Brian Blackiston

After reflecting upon the past term of BA 352, I realized the vast amount of things I learned, activities I participated in and overall the effort I put forth.  In regards to my professionalism grade, I felt I did a great job in regards to most of the requirements on the rubric however there definitely was room for improvement.  After careful thought and consideration, I feel like I deserve 46 out of 50 possible points for my professionalism grade.

The first category, punctuality, I gave myself an 8 out of 10.  Although I arrived on time to every class, as well as every meeting I attended, I had a couple struggles towards the end of the term with my resume workshop.  Firstly, I signed up late so I had to send Todd an email to get an appointment time.  There was a lack of professionalism on my part for forgetting the deadline for signing up.  In addition, I came down with a sickness the day of my appointment and let Todd know after my appointment time had already finished.  Telling him after the workshop was unprofessional on my part.  Overall I was on time to all group meetings, classes and the career services workshop however my two mistakes hurt my punctuality, which warranted an 8 out of 10.

Participation wise, I felt that I deserved a 9 out of 10.  In the beginning of the term, I was slightly hesitant to participate due to new surroundings, new teacher and a new class.  That is something that happens with me every term and it takes me a week or two to get comfortable.  After those two weeks, I actively participated in class as well as outside the classroom.  Through challenging the process I will start to participate more in the beginning weeks of my other classes, however due to my lack of participation in the beginning, I only deserved a 9.

In regards to respect for others as well as preparation, I felt that I deserved a 10 out of 10 for each.  Respect is something that is very important to me and when it came to my group, I treated everyone equally and fairly.  There was no negativity and whenever I suggested something for them to change, it was through construction criticism.  Whenever side conversations occurred, it was with the entire group and never distracted the progress of our team.  Also, I constantly had read the required readings, never had to rush out of class to print something, nor was I every unprepared entering the classroom.  I constantly stayed on track with the requirements in the course schedule.  These reasons are why I deserved 10’s on these two sections.

Finally, in regards to initiative and motivation, I believe I deserve a 9 out of 10.  Although I never attended office hours, I constantly was trying to find research on our topic and always trying to succeed outside the classroom.  Whether this was trying to get in contact with different recruiters, or having multiple people looking over my resume and cover letter to perfect it, I felt that I was very strongly motivated to succeed in this class.  I could have done a little more however I believe I deserve a 9 on this aspect of professionalism.

In total, after adding up all of the totals, I believe I deserve a 46 out of 50.  There were things I could have done differently and looking back I could have been more of a professional in punctuality and motivation, however I learned a lot and was very happy with my overall performance.

After carefully reading over my Leadership Development Plan as well as reflecting on where I started and where I am now, I realize I have come a long way.  Starting off, I realized my main two struggles that I wanted to change were encouraging the heart by complementing and supporting the other members in my group, as well as being aware of other members of the group’s feelings.

The first focus I had was to take more time to actively listen and understand each member of the group’s point of view and where they were coming from.  I love to talk a lot and it took me a little while to understand the equal importance that active listening has.  Throughout the course of the term, I started listening more and fully understanding the point of views of each of the members in my group.  Multiple times, when I listened to group members, I used their ideas in combination with mine to create a stronger idea to discuss. This ultimately led to a more productive group camaraderie, which our group saw as one of our strongest areas.  Due to our overall understanding of each other’s ideas and emotions, we avoided conflict and worked tremendously as a group.

In regards to encouraging the heart, the main focus I had was being optimistic with everything involving our project.  Whether this was supporting ideas or providing constructive criticism, the best way to encourage people to succeed and be confident in them was through positive reinforcement.  The main example of this was when a couple members of the group were not a fan of speaking in public and presenting for the class.  Through encouraging them and giving them confidence, these members were a little more comfortable in an area that they were uncomfortable being in.  Encouraging the heart is essential for the overall success of the group because it prevents members from getting too discouraged and helps to provide a positive working environment.

The main problem I saw with the things I put in place was that it was not tangible and the success was ultimately up to my own personal interpretation.  When I encouraged members of the group, it was difficult knowing if this played an impact on their performance or if it was just an empty statement without much meaning.  Granted, I felt my actions were effective and our group worked effectively throughout the term.

