EAD 963 Final Project

Here is my final project for my leadership class.  I decided to create a poster that I will hang in my future offices.  I gathered thoughts from the semester readings that resonated with me and I wanted to keep them at the forefront of my daily life.  I hope you enjoy it.

Sheila's Initial Thoughts on Leadership

One thing that I have learned during my years of leadership development is that there is more than what meets the eye in regards to leadership and leadership development.  On dictionary.com, the top three definitions of leadership are: (1) the position or function of a leader, a person who guides or directs a group; (2) ability to lead; and (3) an act or instance of leading; guidance; direction.  I consider these the basic definitions since I think leadership is much more than just these.

First and foremost, I believe that leaders are not just born, but can also be made.  In other words, there are individuals who have personalities that lead them to be leaders without much development.  However, I believe that the vast majority of the leaders in the world are made through experiences and dedication.  I am one of those leaders.  For my final proposal in TE 931, I completed an autoethnography which looked at my student leadership experiences.  In that assignment I shared that I ran for class treasurer each year during high school but was never elected.  I had the desire to be seen as a leader during high school, but was not the truth.  Granted, elections in high school are more of a popularity contest, but I would argue that even the popular crowd has some characteristics of a leader or those students would not be popular.  Although I was involved in four student organizations in high school, I did not develop my leadership skills until college.

My own leadership development through residence hall organizations is where the majority of my thoughts were developed.  During my five years at The University of Akron, I went from being an honors student living on the honors floor only to being recognized at an Outstanding Senior.  These experiences led me to my career in Student Affairs, specifically in university housing.  My leadership skills developed further when I took on the role of being an advisor to student organizations as well as becoming involved in regional and community organizations.

So, what has these experiences taught me about leadership?  In addition to my initial thought at the beginning of this, there is no cookie cutter answer to what is leadership.  Second, it is much more difficult than expected, especially when you are in a position that is the pinnacle of the organization, i.e. president.  Third, as the identified leader, a person will not be able to appease every person in the organization and the person must be okay with that.  With that said, those in leadership roles should be comfortable listening to others and then make what they believe is the best decision.  In my experience, people want to be heard; as long as that happens authentically, then people will more than likely go along with the decisions, even if it is not what they would like.  Lastly, I believe that a person can be a leader in any role and that a person does not need to be in the assumed leadership position.  A leader is someone who can help others reach a shared goal, is seen as a role model for others, and is not afraid to question.

The main characteristics of a strong leader are being a positive role model, developing a shared vision, being open to new possibilities, challenging the norms when deemed necessary, delegating appropriately, motivating others, and admitting mistakes.  Many of these come from Kouzes & Posner’s The Leadership Challenge.  As discussed in class earlier tonight, there are numerous leadership development theories and steps.  Yes, The Leadership Challenge is one of those, yet it resonates with me.  I cannot identify the first time I heard about this book and the five practices of exemplary leaders.  However, I know that I knew about when I started at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) in 2005.  I connect with the five practices:  Model the Way, Inspire a Shared Vision, Challenge the Process, Enable Others to Act, and Encourage the Heart.  Since then, most of my presentations regarding leadership development revolve around The Leadership Challenge practices.

I know that there is more to leadership than what I have shared; hence, why I am in this course.  I hope that through this class I will have a better understanding of the difficulties leaders in colleges and universities face and how to work through the unknown.

Week 16: Realizing Potential

This is the last week of class.  The readings seemed to circle to the beginning.  They allowed me to be reflective of the semester journey I've almost completed.  One of the readings, Nidfiffer, discussed the masciline and feminine traits of leaders; more like how the attributes or competencies were established (naturally or acquired).  Depending on the mixture of competencies, a model could be feminine-deficit or mascuiline-deficit.  In a feminine-deficit model, the women must work on acquiring specific competencies to be successful.  On the other hand, in a masculine-deficit model, the men must work on acquiring specific competencies. The study recommended a model that focused on both women and men to have equal amounts of natural competencies and aquired competencies.  It sounded great while I was reading it, but I wonder how realistic it really is.

