As this term of BA352 comes to an end, I spend some time looking back and reflecting on how things have changed for me; both in terms of my opinion of the class and how I conducted myself as a person. I reviewed my Leadership Development Plan and the areas of Emotional Intelligence in which I planned on improving:

LDP- Work on Enabling Others to Act and Challenge the Process

Emotional Intelligence- Improve my use of empathy and increase my social awareness

Goals

I can honestly say that I have improved upon every one of these objectives. Initially I went into every class with these goals in the back of my head and throughout the term, I didn’t have to think about them as much. It almost became second nature. Throughout my life I have always had a hard time telling people to do things and that’s why Enabling Others to Act was my main focus. I realized I was a bit more of a spectator rather than a proponent of action. The actions I took to accomplish this were:

• Engaged quiet group members in discussion
• Led by example- if something had to be done, I took action to help show the rest of the group that they should do the same.
• When ideas were dwindling, I tried very hard to come up with something that the group could work on and improve our research, rather than simply sit back and have somebody else say what to do.
• If a group member did something particularly well, I let them know. By doing this I also encouraged the heart, but my main thought around doing this was so that the group member could continually use their skills for the betterment of our group.

Challenging the process was no easy task. I think people generally lean toward initially agreeing with something rather than analyzing it to truly question if it should be agreed with. I have personally done this. In the beginning of the course I found myself simply disagreeing with ideas on purpose, but that’s not what challenging the process is about. It’s about introducing new ideas to the group, it’s about stimulating the thought processes of every person in discussion. So I changed my approach by offering alternatives to a certain idea that I didn’t agree with rather than simply shutting them down.

I tried to increase my empathy throughout this term which also helped out my social awareness. By thinking more about what others were saying, I began to think more about myself and how I came to certain conclusions.

The Process

I thought that one aspect of the process was so critical to my development and that was the midterm peer evaluations. It is rare to have people come out and openly explain how they feel about a certain individual. I never had anything like this happen and that is why I found it so useful. Some of the feedback that I received really made me think about how I was acting because it had never occurred to me before. One thing in particular that my group members said about me was that I sometimes fell silent and did not contribute as much as they knew I could. After the evaluations I would always ask myself, “Am I contributing to this group discussion to the best of my abilities?” and I found that it helped out my empathy and social awareness as well.

Another aspect of the process that I really enjoyed were the videos of the leaders and what they did to help countless numbers of people. Here are some videos of Alice Coles and Dr.Farmer in which I am referring to. It was very useful to see what drove those individuals to go to the lengths that they did in order to accomplish something for the greater good. This was great motivation for me to go out and do great things for the project and other areas of my life (I began to put more effort into ROTC).

One thing that did not work for me as much were the weekly blog posts. I think if each week had a different structural requirement instead of the same guidance every week, I along with other students would have gotten more out of them.

What to Work On

I still have to work on speaking up during group discussion. A group member of ours, Chad, would always seem to take control of the group discussions and research efforts. This was not a bad thing, but I would always seem to wonder how he did that. What was he doing that I was not? I know that I have the leadership attributes to do so, but it just wasn’t happening with me. I then discovered after the midterm peer evaluations that I was just not speaking up when we were in a group. Many group members said that even if I had a small idea in my head, I should say it because they find that my input is very useful.

What I Learned

After taking in all the videos, the articles, the group discussions and learning from my peers, there is one thing that I found was not explicitly covered about leadership, and that is perception is reality. An individual can have all the drive and passion for something inside of them, but if they fail to project that to others and apply it, then nobody will follow them. They will be found alone in their efforts. I knew that I could have been a better leader when it came to group discussion, but I failed to act and then someone else filled that role. Alternatively, an individual may step up to the plate with some great ideas but act timid, scared, or lacking passion. People will view this individual as such and will most likely not be taken seriously.

Along with the above finding, I also realized that leadership is inside of everyone. There were members of my group that I initially doubted due to their shyness but it was amazing to see them develop into outstanding leaders. Sometimes all it takes is a little passion and drive to get someone to break out of their norm and do great things. Alice Coles was not as educated as other leaders around the world, but her passion to keep her community thriving and out of poverty is what turned her into the leader that so many people looked up to. Dr. Farmer was extremely educated and could have pursued an easier job here in the United States with possibly more income. Instead he found that he could make a huge impact on the lives of the people of Haiti.