Introduction
Understanding the characteristics of an individual can assist to define the type of leadership or management skills that they can possess and develop for the future. Leadership is an essential ability that can propel businesses or institutions to success through the use of appropriate tools. In most cases, the expertise required to become a great leader are not inborn but rather learned over time. Consequently leadership and management theories tends to analyze aspects such as ethics, organizational skills, communication abilities and growth potential in individuals (Kakemam et al., 2020). Therefore, understanding the basic aspects that lead to effective leadership is critical in improving and developing an individual’s capabilities in the long run.
While there are a variety of tools available for measuring capabilities of human beings, this case employed the North Carolina Public Health Academy-PH Leadership and Management Self Assessment and the Carl Jung’s and Isabel Briggs Myers’ typological approach to measuring personality. The Public Health Leadership and Management Self Assessment aims to identify an individual’s competency with regard to specific aspects of public health management. This is done using a rating scale testing various indicators that provide the level of knowledge and ability to apply these skills. On the other hand, the Carl Jung’s and Isabel Briggs Myers’ typological approach provides an opportunity for individuals to understand their personality type. This is based on a criteria including extraversion – introversion, sensing – intuition and thinking – feeling. Through its rating mechanism, a person can fall within any of the 16 personality types as described, thus offering an overview of traits that influence behavior.
Further, the internship at Axiom Medical, P.C. provided a real world opportunity to employ the gained knowledge and skills in a work environment. Learning how to solve problems and deal with different types of situations in a medical setting provided the requisite experiences to gauge the application of leadership and management. The different tasks given on a daily basis formed an important part of the learning process through delegation of activities.
Discussion of Results
The results of the Public Health Leadership and Management Self Assessment ranked aspects including visionary leadership & systems thinking, basic public health sciences, management, politics and public health law, and community. The highest average score was in visionary leadership & systems thinking with a score of 2.86 which showed that the competency indicators were majorly ranked between 2 (aware) and 3 (knowledgeable). This indicates that the skills in this component are moderately adequate and require minor adjustments to be adequate. On the other hand, community was ranked the lowest with a score of 2.20 meaning that a majority of the competency indicators were ranked at 2 (aware) (Public Health Foundation, 2020). From this result, it is evident that more efforts must be put towards increasing the skills and abilities that require engagements with the surrounding community with regard to public health.
Apart from that, the results from the Carl Jung’s and Isabel Briggs Myers’ typological approach showed the personality type to be introverted, intuitive, thinking and judging (INTJ). The indicators showed introvert 38%, intuitive 9%, thinking 50%, and judging 34%. This means that the personality displays a moderate preference for introversion over extraversion at 38%, a slight preference on intuition over sensing at 9%, a moderate preference of thinking over feeling at (50%), and a moderate preference of judging over perceiving at 34% (Humanmetrics, 2022). From these results, there is a detectable presence of self-confidence, intuitive behaviors, imagination, reliability and a willingness to work in developing relationships.
More so, the experience at the internship program at Axiom Medical, P.C. has been positive with supervisors showing confidence in assigned tasks. This shows the level of confidence in the performance of activities thus highlighting dependability. Furthermore, the ability to work as a team to accomplish institutional goals complements other skills that are crucial in public health management. Working in such an environment provides a stepping stone for learning about management styles through observations and implementation of different styles across the institution. Ultimately, the internship offered a preview on the methods that work and the best ways of dealing with employees, colleagues and other stakeholders in a healthcare setting.
Conclusion
From the assessments from of the Public Health Leadership and Management Self Assessment, the Carl Jung’s and Isabel Briggs Myers’ typological approach and the internship experience, there is a strong indication of alignment with leadership and management theory. The results are above average for the leadership and management assessment with some requirements for improvement in specific areas. Further, the personality test shows the presence of appropriate skills required to learn, interact with others and develop solutions to problems that may be faced in different institutional contexts in public health. Leadership is a learning curve that requires constant updates to adapt to different situations. Therefore, the ability to organize, supervise and develop relationships form the basis for effective leadership traits that can be further improved. The data gained from the assessments and internship therefore complements the leadership and management theory perspectives to a large extent.
References
Humanmetrics. (2022). Discover your personality type.
Kakemam, E., Liang, Z., Janati, A., Arab-Zozani, M., Mohaghegh, B., & Gholizadeh, M. (2020). Leadership and management competencies for hospital managers: A systematic review and best-fit framework synthesis. Journal of Healthcare Leadership 12, 59–68.
Public Health Foundation. (2020). North Carolina – Public Health Professionals’ Self Assessment.