Running head: LEADERSHIP PLAN 1

Leadership Plan

Joselyn Walsworth

Grand Valley State University

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Occupational therapists are professionals equipped with exceptional problem solving and

evaluation skills. As an occupational therapy student, I am working towards being a strong

practitioner and leader. Becoming a strong leader requires a professional leadership plan with

personal development and organizational aims. The purpose of the following essay is to explore

the five practice and ten commitments of leadership introduced in Garbarini & Winston’s

Exploring the Leader in You (2015). The five practices are Model the Way, Challenge the

Process, Enable Others to Act, Inspire a Shared Vision and Encourage the Heart.

Model the Way

According to the Leadership Practices Inventory (LIP), Model the Way was my highest

score. I am most comfortable in leading people by example. To further develop this area of

leadership, I plan to complete the Personal Values Card Sort Assessment (Urban Indian Health

Institute, 2013) by 12/1/2018. This activity will allow me to find my voice and clarify my

personal values. Once I have identified my 5 core values, I will be able to consciously align my

actions with these and lead by example. Understanding and living these values will be reflected

in my work and daily life. Living out my values and advocating for these beliefs may be of

organizational value. To expand upon this, I will utilize these values when choosing a place of

employment upon the completion and passing of the NBCOT exam or 8/15/2019. Finding a

workplace that shares both my personal values and a positive culture is an integral component to

my personal work satisfaction. According to the Person-Environment-Occupation (PEO) theory,

the interaction of person factors, environment and occupational demands play into well-being

(Barney & Perkison, 2016). In this case, my person factors include incorporating my personal

values into my work and daily life. This coincides with the Occupational Therapy Practice
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Framework: Domain and Process, 3rd ed., ([Framework-III], AOTA, 2014) and its view on how

values exhibit honesty and display a commitment to myself, family and work culture.

Additionally, my sociocultural environment will be impacted as these values will allow me to

model the way and lead friends and colleagues. Finally, the occupations at hand in modeling the

way include spiritual expression, work exploration, work participation and social participation.

The way in which I engage in these occupations will be through the lens of my 5 core personal

values. The leadership theory that represents these actions is Transformational Leadership.

Transformational leadership empowers their followers by providing motivation and being a

strong role model (Ozaralli, 2002). Some areas of this leadership that I can expand upon using

my core values include individualized consideration, intellectual consideration, inspirational

motivation and idealized motivation. This theory overlaps well with Model the Way because it

allows the leader to lead by example and exhibits a strong sense of purpose to its followers.

Challenge the Process

The next strategy, “challenge the process” sequentially fits after I have some experience

with my first job. My action step is to seek out travel therapy in order to grow, change and

improve my skill set by 8/1/2020. Travel therapy will to allow me to step outside of my comfort

zone and experience a variety of settings. Additionally, experiencing new locations and cultures

will allow me to grow as a therapist. Furthermore, when working at different facilities I will be

experimenting and taking risks. To accomplish this, I will diligently journal about my

experiences. This will allow me to track items going well and items that need improvement along

this journey. I will utilize skills and settings that worked well for me and attempt to implement

positive change in each position prior to leaving each facility. These positive impacts may be

complex or as simple as promoting a cohesive colleague atmosphere by curating employee

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outings. The PEO model demonstrates how this process will involve person factors such as

cognitive flexibility and psychological components involving motivation, personality and mental

health. As a naturally introverted individual, exploring new locations and jobs will be a taxing

process. Never the less, stretching the boundaries of my abilities will allow for personal growth.

The environmental components include the changing of the physical, social environment. Social

supports will involve the emotional support of friends, family and the development of new

relationships. Social and economic factors will include finding housing, health insurance and

employment. My personal values will remain constant; however, I will need to adapt to new

customs and beliefs in each area. Finally, the physical environment changes may include weather

and terrain (Christiansen, Baum & Bass-Haugen, 2005). Occupations involved would be work

exploration, work participation and social participation. The leadership theory that adheres most

to this process is Theory U. Theory U sets out to make social or organizational changes after

observing behavior (Scharmer, 2007). I will be making a social change to my life by uprooting

from Michigan and attempt to make organizational changes along my journey. While

experiencing the different settings I will co-initiate with clients, co-sense with the organization,

be present with myself, co-create by collaborating with colleagues, and co-evolve by the end of

each placement.

Enable Others to Act

After traveling to at least 3 new places, my next goal is to move back home to Newaygo,

Michigan and work at the local outpatient clinic. My action steps for enabling others to act is to

first build trust and facilitate relationships with my new long-term colleagues. After settling in, I

will identify a research topic that is relatable to my fellow occupational therapists, physical

therapists and speech language pathologists by 1/1/2021. I will collaborate with these colleagues
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by generating interest and initiating the research process. Working on projects such as this will

help to develop self-determination and develop competence with my co-workers. Relating to

PEO, this process will require person factors relating to cognition such as the process of

thinking, reasoning and attention. Participating in a project outside of work with colleagues will

also require motivation, adequate sleep and stress management. Extrinsic factors such as social

support, shared values, spaces and tools will be necessary (Christiansen, Baum & Bass-Haugen,

2005). The occupations involved in this process include informal personal education

participation and social participation. The structure and demands of the involved tasks will be

developed collaboratively with my fellow work professionals. The leadership theory that fuels

this process is generational leadership. I personally fall within the millennial category. As a

millennial, collaborating with co-workers, strengthening relationships, utilizing teamwork and

demonstrating a duty to the community are all values incorporated into this example of enabling

others to act (Kay, 2015). Additionally, my colleagues will most likely be diverse in generations.

