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Week Six

Coincidentally, after the week six's class, where we talked about the Indian talking stick and intentful listening, I had an argument with my elder sister on some really stupid topic. It got so intense that it turned into one heated argument but back of the mind I had this new learning, and immediately I stopped my sister and asked her to wait, and listen to me. I introduced her to this topic and asked her to sit down with me and handed over her my hockey stick as a part of this activity. I asked her to explain and communicate herself and hand me back the hockey stick only when she will feel that she is understood by me and vice versa. As, every coin has two sides and the same way, every person has their own side of story or perspective which can not be ignored. Therefore, knowing and understanding both the sides is essential to lead to a conclusion. So, we began this activity and turn by turn communicated our respective perspective and point of view to each other. After this useful activity, we were literally able to end our argument on a positive note by understand each others feelings and point of view. I could really feel heard and understood by her and same was her response. So, something that I experienced that was important was that how essential it is to be not only an effective communicator but also, an intentful and active listener. Also, how important it is for someone to be heard and understood. Furthermore, I learned how sitting down together and resolving the conflict/issue by communicating honestly and listening with complete attention to others is essential to build a trust-worthy relationship with others. This practice not only proves to be of immense help in personal life but also, in professional life. Henceforth, I would definitely apply this knowledge in future leadership opportunity as there is always some sort of conflict where there is a team work required. So, being an effective leader, I might apply this great knowledge to resolve such arising conflicts; arguments among my team members which would eventually leave a positive impact on a person's personal as well as professional life. As, I always say communication is the key to everything. Without it, one can not succeed in life. Also, with communication comes the responsibility to be an active listener. So, effective communication and intentful listening goes hand in hand. Therefore, one must practice it often and make it a part of their routine.

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Week Five

During my first co-op while working as a Learning Assistant at Sheridan College, we were asked to come up with ideas and ways we could promote and spread knowledge about tutoring services among students on campus. I took the initiative and shared my ideas with my coordinator and from there on, she gave me the permission to lead my team and work on the given task. I led down all the strategies and ways that were to be followed in order to spread a word about tutoring services available to students at Sheridan. So, we got pamphlets printed containing all the useful information about tutoring - what it is, how and where to access it, link to various resources and information about the procedure to book an appointment with a tutor (at that time it was in-person as it was pre-covid time). I organized the team into two-two pairs who were advised to talk to various students with a positive attitude in the corridors along with handing over the pamphlets. This strategy went on for two weeks and as a result, so many students were attracted towards this service and came to the tutoring centre to book an appointment with the tutor as per their subject related needs. Something that I experienced which was important as well that many of the students were unaware of the free tutoring services available to students and due to the corridor visiting approach, a lot of students got to know about the same. Also, some of them even left positive feedback that how by getting the pamphlets and talking to the Learning Assistants during our corridor visits, they were able to get to know more about such on-campus services available to students and how they could utilize them in an effective way, Through this experience I learnt that how important it is to take an initiative and carry a positive and vision-oriented mindset to lead into a right direction leaving a positive impact on the people in the surroundings. At my workplace, I might utilize this knowledge by coming up with more innovative and creative ideas and taking initiative to implement the same by taking a lead.