Moving forward beyond this class, I feel like the main problem I need to work on is my ability to challenge the process.  In the midterm evaluation, challenging the process was an area two members of my group said I needed to improve upon.  I get caught backing out of areas I am uncomfortable being in and this is something I noticed during the term.  Through working strongly on presenting both the introduction and conclusion in each presentation, I put myself in an area of unease which was something I saw, improved my leadership abilities.  However, my ability to challenge the process was something I definitely lacked during the term.  The way to change this going forward is staying in the uncomfortable areas outside of my comfort zone.  I back out at times and this does not challenge myself as a leader.

Overall, I have learned more about myself as a leader in this class than in any other class or experience I have had.  Outside of the leadership principles and emotional intelligence, I have learned a lot about other leadership strategies that work.  The first thing I learned is that everyone leads in a different way and no way is right or wrong.  The best leaders are those who utilize the strengths and improve the weaknesses of not only themselves, but everyone who they come into contact with.  When leaders work together, the main problem is conflicts of interest however if you know when to step forward and when to just listen, that is when leaders are the most productive and leadership is at it’s strongest.  Active listening was by far the most important aspect of leadership abilities I learned and although it was states indirectly in the packet, I feel like this leadership ability is key to overall success.

This class taught me a lot about myself and I have grown tremendously.  Not only have I improved in my communications ability both verbally and written but as a leader, I have become stronger and more confident.  From week 1 to week 10, I have proved incredibly and I know that this class is just a step into becoming the leader I know that I can be.

Week 9 finally brought to a close the long term of the EETF proposal.  After countless hours of group meetings, research and constant editing, we finished our proposal last week and ended it with a final presentation on Monday.  All in all I would say that the final presentation was a definite success.

The last weekend was spent constantly refining our PowerPoint slides to fit in line with what we wanted to say.  Again, I was given the introduction and conclusion and although it did not have the most information needed, they were two of the most important parts due to the amount of attention statistically given to the intro and conclusion by the audience.  As a whole, I prepared tremendously for the part and I felt overall it went smoothly.

More importantly, my main job in preparing for the presentation was helping my group members who felt less comfortable with presenting.  Public speaking is not an easy thing to do.  By constantly working to improve my “encourage the heart” leadership strategy, I was able to help my group members become more comfortable with presenting and overall that helped to make the whole presentation that much stronger.  Although at points we were nervous during the presentation, as a whole we did a great job and I was very impressed with our performance.

Overall, looking back on the ten weeks as a group, I felt like we have all come a long way and it showed in the success of our final presentation.  We worked efficiently the past couple weeks of meetings and collectively we improved one another’s leadership abilities.  Both our ability to write, present and lead grew due to our ability to constructively work with each other and it was a great finish.

Week 8 had to have been the hardest week of the term.  With the term winding down and all the projects, events and finals finishing, this week has been a blur.  Starting on Monday, the week has been at full speed with the proposal, resume, cover letter all due in BA 352 as well as countless other projects and assignment due in the differing classes.  This week being so busy and stressful really tested my resolve and leadership skills.

The proposal really came together strongly.  As a group, we broke up the different parts and through this, we were efficient in our efforts and finished the assignment without much conflict.  With each member staying on task and not straying away from their direct assignment.  Overall, through the effective delegation and teamwork, the team really worked well together and as a whole, the project turned out great.

In regards to my writing abilities, I really improved on my ability to be more concise with my word choices.  Before, I used too much fluff and my sentences were far too wordy and vague.  Over the course of this term, I really improved upon my ability to shorten sentences and get to the point when it comes to my business writing.

Most of this week was related to writing so overall my leadership abilities in the group were never really analyzed however outside of the group, a lot of stuff was going on with my life and my ability to understand where others are coming from really helped me to relate to people.  My emotional intelligence was really tested during this week but understanding others as well as my own beliefs really made this week go a lot more efficiently.  Hopefully this next week will go more smoothly as we finish up our presentation for the EETF.

Week 7 was a very testy week.  Personally, it’s main highlight was attending a career fair in Portland as well as attending the trailblazers game that night against the Spurs.  Through attending this career fair, I saw firsthand the main problems with career fairs in their current structure.  Each of the companies was mainly offering group sales positions and as a junior it was difficult because many of the companies were not offering internships or their knowledge on them was small.  However, the conversations I had with some of the employers was very valuable which, made the career as a whole in my opinion a success.  Although I definitely can see flaws with the ways they are currently structured.

