Sodexo Distance Education Dietetic Internship

Name: Julia Brandt

Leadership Final Summary

-Leadership Development1. Review all of your reflective journals and pick out 3-4 specific examples of
when you utilized your leadership skills. What leadership style did you use in
each case? How effective were you? What might you have done differently
for a better outcome (if the outcome was negative), or what can you apply to
other situations (if the outcome was positive)?
Upon reviewing my clinical journals, I was pleasantly surprised by the positive
improvement in my leadership skills. In my first clinical journal, I noted
skills that I felt necessary for an RD to have like time management, ability
to work as a team, confidence, communication skills, and clinical
judgement. By my last clinical journal, I was able to note some of those
skills as leadership skills I felt that I developed. I definitely developed
confidence in myself and my team in making a different in my patients
lives. I can recall during my first couple of times educating a patient, I
would mentally second-guess myself as I carried out the education. When
my preceptor would be in the room, I would think is that right? God, I
hope I didnt say anything wrong By the end of my time in clinical, I
invited my preceptors to come and watch me. I knew that through
practice I had developed this sense of calmness and confidence in myself
and what I knew. I was able to approach other members of the IDT to
discuss recommendations. During my last week, I had a discussion in the
ICU with a resident who thought that he knew it alland during my first
week, I probably would have just taken his word for it. But instead, I
explained why we needed to change the patients TF based upon the most
recent lab values and symptoms noted by the RN, and although the
resident DEFINITELY did not like being told he was wrong by a dietetic
intern, by the end of the conversation he said make the change you want
and sign my name to the orders, this sounds good. When I left the ICU, it
hit me that little old me just made a big difference! Confidence in myself
carries over in every facet of the world of dietetics. As an outpatient
counselor, I need to be confident in myself and my message to my
patients in order for them to succeed, I need to be confident in myself
when giving presentations in the community, and I need to be confident in
myself when managing a team, and advocating for my team.
During my FSM rotation, I definitely built my delegation skills as a leader. In
the past, I was always a oh Ill do it kind of person, but during my time in
FSM, I was able to properly delegate tasks to empower my team and help
manage my own time and task-load. It definitely took time for me to
become comfortable with delegating tasks, based upon my lack of
confidence in myself in the beginning, but by the end, I had such a
wonderful relationship with the staff, I was able to identify their strengths
and weaknesses and delegate tasks accordingly. I knew that out
dishwasher easily finished his tasks in the morning, and then whenever he

Sodexo Distance Education Dietetic Internship

was bored, he would go out and smoke. He did an EXCELLENT job
completing the tasks required of him, but then if we needed him in the
afternoon, he was hard to find. I implemented a new organizational
system for beverages in the storeroom, and I decided to train him on the
system so that he could take over. It was obvious to me that he could
work hard and understand tasks asked of him, he simply needed to be
kept busy. He loved his new job and did a great job performing the duties.
During my first week, I would have been nervous to say Hey Tim, Pepsi
just camewill you go in the storeroom and organize per the new
system? By the last week, I could say Tim, Pepsi is here, and he knew
what that meant and happily completed the tasks. I really felt like I
empowered him within his position and it excited him to be doing more.
Delegation of tasks is crucial to all successful management, and I am
pleased that I was able to improve that skill of mine and put more trust in
my team.
I have always done well with time management prior to this internship, but
time management was absolutely a leadership skill that I built on and
improved during all of my rotations and internship work. During my first week
of community, I knew that I had to get going on my community assignments,
planning my presentations, securing sites, planning my grocery store tour,
etc. etc. With that being said, this was the week before going to California for
class week and my mini-vacation. I have been working extremely hard since
May, and I was definitely ready for a little time off. As much as I wanted to
take my mental vacation early and put these tasks off, I knew that I needed
to do something everyday and manage my time well in order to succeed. I
started by pulling out my assignment checklist and making a to-do list of
everything that needed to be done in community. I then set deadline dates by
each item that I needed to have done by. I then wrote each task on the
appropriate date in my planner. Then I took action. I started emailing, calling,
and texting people to lock down my presentations, grocery store tour, etc. In
one week I was able to get in contact with Operation Food Search to discuss
my doing a grocery store tour for them, visited their site the next day after
my adult community hours were finished, attended a grocery store tour as a
participant to observe my preceptor, reviewing my training, made myself a
script to practice, and delivered my grocery store tourall within 5 days. I
filled every bit of my planner and my time that week, knowing I would be off
the next week, and knowing my planned finish date is coming up soon.
Coming back from California, I felt so relaxed and thankful that I was still ontrack versus feeling stressed and overwhelmed. Time management was also
used in managing my caseloads during my clinical timeespecially when I
completed my clinical specialty and IER doing 7 additional weeks of staff
relief. I independently handled caseloads up to 18-20 patients in a day. I
needed to manage my time and develop an efficient system that worked for
me in order to complete my case load. Time management is always a
wonderful skill to have as a leader to meet goals and not let down your team.
2. Reflect on your leadership style and philosophy. What are your strengths as a
leader? What are areas for further development?

