Authentic Leadership

I took away some key points from Justice Yvette McGee Brown in class.  Leadership is intentional and it is tough.  I think that its important to know that being a leader is a lot of hard work and dedication.  You have to want to be a leader and be genuine about it.  I have been in certain situations that I was not agreeing with the popular decision and it was tough to say I don't agree with this but rather we should look at another option.  That is not always easy to do when you know you may not necessarily be supported by your management team or peers.  The questions Justice McGee Brown brought up made me think.  What are the things that make you able to lead?  What am I good at?  What am I not so good at?  The common thing through the readings and the speakers I am seeing is surround yourself with people that are different or are smarter than me.  It makes conversations more robust and brings new ideas to the table.  I also enjoyed listening to Dr. Val Moeller speak.  It really impressed upon me concerning the theory of Leadership of Service vs. Leadership of Power.  I strive to be a servant leader I think this is so important.  I want to be able to support those that I am leading and work for them.  I know some leaders out there that are more towards the Leadership of Power and they are not the best leaders that I have worked with.  They are selfish and are only concerned about themselves.  On the other side, I have had the privilege to work with those that are Leadership Servants and they are some of the best leaders that I know.  They care about their followers and will do their best to help them.  I am not a perfect leader and I know that I have at times disappointed those that I lead.  But, I do my best to always do the right thing and put others above my needs. 

How I Lead

How have the readings and speakers influenced the way I “lead” my life

There has been a lot of valuable information that I have taken away from this course.  The ones that stand out to me are, being better prepared than anyone else, be passionate about what you do, don’t be scared to take risks, and be genuine.

I have definitely implemented preparing myself for meetings that I attend so that I can contribute to the meeting, anticipate possible questions from other attendees, and have possible solutions formulated to aid in resolving if there is an issue the team is working through.  This has helped to resolve issues quicker and I am more confident in myself and what I am contributing to the meeting.  This seems so simple and I question why I haven’t been doing this! 

I have always thought you need to be passionate about anything that you do.  If you are not passionate about it you will not be engaged and you will not bring value to whatever you are doing.  The best leaders that I know are passionate about leading.  I am very passionate about leading people and helping people to be successful in their roles.  I hope my passion is shown in my actions.  I have a team of 12 people that I currently work with to help them meet their personal and professional goals.  It is exciting to me to see my team members grow and be with them through their journey.

I am working on taking more risks as a leader.  This is an area of opportunity for me. 

Finally being myself in all that I do!  I have many different people that I look to as mentors but I take what I learn from those many people and mold it into who I am.  So that I remain genuine.  I am unique and have my own personality.  People around me know who I am and I remain consistent in my actions because I am being genuine and being myself. 

Political Women Leaders

Class on 10/26 we were introduced to different women that chose politics as a career.  I was so honored to be able to listen to Anne Gonzales as I voted for her!  Her story was also an inspriation to me as it is similar to mine.  It took her 10 years to get through college while juggling raising kids and running for city counsel. 

What I gained from listening to these women is be better prepared than anyone else, be willing to take a risk, get over not being competent, and join networking groups to support each other.  As I look back on my career I do shy away from taking risks for fear of failure.  But, through this class there is a common them amoung the speakers is that you have to step out and take that risk!  Don't let fear hold you back as Anne Gonzalez stated.

I enjoyed the reading on the Psychodynamic Approach this past week.  I find this topic to be interesting.  I like to know about different personalities people have and how that affects how we relate to each other.  In my role as a supervisor you really need to know the different personalities that you have on your team so you can be flexible in how you interact with each individual.  It is very important to be self-aware.  I am passionate about building relationships is why this appealed to me so much. 

Thoughts from class 10/19/11

I was excited to listen to the speakers in tonight's class, especially Carol Clark of MindLeaders.  The company I work for utilizes the MindLeader Courses for development.  So I thought it was neat to listen to the co-founder talk about her business and how she got her start.  One of the speakers spoke about the 360 degree review and how beneficial it is to ask your peers how you are doing.  I am seriously thinking about doing this myself.  I think it is very important to get that feedback and learn and change from it.  I enjoyed listening to Sally Hughes.  Her story was great!  She was very interesting to listen to and inspiring.  It is funny how you start doing one thing and due to life or situations your goals and desires can change dramatically.

