Communication is an important part of any relationship. Through effective and equal communication among all, leaders are able to address common goals in the group and how every person can work individually in order to improve the community as a whole.
Week Eleven:
Communication is an important part of any relationship. Through effective and equal communication among all, leaders are able to address each person's individual goal and thus create common goals to improve the community as a whole.
Analysis:
My definition of leadership changed only a little bit this week because I tried to make it represent the full meaning of the Kegan and Lahey article. They discuss how everyone has "one big thing" that they would like to work on and get better at themselves. A good leader would take each person's one big thing into account when trying to create a goal for the group to work on in order to please everyone while also improving the state of the community. This definition of leadership not only directly relates to the Kegan and Lahey article, but also the Astin and Astin article where they discuss the Leadership Development model and how the individual, group and community all directly relate to one another. This is very important to keep in mind as a leader, and in order to please the largest portion of your followers as possible, it is necessary to incorporate their personal goals into the group goals. The only way to be able to do this as a leader also is to use effective communication skills, which is why I kept the first sentence the same as last week's definition of leadership.
References:
Communication is an important part of any relationship. Through effective communication, leaders are able to address common goals in the group and how every person can work individually in order to improve the community as a whole.
Week Ten:
Communication is an important part of any relationship. Through effective and equal communication among all, leaders are able to address common goals in the group and how every person can work individually in order to improve the community as a whole.
Analysis:
I did not change my definition of leadership much from last week because I feel that it does encompass many necessary parts of leadership. However, I did tweak it a little bit in order to get across the fact that nobody - leaders especially - should judge a person based on the way they look, skin color or otherwise. Both Gladwell and Tatum discuss why this is an unfair treatment for all in their articles. By "thin-slicing" a person (as Gladwell would say) you are setting an unequal precedence among your thought process, and supporting that inequality among the community. This is an extremely negative thought process to remain in while working with others, and if you are a leader trying to promote such ways of life you are not a positive role model at all. Also, by promoting such thoughts and ways of life you are supporting racism in the world, which Tatum describes as a "system of privilege based on race." Unfortunately, there are leaders such as this out there, but they are not good leaders based on my definition of leadership this week, because they are not working to improve the community for the common good, but rather their own personal good.
References:
Communication is an important part of any relationship building exercise. In order for a leader to become an effective communicator among their peers, they need to focus on the context of the situation as a whole from an outside perspective, while holding the same common goals among the group. Through their ability to use diverse communication behaviors, an individual can work to improve the community by teaching and inspiring others while also learning from them at the same time.
Week Nine:
Communication is an important part of any relationship. Through effective communication, leaders are able to address common goals in the group and how every person can work individually in order to improve the community as a whole.
Analysis:
My definition this week still starts with the fact that communication is an important part of any relationship because I feel that this is a recurring theme in many of the articles we read throughout this course, and also in leadership experiences in my own life. However, I changed the way I alluded to the Leadership Development Model (from the Astin and Astin article) and almost directly portrayed how the individual, group and community all directly relate to one another. I also tried to incorporate how leaders can work with the group in order to make progress towards a common goal, which is what the entire Kegan and Lahey article is directed towards. They are not as direct in stating this, but rather give the "real reason people won't change," which helps to explain how a leader can work with a group of people in order to keep them at their maximum productivity level. In order to do this however, they specifically state how a person needs to state their strongest commitment in the workplace, what's keeping them from reaching this goal and how they can improve their work strategy. While this article focuses more on a managerial aspect of leadership, the steps followed in this article can be applied to any group-work setting in order to help them work together more productively towards the common goal.
References:
Leaders are responsible for not only being able to teach and inspire others, but to grow and learn from them as well. Knowing that you are not always going to be able to please everyone, but remaining respectful and encouraging to all over time sets a strong basis for group civility. Using an outer perspective to remain calm and courageous even in a difficult situation, portrays how an individual can work to improve the community as a whole.
