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Week 6 - Reflective Tumblr Blog Post

Q1. What have I learned from the meeting we held with the adventure leader who visited our class this week?

A1. This week we got the opportunity, as a class, to speak with Karen Booth about the Pilon School of Business’ Academic Plan. I learned that Karen needs a lot of help coming up with how to approach the task of redesigning the Academic Plan. More importantly, Karen wants to have all of the staff have some input as to what should be in the new Academic Plan and wants all of the staff to feel included. Within myself, I learned that I soak up a lot of detailed information when I actively listen and look directly at the speaker.

Q2. What is one thing that I learned about leadership this week and how might I use this as part of my personal leadership development?

A2. Karen Booth came presented herself well, and I would consider her to be a great leader. Karen wants to take into consideration everyone’s ideas before deciding on the new Academic Plan. I learned that to be a great leader of people, you must be democratic and consider everyone’s opinions and ideas rather than being a dictator. 

Q3. After working with my team, what are three things that I have learned about becoming a high performing team?

A3. While working with my team, I noticed that we are high performing when we divide work individually. When we collaborate and work together, we reach the common end goal a lot faster rather than doing tasks individually. Additionally, my team members and I work best when we are all face-to-face rather than using technology to communicate.

Q4. The next time I am in a team what are the top three things that I would bring to the team to help make it a high performing team?

A4. To make the team high performing, I would bring my positivity and alwas viewing the glass being half full instead of half empty. I would also bring my perserverance and willingness to never give up. Positivity and perserverance add an aspect of motivation to the team to keep pushing even if the going gets tough. Finally, I would bring my technical skills of analytics, mathematics and physics and apply them to wherever I could to help my team.

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Week 5 - Reflective Tumblr Blog Post

We have spent a couple of weeks learning about and applying a Problem Solving Template as a process to work through leadership challenges to come to a thorough solution that is implementable.

Q1. What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of using a template to work through an operational or leadership issue?

A1. I think that the main advantage of using the template is that solutions will follow the same structure every time the template is used. The template provides clear details on what the problem is and how it should be solved. However, some people may want to skip steps on the template because they feel it is not necessary to fill out. For example, some people may believe that there are no core operational issues and skip over that section. The template requires all sections to be filled out so that the proper solution can be chosen.  

Q2. When you applied the template on the cases what did you find challenging and what did you find beneficial?

A2. When using the template, my thoughts were very organized. When I worked in a team, we slowly narrowed down the root cause of the problem and was able to determine how to eliminate or monitor the probem. For example, in the Klipper Kwik Scenario, my team and I were able to determine that Jibb was not competent in his role. In this case, we thought it was best not to fire Jibb because that would stir up problems within the company. We decided to make him the Manager of Managers so that he did not need to watch over so many people and he would only need status reports and end of day accomplishments.

One part of them template that I found challenging was when we had to vote on the best leadership idea to solve the issue in the Klipper Kwik case and we were divided in half. It took some time to persuade one another, but because of the amount of time given, we were able to come to an agreement.

Q3. It is critical for leaders to be able to lead teams in clarifying core issues and identifying innovative ideas to resolve issues. In what ways do you think this template accomplishes this?

The template has two sections dedicated to core operational and leadership issues. The template also has a dedicated section for creating the idea and vision. If leaders follow this template, fill out the information they know, and be truthful on the template, they can solve their issues in no time at all. The template also gives all team members a chance to collaboratively come to a solution instead of one person filling out the template and dictating a solution.

Q4. When you review the 14 Leadership topics outlined in the Problem Solving Template, which is the one that you think is a critical leadership requirement? Why?

I think that lack of a vision and strategy is the most critical leadership requirement. Lack of a vision and strategy indicates that a leader does not know where they are going. For example, if I worked at a major company, I would want to know where the company wants to be in five years and where the company will actually be in five years. If these were questions brought up to someone who I thought was a leader in the company, and they could not give me a straight answer, I would be discouraged to work there. That type of leader demonstrates lack of psoitivity and encouragement. If I knew where the company was going, I would want to help and try my best to work on getting the company to reach their goal.

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Week 4 - Reflective Tumblr Blog Post

Q1. Which leadership area are you naturally drawn to? Why? How might you use one of your strengths to be a more effective leader in this area?

