In this episode, Angie Lion of Black River Performance Management and Mona Bourbonnais of College of Western Idaho discuss the importance of the leadership skill, personal accountability. Mona talks about how she and her team provide critical feedback and develop accountability in students they send to work in the operating room. They discuss tips on developing accountability in individuals, teams, and organizations by creating an environment where you admit your mistakes, don’t make excuses, and break the snap-back-response habit of saying, “I know”.
Bourbonnais began her surgical career after graduating from Boise State University in 1989 as a member of the Saint Alphonsus neurosurgical, general, and peripheral vascular teams. During the early part of her career, she also worked as a private surgical technologist for an orthopedic surgeon. In addition to her certification as a surgical technologist, she has a B.S.Ed. in Professional/Technical Education and a M.S. in Adult Learning and Organization Leadership from University of Idaho. In 1999 she was offered the opportunity to teach at Boise State University as a clinical instructor in the surgical technology program, where she began her academic career. She was appointed as Program Director in 2002 for the program and oversaw several changes during the past 20 years. One of the major changes occurred in 2008 when College of Western Idaho became the first community college in the Treasure Valley and all CTE programs, including the Surgical Technology program at Boise State transferred to CWI. She was named the first “Faculty of the Year” for CWI in 2010. She served on the Faculty Senate and the Honorary Doctorate Committee at Boise State University, and currently sits on the Faculty Promotions Committee at CWI. She was appointed to the Educational and Professional Standards Committee for the Association of Surgical Technologists and served on that committee from 2015-2022. She was also awarded the Fellow-Association of Surgical Technologist award in 2015 and most recently she was promoted from Associate Professor to Full Professor at CWI.
