Networking

The part of networking I have the most trouble with is my management of time. I plan to cut out unnecessary time wasters. Not all the time, because that'd be ridiculous, and I'd probably get exhausted, but overall, cutting back on time wasting activities should help me have more time. I will also utilize my planner more fully, and set times to do get certain things done.

From my lack of networking, I was not able to help my friend with finding a job for the summer. Now that I think about it though, I have a friend who lives close to her, so, I will suggest her to my friend.

To overcome my fears I will remember that not acting is worse than acting and not being perfect. It is important for people to know that they are cared about, and that others will take time out of their lives to make them feel loved. Remembering this will help me not be held back by my lack of courage.

Personal Code of Ethics

I will stand for...

Spirituality by keeping an eternal perspective. Through doing this I will remember to do what matters most and not participating in activities that do not matter.

I will respect others. People can make their own decisions, have feelings, and need respect. When others feel genuinely respected and revered, they seem to be more apt to do good because they expect it of themselves. I think that respecting others also helps me respect myself.

The betterment of society; I will contribute in as many ways as I can.

Choosing the right even when no one else will know but me (and the Lord). I will work with integrity.

I will not participate in amoral activities; morality is important to having a good lifestyle. Without morals, good society fails.

I will use my mind to create new things, ideas, and solutions. Innovation is important to solving problems and improving this world.

I will have strong family values, for the home is the place for children to learn the most important things.

Compassion, genuinely caring and loving for others.

Change Leadership

A new suggestion for change leadership I learned is captured in this quote from Niccolo Machiavelli, "There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in it success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things." It is frightening to take the initiative to make a change. A principle we learned that goes hand in hand with that is that it is essential to change, it is "constant, inevitable, [and that it] can insure the success or failure of any organization." (Brother Ward)

A suggestion from Brother Ward's lecture I want to focus my efforts most on is accountability. All too often I do not take into account how important it is to use my time wisely. I need to be "thriving, not just surviving," in this ever changing world. In my leadership role I will take advantage of the time I have to "thrive" in my role, and not just "survive."

My experience of public speaking taught me the importance of looking at people and keeping your audience interested. I hope to continually develop all of the skills I have learned in this class. Since I would get red in the face and stutter when in front of a group of people--even small groups--before this class, I would say I have a lot of perfecting to do. I plan to practice speeches every time I give them until when--or if--I ever become proficient at keeping straight what I need to say.

Conflict Resolution

Physiological responses I have when I know I am in a conflict include my heart rate increasing. Also, any train of thought I have is derailed. My mind completely blanks when I'm in a conflict.

When I'm in a conflict I usually just think: "What do I do!??!?" Typically I'll eventually come up with a way to fix things.

To help manage my thoughts and emotions in a productive way to manage/solve my conflict I can:

• Talk to others for advice and mediation
• Each time I come to a conflict, give praise before and after addressing my concern
• Always try to figure out why something is happening before attacking the what
• Come up with an answer to certain conflicts before hand (ex: honor code, decide before hand)
• Use logic to come up with good answers
•  Pray for guidance

Motivating Others

The leader that stood out most to me was Winston Churchill. He stood out to me because of his noble life. He lead his country with wisdom and charisma.

From researching Cleopatra, I learned that motivating others is easier when one speaks with those they lead. Cleopatra learned how to speak the Egyptian language to connect with her people and understand their culture better. She utilized this knowledge with her charismatic character.

A new element of motivating others I will apply to my leadership role is being more firm. Through being more firm, I will be able to ensure fairness to myself and others. I am typically a very easy going, nice person; but I need to be more sure to put my foot down when situations are wrong. Doing this will help the character development of myself and the ones I lead. Developing this ability will help me be a better leader.

Decision making

I learned the importance of having courage to make a decision. Even if one cannot understand all of the implications of their options, it is extremely important to have the courage to make a decision.

The biggest problem I have with making decisions is reviewing the consequences of my decisions. I will start

taking inventory of all that I have accomplished in one week every Saturday morning and write down what I could have done better in my journal. I will also write down what I have done right to see what I should keep doing.

I think the most important principle of decision making that I need to apply to my leadership role is that time and the ability to choose are the 2 precious gifts of this life. Internalizing this principle will help me emulate a good example to those I lead. I believe that leading through example is the best way to help my friend. With good examples to follow, it is much easier to be a great person.

Balance & Time Management

Above all else, I wish to have a strong family.  The time spent with them will be the highest priority in my life. I will dedicate all of my resources to creating and maintaining a strong family unit. Right now, I will develop characteristics, habits, qualities, skills, talents, etc. that will assist me in being the best family member imaginable.

Time management is a very important quality to have as a leader, because it is how a leader makes things happen. Without time management, a leader could not lead--everything they planned would fall apart because of poor managing. A leader needs to understand the time schedule at hand and make their goals fit to it.

I plan to better manage my time with my friend by being more productive with my time with her. Even though getting two things done at the same time would be nice, just making sure that the time spent with her is quality time would make the time infinitely better. I will also make sure good things happen.

Strengths and weaknesses

A strength I have is the ability to cook. My friend is not a very good cook, but loves delicious food--who doesn't for that matter? I can use my ability to cook in my leadership role to teach my friend fun and easy skills that will serve her well now and in the future.

Strengths of my group project team include creative problem solving. When a problem arises, we are all able to bring ideas to the board, be flexible, and come to a good conclusion. This helps us to better our results because  without the ability to solve problems, any group project would fall apart. Another strength my group has is working well together. When we made t-shirts, we were all able to work well together and get them done in a timely fashion. This helps us get better results because we are able to get things done.

