Reflecting upon my interview with Emma, I learned that leadership is a navigation between one’s own confidence and doing what is right for all parties including the patient, the floor/unit as a whole, and for yourself and colleagues. Emma, a relatively new nurse who fulfills an informal leadership role, continues to balance all of these aspects as she states in the interview. I would say this can be directly related to her management of self awareness and social awareness. To be self aware means to look into your own capabilities, and Emma reveals that she is constantly looking for new opportunities to grow as a nurse to build her confidence. She even describes opportunities within the hospital that allow her to become a formal leader such as a certified preceptor. Along with building her confidence to become a more successful leader, she shares that she also has to anticipate the challenges that come with working with certain people and having to put personal matters aside to be as professional as she can. 

Emma says she can see how her social awareness coincides with conflict in the workplace, but it is important to deal with conflict as soon as possible to make the environment as cohesive as it can be. What surprised me was that part of this conflict was related to the delegation process. Emma states when she needs to delegate, she avoids using an aggressive tone and is as professional as possible. Although this is true, she states it can be hard to get certain people to help with tasks. This can be from a multitude of reasons but it remains to be one of the biggest sources of conflict between coworkers. To manage this, Emma often does almost anything she can by herself due to the understaffed floor. She also puts in extra effort to help others when she can for the hope that they may return the favor when she requires assistance. She reveals to me that part of being a good leader, whether it is formal or not, is to set a good example for others. This response particularly stuck with me and reinforced that leadership is not only about managing others, but putting in the work to gain respect for each other to overall maintain a safe and cohesive work environment. 

After completing the interview with Emma, I learned so much about how to self regulate your own emotions and opinions to gain respect and overcome challenges in the workplace. I also learned that being a leader is multidimensional and only can be attained through the collaboration with others  and inner reflection/self awareness. My feelings about Emma as a leader are unchanged in how I think she composes herself at work. She showed me how a leader is kind, helpful, confident and resilient through conflicts. I hope to take all that I learned about conflict resolution, collaboration and professional growth with me as I start my career in the near future.