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10 Qualities of a Strong Female Leader

Mar 8, 2023 | Leadership, Faces of HDGH

Every year on March 8 we recognize International Women’s Day. It is a day to celebrate women’s social, economic, cultural and political achievements and a call to action for accelerating women’s equality. Jenniffer Clifford, Operations and Clinical Practice Manager of Specialized Geriatrics Program and Senior Friendly Care initiatives, is just one of many great female leaders at HDGH. Most recently, she has done an exceptional job managing a patient unit that was opened to support additional hospital capacity within the Windsor-Essex hospital system.

In this blog, Jenniffer shares the qualities she has gained that helped contribute to the success in her personal and professional life.

Growing Stronger from Good and Bad Experiences

I am told I have been recognized as being a “strong female leader” and have been asked to share what it means to me to be a strong female in leadership. To be honest, I was a little surprised that someone thought that of me at all, but the more I thought about it, the more humbled I am to be recognized in this way.

I truly believe that who I am today and where I am currently in my professional career because of the many personal and professional experiences, both good and bad, that I have encountered and have made me grow stronger. Before my time in social work, I worked in the community for many years in group homes. Supporting some of the most vulnerable people, I spent a lot of time in hospitals as a care-partner battling and advocating for those I supported within the “medical model” field. My voice was often overlooked by medical teams as myself and the people I supported never really included me in any type of treatment planning and the treatment decisions were made based on what others felt the value of life was; when in reality, they had no idea about what quality of life really meant. Years of these professional experiences across our healthcare system led me to further pursue my education in Social Work and gain some graduate level credentials behind my name, so that I could advocate and be seen as a valuable contributor to the discussion. The same messages and ideas I tried to convey to upper management earlier in my career were now being heard. I consider the 11 years I spent in the community as my “foundation years”. They were some of the hardest and most rewarding years of my professional life.

Becoming Unapologetically Myself

With every experience I had, I walked away learning something about myself, and my passion began to ignite. As time went on both personally and professionally, I grew more comfortable with who I was and what I needed, and I learned to be unapologetically myself. I learned it was okay to take risks, to advocate for what I believed in, to question things I wasn’t sure about, to tell people exactly what I needed from them and realized I can only control myself and my actions in any situation.

Fast forward 12 years to when I moved into a leadership role, I quickly realized there is no handbook on how to be the perfect leader; nor does any exist. To boot, there are only a few of us in the clinical leadership team who are not nurses— that’s a whole other mindset of standards that a “social model” social worker like myself felt needed to figure out how to live up to – how could I lead NOT being a nurse? Two plus years in and I am still learning everyday how to navigate my many roles and responsibilities, and can now appreciate the fact that it’s awesome that I’m NOT a nurse, because I bring a different perspective and mindset to the table, and that’s not a bad thing!

“Leadership is about making others better as a result of your presence and making sure that impact lasts in your absence”

- Sheryl Sandberg, former COO, Facebook

Here are the qualities I have gained from my experiences that helped me become a strong female leader.

Be flexible/adaptable: Be open to the idea that your day or role can change in an instant, and the way you gain control back is by prioritizing what really matters most in that moment (and even this can change). For me, my staff and patients come first— always. I will always try, and have in the past, dropped everything, including leaving meetings to take a phone call, go offsite to meet my staff or do whatever else is needed to support them in a challenging situation.
Take risks! Step out of your comfort zone. Dream! Anything worth fighting for isn’t easy and if you don’t change, nothing else will either. Share your ideas - the right people will hear you differently.
Communicate: Be honest and transparent when you can be. There will be times when you have to make hard decisions and when you can shed some light as to why these changes are needed, others will be better equipped to understand and help facilitate the change (even if they don’t like it).
Show some humility: Recognize that you don’t have all the answers all the time and sometimes you make mistakes. Own them. You’re also not designed to be liked or loved by everyone -you’re human. It’s okay, you’re not supposed to be perfect. Take this opportunity to learn from others, including your staff and colleagues, and ask for help when you need it and learn from your mistakes. You are only as strong as your weakest link— figure out the kinks, and strengthen your weak points with support, and together you all grow stronger. Your weakness is another’s strength on your team, and vice versa, Work together.
Come to the table with solutions: I learned the best way to address issues are to bring solutions to situations or challenges identified. This is where the real change happens when you are able to recognize what needs to happen to ignite the actual change. If you just bring up a concern and assume someone else will know how to fix it (especially if you have realistic ideas on how to do so) you are not helping the problem. I love when people can bring a solution to the table because this helps spark further conversations among others on how to actually overcome the identified barriers and together, the best solution identified could make a real difference.
Don’t ever forget who you are: Be unapologetically yourself. Treat others like you wish to be treated. Those who matter won’t mind and those who mind don’t matter. Find the best parts in your bad days, even if it’s just a good laugh or quick lunch date. Debrief with your colleagues/friends. They are your BEST supporters - they “get it”. Most importantly, have a sense of humour - life is way too short.
Be present: Know your staff, your patients, your colleagues and community partners. It’s important that they know who you are too. It’s often hard in leadership to be everything to everyone all the time, but having these relationships will keep your foundation strong so you can continue to build upon it.
Be a role model: Are you willing to do the work you expect of others? If you’re not willing to jump in, don’t expect others to.
Find your joy: Find passion in the work you do each day. The moment you stop caring or the flame burns out, that’s the moment you need to take a step back and determine what it is that you need and help identify what control you have to re-ignite that spark. Foster these passions in your colleagues and staff as well. We all need work that is meaningful to us. What opportunities can we share with others who also have the same passion? Never forget where your roots are and why you got into this field.
Never give up: Everything happens when it’s meant to happen. I had many years of doors closing on me, bumpy roads and feeling like I was “stuck” professionally until one person encouraged me to share some ideas. I shared the same ideas I had many years ago, but this time the timing was finally right. The person I told shared it with another person and the rest is history!

About Jenniffer

Jenniffer is a Registered Social Worker (RSW) and holds both a Bachelor (BSW) and Master’s Degree (MSW) in Social Work from the University of Windsor. Jenniffer also holds a diploma from St. Clair College as a Developmental Services Worker (DSW). With over 20 years of experience in a variety of settings, Jenniffer has a passion for Specialized Geriatrics with areas of expertise that include Dementia/Alzheimer’s, Geriatric Mental Health, Caregiver Support, Developmental Disabilities, Dual Diagnosis, and Responsive Behaviours. Her passion for this population has led her to different opportunities around the organization, and provincially. In her current role, she is the Operations Manager of HDGH’s Specialized Geriatrics Teams, GAP & GMHOT, and she also acts as the Specialized Geriatrics Clinical Practice Manager for the organization. When she’s not at work, she enjoys spending time with her husband, their two children, many friends and family and golfing.