Leadership Skills

Perhaps the most important skill a leader needs is to be able to make decisions; leadership is all about having a vision of where you want to be and making decisions along the way to get closer to achieving this vision.  Decision-making in leadership however involves other people as leaders need followers, so the decision-making process will usually have an impact on your team of followers.  With this in mind, a good leader also needs strong ‘people skills' since a leader needs to be able to communicate the vision and motivate the team to follow.

Along the way to achieving the vision the leader will come upon many problems, hence problem solving is therefore another key leadership skill.  Problems come in all shapes and sizes, from those related to the people in your team when mediation skills may be needed, to those of a more strategic nature and everything in between.  A good leader will not be afraid of problems and, with trust and respect, followers will not be afraid to discuss problems or potential problems. With a positive attitude, problems can become opportunities and learning experiences.  A leader’s biggest asset is information as the more information a leader possesses about the how to achieve the vision or individual goals along the way, the more the leader learns about the direction needed to get there.  Problems provide information and therefore good problem solving is a very powerful skill for the leader.

As with anything in life, things do not always go according to plan and leadership is no exception. The direction a leader takes in order to realise their vision is likely to change.  Strong leaders embrace change and can adapt quickly and efficiently to new situations since they learn to balance opportunity and risk while being aware of their (and their team’s) strengths and weaknesses.

A leader also needs to be a strong facilitator - that is providing the support necessary for the team to achieve their goals.  Support may be as simple as words of encouragement or a specific tool needed to perform a task.  By listening to team-members, a leader can often learn about the barriers preventing a goal from being achieved and, through facilitation, find a way to an appropriate solution.

A common mistake of a leader is to try to do everything themselves.  A good leader will delegate responsibility to team members and, with the help of motivation and facilitation, aim to enable success.  Delegation also allows the leader to learn more about the strengths and weaknesses of the team members and therefore make better informed decisions about individual roles and responsibilities.

Study Tips: Success Planning

Salam aleyk ya ahbaa' al-ikhwah jameean. Wa hayyakumullah. Bismillah in the name of Allah the Almighty.

Today, this time i just would like to share with you how we could manage ourselves towards the coming end of year examination. Actually this coming examination is my fifth time seating for the annual examination during my life as a medical student here in Cairo since 2008.

"If we fail to plan, actually we are planning to fail". So, starts planning since now my friends.

First of all, we should know the exact date of our examination, when actually it will be held on? For me, my first paper will be on June 11th begins with the subject of obstetric and gynaecology, followed by the paediatrics which will be end on 4th of July. Just for information, I should also take this coming end of round examination also in consideration in order to arrange the suitable period of time for my personal revision later on. It will be held on this coming 18th of May.

From now till the 18th of May, I would have around 14 days left. So, for this period of 2 weeks, I can divide it into 2 separate half accordingly, first half do revise for Gynaecology subject followed by Obstetrics for the second half then. Then, afterwards I will spare a day for me myself to do summary and conclude all together what i've studied and revised on during the pass 2 weeks just on the last day before my end of round examination will be held, which is on that particular 17th of May.

Then, before starting for the next plans for the following papers, I suggest to decide for myself to have a 'whole-day rest' just doing something relaxing myself during the whole day like what actually i would like to do such as visiting my friends here in Cairo or form outside the capital around Egypt. Just take my time greeting, talking, sharing and discussing anythings with them in particular.

Later on for the next plans, I will have another 20 days left before begins with the next end of year examination paper which is Obstetric & Gynaecology. So, as I've mentioned before, i will just simply divide it into 2 parts; first one will be for my paediatrics and then followed by the obstetric & gynaecology. Then, i would like to sub divide again the first ten days into another 2 halves; first i will spend most of the time revising on general chapters on paediatrics then the following half will be for the same subject but on different chapters which is about the systemic parts. 

Same goes to the another 10 days left for the obstetric and gynaecology, I will starts with obstetrics chapters then followed by the gynaecology on the last 5 days before the first paper of the similar subject that will be held on 11th of June. So now i would have the second time revision particular for the obstetrics & gynaecology subjects. 

One special and interesting information that i would like to share here is we should be wise enough to tackle the exam's question appeared during the day of examination. Here, the exam's unit of the faculty are more ease to have the approach of exam-oriented base assessment. That's why half of the total marks for each subject that we take will be on the final year written paper only. So, it ,means that, the written question only will carry 50% of the total marks for each subjects. 

Seems that, so I would manage and arrange my revision accordingly. First, i would consider about the previous year examination questions papers. We should do a simple analysis first upon those papers in order to group and classify those questions into the most important one and the less important one according to its frequency and repetition for the several previous years examinations.

Okay, last but not least I will also consider what kinds of questions it would be in the examinations. Includes essay questions, multiple choice questions (MCQ), cross-matching questions, oral questions and clinical one. 

Just my simple advice for us, do manage and plan properly and don't forget to stick on our planning. Do revision everyday, keep on track and refuse for any distracting matter that come and go during this critical period. Mumtaz for Ummah!