Audiology Connections - 2022 - 30

LEARNING TO LEAD
Learning to Lead
During 2019-2020, I participated in
ASHA's Leadership Development
Program (LDP), for which the theme
was " Leadership in Schools. " In joining
this program, I hoped that I would
learn ways to become a better leader
as both a clinical supervisor and a
professional within the early hearing
detection and intervention (EHDI)
learning community in Washington,
DC. When I applied for the program, I
was the " lead " audiologist at a small
practice housed within a private school
in DC. I was supervising at least one
graduate student per semester and
trying to actively participate in the
EHDI learning community for both DC
and Northern Virginia. However, at the
time of writing this article, I have since
left that position and now work as the
newest member of the audiology team
for the Saint Paul public school district
in Saint Paul, MN. Although my career
path has changed, I continue to apply
what I learned from ASHA's LDP in my
new role.
The purpose of the LDP is to build
self-awareness and knowledge of
essential leadership skills, develop
interpersonal and team-building skills
while working on a leadership project,
create strong peer relationships and
an ongoing support network, apply
acquired knowledge and skills in future
professional and volunteer leadership
roles, and build a strong pipeline of
future leaders for ASHA volunteer
roles. This program not only provided
an outside perspective on being a
professional leader but also gave me a
great network of professionals.
As part of the LDP, we were
assigned to groups in which we all
shared interests. I was one of two
audiologists, and we were assigned
to the same group. Two of the three
30
other members in our group were
speech-language pathologists who
work with children who are deaf or
hard of hearing. Having this similar
interest was comforting. The best part
of the experience, by far, was my
group-it was made up of committed
professionals dedicated to our careers.
We all got along so well, and I felt
encouraged that, as a group, we
possessed a thorough understanding
of the population that each of
us served. We encouraged and
supported one another through the
end of what had turned into a strange
school year (due to the COVID-19
pandemic). I really appreciate that the
program organizers put such thought
into these groups.
One of the most important things I
learned involved strategies for dealing
with-and overcoming-the barriers I
face in being an effective leader. These
challenges include possessing and
demonstrating confidence, addressing
conflict, and delegating tasks. As a
result, some of the topics I found most
impactful included presentations on
influencing others, coaching and
mentoring, conflict management, and
leadership styles. A key takeaway for
me was that " power " is neutral-the act
of influencing others is not dominant
or manipulative on its own, but how
you use it can be seen as positive or
negative. I had always considered
" influencing others " a negative
behavior. I also learned that our ability
to influence is linked to our perception
of how much power we have in the
workplace. The more power we feel
we have, the more effectively we think
we can influence others. This coincides
with the leadership style that I lacked
the most-a directive style. So I worked
2022 AUDIOLOGY CONNECTIONS asha.org/aud
on my assertiveness, problem-solving
skills, and self-regard. Having this
ability to self-reflect and learn about
myself, especially in the context of
being a clinical supervisor, was very
powerful.
The program used the following
quote, which really stood out to me:
" Leaders give direction; they do not
give directions. " - Scott Eblin
Sydney Bednarz, AuD,
CCC-A, is an educational
audiologist with Saint Paul
Public Schools in Saint Paul,
Minnesota.
http://www.asha.org/aud
Audiology Connections - 2022

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