A1. I’m naturally drawn to virtual leadership. Virtual leadership is about building distant relationships through the use of technology. I can relate to this because on a daily basis, I use techology to catch up with distant family in a different country, and communicate with my group members from school every day. Ultimately, technology drives the world we live in today. 

I consider cooperation and teamwork to be one of my strengths. Through the use of technology cooperation and teamwork becomes a lot easier. I could use teamwork and cooperation to be more effective virtual leader. For example, if one of my group members cannot make it to one of our group meetings, they can catch up with me through the use of technology and I will fill them in on everything they need to know. Even if my team member wants to be a part of the meeting but cannot be there, there are tools like conference and video calls that I can use to have them be a part of the meeting. Using cooperation and teamwork, I can be a better virtual leader. 

Q2. Which leadership area do you not really understand. What is it that you don’t understand specifically? Do some online research and find an answer to what you don’t understand.

A2. I do not understand the creative leadership area. It is unapparent to me how using creativity, makes you a better leader.

Upon completing my research, I learned about creative leaders and why their creativity makes them a better leader. I read an article about the CEO of Amazon, Jeff Bezos. Jeff always thought about the customer. He thought about the customer so much that in meetings, he leaves an empty seat open to represent the customer and makes the customer’s seat the most important in the room. Jeff is basically saying that ideas can be great but how the customer reacts to them is greater. I can now define creative leaders to think outside the box to get their point across. Creative leadership uses non-traditional methods and techniques that may not have an apparent meaning but when you really think about it,

References

Thompson, B. (2016, May 28). Take a Tip from Bezos: Customers Always Need a Seat at the Table. Retrieved September 29, 2019, from https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/234254.

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Week 3 - Reflective Tumblr Blog Post

I was on a high-performing team when I was doing my undergrad in Mechanical Engineering Technology - Design and Drafting. We were tasked to construct a bridge using only a few pieces of brass rods and solder. Our bridge performed excellently and if I remember correctly was able to hold 12 kilograms, which happened to be one of the strongest bridges in the class.

Q1. What was happening that made it a high performing team? 

A1. My team performed well because we communicated. The day we got the project, we sat down and came up with designs and approaches. We also listened to each other’s design ideas and were able to determine which design was best. We listened to each other’s reasoning as to why we should choose one design over another. We planned so well that constructing the bridge was very easy because we all had one common goal in our minds and knew what the final deliverable looked like. My team was also very competitive and wanted our bridge to hold the most weight.

Q2. What was your contribution to the team development? 

A2. My contribution to the team development was communicating my ideas and giving feedback about other’s ideas, whether I agree with them or not. I would also do whatever needed to be done to complete the bridge. I took the initiative in cutting the brass rods to our required lengths and soldering them together. I was also very cooperative with them in the sense that if two of my teammates were soldering, myself and my other teammate were cutting the brass rods. I would have preferred to solder, but I did what needed to be done to accomplish a greater goal and ultimately, was a team player.

Q3. As you look back on this team now, what might you change about the team and about your role in the team? Why?

My team procrastinated the construction of the bridge. We had the design in the early stages of the project and knew what the requirements were, but we unfortunately had other priorities. This came to down to us using a full day to construct the bridge last minute. I should have been the one to give everyone the push to get the project done sooner. I should have taken a more leadership approach right at the beginning of the project and laid out a schedule instead of letting my team procrastinate. 

Q4. Think of how you currently respond to conflict in a team. In what ways does this help develop the team and develop yourself. If you feel another approach to handling conflict might be more effective what might that be?

A1. If there is conflict within the team, I try to avoid it the best I can. If I am a part of the conflict, I simply try to push it under the rug or let the other person get their way because the team needs to get work done. However, I may try to talk it out with the person and if the situation gets worse, I will escalate the issue to a higher authority for them to resolve it. I do realize that when it comes to smaller conflicts, I can resolve them. In the past, I sit both parties down, let them talk it out and I will be the mediator. Sometimes, situations get really bad and seem unable to resolve. I realize this method negatively affects the team and does not work all the time because one party may still be upset and the other party may believe they can always get what they want and this causes tension in the group. I definitely believe that I could utilize the Indian Talking Stick method to resolve conflicts better. Usually, both parties interrupt one another and it takes a very long time to come to a solution. There have often been times when the person who is quieter and says less will just give in to the louder, more talkative person. The Indian Talking Stick gives all parties their chance to talk safely, without being attacked by interruptions.