Week Eight:
Communication is an important part of any relationship building exercise. In order for a leader to become an effective communicator among their peers, they need to focus on the context of the situation as a whole from an outside perspective, while holding the same common goals among the group. Through their ability to use diverse communication behaviors, an individual can work to improve the community by teaching and inspiring others while also learning from them at the same time.
Analysis:
The Saphiere, Mikk and Devries article explains five of the most significant and necessary steps in order to become an effective communicator - context, goals, self-concept, values and communication style repertoire. The article makes an effective argument for how these five styles help decrease the level of miscommunication in your life. Also, I felt that many of these steps have been touched on in my past leadership definitions, but none have been combined into one definition which is why I chose to create a fresh definition including the steps necessary in order for a leader to become a successful communicator. I also started off my definition discussing the fact that communication helps build relationships, because relationships need to be formed in order for a leader to have followers. Without followers, leaders would be just another person, which shows why communication is such a necessary skill to have in order to become a successful leader.
References:
Leaders are responsible for not only being able to teach and inspire others, but to grow and learn from them as well. Knowing that you are not always going to be able to please everyone, but remaining respectful and encouraging to all over time sets the good leaders apart from the bad. With the ability to remain calm and courageous even in a difficult situation, good leaders have the integrity to do the right thing as seen from an outside perspective.
Week Seven:
Leaders are responsible for not only being able to teach and inspire others, but to grow and learn from them as well. Knowing that you are not always going to be able to please everyone, but remaining respectful and encouraging to all over time sets a strong basis for group civility. Using an outer perspective to remain calm and courageous even in a difficult situation portrays how an individual can work to improve the community as a whole.
Analysis:
My definition of leadership has changed a bit from last week based upon the Astin and Astin article. I changed the definition to reflect the Leadership Development Model that they discuss in the article. They explain the three main components of the model - individual, group and community/society - as having different values each. However, I did not put those values directly into my leadership definition because there are seven values total, ("The Seven C's") which is far too wordy for a short, one to three sentence definition. However, some of the values are represented in the definition, such as common purpose, consciousness of self, controversy with civility and others I'm sure. Also, the article states that due to all of these values, change will come about, which I also allude to in my definition when stating, "An individual can work to improve the community as a whole." Mainly, I was trying to get across the three main components of the leadership development model by showing that the individual, group and community all have a causal relationship with one another.
References:
When working as a group towards a common goal, everyone plays a specific role as far as how they interact with the rest of the group. Versatile leaders remain mindful in order to see all sides of a situation before acting upon their instinctive values and strengths.
Week Six:
Leaders are responsible for not only being able to teach and inspire others, but to grow and learn from them as well. Knowing that you are not always going to be able to please everyone, but remaining respectful and encouraging to all over time sets the good leaders apart from the bad. With the ability to remain calm and courageous even in a difficult situation, good leaders have the integrity to do the right thing as seen from an outside perspective.
Analysis:
I reverted back to my definition of leadership from Week One this time, because I feel that it still encompasses many strong and accurate aspects of leadership that I have not touched on since. I did make changes however, in the last sentence of the definition. In this last sentence I made sure to allude to the Heifetz and Linksy article by mentioning the outside perspective. I also made sure to include the term calm with courageous, because, according to Malcolm Gladwell's article he mentions how everyone fails in different ways, and thus some versions of "failure" are not actually failures at all. This relates to including the term calm as well as courageous because a true leader is able to face a difficult decision, and not be afraid to make a wrong decision. While this is easier said than done, this shows exactly why including the terminology I did relates to the different ways you can fail, and instead of "choking" and letting the stress of the situation rule your responsive actions you are able to hold strong in your decision making capabilities.
References:
To become a versatile leader, mindfulness remains extremely relevant in order to help you address issues by enabling yourself to see all sides of the situation. Having a strong sense of your own personal values and strengths as a person will also help positively influence your decision making abilities as a leader.
Week Five:
When working as a group towards a common goal, everyone plays a specific role as far as how they interact with the rest of the group. Versatile leaders remain mindful in order to see all sides of a situation before acting upon their instinctive values and strengths.