In regards to leadership development this week, I really improved upon my ability to challenge the process by putting myself in situations that I felt uncomfortable with.  The career fair was the perfect opportunity for this because interacting with business professionals as high as assistant directors of the NBA was very uncomfortable and rather scary.  These experiences made me feel stronger and more confident in myself by putting myself in positions of uncertainty and areas of the unknown.

With the group project this week, we really are working as a unit and each one of us is providing solid and valuable information to the group.  Our writing is coming together smoothly as we all understand when to speak up and when to listen.  This is really allowing us to take creative leadership yet add advice and edits to each others sections on the written proposal.  Based on where I started to where I am, ultimately I have become a lot stronger at active listening which is something I definitely struggled with throughout my life as a leader.  The fact that I have understood this problem and actively tried every group meeting to fix it, shows that I have really grown, well at least in my opinion.

Week 6 has been the best week of the term in all aspects.  Classes are slowing down a little bit,  and overall the term has been going very smoothly.  Besides the major snow storm, lack of power for four days in my house and no heating, safe to say I have made it through midterms alive, without a tree falling on me,

In regards to BA 352, this week was very interesting.  We received our peer evaluations from members of our group on how to improve as an individual and as a member of the team.  The results I received were actually shocking.  They were exactly like what I had been talking about with my leadership development plan and one the comments was to work on your “Challenging the Process” and “Encourage the Heart.”  The two things I struggle with the most in regards to leadership, other people noticed as well and for me, this really opened my eyes to what I need to improve upon.

With our project, we finished our proposal, have a fantastic prototype planned to present and overall we are working efficiently.  Our major issue was a lack of utilization when it comes to meeting times however today, our first meeting after that discussion, we were very efficient and we noticed differences in our approach.  I am very pleased with the progress we are making as a team and our career fair project will be come together and be an overall team effort that we will all be proud of.

Finally, with my leadership development, this week I limited my talking and focused on becoming a better leader.  This was something that challenged me tremendously but I know I can grow as a leader knowing the importance of listening and inquiry.  I still am struggling with encouragement for the team and getting everyone around the idea, but in general, I really feel myself growing more confident in my leadership abilities and ability to work as a team.

Week 6 in the books, and although the weather tried to put a damper on the week, it was by far the best week of the term so far.

Week 5 turned out to be one of the hardest weeks of the term so far.  From beginning to end, I had tests, homework and quizzes that took up a majority of my time.  The start of the week began with a presentation in BA 352 which I feel went very well.  The two people in our group who struggle with public speaking did a great job stepping up and overall the presentation went smoothly and successfully.  I was very proud of our effort as a group during this presentation and our ideas and research worked out really well.

The most insightful part of the week for me was during Wednesday’s class when I acted as a bystander during a group discussion.  This was a situation I have never been placed in and one that I felt uncomfortable with at first.  However I realized the importance of taking a step back and saw how my group worked well together and what led to better discussions and progress.  I never realized how important inquiry was in discussions and how that ultimately leads to further progress.

Self Evaluation

Half way through the term, I feel like I have developed more as a leader in understanding the different personalities and people that are on a team.  I am starting to think for the betterment of the whole and work with each member to form a collective idea and decision going forward.  I feel like I am still a little too talkative within the group and one who advocates a lot for my ideas.  However, I drastically have improved on my ability to understand others through emotional intelligence leadership.  After reading and understand emotional intelligence, I have really tried to take my leadership style back a notch and think about the group, not just about what I think is best.

In general, I feel like I have provided some great insight into the group.  I always have ideas, opinions and attempt to facilitate conversations.  Granted, at times I probably talk too much, however I really make an attempt to allow for everyone’s opinions and not dominate the conversation.

There is no standard style of leadership however with all of the information and styles of leadership out there, I feel that I am starting to have a grasp on what mine really is.

Week 4 is in the books and once again, the ups and downs never ended, however I can truly say I have grown a lot as a leader this week.

One of the things I struggled with in regards to my leadership abilities was my abilities to step outside of my comfort zone and thrive and succeed in areas that were new to me.  Week 4 was my first step in developing that aspect as my previous style of group thinking was challenged and eventually I realized this challenge was a part of Challenging the Process.