Q5. If you could do one thing differently when working in future teams what might that be? Why?

A5. When working with teams in the future I believe it is very important to make a contract that all members sign. The contract will include how we will treat one another and how we will resolve any problems between members. The contract isn’t to get one another in trouble, but to ensure we all lay and know the ground rules going into the project as a team. We will ultimately know what kind of behavior is expected from one another, which will help us succeed in our work.

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Week 2 - Reflective Tumblr Blog Post

Q1.  In terms of all of the personal assessments completed in class this week, which insight most powerfully resonated for you? Why?

A1. I believe that the Gallup’s CliftonStrengths personality test was the insight that powerfully resonated for me. This is because it determined my true strengths.

Q2.  In what way is this personal insight helpful for you in developing your leadership?

A2. The Gallup’s CliftonStrengths personality test will be helpful for me because now that I know my strengths, I can work on improving them even more. We learned in class this week that great leaders are the best at what they are good in and when they lack in a certain quality, they should get some help to improve it. 

Q3.  What is one way you might apply this over the next week and what difference might it make for you?

A3. By knowing my strengths I can determine which traits I need to work on more. I can also determine what traits I do not need to focus on so much because I am already good at them. 

Q4.  Review your leadership credo. Identify one action plan that you could do to live this belief in your life. Put it into action and see what happens!

A4.  The Gallup’s CliftonStrengths personality test told me that positivity is one of my strengths. I already believe I am positive. However, I think that I can have more positivity in my life. My plan is when hearing sad or troublesome news, or when plans don’t go the way they’re supposed to, I will try always consider the glass to be half full instead of half empty. I will improve on a strength I already possess, which will ultimately put me on the right path to being a better leader.

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Week 1 - Reflective Tumblr Blog Post

I want to start this blog post by saying that I am excited to learn how to become a better leader and I am thrilled part of this class!

Q1. Think of a time when you were in a leadership situation. What was the experience like for you? What did you learn from it?

A1. I was put into a leadership situation when I was given the project of getting the floor grinding and ceiling painting contractors to redo our floors and our ceilings in our old plant at Stackpole International. For context, we had just expanded and we had an expansion that looked brand new and the other half of the plant looked old. Therefore, we wanted to make both the old half and the new half of the plant look similar when it came to the floor and ceiling, to give the entire plant a more clean, consistent look. The experience was challenging and took a lot of planning in terms of the scheduling the contractors to come in and do the work. I could not schedule them to come in during peak hours because then they would be in the way and affect production, which ultimately, would cost Stackpole money. Most of the work was done during weekends and shutdown periods. When possible, if there was an area that the contractors could do work in that did not affect production, I would schedule them in. I learned that communication is key. I had to talk to the general manager, department managers and supervisors and ensure they were all on board with what I had planned and when. I conducted high level meetings with them to show them in the AutoCAD layout and on the plant floor where they would be doing the work and what exact dates. Once I firmed the plan with my team, I then had to give the contractors this information and they would put it in their schedules. However, there was many times when I would get my team on board but when I told the contractors my plan, it was too late and they were already booked during the times I had wanted them to do work. Ultimately, I learned that being a good communicator will make me a successful leader of this project.

Q2. Describe your leadership strengths and skills as you currently know them.  Where possible, align these with specific examples.

A2. I believe one of my best leadership strengths are great communication skills and not shying away from expressing about how I truly feel about a situation. As well, I believe that I voice when I am uneducated about a topic but educate myself through the use of Google to gain knowledge about the unknown topic. I believe I am also good at looking into the future, knowing the next steps and analyzing that if I do a certain task now, how it will affect me later. Also, when I am a part of a project, I am fully committed and take pride in my work. I also believe I make good decisions and do well at analyzing risks behind critical decisions.

Q3. What are the leadership strengths, skills or characteristics that you would like to develop? Why?

A3. As I want to become a better leader, knowing where my leadership weaknesses are is important. I believe I need to be more creative, innovative and start thinking of the various different paths to reach my goal instead of thinking closed minded and believing that there is only one correct path. I also believe that I need to have more confidence in the work I do and not second guess myself. I also think that I need to learn how to delegate better especially when my plate is too full.