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Archive for the ‘Leadership’ Category

Sustainability Model: Demonstrates that the economy and society are dependent on the health of the environment.

I got an early start this morning, but am very tired this morning. I was working until about 11:00 p.m. last night on today’s presentation. However, there is a group of motorcyclists staying at my hotel and they were revving bikes and playing loud music until very late. Their partying makes concentration and sleeping more than a bit difficult.

My team is doing a presentation on Corporate Sustainability today. I’m presenting the sustainability and solution models. The first one is the Sustainability Model and the second is the Plan-Do-Study-Act cycle. The Sustainability Model demonstrates that the economy and society are dependent on the health of the environment. The literature shows that people tend to think that for corporations to be responsible they have to give away shareholders money. This model shows that doing business in a sustainable way insures that the organization will be able to continue making money for the shareholders.

What are your thoughts on this?

For this class I had to come up with a personal leadership style statement. Here is mine:

As a Servant Leader, I work to Empower those I work with to move beyond their current skill set and achieve greater things together than they could have achieved on their own.

Your thoughts and feedback on this are welcome…

In the past I have noticed that when someone looks around for a leader, I am usually one of the first to step up and accept that role. Today I decided to step back and let others volunteer first. I’m not sure why I decided to do that today. Especially since the instructor kept looking at me to take the lead. I think I just didn’t want to be thrust into that role again. I have a tendency to bite off more than I can chew and I just didn’t feel up to it today.

One of my classmates asked the question “Am I a leader?” The instructor thought this was an extraordinary question to ask. In hindsight I have to agree. I have always seen doctoral students as strong-willed, determined individuals who are working to become leaders in their fields. Why else would anyone put themselves through this process? I feel that I have been a leader my whole life and my tendency to set goals and work to achieve them is one of the traits that makes me a leader.

To answer my classmate’s question for myself, yes, I am a leader! I may not be a manager in the organization I work for or a district officer in Toastmasters, but I am a leader in almost everything I do. At work I have a manager that I report to, but I am a leader to about 500 of my coworkers who have been trained as site administrators. It is my job to teach and guide them in using a communication tool and to become effective, efficient, and proficient in using it. When they need help I provide it. When they are stuck, I make suggestions for making progress. When they don’t remember or understand something, it is my job to rephrase or re-explain something. I love doing it!

That is just one reason why I am pursuing my doctoral degree…

The reason I started this blog in the first place was to chronicle my journey through the Management and Organizational Leadership doctoral program at the University of Phoenix. Today is the first day of my Year Three Residency – an on-the-ground class in Phoenix, AZ. The rest of my program is done exclusively online.

Our first assignment was to develop a “concise leadership statement” about our leadership style. This had to be prepared prior to our arrival in class. From that “concise leadership statement” we were to develop a one-sentence statement about our leadership style. Here is mine:

As a Servant Leader, I work to Empower those I work with to move beyond their current skill set and achieve greater things together than they could have achieved on their own.

I am told that this will change over the next five days as this class proceeds. We are also being asked to adjust how we ask questions of presenters. We are to start our questions with the phrase “I heard you say this…” paraphrase what was said and then ask the question. This is done to show that we were actively listening during the presentation. Our instructor has said that this is a very effective way to ask questions, get clarification for statements made during the presentation, and provide feedback and feedforward which is a new concept to me. More on that later as I learn more about it.

Posted by Wayne Lambert (@FastWebProfits) on Twitter.com: “The only real training for leadership is leadership.” – Anthony Jay

I saw the quote above posted on Twitter when I did a search for the term Leadership and it got me thinking. Leadership is a skill that, like all other skills from knitting a sweater to becoming a star athlete to sculpting a statue, needs to be practiced. This requires that anyone who wants to be a leader put themselves into leadership situations. This can be a scary prospect, but each instance of leadership has the potential to:

• Add new skills
• Teach new life lessons
• Expose the leader to different personality types
• Make network connections
• Add another line to the leader’s résumé
• Prove initiative to current and future employers

So, how does one go about “practicing” leadership? The first step is to look for leadership opportunities in a job, in social organizations, and in the community. Leadership openings abound in our lives. All someone has to do is step up and take the chance to succeed… or fail.

Example of Leadership on the Job:

In my own job I am an instructor. I provide direction to people who are both eager to learn something new and afraid to fail at something new. Each interaction with my students – both in class and one-on-one – is an opportunity to practice leadership by instilling knowledge and confidence in my coworkers. Even though I am not managing them, I am leading them. I don’t get everything right in every situation. That is why it’s called practice…

Example of Leadership in Social Organizations:

In July of 2008 I joined Good-to-Great Toastmasters so I could practice becoming a better public speaker. What I didn’t realize at the time was that I would also have opportunities to become a better leader as well. At the first chance I became Vice President of Public Relations and the club Webmaster. Before I knew it, I was also becoming involved with a new Toastmasters club (GO Speakers!) at work. I became VP of PR and club Webmaster in that club and was also asked to be the club’s Mentor. I jumped at the chance because of the added leadership practice it would provide me…

Example of Leadership in the Community:

I am a graduate student working on my doctoral degree through the University of Phoenix. In this case, my community is comprised of other doctoral students from around the world (literally). We attend classes online and each have different backgrounds and experiences. We each take turns as team project leaders and provide each other with different perspectives. We influence one another’s ideas and aid one another’s research. Each project is an opportunity for each of us to learn to follow or lead others…

Now it’s Your Turn:

How do you practice leadership in your life? What opportunities have you taken to improve your leadership skills? By sharing your experiences, you may give others some ideas about how to continue to practicing leadership skills.