Analysis:
I feel that being versatile is an important aspect of any person, especially when working in a group. Again, I just altered my previous definition of leadership in order to encompass the main goals of last week's definition along with a realization I made after reading the Komives, Lucas and McMahon article. In this article, some of the different roles that people can play when working in a group are discussed and named accordingly. I had always known that different people play different roles when working in a group, however I never thought about the actual roles being acted out. After reading this article I realized that a leader can be any role, from an information seeker or summarizer to a mediator. Any of these roles can be perceived as a leadership role, which is why I made sure to add this into my definition of leadership for this week.
References:
Utilizing such comprehensive skills as mindfulness and resonance will help you become a versatile leader who can address issues by enabling themselves to see all sides of the situation.
Week Four:
To become a versatile leader, mindfulness remains extremely relevant in order to help you address issues by enabling yourself to see all sides of the situation. Having a strong sense of your own personal values and strengths as a person will also help positively influence your decision making abilities as a leader.
Analysis:
I chose to keep the main concept of my definition of leadership from last week, but condensed it in order to fit an updated definition that includes certain concepts of significance based on our readings from this last week of class. The concepts that I added to my leadership definition include understanding your strengths as a person and also understanding your values. The Lee and King article explained how a person's values influence every aspect of their lives - especially their leadership styles. This provoked thought on my part, as to what some of my personal values are and how I can utilize those and my strengths as a person in order to reach my potential as a leader. Through thinking this way I was able to add to the important lesson of, "getting on the balcony" by also including self-knowledge as a step to becoming a good leader in my definition.
References:
Good leaders make tough choices through values they hold important in their lives. They realize that they must rise to the occasion and face these challenges and make the right decision for the group as a whole.
Week Three:
Utilizing such comprehensive skills as mindfulness and resonance will help you become a versatile leader who can address issues by enabling themselves to see all sides of the situation.
Analysis:
After reading the "Get on the Balcony" article I realized that leaders should be able to see the scenario as a whole instead of just from their perspective. This is an important aspect for anyone to have in life; however as a leader it is necessary in order to make the smartest decisions for the good of the entire group. Also, through the Goleman, Boyatzis and McKee article I realized the different types of leaders who are out in the world. Through utilizing different skills and strengths, a person can reach their fullest potential and versatility of becoming a specific type of leader - such as a visionary, coach, democrat or affiliate. Different people bring different perspectives and strengths to the group however a true leader is able to see multiple points-of-view and assess the situation accordingly.
References:
Leaders are responsible for not only being able to teach and inspire others, but to grow and learn from them as well. Knowing that you are not always going to be able to please everyone, but remaining respectful and encouraging to all over time sets the good leaders apart from the bad. Through courageous actions and decisions, good leaders have the integrity to do the right thing, even in a difficult situation.
Week Two:
Good leaders make tough choices through values they hold important in their lives. They realize that they must rise to the occasion and face these challenges and make the right decision for the group as a whole.
Analysis:
Leadership has no one definition, but can be thought of as more of the acts a leader takes in order to become a good leader. To define a good leader we must take into consideration their values such as ethics, natural traits and their level of coercing taken part in with their followers. My definition changed between these two weeks because of the readings we did as a class. Through the Terry and Kidder text I realized the way a person acts describes leadership much better than trying to capture the entire essence of what leadership is in a couple sentences--as I did with my first definition. Terry describes leadership as such a broad word, and made me realize that to be able to describe a good leader to have to look at multiple different aspects of the person as a whole to see if they are a good leader. Also, Terry challenged my view of leadership by making me choose sides of certain arguments about what constitutes a good leader, which was helpful in broadening my viewpoint of what it truly takes to be a leader.
References:
Leaders are responsible for not only being able to teach and inspire others, but to grow and learn from them as well. Knowing that you are not always going to be able to please everyone, but remaining respectful and encouraging to all over time sets the good leaders apart from the bad. Through courageous actions and decisions, good leaders have the integrity to do the right thing, even in a difficult situation.
References: