Background
I have repeatedly demonstrated leadership qualities in educational activities, which makes me believe I have every right to apply to this enterprise. Recently, I had the experience of organizing teamwork for a school conference. It was an important event for the school, and all volunteers were initially warned that the organization could be time-consuming and full of unforeseen complications. Even though several volunteers became worried and began to consider withdrawing from the project entirely, this remark motivated me. A leader needs to be able to take risks, as this is one of the most important professional qualities.
The ability to take risks means that a person is willing to make a particular additional psychological effort, to trust the unknown and their own intuition, rather than relying on proven safe action patterns. Often, the most significant risks are associated with the most fruitful opportunities and are a chance for success. Those who do not take risks are not true leaders and innovators, and this statement applies to almost every area of human activity. Thus, I volunteered to coordinate the work of student volunteers, thereby taking responsibility for preparing the conference.
Mission and Vision
The difference between vision and mission should first be defined to accurately describe how these terms are implemented within the event framework. The mission is a task in the broadest sense, a certain common goal that the company or the event organizers are trying to achieve. Vision implies a more future-oriented perspective, describing the world where the specified agent has achieved its goals, transforming the picture of the future for the better.
Applying these criteria to a conference in which I was involved, one can say that the event’s mission was to establish connections between the school and academic dimensions of the educational environment. Traditionally, a conference in academic settings is presented as a means of exchange, return, and testing the reliability of new scientific information discovered or summarized by academic researchers. On the other hand, a specific school conference serves as a rehearsal of such an event, with the participation of real academic staff, to give students an idea of how social activities function within the framework of professional and scientific training.
The conference’s mission was thus to rehearse an academic event for high school students. From this mission, the vision of the event naturally flows. It lies in a future in which students will not feel new and disturbingly unexplored academic activities within the framework of the conference, where they will not feel constrained by making presentations or asking follow-up questions. A comfortable stay in an academic environment, due to psychological and social readiness, forms the vision of this conference.
Stakeholders Buy-In
A separate problem in event preparation was gaining “buy-in” from stakeholders, who were both my colleagues and the conference participants. It was necessary to demonstrate to them that the tasks I had set had a clear vision and aligned with the school’s values. It was necessary to make an invitation mailing to the educational institutions and universities associated with my school.
The newsletter was initially intended for teachers and the administration of these institutions. It contained basic information about the event’s objectives. The primary objective of the message was to attract students from other schools to participate in organizing or hosting the conference.
Decision-Making
The ability to assess one’s abilities and make sharp, unexpected decisions is key to achieving the necessary balance for maximum results. In this case, the best solution was to extend the school’s conference announcements beyond the school and attract other participants. For this, I received personal thanks from the conference organizers. However, it is worth noting that this initiative may not be effective in a different context. That is why, if I had the opportunity, I would consult with the school authorities and clarify how widely this event can grow.
Communicating Vision
Oral speech is one of the most successful ways to convey your vision and valuable information. However, leadership requires the ability to convey information concisely and conveniently. That is why I convened with my colleagues at a specific time via an online conference and delivered a presentation based on the strategies I proposed for organizing a conference and engaging the audience.
Capacious slides showcased the competencies required for a full-fledged organization of the event, and the audience could immediately try on one or another responsible role. Thus, I communicated my mission and vision and invited my comrades to participate in the process. They expressed their desire to do so immediately after the presentation was completed.
The letter I distributed, both inside and outside the school, helped to encourage collaboration. Written in formal but thoughtful language, it made a proper impression on representatives of other institutions. School secretaries included the addresses of their students and their parents in the mailing list, and the chain of messages grew to an unexpectedly large number of recipients.
Leadership Qualities
First of all, my leadership qualities in this organizational setting were evident in my ability to involve people in action. The leader must be able to inspire people to complete a certain task, convey motivation, and explain the humanistic logic behind the actions.
Secondly, my honesty and confidence should resonate with my colleagues who helped set up the conference. Honesty, in sync with purposefulness, should make the activity meaningful and, therefore, conscious and conscientious. By giving this event value through explaining the importance of pre-university academic practice, I demonstrated its value by attracting many supporters from academia and the faculty.
The ability to involve stakeholders always strengthens the organization’s solidity. In this scenario, my actions can be regarded as leadership, expanding the influence of the organization I represented. Thus, a progressively large number of stakeholders were involved in the conference with nothing more than a mailing list. This not only encouraged people to interact but also gave me additional confidence as a leader.
Case Analysis
Through my actions, I have set a shining example that has earned me a reputation for motivating people to realize my vision. Thus, my qualities as a leader manifested themselves all the brighter. This example does not include many decisions I made, but it is a case in point of how ethical dilemmas require thoughtful yet urgent resolution.
As a trainee intern for my bachelor’s degree, I provided nursing services in one of the hospital departments. I encountered a cultural conflict that required resolution by a group of doctors. The problem was associated with a patient who refused to continue cancer therapy. The patient was quite old, and the likelihood that he would sign a death warrant by refusing therapy was relatively high. He was in a state of such severe exhaustion that he was rarely fully conscious.
At the same time, his family, who professed the same religious values, argued that in any case, he would definitely refuse to receive chemotherapy or radiation therapy as an ignoble intervention in his body. Thus, this problem assumed the dimension of a professional and ethical dilemma that could only be resolved through key modern medical and professional codes of ethics.
Bioethics
The principles of biomedical ethics seem most applicable to this case. Based on these parameters, developed in 1979, it is possible to calculate the most logical and patient-friendly treatment strategy. The ethics of treatment is expressed in four postulates. The first is patient autonomy, which means patients have the right to make independent choices about their treatment, as evidenced by informed consent or lack thereof.
The principle of beneficence means that the doctor must work with exclusively positive interests and that it is their duty to bring as much benefit to the patient as possible (Levitt, 2014). The next principle of non-harming designates an unacceptable fact of causing harm to a patient, which echoes the famous Hippocratic oath. The last condition of Justice refers to both the legal consistency of the doctor’s actions with the law and the fair distribution of resources within a separate medical institution.
As for the Nursing Code that I had to apply in practice, it included these four basic principles along with the condition of confidentiality. This additional principle requires that patient information be kept strictly confidential, respecting the patient’s personal data (International Council of Nurses, 2021). That is why I do not disclose the specific details of this case at the moment. If I could somehow influence the doctor’s decision regarding the patient’s fate, I would start with the impossibility of the doctor harming the patient. This principle seems superior to patient autonomy, however important it may be.
The doctor’s responsibility in cases of non-interference in the fate of a patient who refuses treatment is also an action that can be interpreted as unfair and illegal. Therefore, in my opinion, the patient’s relatives needed to be informed that the healthcare system has its own moral and value principles and cannot allow the death of a person, even if it is in solidarity with their spiritual system. One could refer to the letter of the law and to the fact that the patient is unable to give an informed refusal of treatment, as he is in a semi-conscious state. Such a strategy seems the most reasonable and consistent in following the medical bioethical and nurses’ codes.
Summary
Thus, analyzing the case that occurred in my practice with a patient who held strict religious attitudes, it becomes clear that the application of ethical principles in healthcare could have given him a chance to save his life. The principle of doing good and not causing harm is dominant in modern medicine and should take precedence over the patient’s autonomy in an emergency. This is especially important when it comes to the survival of the patient because no doctor is ready to take responsibility for a voluntarily unsaved life.
References
International Council of Nurses. (2021). The ICN code of ethics for nurses. Web.
Levitt, D. (2014). Ethical decision-making in a caring environment: The four principles and LEADS. Healthcare Management Forum, 27(2), 105-107. Web.