Chevening_Leadership experience gained from emergent events is often the most precious.

LEADERSHIP & INFLUENCE QUESTION

Chevening is looking for individuals who will be future leaders or influencers in their home countries. Explain how you meet this requirement, using clear examples of your own leadership and influencing skills to support your answer.

(minimum word count: 100 words, maximum word count: 500 words)

Leadership experience gained from emergent events is often the most precious. So far, my ability to respond in a crisis was honed during a major tragic event that occurred in Taiwan.

In June 2015, more than 500 people were injured when a fire ripped through a crowded party at an amusement park outside of Taipei, Taiwan's capital. At that time, I was a pharmacist at Taipei Veterans General Hospital. A few hours after the incident, many injured patients were sent to the hospital's emergency room. During the first weekend of the incident, some patients were transferred to the plastic surgery department, whilst I was a pharmacist at the inpatient pharmacy. Since I was the senior pharmacist on duty, the surge of patients and workload did not allow us to do business in line with the usual code of practice and work allocation. Therefore, I offered my advice to my colleagues on how to allocate our increased workload and maximise our limited resources. For example, at the time, the amount of albumin used exploded tenfold due to the increased need, which also demonstrates the increased volume of work. As a result, I urgently made emergency calls to pharmacists who lived nearby to work overtime. The following day, I also worked with another colleague to brief our supervisor about our workload over the weekend, and our supervisor also adjusted the manpower needed accordingly. After this, I was given the opportunity to be the substitute for the deputy supervisor thanks to my performance at work. I learnt from the incident that leaders must be decisive and have the relevant experience.

Now, I am working as the Pharmacist-in-charge of Leli Pharmacy in New Taipei City. Mainly, I led a group of pharmacists by delegating responsibilities in the pharmacy as well as creating a positive work atmosphere. Through prioritising ordering supplies, medications and equipment needed in the pharmacy, I have improved our working efficiency by 10%. In addition, I trained four new pharmacy employees on all of our department's procedures. Having the opportunity to be introduced to a variety of working styles as well as having a positive impact on my patients and colleagues, my love for pharmacy has deepened.

In addition, during my undergraduate studies at Kaohsiung Medical University (KMU), I won an internship at the University of Southern California (USC). I was selected to be the group leader and to present our results for designing a new diabetes drug, Sitagliptin. Also, in 2008, when I was a high school senior, I presented our group's process for designing experiment procedures to professors at the Taiwan International Science Fair. I gained the experience of leading a group and presenting our findings, and we won the Honourable Mention Award.

Most of the time, leadership comes down to the accumulation of experiences. We need to influence others with our own passion, and learn how to communicate with others, including medical personnel or the general public. In this way, we can change society for the better. (498 words)

@Pharm2916
Your essay is good in the leadership aspect but have some gaps for example when you talk about the internship at USC you don't explain how you used your position as a group leader to lead your team. It happens again in Taiwan International Science Fair. Explain how you leaded the group.

The prompt asks not only for example of leadership (i used to do the same mistake) but of influence skills too. I suggest you to add examples of how you used your influence skills in a particular situation. Good Luck...

Sue, as far as I am concerned, there is only one level of leadership and influencing that should be fully presented in this essay. That is the very first reference you made in relation to the fire at the amusement park. The way that you took charge of the situation and made a usable action plan for everyone to follow shows inborn leadership. However, there wasn't enough focus on influencing in that section, or any other sections that you presented. If you will just remove the other references int he essay and instead, think of a situation during that crisis when you were called upon to influence others, then you will have a pretty good essay to present. Simply making phone calls to other pharmacists doesn't qualify as an influencing reference. You need a more appropriate situation to prove that ability. Excellent work on proving your leadership abilities in that instance though. The other parts you presented do not work as well nor do they sound as impressive.

@gmeigo9
@Holt

LEADERSHIP & INFLUENCE QUESTION

Throughout my life I have some chance ...

Since October 2016, I have been working ...

In addition, during my undergraduate studies at Kaohsiung Medical University (KMU), I won an internship at the University of Southern California (USC). I was selected to be the group leader of three group members and to present our results for designing a new diabetes drug, Sitagliptin. Also, in 2008, when I was a high school senior, I presented our group's process for designing experiment procedures to professors at the Taiwan International Science Fair. I gained the experience of leading a group and presenting our findings, and we won the Honourable Mention Award.

At KMU, as the class representative...

@Pharm2916

Remove the reference to the high school and college. No leadership or influencing skill demonstrated here.

@iceman2017

Throughout my life I have some chance of being a leader. Thanks to the experience which has honed my leadership skills, I, with my infectious personality, can be the beginner to change for the better.

Since October 2016, I have been working as the Pharmacist-in-charge of Leli Pharmacy in New Taipei City. Mainly, I led a group of three pharmacists by delegating responsibilities in the pharmacy as well as creating a positive work atmosphere. Originally, at the beginning of this year, I implemented a plan of the monthly activities about introducing the newest drug information and the knowledge of safe medications to people coming Leli Pharmacy. After this, the numbers of patients who would consult pharmacists increased enormously from on average each month two to eleven. Meanwhile, the total monthly revenue of the pharmacy increased, with sales activities designed for the monthly medicine educations in the specific areas such as diabetes and asthma. Moreover, through prioritising ordering supplies, medications and equipment needed in the pharmacy, I have improved our working efficiency. As a result, the time of dispensing medications was shortened, which led to improve patient satisfaction. In addition, I trained four new pharmacy employees on all of our department's procedures.

During my undergraduate studies at Kaohsiung Medical University (KMU), I won an internship at the University of Southern California (USC). I was selected to be the group leader of three group members and to present our results for modifying a new diabetes drug from the old one, Sitagliptin. In 2008, when I was a high school senior, because of the topic selected was an unprecedented one, I, mainly, created and modified the experimental methods. I presented our group's process for designing experiment procedures to professors at the Taiwan International Science Fair. I gained the experience of leading a group and presenting our findings, and we won the Honourable Mention Award.

At KMU, as the class representative, I initially managed to hold the inter-class sports meet. It was a difficult task with limited human and finance resources. Owing to my influence skills, I got financing for holding activities from Alumni Association and we had organized the event successfully.

Furthermore, I had the fantastic opportunity to enhance my skills from being involved in the major events that occurred in Taiwan, when I worked at Taipei Veterans General Hospital in Taiwan. In June 2015, more than 500 people were injured when a fire ripped through a crowded party at an amusement park outside of Taipei. Urgently, at that time, I tackled about maximising the limited resources by making emergency calls to other two health practitioners who I closely worked with, because the surge of patients and workload did not allow us to do business in line with the usual code of practice and work allocation.

To summarize, as a young leader, who have good accomplishments, Chevening scholarship will move me forward, and I will acquire new knowledge, which I bring back to my country to reform the policy and benefit the public. (500 words)