Leadership & Followership
Ethics
The effective balance between leadership and followership are key into having a positive affect of group functioning. Leadership skills are great but followership skills are just as much necessary. LEAD200 gave me a great example of this when Tony would choose leaders for a day. This gave students opportunities to not only be in a follower’s position but to also test your leadership skills as well. When I was chosen to be a leader to a day I was nervous at first, but at the end of the day I learned so much. I got to reflect on myself as a leader to change what I my skills positively or negatively. In my reflection I stated that I didn’t take responsibility for doing a part of the questionnaire. I saw that someone in my group had already done it so I chose to just read their answer instead of doing one on my own. The downfall to my actions is that I got lazy as a leader. Why would anyone in the job world follow a lazy leader? I took accountability; followers follow their leaders by example. If I was going to slack off so were my group members. This also one thing I took to heart during this capstone. My favorite experience was going to the high school class to teach them and make relationships as well. The day we didn’t go to the school I was beyond upset. I felt as if we had let the students down. When are capstone class to revaluate ourselves and the work we individually had contributed, I couldn’t even say what I had done so far I immediately expressed how disappointed I was in the class that we missed a day in the high school. How are the high school students supposed to learn leadership skills, communications, and responsibility from us when we couldn’t even use these skills ourselves? Moving forward, everything in life comes as a learning lesson. The lessons and skills I have encompassed over these past years are going to be more than helpful for the future. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to learn how to be a confident leader and follower.
Leader for a Day!
In LEAD100 we were asked to reflect on what our own personal ethical framework. Ethics are the foundation of any leader. It helps them choice life decision and analyze problems with great thought. I gave myself 10 questions of criteria on understanding if a situation is ethical or not (as you can review on the right). With any decision in life, it not only affects you personally but it also affects the people around you, such as your followers and the community around you. Ethics are tough especially when it comes to you. In my paper I talk about a hypothetical scenario when two friends are in the same class and one forgets to study and ask the other friend to cheat off of her. What is the ethical answer to this question? Sometimes these questions are so hard to answer which is why I gave myself some help with my criteria on the right. With any decision comes consequence so I need to have the ability to decipher from what is right and wrong. The questions make me think more deeply about what I’m going to do in any situation, but they also give me the confidence to choose the right ethical answer.
Creative Problem-Solving
Individual Differences
I have never considered myself to be a creative person on the standards of art. When I took LEAD300 I learned that being creative isn’t judge on artwork but instead your ability to think outside the box. It wasn’t until I took this class I understood that I could be creative in my own way. This skill came when working on our design project. My team had to envision a design for an unsightly space to make it better for the community around them. We all had to come together to use our different creative skills to problem solve a new vision for this space. As the group started throwing out all these different ideas, I learned that I became most creative when bouncing off of other’s ideas. I may not come up with the best suggestions but I find a way to advance the idea to it’s full potential. I was able to practice this skill at my internship this past summer. I worked for the 76ers youth basketball camp for 5 weeks. I was one of two girls in the program. Most of the basketball courts at the facility were outside so when it would rain we had to brainstorm new activities for the campers. As all the interns were brainstorming and throwing out ideas I sat back and just listened. Finally when I spoke I had put two ideas together to create one big activity. It was the perfect solution for the day. It’s situations like this where I learn that sometimes its okay not to be vocal at first but it is important to express your ideas when you have them. Although I still don’t consider myself to be a truly creative person, I know my potential of what it means to actually be creative. There is no stupid thought out question or idea.
Design Project!
This past winter I had the opportunity to study abroad in Thailand and Laos. This was one of the most amazing experiences I’ve been apart of. By emerging myself into the culture I was able to learn and be exposed to many different situations. One of the biggest values of the Thai culture is saving face. Saving face is the ability to show only good emotion even in hardship. While I was in Thailand I never saw one altercation between two citizens about anything. Even in the markets when each booth was technically in competition with each other to sell the most products, everyone was helping each other out. For example, I was buying a painting from a lady vendor and she didn’t have enough change for me, so she went to her neighboring vendor asking for change, which was given to her. Situations like this are so unique to see in today’s age. American culture is built upon competition and proving yourself to be the best. LEAD411 is Leadership for the common good. This class taught me that you can’t impose your own values, wants or needs, onto others because that isn’t necessarily what that culture needs. By going into the villagers my group and I felt as if there was a stigma against handicapped people. With research and interview the citizens, we found this hypothesis to be true. Although we came up with a hypothesis about what we saw was to be a problem, we went through the paper research to confirm it. Studying abroad was one of the best decisions I’ve made in my college career. I learned not only about the culture but more about myself then I even knew was possible.