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Week Four

During my Reports and Presentations (RAP) course at Sheridan, we had a group project worth 50% of the final grade. It was a huge grade as half of my marks for this course were based on how effectively my team and I worked together to earn a good grade. So, I had a team of five individuals. We as a team had our goal set of achieving an A+ grade for this project work and to achieve this goal, we had our plan laid down towards which we were fully committed and determined. We used to have weekly team meeting with our professor, take constructive feedback from her and work on improving our report which was part of the group project. So, our commitment level made us the high performing team in the complete class as we used to receive the highest grade for each segment designed by the professor as we used to regularly work on improving our assignment based on the feedback received from the professor. I as a team member used to make sure to resolve any sort of conflict that used to arise as in the end, everyone has their own individual personality and carry different point of views and opinions. So, I being an effective communicator and active listener used to make sure to not let any such conflicts arise and if there used to be any, I used to talk on a personal level with each of the team member and kept them inclined towards achieving our end result – an A+ grade. As I look back at this team now, something that I might change about the team is signing a team contract with the professor’s consent which would assign each team member their respective role and their commitment towards completing and submitting their part of the assignment on time so that a final result could be established/developed. Also, as a team member and an individual, I would make sure to just work on my part of the assignment and not complete others, except in an unavoidable situation which would require me to complete their part of the assignment as well. Currently, if there is a conflict in a team, I make sure that firstly I determine the root cause of it and enact accordingly. Also, I make sure to talk to the team members on a personal level in order to understand their perspective of the situation, make them feel heard and try to negotiate and solve the conflict with mutual understanding and consent of the team members. This way, it not only nourishes my communication and understanding skills but also, keeps the team spirit alive that keeps the team motivated and on the right track. Another approach that might be more effective and appropriate to handle conflicts is to have a shared vision. If there will be a shared vision, conflicts will decrease as the individuals will be more determined to achieve their pre-determined goals and objectives that will be only possible if the team works together with full commitment. One thing that I could do differently when working in future teams is to be more courageous as it would not only boost my self-confidence but also, enable me to put forward my strong views and opinions as sometimes I keep my ideas or views to myself considering what the other person might think about it. However, being more courageous would let me break that barrier and let myself come out as a strong, outspoken individual personality.

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Week Three

As per my understanding of followership, I feel I am an effective follower based on my personal values, talents, and strengths. My followership commitment is to be more courageous. Be always ready to initiate change. Accept responsibility and put myself at risk to fulfill my personal growth and development purposes to the best of my abilities and capabilities and serve to the best interest of the organization as a whole. Also, I would work on building certain habits to continue to be an effective leader by being proactive, having a crystal-clear vision of my own mind and perspective and build a strong trust-worthy relationship with my leader so that we can together work as a strong committed team to achieve both our personal as well as professional goals and objectives.

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Week Two

My top five strengths are –

1. Relator (Relationship Building)

2. Strategic (Strategic Thinking)

3. Responsibility (Executing)

4. Learner (Strategic Thinking)

5. Achiever (Executing)

By using my relator skill in my peer mentor role at Sheridan, I can relate to the students by putting myself in their shoes to understand their concerns or queries as I am also a student. So, being a student as well as a peer mentor would enable me to walk them through my experience of being a student at Sheridan and serve their needs to the best of my ability and capability. This would not only help the students with their successful transition at Sheridan but also, enable me to nourish my leadership skills as I would become more confident in terms of communication and representing Sheridan through my designated role.

Being strategic would enable me to deal with any sort of situation and quickly grasp the relevant patterns, ways to get through the issues. For insight, making a strategy and laying down the plan to sort my deadlines each week according to their priority level. This would enable me to be on the right track and manage my stress level. Also, planning the deadlines would enable me to communicate the tasks to be achieved by the team members both at school and work. As recently, while planning for a workshop for students as a part of my peer mentor role, I had my mid-term exams as well. So, strategizing and planning my tasks ahead of time as per the deadlines enabled me to balance and manage both the important things and accomplish them with great success. This also builds the trust of the team members at work when their leader shows such level of commitment and determination.

My responsibility trait would enable me to gain the trust of my team at workplace as I would not hesitate to take the ownership of whatever I said. As, I would do exactly what I said – walk my talk! I will stay committed to my core values of not only being an honest and loyal individual but also, an honest and loyal leader.

Being a learner would enable me to continuously improve and work towards the betterment of the team as a leader. It would provide me an opportunity to keep on taking in new things, ideas, knowledge, etcetera as it would flow my way and accept and adapt to the ever changing, demanding circumstances accordingly.

Last but not the least, my strength of being an achiever would always push me to excel in life, continuously motivate me to work harder and perform to the best and beyond my abilities and capabilities. This way, as a leader I would stay productive and be an inspirational personality as well by accepting the challenging situations and conquering them with grace.

