aftabman

[aftabman]

Indian Talking Stick

In the past week, I was able to successfully apply the Indian talking stick technique in a personal life situation where:

Our family is expecting to have a big wedding function in the near future where family members are to be pooled from various places. A virtual meeting was hosted to discuss the date of the occasion, where an overlapping conversation blew out. Without considerations of each other commitments and schedules, everyone put forward their preferred dates. This put the hosts in a position of great confusion and chaos. I was able to suggest using Indian talking stick technique and share the knowledge of its uses and how we can benefit from it in this situation.

Utilizing this technique, everyone heard each other’s commitments and with careful consideration united at a decision which adhered to everyone’s availability. This experience taught me how important it is to make respectful considerations for each person so that everyone has an equal opportunity of being a part of significant moments by carefully listening to their side of the story.

When you are in a situation where a challenge is to be resolved/addressed in a group environment, you tend to read the room at the first stage. If you feel there is detachment amongst the group and no trust is built, people tend to shy away from honest conversations which leads to end results which does not serve equal recognition and consideration which breaks out into a dispute.

I will carry this knowledge into future personal situations and leadership opportunities to make careful considerations that provide equal opportunities for all and give all members the trust that they are heard, and their suggestions are a part of the group discussion.

[aftabman]

Applying Leadership Credo

My top three leadership strengths that I most identify with are Developer, Optimism and Learner from my leadership credo.

During the previous week, in a course we were assigned groups to work on a project that is due in two weeks. The group was put off with how challenging the project was and required tedious work out of all the members. Here my leadership credo came in handy as I was able to apply my optimistic strength as I proposed the team to overcome their procrastination and fear by instead distributing sections of the project, I suggested on working together on each of the section so ideas and skills can be pooled to effective and efficiently achieve the goal of project completion.

Something that I discovered out of this experience that was interesting was how fast all members got on board to work in unison with just one positive proposition. This shows that positivity can overcome all challenges despite of their nature and intensity.

 From this experience I learned that I have the strength to lead by example and drive a team to work with a positive attitude and organize their skills and emotions to successfully achieve goals.

I will apply this new knowledge towards my future personal and professional life to further improve my leadership strengths in influencing everyone to perceive situations positively and gain success out of all circumstances.

[aftabman]

High Performing Team Experience

The time when I was a part of a high performing team was when I worked as a data assistant for a project of a bio-medical company where they were installing their machines and co-contracting in building a new hospital in Kuwait.

It was a high performing team as the team had a strong team foundation that would consistently work in unison to produce results alongside resolve the challenges that would surface. All team members were committed to the goal of the project completion and were accountable to the project manager daily in accordance with their role in the project whereas the project manager was accountable to the VP on a weekly basis with an update of the project progress

My contribution to the team development was that I would accurately collect data and documents, audit them and upload to the project system and provide a report to the manager of the data so that the team can have all completed and required work documented and accessible. This would build a strong foundation for the team to work around and communicate work produced through the accuracy of the documents.

If I were to change anything on the team, is I would provide more training to some roles to improve skills that would aid to smooth operation of the project reducing delays due to lack of knowledge in the work expected. About my role as well, if provided more training on how to work with the specific data entry system initially would result in more efficient production of work.

My current response to a conflict is communication. Good communication is the most lucrative method to resolve a conflict in my opinion as it gives perspective of the person opposite and a two-way conversation can help discover the issue and its best possible solutions. Another effective approach in resolving conflicts is, having a higher authority make the decision to diffuse the conflict so the team can focus and work in unison towards the similar goal.

One thing that I would do differently while working in a group in the future would be building more trust in the group. Trust improves understanding in a group environment and instills values to produce quality work from all members in the assigned time frame and also, prevents fall out of members that creates conflicts, work load and overall delay in the project completion.

[aftabman]

Followership Commitment

My commitment to becoming an effective follower in the future would firstly include improvement as a listener. It is essential for a follower to be a good listener to understand the full and correct message to perform an assigned task correctly. Secondly, I would develop being proactive in performing daily tasks in order to stay on track and reduce the possibility of error. Lastly, I would increase my creativity quotient in completing task to perform effective and efficiently along with improving the quality of work produced. Also, I would carry forward my followership strengths acquired previously such as compliance to rules and regulations, time management, active participation and understanding of working in a group environment.

