| Course | EDN 818 Innovation and Technology in Health Care |
|---|---|
| Module | Module 1 |
| Paper type | Authentic leadership self-assessment |
| Length | About 1,124 words, 7 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Aspen University |
| Program | Doctor of Education |
| Updated | September 2026 |
Free sample paper for EDN 818 Module 1
Leading From the Inside Out: An Authentic Leadership Self-Assessment and What It Means for Innovation in Surgical Services
Student Name
Doctor of Education Program, Aspen University
EDN 818: Innovation and Technology in Health Care
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
Leading From the Inside Out: An Authentic Leadership Self-Assessment and What It Means for Innovation in Surgical Services
I became director of surgical services at Kingsmere Regional Hospital, a composite 300-bed hospital, eighteen months ago, after nine years as a perioperative nurse manager. The department has good clinical results and a reputation for doing things the way they have always been done. Staff offer few ideas, and the ideas they do offer tend to arrive as complaints. This self-assessment asks whether my own leadership contributes to that pattern. It uses the theory of authentic leadership to examine how I lead, draws on colleagues' feedback as well as my own view, and connects the findings to the kind of environment in which innovation can happen.
What Authentic Leadership Means
Authentic leadership describes leaders who act from a clear sense of their own values and who are open with others about what they think and why. Walumbwa et al. (2008) developed and validated a measure built on four components. Self-awareness is an accurate sense of what one does well and badly and of how one comes across. Relational transparency means showing people who one really is and telling them what one knows. Balanced processing means inviting and weighing contrary views before deciding. An internalized moral perspective means holding to one's values when pressure mounts. The four components give a leader something concrete to examine.
Why It Matters for Nurses
Authentic leadership is not only a matter of personal integrity. In a survey of 280 staff nurses in Ontario hospitals, nurses who saw their managers as more authentic reported greater structural empowerment, the sense of having the information, backing, means and openings needed to do the job well, and that empowerment in turn predicted higher job satisfaction and self-rated performance (Wong & Laschinger, 2013). For a department where staff rarely propose improvements, empowerment is the missing condition: people who lack information and support do not attempt new things.
How I Gathered Evidence
I rated myself on each component, then asked six colleagues, two charge nurses, a surgical technologist, an anesthesiologist, a peer director and my own supervisor, to answer the same questions anonymously through the hospital's organizational development office. I also reviewed my calendar and email for a month to see how I spent my time and whom I heard from. Comparing my view with others' was the most useful part of the exercise.
The Self-Assessment
The table summarizes each component, the behaviors I looked for, the ratings and the action I will take.
| Component | What I looked for | My rating (1-5) | Colleagues' average (1-5) | Development action |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Self-awareness | Knowing how my manner affects others | 4 | 3.2 | Ask for feedback after every staff meeting for three months |
| Relational transparency | Sharing the reasons behind decisions | 3 | 2.6 | Explain the why of each schedule and budget decision in writing |
| Balanced processing | Seeking dissent before deciding | 3 | 2.4 | Ask two staff for objections before any unit-wide change |
| Internalized moral perspective | Acting on stated values under pressure | 4 | 4.1 | Keep; name the value when I make a hard call |
What the Gap Shows
Colleagues rated me close to my own view on moral perspective and well below it on balanced processing and transparency. Their comments were specific: I ask for input after I have decided, and I announce changes without explaining the reasoning. One charge nurse wrote that staff had stopped suggesting ideas because "the decision is already made by the time we hear about it." That comment describes exactly the pattern I set out to understand, and it suggests that the department's silence is partly my own doing.
From Authenticity to Psychological Safety
Innovation depends on people being willing to speak up, admit mistakes and try things that might fail. Edmondson (1999), studying 51 work teams at a manufacturing company, found that teams whose members shared confidence that speaking up would not be punished engaged more in learning, such as asking for feedback and talking openly about mistakes, and the teams that learned more also performed better. A leader's behavior shapes that belief. When I decide first and ask later, I teach staff that speaking up is pointless; when I seek dissent before deciding, I teach the opposite. Authentic leadership and psychological safety are two views of the same conditions.
Blind Spots
The exercise revealed two blind spots I had not recognized. First, I equate speed with competence and treat deliberation as delay, which pushes me to decide before hearing objections. Second, I share information with the anesthesiologists and surgeons more readily than with nurses and technologists, perhaps because physician complaints have more immediate consequences. Both habits undercut the empowerment that the evidence links to staff satisfaction and performance.
Development Plan
Over the next six months I will take four steps. I will ask two staff members for objections before any unit-wide change and record what they said and how it affected the decision. I will publish a short written rationale for each scheduling, staffing or budget decision. I will hold a monthly open forum with no agenda, at a time night staff can attend. And I will meet with an executive coach, funded by the hospital's leadership development program, to work on the habit of deciding too quickly.
Measures
I will know whether these changes matter if colleagues' ratings of balanced processing and transparency rise when the survey is repeated in six months, if the number of improvement ideas submitted by surgical services staff increases from the current 11 a year, and if the department's scores on the psychological safety items of the annual engagement survey improve. I will share the results with the staff, including if they do not improve.