Being cognizant of how each generation prefers to be lead will be a skill to utilize as a leader of

this project.

Inspire a Shared Vison

My next endeavor involves inspiring a shared vision. My first step in this process

includes gathering people in my county that relate in shared aspirations. I will work with these

colleagues or friends in Newaygo County to identify a need in the community. Together we will

work towards writing a grant designed to meet the needs of the selected topic or population.

This grant will be submitted by 1/1/2023. Another goal I have to inspire a shared vision includes

gathering friends to volunteer with as a TrueMentor. This is a program in Fremont, Michigan

that matches volunteers to youth in need of a mentor. Participating this exciting opportunity will
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involve enlisting others who are inspired by having a positive impact on youth in need. This will

be accomplished by 1/1/2024. Both of these goals require fostering relationships in my

community to further expand my leadership journey. The PEO lens will allow me to apply

person factors involved in inspiring a shared vision such as, cognitive factors: process of

thinking, reasoning, attention and psychological factors: personality, self-esteem and motivation.

Environmental factors are social support, economic policies, group values, buildings and tools

(Christiansen, Baum & Bass-Haugen, 2005). Occupations involved in these processes include

social participation, volunteer exploration and volunteer participation. The way in which these

tasks are structured and performed will I include the transaction of all of the above factors. The

leadership theory that will be used to guide these tasks will be generational leadership. Similarly,

to the above example, my millennial values of social support and teamwork will be essential in

inspiring a shared vision (Kay, 2015). Additionally, mentoring children and helping the county

demonstrates a duty to the community.

Encourage the Heart

According to the LIP, I scored moderately well with a score of 37 for encouraging the

heart. This trait is something that I do fairly naturally. To further develop this component of

leadership, I plan to obtain a managerial position by 1/1/2025 in my place of employment.

Within this position, I will recognize contributions by showing appreciation for my employees’

excellence and accomplishments. To recognize their work, I will make a point in regularly

praising their skills and emphasizing my confidence in their abilities. Additionally, to boost

morale, I will introduce fun incentives such as a catered meal to celebrate the teams hard work.

Creating a warm atmosphere where employees are excited and feel comfortable is something that

I have observed to make a large impact in job satisfaction. Instilling shared values and a work
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family atmosphere will be on my radar as a rehab manager. The leadership theory that

demonstrates these commitments is servant leadership. Servant leadership is recognizing the

contributions of employees and celebrating their value and ultimately working to meet the needs

of the people (Dunbar, 2015). Creating an open, fair, supportive environment is the service

mentality that I will strive to achieve. The occupation-based theory that will guide this process is

PEO. The person factors involved are physiological factors: flexibility, stress management and

psychological factors: personality, self-awareness and motivation. Environmental factors include

social support, work culture, values and the built environment (Christiansen, Baum & Bass-

Haugen, 2005). The occupations involved are work participation and social participation.
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References

American Occupational Therapy Association. (2014). Occupational therapy practice framework:

Domain and process (3rd ed.). American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 68(Suppl. 1),
S1-S48.

Barney, K., & Perkinson, M. A. (2016). Occupational therapy with aging adults: Promoting
quality of life through collaborative practice. St. Louis: Mosby.

Christiansen, C. H., Baum, C. M., & Bass-Haugen, J. (2005). Occupational therapy:

Performance, participation, and well-being. Thorofare: Slack.

Dunbar, S. B. (2015). Leadership theories. In S. B. Dunbar & K. Winston (Eds.), An

occupational perspective on leadership: Theoretical and practice dimensions (2nd ed., pp.
3-14). Thorofare, NJ: SLACK Incorporated.

Garbarini, J. G. & Winston, K. (2015). Exploring the leader in you. In S. B. Dunbar & K.
Winston (Eds.), An occupational perspective on leadership: Theoretical and practice
dimensions (2nd ed., pp. 61-74). Thorofare, NJ: SLACK Incorporated.

Kay, S. F. (2015). The impact of generational characteristics on leadership in occupational

therapy. In S. B. Dunbar & K. Winston (Eds.), An occupational perspective on
leadership: Theoretical and practical dimensions (pp. 85-98). Thorofare, NJ: SLACK
Incorporated.

Ozaralli, N. (2002). Effects of transformational leadership on empowerment and team

effectiveness. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 24(6), 335-344. doi:
10.1108/01437730310494301

Scharmer, C. O. (2007). Addressing the blind spot of our time: Executive summary. In Theory
U. Retrieved from
http://www.ottoscharmer.com/sites/default/files/Theory_U_ENG_Exec_Summary.compr
essed.pdf

Urban Indian Health Institute. (2013, July). Personal Values[PDF].