[aftabman]

Leadership Strengths

The following are the top five tools that outline my leadership strengths:

Communication: As a leader, there is a constant requirement of conveying or addressing a message to your team which makes communication an essential skill to lead. It is important that a leader has satisfactory understanding and knowledge about communication to administer that each member has received, understood and has clarity in performing the task as any miscommunication could lead to total failure of the assigned task or the goal. When I was working as a data assistant, communication played a significant role as there were several departments that data was collected from, it was important to communicate with each department and have absolute clarity in order to assemble and deliver data reports as expected.

Developer: Understanding team members and their potential could help the leader to drive potential members to improve their performance by initiating specific training. This will lead to achieve the team performing at the best of their abilities and accomplish overall success. Leading the school basketball team, I would often find myself in the position where I would see specific teammate who had far more performance capability and skills than portrayed, I suggested training routines that would determine and unfold their abilities.

Learner: It is always advantageous to be a learner in life whether you are a leader or follower as it trains your mind to grasp the knowledge to work with the changes in the environment. Being a learner will help me adapt to different working environments as employees require the ability to adapt and function in case of consistent technology upgradation, workforce reduction or working with different groups.

Positivity: Having a positive outlook towards all achievements and ordeals would keep me driven in a team environment as it gives an understanding that all setbacks can be triumphed with positive energy and optimism.

Strategic: Planning and giving your goal a structure guides accurate allotment of focus and performance vital to each department. This strength would help me ease the process of functioning towards the set goals as I will have my time and focus on each task structured to perform effectively and efficiently.

- For a group project in one my courses we were assigned with a project that was tedious and everyone just zoned out and started to procrastinate even though the deadline date was getting closer, no one seemed to call out any work, being the leader, I had kept the free will for anyone choose out any part of the project they are comfortable with. Since, that did not work in this scenario I had to prepare a different plan of action. I arranged a conference call with all the group members, reminding them the timeline and significance of this project on grading. Then, with a productive conversation in place we mutually divided work according to everyone’s interest. The delay in project seemed to be the initiation phase as everyone was hesitant and overwhelmed, the solution to this problem was adequate communication.

[aftabman]

Leadership Experience

The first leadership opportunity I experienced was in grade 7 when I was designated as the captain for the girls basketball team. At first, I was nervous about my skills in leading the team and was about to turn down the offer but the coach’s training, support and along with the teammates belief in me gave me the confidence to move ahead and turn away from turning down the most priceless opportunity of my life. And that opportunity rewarded me with leading the school team consecutively for the following 3 years where I experienced the most precious life lessons and skills that I will cherish for life. And until at an unfortunate moment I fractured my leg at the same place it had before as well , which made my muscle weak and this time needed much more time to recover and kept me off the court for a year and half. During this time it was very frustrating to come in terms that I was to stay away from something that I was so devoted to. This lead me to grab my second opportunity of leadership where I applied and got interviewed for the position of School Representative/ Coordinator for inter-school competitions and got the post. Even though the base for both the opportunities was the same but both came with a different set of challenges and obstacles.

This experience helped me to come in terms with and realize my full potential as a teammate and leader. Also, gave me the sense of how to manage responsibilities and at the same time adhere to teammates that might require support, motivation and a little more time and patience dealing with than others. And also, how your positivity as a leader makes a significant effect on the members of your team in any field. I will cherish and retain all that these experiences have taught me.

The leadership strengths and skills that I have acquired or developed are:

Patience: At the first stage of leadership there were instances that required patience as everyone would train and perform at their own pace and took a lot of patience as a captain to squeeze in the same level of strategic and statistical skill in everyone for better performance as a team and not individual players which was still a minor instance as it was a group with same interest, than dealing with contestants participating in different categories in inter-school competitions and having to deal patiently with groups with various interest.

Time Management: It is key to develop time management skills as a leader, there is always other activities that run alongside and are essential which will require time out of schedule. As I was holding onto my leadership position in school I had to manage my time to account to my courses and maintain grades. Also, giving time to family and cultural/traditional events.

Good Listener: Being a good listener eliminates misunderstanding and confusions as it gives everyone equal space to put front their thoughts and feel equally important. During our competition rehearsals we had a significant creative member back out from the group reasoning that she felt her opinions/suggestions were ignored by the group which the group denied being misunderstood her way of approach and was welcomed back in the group. Just patiently listening to her thoughts and conveying it in the right space solved the problem.

The leadership skills that I would further like to develop are Problem Solving and Positivity. There will always be instances that require smart, effective and efficient problem solving in any field so that it does not effect the positive working environment and performance of all. And positivity and the right spirit could help triumph over any obstacle.