Describe what you intended to accomplish (your goal), report the progress you made and how you measured it, and the impact. In other words, what were you aiming to accomplish, what actions did you take, how successful were you, and what difference did your actions make?
My main goal in my Leadership Development Plan was to get better at inspiring a shared vision. In all of my past experiences working as part of a team, I have struggled with this. I have a hard time connecting daily tasks with the big picture. I am almost always more focused on completing individual objectives than contributing to the big picture. In every group meeting this term, I worked on improving myself in this area. When our group got distracted or got away from trying to solve the problem, I tried to remind everyone what the big picture was. I asked them things like, “What exactly are we trying to accomplish with this?” and “How does this connect to our overall problem?” During week four, we were excited about the solutions we were coming up with but we were getting away from the problem we initially set out to solve. In my blog post from week four, I wrote, “When we get too focused on technology, I try to remind everyone to make sure that we do not lose our sense of direction and forget the problem itself.” Our excitement about solutions was positive, but it was causing us to make the decisions that were more fun, not necessarily the right decisions. I know that I accomplished my goal of improving my ability to inspire a shared vision because other members of my group acknowledged my efforts. In our Final Peer Evaluations Report, one of my teammates said that I “continued to enable others to act by always keeping the big picture in mind. Andy did a great job of zooming out, which allowed us to gain a different perspective when we got stuck or confused.” When we spent too much time and energy focusing on some small detail or on something that was not vital, I played a strong role in pushing us past it. By improving this skill, I contributed to keeping the team focused and efficient.
I also worked on modeling the way, actively listening, and encouraging the heart. In my Leadership Development Plan, I acknowledged a lack of strength in modeling the way, but I did not have a plan to improve it. However, as the term progressed, I learned that I could model the way by putting extra effort into my portion of the project and encouraging others to do the same. When it came time to put our final proposal together, I took on the responsibility of editing it. Because of our vastly different writing styles, this proved to be a monumental task. The effort I put in showed my group that I was dedicated to helping them succeed. One teammate said that he or she “admired what (I) did when editing our draft proposal.” My effort was appreciated, and since my team members knew I was dedicated, they were more willing to work harder.
To improve my active listening skills, I worked on climbing down the ladder of inference. Instead of making assumptions as I listened, I asked my teammates questions that led me to their deeper reasoning and helped me understand what they were trying to say. By climbing down the ladder of inference and encouraging them to do the same, I was able to improve my understanding and shape my perspective of our project.
My ability to encourage the heart also grew throughout the term. In my Leadership Development Plan, I said that “I need to work recognizing people’s hard work and pointing it out to everyone else.” It was hard for me to work on this skill because sometimes I got overwhelmed by the pressure to complete the next task. However, I made an effort to step back and compliment my teammates on the things that they did well. I thanked Emily for taking the time to do some extra research and bring it to our meeting. I complimented Deanna on her sense of humor and her punctuality because she was always the first person to arrive at meetings and the last one to leave. I praised Huang for stepping outside of his comfort zone and volunteering to speak in the first presentation, which was especially impressive because English is not his first language. I also acknowledged Thomas’s quick thinking and strong speaking skills in the final presentation. By growing in this area, I was able to show my teammates that I appreciated their contributions. It improved my relationships with them and made it a more enjoyable experience.
What aspects of the process you designed for yourself worked, and what did not? Be concrete. Use detailed examples and stories.
My main goal of inspiring a shared value was simple and clear. I did not give myself specific objectives to complete along the way, and I think this helped me succeed. I know that I often get too task oriented and I forget to keep my main goals in sight. Focusing on the big picture in my leadership development plan went hand in hand with inspiring a shared value in the big picture of our project. Since I was trying to get better at keeping the group focused on solving the main problem instead of getting caught up in little tasks, it made sense to do the same thing with my leadership development plan. By the end, my role on our team was clear. I was responsible for keeping our values in mind. When we talked about our ideas, I spoke up when ideas were not in line with our values. I reminded my teammates that our purpose was to improve student awareness of current events in the LCB, not to build a news center. Although our project was ultimately based on the solution and not solving the problem, I helped to keep them as closely connected as possible. By getting away from specific objectives and just thinking about inspiring a shared vision, I was able to make huge gains.
In modeling the way, I did write any objectives in my Leadership Development Plan that would help me improve that skill. Instead, I had to actively think about how I would go about working on it. This did not work well. Now that I can reflect on my growth in this area, I see where I have improved, but I could have improved more if I had created specific goals. I had the same problem with encouraging the heart. I would have grown much more if I had made it a goal to give a compliment to each team member in every meeting.
What do you still need to work on and how will you do that beyond this course
I still need to work on my presentation skills. I get uncomfortable when I am up in front of a group and it causes me to present poorly. This has not always been a problem for me. A few years ago, I was a confident and effective presenter. Unfortunately, I had a bad experience in high school giving a speech to over 8,000 people that was traumatizing enough that I have completely blocked it from memory. Since then, I have been uncomfortable speaking in front of an audience. I need to confront my fears. I can do that in small ways by participating more in class and volunteering to present when I am involved in a team project.
I also need to be more confident in sharing my own ideas. During the verbal feedback session with my group, my teammates told me that I often presented a good idea and then shot it down immediately after telling them about it. Sometimes they were really good ideas, but since I did not have confidence in them, they seemed weaker. In my next team experience, I will present my ideas confidently and stand by them.
What did you learn about leadership from your team experience in this course that is not captured by the leadership articles and models we discussed in class? In other words, in what ways are these articles and models incomplete, as confirmed by your team experience in this course? (Go beyond the obvious. That “leadership development takes time” is obvious.)
One thing that I learned about leadership that was not included in the models we talked about was the necessity of having strong social skills. There are some very important social skills that one must have to be a successful leader. One has to be able to make friends with other team members. This does not mean that one has to socialize outside of the work setting, but the ability to connect with people in a positive way is important. For me, this happened when our team got off topic and talked about things unrelated to class and the project. We talked about our interests and made jokes. We learned that we had a lot in common. These conversations helped us to transition from a group to a tight-knit team. When I made friends with the people in my group, everything moved more smoothly. We understood each other better and we were more willing to listen to each other because we knew we had some common ground.
It is also important to consistently contribute a high level of effort. If there is one person who does not do his or her share of the work, it causes the rest of the team to resent him or her. In this way, effort is a social skill. One must be able to make a contribution and make sure that the team is aware of their effort because it demonstrates dedication. It is important to avoid bragging or acting like a martyr, though. These actions cause resentment.
The social skills of making friends and contributing consistently high levels of effort make a leader more charismatic, and therefore more effective. People are more likely to follow a leader that they like and that they know is dedicated to excellence. These skills improve the team’s cohesion and create an open, understanding atmosphere.