Teamwork

1.Choose and describe in detail two of the four teamwork stages (forming, storming and norming, performing) you have seen in your group project teams and how it has affected your teamwork

In my group, it was interesting to see how the storming and norming stages of our project came together. Our original, provisional plan from the forming stage was left in the dust for a fresh, visionary plan. That is not to say it was perfect, we definitely had to refine the new idea very much. We tried to think of all the possible problems that would occur with our plan and address them. Throwing ideas off of each other helped us come to exceptional solutions. 

Assigning who would do what went pretty smoothly; everyone willingly volunteered their services. We delegated duties that came up throughout our planning according to the skill set each individual person had to offer.

2. Pick one dysfunction (Ryan's lecture) you have seen in your leadership role and what you are going to do to turn into a function.

I believe there is always room for improvement, and even the most well oiled teams have dysfunctions that must be addressed. It is the fact that they are addressed that keeps them a good team. In my leadership role, I know I am far from perfect. I have especially noticed a fear of conflict. Usually I just go with the flow unless something is seriously wrong. When I do not address a small problem before it becomes a big problem, big problems develop needlessly. I plan on addressing these smaller problems sooner and having a healthy conflict instead of waiting until they become larger problems.

Communication

There are an innumerable amount of ways I could improve my communications as a leader. I'm going to focus on a few points so that I will not be overwhelmed. First of all, I'm going to work on understanding the other person's perspective. When I put forth the effort to understand someone, it is usually not too difficult--people want to be understood--and it makes conversations much better. I understand the importance of this principal, I just really need to remember to put forth that effort. I will also make a point to be more courteous in my conversations with others. It is difficult for me to be courteous to others when they offend me, but, that can be the most important time to be considerate of them. Often times, people offend because they are having a tough day. I think that being more courteous will help me improve in other parts of communication as well. As I practice consideration for others, it will inspire a greater desire to communicate effectively.

As I mentioned previously, I will be focusing on seeing from other's perspectives. This will help me immensely in my leadership role, because I know that my philosophy on life differs greatly from my friend's, therefore, I struggle to understand her. I believe that putting forth the effort to understand will not only help me see where she is coming from better, but also help me learn about myself and my weaknesses. As they say, "diversity is the spice of life." From our differences we can learn an incredible amount.

Divine Centered Leader Interview

I interviewed Alyssa Heyborne, someone I view as a servant leader. While interviewing her I noticed many characteristics that help her as a leader. She has a great desire to help others learn by teaching in a way that is conducive to learning in each individual's case. Alyssa also tries to get to know each person well so that she can lead them better. She also strives to care for those around her. Another characteristic that I think especially helps her is her honesty. Leaders need to be trustworthy. One of her life goals is to "touch people's lives... and make them better in some small way."

Something she taught me in the interview is that while you cannot force people to do things--it never works--you must be clear on what you need. It never occurred to me how frustrating it is when a leader is not clear. Letting people know what is important and letting them know that you care is vital to getting a group goal accomplished. She also says that getting people invested in the thing which y'all are trying to get done is very good. Especially if you find something that they can do to help that interests them personally. Which brings us back to the importance of knowing "each heart." As a person, leader, friend, peer, visiting teacher, Alyssa strives to know "each heart."

Divine Centered Leadership

My chemistry professor is very wise--he asks us to work out example problems and talk with those around us when we are having problems--this helps us learn more effectively. Last week, the guy sitting next to me was struggling to understand a confusing concept we were learning. So, I tried to help this poor fellow. It was the beginning of a wonderful friendship. We are definitely understanding chemistry better, and enjoying the class too! Getting to know him has been a pleasure. People are amazing! This experience reified the concept we learned in class; recognizing who we really are helps us become better leaders because when we realize that we are all children of God with a great capacity to love one another as He did, we can accomplish more than we could ever hope to imagine.

I will apply Divine Centered Leadership to my leadership role in many ways. "Treating each person as a divine being with divine potential" is important to me. Low self esteem seems to be omnipresent in our culture today. My friend, like many others, struggles to see the good in herself. When I have supper with her this coming Thursday, I will try to help her see the amazing potential within her. I hope that teaching her how to cook an easy, delicious, wholesome meal will help her feel accomplished and good about herself. Last Thursday I applied the principle of serving others by helping her with cleaning checks. This is very important to me, because I believe that when we get dirty and help others with joy in our hearts, it makes more of a difference in lives than when we just hang out with a friend. Not only does it help them do what they need to get done and allow me to be an example of service to them, it is also gratifying. I know that leading with a loving example instills good values in those we serve.

Leadership

In my life, I strive to be a good leader that can bring out the best in people. Right now I'm a leader in my family. As a sister I try to show a good example for my other siblings to follow. As a friend I'm also a leader. When problems arise, I come in to mediate, to be there to listen when people need to talk, and to give thought out advice. I also enjoy helping plan fun group activities as well.

I believe almost all if not all of the qualities I possess assist me in some way when leading. In some scenarios I have the ability to get people to enjoy working. My creativity helps me give fresh outlooks on problems. Honesty and integrity are useful because it is important to have trust in a leader. I'm also good at taking initiative when it needs to be taken.

I will focus on my role as a friend for application in this class because it is the most prevalent leadership role in my life right now. I hope to make a difference for the good in the life of one of my friends in particular, she has a tough life and does not know how to deal with many things. So, I'm trying to help her develop skills of self sufficiency that will serve her throughout her life.