A511.9.3.RB - Course Reflections Clark_A

     After exploring several different definitions of leadership in the assigned readings during the first module of the MSLD 511 Organizational Leadership course, my personal definition for leadership was as follows:

Leadership is a group of individuals responsible for effectively directing and delivering information, knowledge and methods to others in an effort to motivate others to perform efficiently and suitably to reach the desired goals to fulfill the corporate vision.

     After reviewing the leadership concepts presented the following weeks of this course I would change this definition to also include an individual leader as well.  Yes, leadership can be a group of peoples within an organization however; the behavior studies conducted by researchers in leadership are centered on the individual leader and their traits and characteristics.  Several of the leadership approaches reviewed requires that an individual takes an assessment or questionnaire in order to measure the effectiveness of style of the participant.

     Learning about these leadership theories in this course has informed my view of leadership.  Leadership as a process involves leaders as well as followers (Northouse, 2016).  The issues that are important to followers must also be addressed and are just as important the issues that concern leaders.  The leadership processes discussed in this course present ways to improve these interactions and also can easily be utilized to improve leadership in real situations.    

     I have found that my personal leadership style is a combination of most if not all of the leadership approaches we reviewed during this course.  Being a new leader within my organization it is important for me to identify the leadership style that works for me and my followers.  In the future I can see myself striving to be an authentic and transformational leader.   It is my goal to have a positive impact on the people I encounter someday.  This can be accomplished by leading self-first and keeping the needs of my followers in mind in my decision making.  I will keep working toward my goals in order to reach my full leasdership potential no matter how long it takes. 

Reference

Northouse, P. G. (2015). Leadership: theory and practice 7th ed. Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publishing.

A511.7.3.RB - Inner Work for Authentic Leadership Clark_Adenia

Inner Work for Authentic Leadership

     In his YouTube video title Inner work for Authentic Leadership, Bill George discusses the inner work that is necessary in order for leaders to gain self-awareness.  It is important for a leader to practice their preferred method in order to reflect on the real world experiences they encounter and also seek honest feedback from those they trust (Goleman, 2012).  As for me, I find that the real-world experiences which most individual would normally perceive as negative, unfortunate situations were the most instructional for me and resulted in my professional and personal growth and maturity. 

     While trying to find my balance between working to gain lucrative income to support my son and meeting a longing desire to make a difference in my community my path to stability was a long and arduous to say the least.  I chose to follow a lifelong dream to become an educator after working in the insurance industry for ten years with a Fortune 500 company.  The company prided themselves as the number one insurer in the country and one of the largest worldwide. 

     My position with this company was monotonous and stressful and I had lost satisfaction in what I was doing to earn a living day in and day out.  I knew I had to make a change.  The catalyst to me working towards my dream to becoming an educator was an office move (which increase my drive time by fifteen minutes in traffic) and a difficult team manager who believed in micro-managing and public disciplining her team members.  The extended drive in traffic and the team manager's management style made it difficult for me to enjoy my job.  No sooner than my next performance review where I received a number of unexpected satisfactory ratings I knew a change would come soon since had been preparing myself for my career change. 

     It was one week later when I accepted my first teaching assignment which was a temporary assignment in the middle of the school year.  Most of my associates, friends and family thought that I was crazy for making this change and leaving my “good job” with the insurance company however, I knew that the time had come for change and my faith will be rewarded in the long run.  I knew this because I take the time to reflect, pray and mediate on the things that concern me and the desires of my heart.

     I have a morning and evening routine whereby I recall the major issues and successes of the current moments in all aspects of my life however, I often reflect on certain situations throughout the day as they arise.  I ask myself how did my actions contribute to the situation and how else could I have responded to the situation.  I pray and mediate to seek guidance and peace in any situation of discord involving myself, my coworkers, family and friends.  I take these moments seriously and do not limit myself to any boundaries or locations. For example, when I am having a rough morning I often visit a park and have lunch by the ocean and clear my mind and enjoy my surroundings.  When situations arise where I feel I need the opinion of another and honest feedback tend to go to my best friend since she knows me best and has no problem letting me know when I have contributed to the problem or reacted to the situation rather than responding the issue at hand.

     I feel that I have grown to be a fair, non-judgmental, authentic and effective leader because I reflect, pray and mediate on the events in my private and professional life which enable me to stay humble and genuine in my approach with my team.  I believe that every situation which I encounter was meant to happen and the end result should be recoded as a lesson learned rather good, bad or indifferent.  This way when (not if) I encounter the same situation in the future I then have a reference of how to (or how not to) respond to the situation. 

     In order to be a leader one must be able to influence others to trust you enough to lead them to complete a common goal (Northouse, 2016).  How can a leader expect to successfully lead others, and  gain their trust and respect along the way; if the same leader is not able to rationalize their own thoughts and feelings regarding the events surrounding his or her self? 

References

Northouse, P. (2016) Leadership theory and practice (7th ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.

Goleman, D. (2012, November).  Harvard's Bill George: Inner work for authentic leadership.  Retrieved May 7, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmPu2LQ84ts.