Authenticity Is Not Self-Disclosure Alone
Authentic leadership is sometimes misread as saying whatever one thinks. The balanced processing component shows why that reading is wrong: a leader who shares every opinion but never seeks challenge is transparent without being open. What colleagues asked of me was not more of my views but more of theirs in my decisions. The work ahead is therefore less about speaking and more about listening before I speak, and about showing, in writing and in results, that what I heard shaped what I did.
Conclusion
This self-assessment showed a leader whose values are clear to others but whose habits of deciding first and explaining later discourage the openness innovation needs. Authentic leadership offers a framework for correcting that: more balanced processing, more transparency and continued attention to self-awareness. The evidence connects these behaviors to empowered, satisfied staff, and psychological safety connects them to learning and innovation. The department's quiet is not only a feature of its culture; it is partly a response to how I lead, and that makes it something I can change.
References
Edmondson, A. (1999). Psychological safety and learning behavior in work teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44(2), 350-383. https://doi.org/10.2307/2666999
Walumbwa, F. O., Avolio, B. J., Gardner, W. L., Wernsing, T. S., & Peterson, S. J. (2008). Authentic leadership: Development and validation of a theory-based measure. Journal of Management, 34(1), 89-126. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206307308913
Wong, C. A., & Laschinger, H. K. S. (2013). Authentic leadership, performance, and job satisfaction: The mediating role of empowerment. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 69(4), 947-959. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2648.2012.06089.x
What the EDN 818 Module 1 instructions ask for
Aspen's catalog opens EDN 818 with authentic leadership and its role in driving innovation, and since the Module 1 prompt is read inside the course, this example completes a self-assessment tied to that theme. Expect to examine your own leadership against a named framework, gather evidence beyond your own opinion and connect what you find to your ability to lead change. Use the framework's actual components rather than general virtues. Ask colleagues for honest feedback, anonymously if possible, and compare it with your self-rating, since the gap is often the most revealing finding. Tie your results to a concrete problem in your setting. End with a development plan that names specific behaviors, a time frame and measures that others, not only you, could observe.
How the EDN 818 Module 1 example is put together
The self-assessment opens with the director's situation: a department with good clinical results, few staff ideas and 11 suggestions in a year. It defines the four components, from self-awareness to a moral perspective held under pressure, then presents nursing evidence linking authentic leadership to empowerment. A section explains how the evidence was gathered, including an anonymous survey of six colleagues and a review of a month of the director's calendar. A five-column table compares self and colleague ratings for each component, with the widest gaps on balanced processing and transparency. A charge nurse's comment illustrates the gap. Later sections connect the findings to psychological safety, name two blind spots, clarify that authenticity is more than self-disclosure, and set out a development plan with measures.
Where the marks sit in the EDN 818 Module 1 rubric
Self-assessments at the doctoral level are graded on correct use of the framework, honest evidence, insight and a credible development plan. This paper applies the four-component model accurately and uses colleague ratings to test the author's self-view, which is the step that separates reflection from self-description. The paper rests on three APA sources: the Journal of Management article that validated the Authentic Leadership Questionnaire, a Journal of Advanced Nursing study of authentic leadership and nurse empowerment, and Edmondson's Administrative Science Quarterly study of psychological safety. Linking authentic leadership to psychological safety and then to the department's silence gives the self-assessment a purpose tied to the course's focus on innovation, and the measures commit the author to results others can see.
Common EDN 818 Module 1 mistakes, and how to avoid them
Self-assessments often fail by staying flattering: every rating high, every weakness phrased as a strength. Ask for anonymous feedback and report the gaps, especially uncomfortable ones. A second problem is using a framework loosely, borrowing its name but not its components. Rate each component separately and give an example of behavior for each. Link your findings to something observable in your unit, such as the number of ideas staff raise or turnover. Make your development plan specific enough that a colleague could tell whether you followed it. If you do not supervise staff, apply the framework to a committee or project you lead. A tutor can help you draft a brief colleague survey and set the answers out in a table.
Write yours, or have the desk draft it
This paper is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Aspen University document. Read it for the moves, then write your own to the instructions in your classroom. If you want one built to your exact prompt and rubric, the first custom sample is free and arrives in 24 to 48 hours.
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EDN 818 Module 1 questions, answered
What does EDN 818 Module 1 usually ask for?
Aspen's EDN 818 opens with authentic leadership and how leaders drive innovation, so an authentic leadership self-assessment linked to innovation is a typical first assignment. Follow your classroom prompt.
What are the four components of authentic leadership?
Self-awareness, relational transparency, balanced processing and an internalized moral perspective, as measured by the Authentic Leadership Questionnaire.
How does authentic leadership relate to innovation?
Leaders who seek dissent and share their reasoning build psychological safety, and teams that feel safe to take interpersonal risks learn more and offer more ideas.
Where can I find a free EDN 818 Module 1 sample paper?
It is above in full: a surgical services director's authentic leadership self-assessment, with self and colleague ratings for each of the four components and a development plan.
How do you measure authentic leadership?
The Authentic Leadership Questionnaire rates four things: how well leaders know themselves, how openly they share, how fairly they weigh opposing views and how firmly they act on their values, and comparing self-ratings with colleagues' ratings shows blind spots.