At the start of Week 4, we talked about our proposal presentation that would be given at the start of Week 5.  At first, I definitely wanted to be a speaker because it has always been a strong quality of mine.  However, after hearing Ron talk about how he wanted those who struggled with speaking to speak during the presentation, this made me realize that sometimes sacrificing for teammates improvement will ultimately lead to a more unified and successful team.  The members who struggled with public speaking were the ones who would speak and I would be there to help them and encourage them along the way.

At first, I really didn’t know how to feel about the presentation because I would only be playing a small part in something I was so passionate and confident in.  However, I realized that each of my team members would do a great job and although I was doing the introduction, my main goal is to encourage them to be the best and most confident speakers that they can be, even if they did not want to do it.  I realized the most important aspects of being a team are improving the weaknesses of each member and highlighting their strengths.

I already feel like I am a stronger leader because of my ability to let others take the lead and have the confidence and faith for them to succeed in tasks that are outside of their comfort zone as well.  We are going to have a killer presentation on Monday and I cannot wait to show the rest of the class how great our proposal will be and how strong of a team we have.

Until then, Go Broncos!

Week 3 was a blur…It started off with a trip to New Orleans where I fortunately got to interact with some high up professionals in ESPN and USA Today where I truly learned about the importance of building relationships with a team and people you come into contact with.  These employees told me the importance of understanding every member of the team’s feelings and their reasoning for the decisions they make.In addition, they also shared stories of how certain decisions were challenging and ultimately made through trusting their instincts.  I learned a lot about emotional intelligence through these individuals.

During this week, we met as a group numerous times and during these occasions, I made a great deal of effort to encourage every member of the group.  Whether this was through compliments on their ideas or constructive criticism, I made it a goal to work on this aspect of my leadership ability when it came to working with the group.  With the group work as a whole, well that is a different story.  It is very difficult to make something specific and then make it broader again.  The problem statement is such a tricky idea because it ultimately needs to be the perfect balance between being specific and but not overly specific.  After multiple meetings about the problem statement, I feel like we are in a great spot to move forward with the interview stage of the project.

Finally, I attended the two tutoring sessions during Thursday and Friday for both the memo workshop and resume workshop, and both were equally fascinating and informative.  Although I did receive a fairly low score on my first draft of the memo, the tutors really instilled confidence in my ability to write a better draft.  I was too busy trying to walk the line between a solution and a problem however I needed to simplify the process as a whole.  After the session, I was excited to write the second draft and improve my score tremendously.

Finally, with the resume workshop, I understood the W.H.O. acronym  about the what, how and outcome of each sentence you put into your resume.  I felt that I already had a very strong resume but after this workshop, I know I can refine it and make the whole product even stronger.  Not only for the assignment due Thursday, but also as a job searching tool to help me find a great job for once I graduate college.

Week 3 was a lot and very busy from start to finish.  I learned a lot and cannot wait to see what Week 4 has in store for me.

Today I took a leadership assessment to evaluate my leadership style in regards to the Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership.  The test took a lot of careful evaluation before answering each question and after I had finished and saw my results, I realized that they were very accurate.  My results of the survey came out in this order:

1.     Enable others to act

2.     Inspire a Shared Vision

3      Model the Way

4      Encourage the Heart

5      Challenge the Process

After analyzing the results, I realized that my strengths reflect the top two categories of the leadership assessment.  I have always viewed myself as a team player and I have a very strong passion to inspire those around me and make them succeed as much as the team does, if not more.  I seldom make decisions without consulting those whom I am working with and these two ideas really reflect my leadership style as a whole.  Growing up around sports my entire life has really given me the characteristics of motivation and optimism, which has really helped me to bring everyone up and give people the confidence to accomplish their tasks and goals.

I was not surprised that “Challenge the Process” was lowest on the list because I am always uncomfortable with stepping outside my comfort zone and it takes time for me to challenge the normal way of doing things.  I try to avoid conflict and barriers instead of facing them straight on, and knowing this, it will be my main goal this term.  I need to learn to expand my horizons and challenge what is normal to create a greater solution than those visible to the naked eye.  It will be extremely difficult but the only way I can improve as a leader is by putting myself in uncomfortable situations that test my leadership abilities and personal character traits.