders and what

works for them. This idea considers Social Learning Theory (narrative) and how people copy

behaviors that they have observed from other people, the environment, and the media (Ledlow &

Stephens, 2018).

Fast forward approximately 10 years, and my view on leadership has evolved. Due to my

experience working as a para for almost four years, and working at an after school program

before that, I have witnessed many great (and not so great) leaders. My working leadership

definition is: “Leadership is directing people to get something done. A good leader is efficient,

confident, empathetic, intelligent, follows rules, motivates, and is a good communicator.”

Although some sources like to differentiate between leaders and managers, I think that a good

leader has characteristics of both. While a leader’s role is to guide change, a manager’s role is to

maintain stability (Jacobs & McCormack, 2011). These are both quality characteristics that have

a time and place and depend on the situation. There are times where it is okay to hypothesize, be

creative, and come up with ground breaking ideas. While at other times, a leader needs to get

their head out of the clouds and be grounded in order to meet a deadline or get work done. I

don’t believe that there is just one theory or leadership style that makes a good leader, but it is a

combination of multiple styles that the person can tailor to each unique situation. One leadership

theory that resonated with me and that I will keep in mind as I further develop my own

leadership style is Kouzes and Posner’s leadership framework. They suggest that “leadership is

successful only if a shared vision can be communicated to followers that changes their values,

thereby resulting in goal-directed behavior and positive work-related outcomes” (Ledlow &

Stephens, 2018). They went on to further develop five constructs of action: challenging the
process, inspiring a shared vision, enabling others to act, modeling the way, and encouraging the

heart (Ledlow & Stephens, 2018). These actions are all very important to making staff follow

your lead, which I can attest to. A year or more ago the company that I work for changed

leadership and a new CEO was hired. There were a lot of changes that were not communicated

well to the staff which left the followers unhappy and unable to see the big picture or goals. The

staff did not feel appreciated or listened to, but I think if our leadership had used Kouzes and

Posner’s approach, then the outcomes could’ve been much better.

Even though I will be an entry-level OT, I know that there are going to be times where I

will need to be a leader. Whether it is leading a patient through treatment, teaching a student,

instructing coworkers on a topic I am passionate about, etc. I will need to have good leadership

skills. I believe that I am currently a good leader because I am smart, empathetic, a good listener,

follow rules, professional, and I have what I think to be good values. My areas of weakness are

that I am afraid to upset other people or deal with confrontation, I am afraid to embarrass

myself/fail, and I still have a lack of knowledge in some areas surrounding OT. By looking at my

weaknesses and also looking at what I have seen to be valuable traits of a good leader, I can set

goals for myself so that I can enhance my leadership skills. My first goal has to do with stepping

out of my comfort zone with the peer mentor program. I will meet with my mentee at least 3

times for no less than 30 minutes with a list of conversation topics by the end of fall semester in

order to better my professional communication skills. My second goal is related to my job. I am

always scared of confrontation at work so I will not speak up about things that I disagree with

unless I have really been pushed passed my breaking point. I know this is unhealthy and that I

will have to have conversations in the future with bosses and coworkers where I will need to give

constructive feedback. So my second goal is to meet with my site director at least two times
before I go on fieldwork in order to discuss work related topics and give my feedback. My last

goal is about increasing my knowledge. I am very passionate about many topics, but I am not

great at knowing the policy and legislature regarding those topics. I think that good leaders need

to be knowledgeable about politics in order to give them a firm base to support their ideas and so

they know how to advocate. My last goal is to research Nebraska laws for at least 3 topics that I

am passionate about by the end of the semester in order to increase my knowledge and ability to

advocate.

References

Jacobs, K., & McCormack, G. L. (2011). The occupational therapy manager. Bethesda, MD:

American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc.

Ledlow, G. R., & Stephens, J. H. (2018). Leadership for health professionals: theory, skills, and

applications. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.