I tend to be a person who embraces change and rolls with the punches that change throws my way. I don’t say this to brag, but to advise. Change is going to happen. As leaders, we need to work hard to prepare our followers for the coming changes. If we know there is a reorganization coming, then as leaders we need to help our workers shine so they find a place in the new organizational structure. If we know there are layoffs coming, we need to prepare our followers for that inevitability so they can land on their feet and keep going. I would also hope that leaders in this program will also stress the need for followers to educate themselves. Not everyone is cut out to pursue a graduate degree, but a culture that values education is one that can innovate its way out of tough situations. That’s my two cents…

I just finished listening to the Audible.com version of The 360-Degree Leader: Developing Your Influence from Anywhere in the Organization as read by the author, John C. Maxwell. I enjoyed listening to it and Mr. Maxwell reads it very well. Mr. Maxwell gave advice on how to lead your supervisors, peers, and subordinates in a manner that is inoffensive to all three groups and yet still gets things done. It seems that what some forget is that leadership is a matter of influence, not force or position.

Learning how to build influence has been a tough lesson for me to learn, but I think I might finally be getting the hang of it. I’m not talking about learning to manipulate people or win at office politics. I am talking about building a reputation for yourself as a subject matter expert (SME) and proving that expertise over and over again. In part, leadership is an exercise in constantly improving yourself so that you can work on helping others improve themselves, their situations, and the organizations you work in.

While leading from the middle can be tricky, Mr. Maxwell’s book is full of examples of middle leaders who have had an effect on all levels of their organization. While I don’t agree that some of Mr. Maxwell’s examples are positive examples of leadership, I do agree that they are correct. He uses former Vice President Dick Cheney as an example of a 360-degree leader. I agree that Cheney is a leader, but not one that leads for the betterment of everyone. His influence and decisions have led us down a path that has caused environmental, social, and economic disasters that now must be corrected while Mr. Cheney sits back and shrugs his shoulders. I would encourage Mr. Maxwell to pick more positive examples in the future.

Are you a middle or 360-degree leader in your organization or community? Please share your story and challenges here. I’d love to know how you are handling the issues mentioned here.

My husband and I also celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary!!! We went to a Sacramento RiverCats Baseball game (which we both love to do!) and Mark had them put a message on the board for me (see the photo). RHMILY means “Remember How Much I Love You!” He got a great big “Awwww” and a kiss from me as I scrambled to pull out my camera. It was a wonderful day!

I started a new class last night. It’s called “Organizational Diagnosis and Intervention.” Do you have any idea what this is about? I’m not sure yet, but I’m sure it’s important. I just haven’t taken the time to read the syllibus or do the reading yet. That starts tonight! I’m sure this has to do with dealing with troubled organizations. I can think of a few organizations I’ve worked for where a class like this would have been helpful.

I think I’ve reached an alternatively weary/exciting part of my doctoral program. There are some days (hours/minutes/seconds) when I am tremendously excited about the fact that I only have four content classes and my dissertation project left to do and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. There are other days (hours/minutes/seconds) where I’m extremely tired and keep wondering “What was I thinking when I signed up for this journey?” I look at the “light at the end of the tunnel” and am sure it’s an oncoming train.

I am hoping that the excitement will go back to being the predominant feeling so I can push through to the end of this process and graduate. In the meantime I keep putting one foot in front of the other and doing one task or assignment at a time. My dissertation mentor, Dr. Holley, has assured me that my dissertation project is now doable and my timeline is reasonable. Now I just need to pitch it to the folks that I want to study…

Anyway, life proceeds apace. I’m back at work and am still training a new coworker who is coming along nicely. He starts teaching training classes tomorrow (under my watchful eye). Hopefully by July he’ll be able to take half of the training chores off of my plate and let me concentrate on other tasks.

My husband and dogs are great! I think Shasta wishes I’d walk her more often. Come to think of it, I wish I could walk her more often. Now that the weather is starting to improve I hope to fulfill her wish. I think I’ll start by taking both Roobee and Shasta to a nearby dog park.

Mark is as loving and supportive as ever! I really couldn’t do any of this without him. He keeps me going and helps to recharge my batteries on a daily basis.

I lost a family friend this week. He was 73 and it sounds like his body clock just wound down and stopped ticking. That’s not a bad way to go for someone who gave as much to his community and touched so many lives as “Mr. Hutch” did. His time ended and he…just…stopped. I went to his funeral and was not surprised to see how many people came to pay respects and support his family. He was a humble and influential man in his community and touched my life in ways I’ll never forget.

I also learned that the son of a friend of mine from Toastmasters died after a long and troubled history with drug addiction. His mother is a friend and really tried to help him overcome his addictions. She is mourning and I mourn her loss. I think her life will improve as she moves further from the loss, but the hole he leaves will remain.

