Leadership Profile: Tina

An important leader at Misericordia is Tina Stendardo. She is currently one of the head

supervisor instructors in the developmental training department. On a daily basis, one will see

Tina on her feet working with colleagues, staff and residents to make sure that the day will run

smoothly. She is, clearly, one of the core leaders that aid in executing Misericordia's mission to

achieving social justice.

When Tina started at Misericordia, 22 years ago, she began at an entry-level position as a

habilitation aid. She had also started working at Misericordia under the assumption that it would

only be short-term work but as she began to grow as a person she realized she wanted to take on

a bigger leadership role at Misericordia. Her desire to take on a larger leadership role came from

her "desire to do more", she wanted to take on additional responsibilities, reach out to more

residents (as a habilitation aid she primarily only worked with ten), and create a larger impact in

the organization for the residents. When Tina spoke about having a desire to do more, it

reminded me of Caldwell and Dixon's article, "Love, Forgiveness, and Trust: Critical Values of

the Modern Leader", when they stated, that love is one of the important foundational values of

leaders in transforming lives and revitalizing relationships (91). Tina's desire to do more came

out of her care for the residents. Tina's desire to move up in the organization as an developmental

training instructor was inspired by her wanting to create more programing and therapeutic

programs to reach out to more residents.

When asked about her influences that led her to her current leadership position Tina

talked about her brother. Tina had a brother that would have been older than her if he survived,

and if he had survived he would have had developmental disabilities. She express that knowing

that she would have had a brother with a disability led her to have a natural "caregiver" role

within her that has naturally kept her at Misericordia. In Caldwell and Dixon's 10 commonalities

of the shared values of love, forgiveness, and trust, numbers (2) "virtue-based and reflecting the

desire to create added value or positive benefit for the other party” and (6)" reality-based and

accepting of others' faults" applied to Tina motivation to lead. As we learned from Tina's desire

to move up higher in the organization in order to be able to reach out to more residents explains

how 2 is applicable. As for number 6, Tina achieves this because when working at Misericordia,

one has to understand that residents have impaired judgment due to their disabilities, and

therefore their realities are different and one needs to understand that when working to achieve

social justice.

Although Tina has always felt a natural caregiver role this does not mean she has not had

challenges at Misericordia. When Tina first started as a habilitation aid she encounter challenges

that pushed her out of her comfort zone. For example, as a habilitation aid she was responsible

for showering and changing ten grown men and growing up in a predominantly Catholic

environment she had never been exposed to a population with developmental disabilities. She

described her first few days as "scary" simply because she was being exposed to a new

environment and felt intimated in an unfamiliar setting and lack of knowledge. As she began to

develop relationship with the residents and develop a nurturing demeanor towards them, then she

became more comfortable with her role and realized she wanted to continue to work at

Misericordia long term.

Tina definitely exhibits leadership traits that allow her to be a great leader at

Misericordia. As part of the Misericordia organization, one must definitely be patient and know

their population. Understanding the residents at Misericordia allows one to work more efficiently

and show more patience to better the life of the residences. As a leader at Misericordia, one must

be able to communicate efficiently with other staff members and go into their day knowing that

everything that they planned for the day might not get done. As an effective leader, one must

also be able to deal with confrontation and unexpected predicaments. Tina expressed how

important it was to address issues with residents or staff in real time and to maintain consistency

in order to be effective. Along with all those qualities, a leader must also be able to let people

lead and handle situations on their own, especially at Misericordia. Tina expressed that in order

to be an effective staff member at Misericordia, one must learn how to handle situation

independently in order to build relationships with residents. Along with that, as a leader she will

not intervene unless she is asked to or if she sees policy being violated.

Tina's leadership style follows Kouzes and Posner's "Model the way" and "Enable Others

to Act". As Kouzes and Posner state, "They go first by setting the example through daily actions

that demonstrate they are deeply committed to their beliefs". I see this reflect in Tina, as she

always shows one the proper way on how to do things, and she does not hesitate help someone

out. This type of leader is important because they show that they respect the people they lead

through helping out with the small time-consuming tedious task directly with other staff. Tina

also "enables others to act" emphasizing team effort within the organization. When she speaks

about her job, she always states "we" as she refers to the organization as a whole. Tina

encourages her staff, colleagues, and interns to become independent and take on responsibilities

themselves. When speaking to young leaders Tina advises that they continue to be innovated and

bring in new ideas to their leaders, because as a leader, herself, she needs new ideas to challenge

and balance her style to bring new programs to the residents, and this ideology can be expanded

to any other nonprofit. She also expresses that individuals should never abandon the values of

consistency, punctuation, dedication, and hard work, and just because one practices those values

it does not mean that they cannot still be creative and bring new fresh ideas to the table.