Sheaffeel Gedeon

HDF 492: Marketable Leadership Competencies Reflection

At least 1 highlight of your learning regarding significant leadership experiences and how that has
supported/benefitted your future career goal
Through my involvement in leadership I have learned so much about myself as a person, leader, and
professional over the course of the past four years. I’ve gotten the opportunity to work with others as well
as learn the skills to be an efficient team member and peer leader. With what I’ve been taught over the
course of my participation in the minor, one specific learning from the various leadership experiences I’ve
gone through is that leadership styles are unique and specific to the individual. What I mean by this is that
there isn’t one particular leadership style that we all follow or are expected to follow. Each of us lead by
what we feel works best for us, and in our own unique way. The experiences that we have, the situations
we go through and have gone through, and strengths and values play active roles in that.

As I believe the most significant learning from the minor and my previous and current leadership
experiences is centered around uniqueness and differences between leadership styles from individual to
individual, I can firmly say that it has provided me support and benefits related to my future career goals
and past accomplishments and experiences related to my career. As I am more aware that leadership styles
are unique to each individual, I’ve learned to be more confident in myself and my capabilities while
comparing myself less to others. In my career field, this will be a form of support in the sense that it
allows me to work harder and more effeciently as I’ve learned to be more conscious of what
environments, type of people, and areas I work the best in. It will also allow me to be more aware that
others lead differently and use those different leadership styles to collaborate and come together to create
a more productive work envrionment. As an aspiring Physician’s Assistant, it’s important that the space in
which my team members and I work in is efficient, safe, and professional in order to be able to provide
the most ethical and best care for our patients.

Student Leadership Competencies

As I am a current senior double majoring in Kinesiology and Biology, I am studying to become a
Physician’s Assistant in Emergency Medicine. Through the use of the Student Leadership Competencies
Database, I’ve been able to see the competency areas that related to the competency categories that best
describe the key areas of my future career field. The competency areas that were present were
collaboration, decision making, ethics, others’ circumstances, and problem solving. With that, the three
comptencies that I’ve chosen are learning and reasoning, interpersonal interaction, and civic
responsibility.

Competency 1: Learning and Reasoning

Over the course of college, the experiences and positions that I have taken on have definitely helped with
my development in my problem solving and decision making skills. Constant practice and situations that
include problem solving has provided me the ability to learn techniques and gain more knowledge on how
to effectively solve problems that may be present or that I may encounter. With problem solving, I’ve
learned to weigh out the options through actively listening if more than one party is involved, figuring out
the most ethical and appropriate choices, and being aware of the consequences. In my opinion, problem
solving and decision making go hand in hand in most cases. My decision making skills have progressed
and developed over time through the same steps as it did with problem solving. Actively listening, being
aware of consequences or the after effects of the decisions I make, and being mindful of how my
decisions can affect me and others has pushed me to make the right decisions. Relating specifically to the
competency, my development in learning and reasoning has allowed me to keep an open mind, learn from
my mistakes, and use the information I have or need to assess different situations to come up with the best
choices.

Proficiency in this competency will be an advantage to me in my future career field because as a

Physician’s Assistant it is always important to make the right calls since people’s lives will be in my
hands. I need to be sure to make sure to make the right choices that provide the best outcomes to my
patients, and use reasoning and the information I have to come to those conclusions. Learning will be of
great assistance because it will push me to educate myself more in areas that I may lack in order to
provide the best care possible to my patients while also being a support system to my team members.

Competency 2: Interpersonal Interaction

The next competency that I chose was interpersonal interaction. The specific area involved in this
competency that related to my career choice was collaboration. With the various positions that I’ve had
both on campus and off campus, I’ve found myself constantly collaborating with others. These
experiences have allowed me to develop teamwork skills along with being a functional team player. I’ve
practiced using my skills in order to be a dependable and supportive asset to the team. I’ve worked to
welcome and motivate differences in order to have a part in pushing the team to accomplish our goals.
Lastly, I’ve helped to eliminate any conflict or controversary that may halt the group's productivity.

Being a Physician’s Assistant there will be constant interpersonal interactions with both the patients and
my team members. The ability to have positive interpersonal interactions with my patients will allow me
to gain their trust and a good bond which also gives them the feeling that they are safe and in good hands.
Positive interpersonal interactions with my team members will work to establish a professional and
well-working environment to aid in providing exceptional care to our patients while working well with
one another.

Competency 3: Civic responsibility

The last competency that I chose was civic responsibility. Having so many different positions and
experiences working with others, it’s my responsibility to carry out the specific tasks that were assigned to
me or given to be in order to reach and complete what needs to be done. For example, doing what I can to
provide a great year for my first year students as a Resident Advisor or being a great resource for my
students as a URI 101 Mentor. My main focus was to actively participate and get involved in the campus
community in order to create change or make an impact. One of the ways I did that was through
constantly being mindful of others’ circumstances. We all come from different backgrounds and
experiences, and don’t have the same opportunities as one another. With that, different individuals need
different forms of support or assistance to get them to where they need to go or where they want to be.
I’ve become more and more conscious of that through the various leadership positions I’ve been in and
these positions have also allowed me to practice that. It is my civic responsibility to serve as a resource,
ally, and just a helping hand to those who may need it on campus and even off campus.
This competency is crucial and essential to being an outstanding Physician’s Assistant because as a
Physician’s Assistant I will constantly be dealing and treating individuals with numerous backgrounds,
experiences, and situations. I need to constantly be aware of the fact thateveryone that may come in needs
to be treated differently. As there are certain guidelines to follow in healthcare, I want to follow those
guidelines but also use it as a baseline and make adjustments when necessary based on the particular
patient. As a Physician’s Assistant, my civic responsibility is to provide patients with the care that they
need in order to help them live a full life to the best of their ability depending on their condition or
situation. In order to do that I need to be mindful of others’ circumstances.

References:
Seemiller, C. (2014). The student leadership competencies guidebook: Designing intentional leadership
learning and development. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.