As part of this internship, I have worked at developing my leadership style. Rather than coming in with a preconceived notion, I waited until after the first few weeks to determine my approach.
Due to the nature of peer support work, I decided that my leadership style would be one of empathy and support. For those reasons I chose to utilize the path-goal theory and servant leadership styles. Those styles place an emphasis on the followers rather than the leader. It requires me to clear the barriers to my subordinates success and demands that I listen to their concerns with empathy.
I believe this to be the best way to lead veterans that are engaging in emotionally draining work, while they deal with their own recovery process. Recovery is not limited to substance abuse, people can be in recovery from a variety of issues like homelessness or post-traumatic stress.
Leadership is such a value characteristic. It is great to hear that you have developed your leadership style over these past months. Your internship sounds like a great cause and I hope it serves you well in the future.
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