Sodexo Distance Education Dietetic Internship

In reviewing all of my work with the Leadership text throughout this
internship, it is nice to see exactly what my leadership style and philosophy
is. My leadership style is democratic. I was not at all surprised by this when
working through the book, because I always knew that I liked to be a part of
the group and seen as a guide or a help versus being in charge. I love
working with others and encouraging others. My philosophy as a leader is
definitely reflected in McGregors Theory Y. I think that people like to work
and can be motivated when you identify their personal strengths and goals. I
believe that a leader is present to empower the collective in order to
succeed. In order to empower or motivate an individual, you need to have a
positive assumption about the individuals on the team. My strengths as a
leader include: intelligence, confidence, determination, sociability, and
integrity. I need to work on stepping back sometimes and allowing others to
lead. Like I have mentioned in the past, sometimes I can become,
unconsciously, so narrow-minded and goal-driven, that it intimidates my
team and they dont feel comfortable suggesting changes. I love empowering
others and working WITH othersit is not that I am closed-minded about
that. Its just that I can become almost too-focused and driven. I need to work
on taking a step back and reassessing the situation, goal or plan. I think that I
can also improve my communication skills. At times what may be clear to me
may not make sense to someone else. My mind moves VERY quickly, and I
know that I can go too fast for people and they cannot follow me. Thats
another thing that goes with stepping backslowing down. I have always
been a go-go-go kind of person, but in order to be successful, I need to slow
down so that I dont ware myself out, my team can follow me, and my group
can succeed.
3. What leadership skills have you developed throughout the internship? What
skills do you want to continue to work on?
As previously mentioned, my confidence has improved throughout this
internship, as well as my time management skills and my delegation skills. I
have always been social and charismatic, so I dont know if that has changed
in any way, but it has always been evident in my personality. As mentioned
above, I need to work on slowing down, communicating more clearly, and
allowing others to lead.
4. What are some strategies you will use to develop these skills and continue to
build on your strengths?
I am going to need to really challenge myself. When presented with a
leadership position or task, I will need to constantly remind myself slow
down, take a step back, what does everyone else think?, let others
lead. It will be frustrating, because I have worked on this throughout the
internship with the business plan, and that did not turn out so well, in my
opinion. During that time, I was working on allowing others to lead and not
becoming overbearing with my goals and my opinions. I need to work on
letting others lead, but still figure out how to guide the group towards
success. As far as strategies, I think I just need to keep that conversation and
verbal ques in my mind going. I also need to continue to read about
leadership and how to improve your leadership skills. My sister has a minor in

Sodexo Distance Education Dietetic Internship

leadership and she reads books by successful individuals about how to
improve your leadership skills all of the time, and I know that I could
absolutely borrow those. I think leaders need to always be working on their
skills, changing their bad habits, and evolving to be the type of leader that
each individual and team needs.

Quality Assessment Criteria

____ All questions addressed
____ Answers to questions are insightful and reveal critical thinking skills
____ Answers reveal development of leadership style and skills throughout
internship
____ Strategies for further development are clear and doable
____ Summary submitted by deadline