Faith Ortiz
March-April 2023
Individual Practice with Peer Evaluation (WEEK 2)
A leadership crisis situation that you were involved in. If you observed someone else handle something either very well or very poorly, you may
write about that instead.
1. What happened? (Background, brief description of events, specific leadership actions) What were the results? (Real or
potential. Try to include both positive and negative possibilities. Even if the event seemed clearly good or bad, consider
unintended consequences.)
2. Why did this happen? (Consider all possible factors, including the people and the situation)
3. What class concepts are relevant to this situation? (Mention at least one concept from class and how they can be used to
interpret the situation.)
4. What did you learn from this? (Broader lessons that might apply to other situations or problems.)
While working in a behavioral health office, there was a situation where we had a walk-in client who
came in to inquire about getting services. When the potential client came in, they were displaying signs
of active substance abuse and behaving somewhat erratic. At the time, I was the first person of contact
for intake so the COO of the agency came to get me to sit with the client. I introduced myself to the
client and took her to a vacant office to speak, as it was more private. In the midst of building rapport
with the potential client and finally getting her to a moment of calmness, a leadership staff walked in
abruptly and asked for me to come out the office. In confusion, I asked the leadership staff what was
going on and why she had removed me, especially given the state of the client. At the time, she vaguely
stated “we want to just put –name removed- in there with her behaviors.” Although the leadership in
this situation was clerical and not clinical, I followed her orders but found it odd. I decided to go back
into the office to at least inform the client what was going on and why someone else would now be
coming in to take over, as she was confused and asking questions. I then returned to other tasks.
As the day progressed, we had our weekly clinical team meeting and on the meeting agenda stated
“lessons learned”. As we approached the bullet point “lessons learned”, another leadership staff asked
the team what could have been handled differently. Upon realizing that they were talking about the
walk-in client situation, I explained to them that I was asked to help this client out and directed to the
vacant office by the COO of the agency. The leadership staff stated the reason I was abruptly removed
was due to “safety issues” as they thought of the client to be erratic and didn’t want me, a smaller
female alone with the client by myself. I explained that I didn’t feel unsafe as I was building rapport with
the client and that removing me abruptly could have went bad, being that they thought she was erratic
and unsafe. Although I understood the bigger picture of safety, it was no different from any other client
or situation that we regularly deal with. It also turned into a meeting point which I felt was unnecessary,
being that I was instructed to do everything I did and it was my job. The result ended with the client
leaving and not returning for services she inquired for due to her stating she felt “out of place” with the
way leadership responded.
According to Fiedler’s contingency model, I believe the leadership style of this particular leadership staff
involved was more of a task oriented leader and directive leadership. While this works for most, I think
this particular leader was too focused on the tasks and lacked empathy for the client and also me, the
staff. Had this leader had empathy, she would’ve seen the client wasn’t a threat instead of judging her

Faith Ortiz
March-April 2023
Individual Practice with Peer Evaluation (WEEK 2)
and leaving her without any resources. Had she had empathy for staff, she would have seen that I was
doing my job as directed and wouldn’t have made it a meeting point without realizing all the details that
made the situation unprofessional on behalf of our agency. Overall, I learned to always follow through
with leadership but to also stick up for what’s right. I also learned to log incidents to avoid further
conflicts down the line when a situation is brought up.