The readings that we reviewed this week, situational approach and path-goal theory I took a lot away.  I think leaders that can recognize and change their style depending on the situation are great leaders.  I did have a manager that was both directive and supportive.  I think leaders that are well balanced in these areas have subordinates that will respect them and will be more apt to want to do the best job that they can do.  They are motivated knowing what the goals are and are reassured they have a leader that will support them to help and guide them along the way. 

Networking

I absolutely loved listening to Mary B. Relotto this past week.  She was very genuine when talking about how women network.  I think its great that she said when we network we can get on a deeper level with the other person not just talk about what we do professionally.  I am really glad the speakers talked about the personality types such as being extroverted and introverted.  I am introverted and it is a challenge for me to network because I never know what to say after introducing myself!  So, this session benefited me a lot.  I will be taking back to my manager's staff meeting some of the things the speakers talked about regarding networking.  I also LOVED the "musical chair" game we played.  What an awesome excercise to learn about other people and to see what you have in common with others. 

I really liked the chapter this week on the Leader-Member Exchange.  This is so important as I beleive we learn from each other.  The leader learns from the subordinates and the subordinates learn from the leader.  It is a circle.  When reading the chapter a lightbulb when off in my head when the chapter talks about the in-groups and the out-groups.  I have people on my team at work that I manage that would prefer to be left alone and do their job and go home.  I would really like to shift those people into the in-group so that the entire team is effective in reaching goals, confidence levels, and taking on more responsibilities to further their knowledge.  I also looked at this from my perspective as a subordinate of my manager.  We are at the mature partnership phase because I consider it a partnership when I am working on a project with my manager.  We do have open communication and I know where I stand regarding my performance. 

Team Leadership is something that I am constantly working on.  I lead a team of 10 people and upwards to 40 during our peak season.  I coach my team members to increase performance and help them reach their professional goals.  This is something that this chapter talked about as being effective. 

It has been eye-opening to me so far that things that I experience every day in my life and career this class has touched on and has given me a new perspective of how I look at myself as a leader. 

Taking Care of Yourself

I took so much away from class on 9-14.  I have always been up and down as far as exercising because it is not something that I enjoy! :(  However, after listening to Kim Fischer I see the importance of taking care of myself so that I can be better prepared to care for my family and also the people I am leading in my job.  I also like how she spun the word "exercise" (such a dreaded word for me) into an activity that I enjoy.  I am committing to eating better during the day and to stay away from the vending machine to get that candy bar to pick me up at 2:00pm in the afternoon!  I am also going to commit to get back into yoga and strength training through the week. 

Executive Coach Chastity Kuttrus provided valuable information to me.  I was impressed that she also believed in family coming first!  She also spoke about the importance of work/life balance.  She spoke about the importance of having a mentor.  I have reached out to my manager and told him I was looking for a mentor.  He is actually on a committe at my work that matches people up for mentor and mentees.  I am currently in the process of being matched up to a mentor with similarities so that we can connect.  I am looking forward to having a mentor as I think it will be a great learning experience! 

Women and Leadership Class 2

9-12-11 Class this past week was very interesting listening to the speakers.  I was particularly impressed with Mary D'Ginaro.   She is a District Court Judge in Ohio.   I had preconceived ideas that she would be very pro-work and not so much about family life.  To my surprise she was an advocate of being a mother and wife and raising her children first in her life. I admire that because being a wife and working mom of two I always feel like I need to defend that I am a mother first to my co-workers and management team.  I am glad that I am not alone in thinking that way.  It is very refreshing.  She found a balance to raising her children and also having a career.

Some highlights that I took away from the first chapter in the book, Leadership, is that leadership can be looked at as a trait and a process.  I beleive that a leader can be both.  I agree with the book that when a person is engaged in leadership they are a leader.  Leadership is definitely different than management.  I see that in my current position of a Customer Service Supervisor.  There are tasks that I do that are primarily management tasks to meet goals of the department, but the leadership skills come in to play when I am coaching my team to help develop them to reach their professional or personal goals. 

I liked the quote from Bennie and Nanus (1985) "Mangers are people who do things right and leaders are people who do the right thing".