I also learned about the death of a former coworker. I went to his funeral and I grieve for his family. Especially for a very young daughter who will have to grow up without her daddy.

It’s been hard this week to focus on my dissertation project with all of this going on. However, it does keep me moving forward and thinking positively. I had a professor explain the academic process to me once in the following way:

1. AA/AS = a time for students to figure out their homework:party time ratio
2. BA/BS = a time for students to figure out where the library is on campus
3. MA/MS = a time for students to learn to use the library and all of its resources
4. Ph.D. = a time for students to contribute to the library

I’m excited to be at the stage in my academic career where I will be contributing to the library soon!

Image Credit: Retrieved on February 21, 2010 from Jonesville, Virginia – Horse Hollow

A little later in the day I read a blog post by one of my favorite Twitter buddies, @CouchSurfingOri, who listed out his goals (- NOT resolutions) for the year and what he was going to do to achieve those goals. Between the quote this morning and Ori’s blog post, I was inspired to set down my 2010 goals here in my blog and start working to achieve them. So, here goes… (by the way, these are in no particular order)

Toastmasters:

• I plan to earn my Advanced Communicator Bronze (ACB). Earning the ACB entails giving a total of ten speeches from two Advanced Communicator Manuals (five from each manual). I have ordered and received two manuals already. The first is the Public Relations manual and the second is Communicating On Television. I chose the Public Relations manual because I am the Vice President of Public Relations for both of my clubs and because being able to get the message out about anything is of key importance to my plans for the future. I chose Communicating on Television because I would like to turn my podcast into a video podcast in 2011 (if not before) and don’t want to look like a fool when I do so.
• I plan to earn my Advanced Leader Bronze (ALB). To earn this award I will need to conduct two programs from the Successful Club Series or the Leadership Excellence Series. I ordered two books from the Successful Club Series: Finding New Members for Your Club and The Toastmasters Educational Program. I decided on these two because both of my clubs are having membership issues. I thought these might be the best two for helping to recruit more members.

School

• Complete my dissertation proposal. I have two classes scheduled with my dissertation mentor to do just this. I plan to submit my proposal in the Fall and start working on the project in January once the proposal has been approved. My mentor assures me that this is a reasonable timeline that  will not cause me undue stress. I told my mentor that I wanted to get through the dissertation process with my health, my sanity, and my marriage intact. My husband says he agrees and approves of the priority listing.

Work

• Teach 12 Video Webinars this year. I enjoy doing webinars for my coworkers on new or better ways to use Microsoft SharePoint 2007 to create and maintain our corporate intranet. To achieve this goal I will:
  • Schedule dedicated time to work on and prepare these webinars
  • Conduct a survey of my customers to find out what topics they most want to have covered
  • Advertise these webinars in advance of each one so that we get good attendance at each one.
• Start an educational blog. I plan to post weekly articles that will answer questions and give tips and tricks to help our site administrators maintain their sites in an efficient and effective manner. To achieve this goal I will:
  • Schedule time to research & write articles each week
  • Survey my site administrators to find out what questions they have so that I can write articles that address these issues
  • Advertise each posting with our site administrators so that they are aware of this new resource

Life

• Meeting health-related challenges. I have had some recent medical challenges that need to be met and overcome. This includes issues with my blood sugar levels dropping dangerously low due largely to a poor diet following gastric bypass surgery. To meet this goal I will:
  • Consult with an endocrinologist to try to regulate my insulin secretions
  • Consult with a nutritionist to start eating healthier food and developing better eating habits
  • Schedule time to exercise regularly
• Spending quality time with my husband and dogs. I need to make sure that I am spending quality time on my relationships and the most important relationships I have right now are with my husband and dogs. They all rely on me for love and nurturing and I need to make sure they are taken care of. To achieve this goal I will:
  • Schedule a date night with my husband so we can have some quality time alone together doing fun, relaxing, or adventurous activities
  • Spend time playing with my dogs every day and when possible, take them with me when I exercise.
• Turn StudentTech into a weekly audio podcast. Last year I did three episodes of this podcast but did not lay out a schedule of time or topics for further episodes. To achieve this goal I will:
  • Set up a list of topics to cover each week using Google Wave
  • Schedule time to write and record a podcast each week
  • Try to find people who want to be guests on podcasts in order to change things up a bit

That’s all that comes to mind right now. Do you have any suggestions for other goals I could add to the list? How about ideas for methods to achieve the goals I listed above? Please comment or connect with me on Twitter.

Image Credits:

The Goals poster was found on Drop and Give Me 20 … Pages! using Google Images.

The Chapter One image was found on A Plethora of Positive Energy using Google Images.

The Healthy Food photo was found on Mom-Going-Organic-Sensibly.com using Google Images.