Role models are crucial to our psychological development, allowing us to navigate our way through life, to make significant choices that influence our lives, and to help us achieve happiness later in life. At the beginning of our lives as children, we turn to our role models for guidance on how we should conduct ourselves in the future. A survival function may be at work here, allowing us to learn from the features and behaviors of individuals who are successful in our community. At the same time, as we get older, we begin to believe that a large part of our contentment is determined by how we imagine our lives could or should be, and how it contrasts with the reality we actually experience. That is to say, whether we are happy or not as we get older is dependent on our ability to strive for and achieve the same level of achievement as we did when we were younger.
My role model at work was the previous department manager Mrs. M. She was a powerful, driven and professional woman who brought numerous positive changes in the department. As the manager, she led by example. She always reported to work on time which encourages the rest of the team to be Punctual. As a department manager, she focused on transformational leadership that led to the growth and improvement of the department’s performance. The needs of others take precedence above the requirements of the leader in transformational leadership. Their behavior creates follower commitment toward organizational goals by focusing on the organization as a whole (Ferreira et al., 2020).However, a servant leader’s first concern is the well-being of their subordinates, and the attainment of organizational goals is a secondary result.
One of the changes that Mrs. M brought in the department is the increase in nurse staffing as well as the flexibility of working hours. Before Mrs. M became the debarment leader, the department was understaffed and we often worked extra hours to try and cover the excess work log without extra pay. This caused strain among the employees leading to a high turnover. There was a struggle between work life balance and most employees were fatigued and demoralized. a company’s general productivity, morale, and financial well-being might suffer as a result of staff turnover. For the sake of long-term success, it’s essential to implement a strategy for retaining the best employees from the start (Abolade, 2018). Mrs. M took time to listen and understand our needs and pushed the management to resolve the staffing issues. Within six months of her leadership, the department underwent some structural changes that allowed employees to work favorable hours in a day. The number of staff was increased and as a result there were less instances of employee turnover. Her presence in the organization brought positive changes that we are still experiencing even after her departure.
One of the personal changes that I can make to emulate Mrs. M is to be more interactive with my colleagues Mrs. M was friendly and kind to everyone at the workplace. Her ability to get along with almost everyone was admirable and I would like to emulate that in my work. She was observant as well as a good listener. She cared for the wellbeing of the staff and I would like to also be remembered as a caring person. I have come to learn that people remember how you made them feel; the same way I fondly remember how Mrs. M always made us feel important and valuable as employees.
In summation, one of the most important sects of being a leader or a role model is the ability to lead by example and to foster positive change. For an organization to succeed, it needs leaders who cab guide their juniors in a kind and effective way. Having a kind role model goes a long way in career development and more organizations should encourage employees to emulate the best leaders in the organization.
References
Abolade, D. A. (2018). Impact of employees’ job insecurity and employee turnover on organizational performance in private and public sector organizations. Studies in Business and Economics, 13(2), 5-19. https://doi.org/10.2478/sbe-2018-0016
Ferreira, V. B., Amestoy, S. C., Silva, G. T., Trindade, L. D., Santos, I. A., & Varanda, P. A. (2020). Transformational leadership in nursing practice: Challenges and strategies. Revista Brasileira de Enfermagem, 73(6). https://doi.org/10.1590/0034-7167-2019-0364
write