Leadership Academy 2013-14 LeadingAge New York Feb. 2014 | Page 29

Dyani John-Richberg Mentoring (continued from page 28) pilot will run on small scale for 6 months with the hopes of determining the goals for the program, choosing the proper mentoring model, selecting the criteria for mentors and mentees, identifying and interviewing potential candidates, matching participants and creating a tool to evaluate the results at the end of the program. The hopes are that within the first 3-years of the creation of the program there would be more “organization grown” leaders produced. An organization that values its employees and is committed to providing opportunities for them to grow within the organization creates an internal structure to support a successful program. 5 How has the action learning process in the context of the Leadership Academy experience contributed to your growth as a leader? The Leadership Academy has contributed greatly to my growth as a leader by introducing the importance of the topics of Authenticity, Rule of Six, Emotional Intelligence, and Blameless Autopsy. Results-Process-Relationships, and Crucibles of Leadership. This experience has taught me that being a great leader doesn’t mean that you know all the answers, a great leader allows others to lead and assists from the sidelines in most cases. The key is to align your leadership team with individuals whom possess different strengths. The action learning process that I have taken on requires the assistance and my ability to rely on others to make it successful. Prior to covering the topics presented at the leadership sessions, my philosophy has been to complete as much as I can on my own, therefore, this only leaves one person accountable. I quickly realized through my group the “Aspirational Optimists” presentation on “Emotional Intelligence 2.0”, if you surround yourself with the right individuals or team that is just committed and devoted as oneself, that everyone will pull together and do their part to complete any task at hand. A great characteristic of a Leader is to know when to step back and allow your team to lead. I have grown professionally and feel more confident in my role as a leader. I have met wonderful people in the field of healthcare who I can count on and collaborate with in the future. Class of 2013-14 Leadership Academy Graduate IGNITE Leadership Academy Action Learning Project 2013-14 29