Learner – I joined the leadership bridge program at school where the students were provided the opportunity to act as mentor and the professors to act as mentees. I was aligned with one of the professors from a different faculty, where we had intense as well as fun conversations. This was one of the amazing experiences of my life as being a mentor to a professor is not a cake walk. I got to learn so much from this program as well as shared some useful insights with the professor which amazed the professor as well. We both had great experience and something that I realized that day was that one keeps on learning at every step of life. More and more knowledge not only act as an asset but also, makes a person self-confident and aware of one’s own capabilities and abilities.

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Week One

At my high school back home, there used to be several events and festivals organized that used to keep the students engaged and provided awareness of that particular day, for example say teacher’s day, world environment day, diwali celebrations, etcetera. So, when I was in grade 12, I took the initiative to do something interesting and beneficial for the environment on the world environment day. I jotted down my ideas and presented them to my principal who really loved those. My idea included forming twelve groups containing four students from each grade who would plant trees in the school as well as its surroundings which also included a short play by grade 12 students in the morning assembly to spread awareness among the students about how to take measures to preserve nature and save earth. This idea was so appreciated by my principal that she gave me the complete charge to take the lead of organizing these events and assured me to make all the resources available to me required to make these events a success. So, I planned, organized, and implemented my strategies to firstly, form teams to make students feels engaged and valued. The ones who were not a part of the team were asked to voluntarily plant a tree or so at their home and submit a picture on the school’s portal to win amazing prizes. This acted as an encouraging force among the students and a great response was recorded from the students in regards of their picture’s submission. Secondly, I scripted the play that was to be enacted by the grade 12 students. Both these initiatives proved to be huge success and we received a huge shoutout and appreciation from professors as well as compliments from students. As a result, I was provided with another several opportunities to lead such events at school independently. This was a whole new and one of the greatest achievements and experiences of my life. I felt so overwhelmed and honored that I promised myself that day that I will always bring my creative ideas to the table and take certain initiatives that could contribute to such great causes and provide me a self-satisfaction that can not be find anywhere.

Moving further, some of my leaderships strengths and skills that are important to possess in order to become an effective leader are communication, active listening, responsibility, etcetera.

Communication – I always say, communication is the key to everything. If a person is an effective communicator, nothing can stop one from succeeding in every aspect of life. I always implement this practice both in my personal as well as professional life. I make sure that I communicate effectively and clearly at home to maintain trust and strong relationships with my family and at work, to avoid or overcome any sort of miscommunication leading to misunderstandings at workplace.

Active listening – My family, friends and colleagues always find me trust-worthy, someone who acts as a lending ear and shoulder for them, so that they can share their feelings, problems or anything with me and be understood without getting judged. So, active listening is something that I always practice in order to gain knowledge, understand others perspective, act accordingly and to remain patient in a certain situation.

Responsibility – I am person who always walks her talk. I always take accountability and responsibility of what I say I will do. My skill of being responsible makes me stand out as a leader at school as well as at work. During my current role as a peer mentor at Sheridan, I make sure to fulfill my commitment ahead of time and take complete responsibility of the certain task and events assigned to me as a leader. This also motivates the team members to act with full determination and commitment level when they look up for the same in their leader.

However, some of the leadership strengths and skills that I would like to develop are self-awareness and reducing boundaries as these two are one of the important leadership skills that a leadership must possess. Self-awareness would make my vision and purpose of life crystal clear. Without self-awareness, I can not lead into the right direction and being self-aware is something that I am constantly working on, and I hope the Leadership Development course will enable me to be more self-aware in terms of being a true effective and inspirational leader by the end of this term. Additionally, I want to work on reducing my boundaries and having walls around you pushes you down as a leader and to be good leader, one must reduce their boundaries. So, I am taking baby steps towards reducing my boundaries, however setting them at an appropriate level according to the demand and need of the circumstances and situations as well so that I don’t get influenced by somebody easily.