Leadership Reflection
My reflection will be based mainly on my experience as a the state publicity director for DECA-a business organization, while in high school. We were a team of six with officers and one coach. My term lasted a year of which lots of planning and organizing occurred to host the state conference.
#1 Rank-Strength-Enabling others to act
I dislike tension and in order to get rid of it I ask questions to try to find out what is causing it and how to get rid of it.
I always tried to initiate conversation amongst the team to come up with a solution to a project so no one would get frustrated. I tended to ask many questions to see how a solution could be found. I liked to ask everyone in the group so no one was left out and to make sure everyone agreed on the final decision.
#2 Rank-Strength- Encourage the Heart
I seek to stay motivated and motivate my team members. I am able to recognize when things are going downhill and I offer encouragement.
When we needed to be in a conference room for hours planning speeches and workshops, it was hard to stay motivated to the very end. This is when I tried to stay motivated the most even when I was really tired. It was more fun to accomplish things as a group when everyone was showing interest and pitching in.
#3 Rank-Strength- Model the Way
I strive to complete work on schedule. Tasks I am assigned, I take as a challenge and invest all my effort into them.
For example for the state conference we were to distribute tags to all members that said “Follow me on Twitter” or “Like me on Facebook” as a means to get all members involved in social media. I was the only one out of the team to distribute all of the tags. It only took the extra effort of talking to members to have them wear the tags.
We also delivered speeches at our state conference. The majority of the speeches were very informative but boring. I decided I did not want my speech to be boring so I came up with a creative speech to deliver the code of conduct of the conference. My speech had a great response and it ended up creating an overall theme throughout the conference.
#4 Rank-Development-Inspire a shared vision, Challenge the process
I focus on getting my work done forgetting about the big picture. As I have mentioned previously I dislike tension, and in order to avoid it I tend to not ask critical questions or challenge team decisions.
Within the team we all had the general vision of being a successful team and organizing a state conference. I could have done a better job of bringing the enthusiasm and trying to create a more personalized vision for our group to share. Instead I tried to create progress by trying to cross things of the list. This led me to not challenge the process. If an idea seemed to get the work done I agreed to it and moved forward without questioning how we could make it better or what could be a better option.
Action Plan 1- 5 Practices of Leadership
I would like to improve on the two practices I ranked low in, Inspire a shared vision and Challenge the process.
What I do now?
I focus on getting my work done forgetting about the big picture.
As I have mentioned previously I dislike tension, and in order to avoid it I tend to not ask critical questions or challenge team decisions.
What I would like to do?
I would like to focus on having a shared vision amongst the group, staying focused on team goals rather than just my own. I would also like to learn more about my team like what their aspirations are and what motivates them.
I would like to challenge team decisions when I have doubts or concerns. I would like to learn how to deal with tension professionally instead of strictly trying to avoid it. I would also like to encourage the team to take risks and try something new instead of simply sticking with what we know.
Action plan
Inspire a share vision
- Take the initiative to create a team vision for our project amongst the group.
- Remind the team of our vision at every meeting.
- Speak up when the team is swerving away from the team vision.
- Suggest to edit or refresh team vision if it is not working for the team.
- Have an ice breaker or a quick fun activity for the team to perform when taking a break.
Challenge the process
- Ask questions in a polite manner as to not hurt anyone’s feelings when I am in doubt of a team decision.
- Voice my opinion about team progress.
- Many of our business friends have taken this class before and we will be tempted to do as they did in certain aspects of the project. I plan to encourage innovation within our team and not try to go by what previous classmates have done.
- Because we all have busy schedules we will be tempted to do the bare minimum. I plan to encourage the team to try to take it an extra step further.
Action plan 2-Emotional Intelligence
What I do now?
My fear of confrontation causes for me to keep my questions or doubts to myself. I am good at detecting tension and frustration and try to find a common ground, however, I focus more on the negative than the positive and tend to not celebrate team and individual accomplishments.
What I would like to do?
I would like to not make the assumption that confrontation will occur if I question a group decision. I would also like to acknowledge the positive emotions such as happiness and enjoyment in the team and not simply focus on scoping out the negative emotions. I want to be socially aware to be able to understand the different perspectives my team member may have.
Plan of Action
- Be aware of emotions and the effect they can have on the whole team, I will try to remain productive and positive.
- Ask my team members how they are doing, to observe the different responses and get a general grasp of what the meeting could end up like.
- Know that not everyone is going to be happy and positive all the time, so have a backup plan on how to deal with uncomfortable situations.
- Ask my team members if anyone wants to vent at the start of meetings. I rather have a member explode at the beginning of our meeting than in the middle of a task.