"Leadership has little to do with formal authority or where one is in the chain of command, and a great deal to do with forming and sustaining relationships that lead to results in the common interest." (Preskill & Brookfield, pp. 3-4).  This is really a large part of what I believe is leadership.  Relationships are key.  If "followers" do not connect with the "leader," it will be difficult to get tasks accomplished or move forward.  Formal authority vs. informal authority is a topic of debate and I agree with those who say informal authority is much more effective.

As I wrap up this semester and this first part of my leadership journey, I think about what I originally wrote at the beginning of the semester.  (This paper will be the following entry in the blog.)  After reading it again, I feel that this class gave me the opportunity to think more about the concepts I wrote about.  The things that resonated with me in class are things that I initially discussed in my "initial thoughts" paper.  So, does that mean my thoughts on leadership are pretty authentic?  That I am more intuned with my leadership journey than I originally thought?  I'll let you ponder those questions . . . among others.

Thank you to all of you who've read my entries and provided feedback.  In your own ways, you've supported my leadership journey this semester and I know you will be there for my future quests of leadership awareness and development.

Week 15: Leadership from Within

In one of the previous week's readings, James Barker stated, "leadership is service" (p. 65).  This struck a chord with me and now we have a week of readings focused on servant leadership.  Again, I wonder how I fit in with the concepts of servant leadership.  This is probably an area I need to spend time on.  Bogue discussed the concept of effective leadership and provided several conditions for effective leadership.  The key to identifying effective leadership, though, is to develop a personal view of effectiveness and stick to that view.

Bogue also shared, "The leader who neglects or abandons the servant ideal will sooner or later fall victim to arrogrance, and the departure of her or his nobility will manifest itself in destructive behavior" (p. 133).  I believe this truly is the key for all leaders.  There are readings to support the concept that followers can give or take away the effectiveness of the leader and I think this is important to remember, as well.  If a leader cannot put themselves in the shoes of their constitutents, then what is the point of being a leader?

I need to remember this concept for my future careers.  I wonder if the concept of servant leadership is more critical the "higher" you get in the hierarchy?  In other words, an administrative assistant may show signs of servant leadership, but will other see the results as much as if the director of a department exhibited signs of servant leadership?

Week 14: Thinking Beyond the Hierarchy: Leadership Team

This is the week that I co-facilitated the class discussion with Aleece.  Our main objective was to change up the dissemination of information and conversation.  It seemed that the typical facilitation involved half of the class discussing the readings and then the rest of the class dividing into small groups.  We decided to include clips from current sitcoms and stories from the Chronicle of Higher Education.  Now, my reflections . . .

As with all of the other readings, I try to reflect on my own experiences and try analyze past events that relate to the current discussion topic.  In the case of this week, I've been in several leadership teams throughout my career and I can see how the information relates.

One of our readings discussed the importance of "bridging".  In other words, moving beyond an "us vs. them" mentality and towards a "we" one.  I think about the perceived struggles between academic affairs and student affairs.  Until we all see ourselves as assisting in the development of the holistic student, the concept of bridging will be difficult.  I hope that when the time comes, I can be one of those bridgers . . . someone who can work with others in separate departments and bring those involved into a cohesive team that is focused on the end result . . . not on what is "in it for them".  When we come with our own agendas, the larger, group agenda will, most likely, be abandoned; well, at least for part of the time.  Why is it difficult for individuals to put aside their own agendas and focus on the larger, group agenda?

Another topic related to leadership teams that was discussed was the concept of the "web of inclusion".  This is different than the typical hierarchical view of leadership teams.  The chapter began with a story about "The Village Voice," a newspaper from Greenwich Village in New York City.  The owner was very dedicated to the development of the paper and of the individuals.  This passion resonated with the employees, who could suggest changes and who were supported, and the paper was successful.  Eventually, the paper was sold and the initial culture of the newspaper changed because the owner was no longer there and it changed hands.  This is an example of the web of inclusion.  I would like to believe that it is possible to have a web of inclusion with a built in hierarchy-type team.  It depends on what the "leader" of the group is willing to do with the team.  I've been in the role of chair of a committee.  Granted, I know what cannot change and what can.  I believe that I put that out to the group as soon as possible.  Since I knew how I could be seen as the chair, I focused on giving everyone the opportunity to provide suggestions for processes and allowed for discussion.  I believed that I looked at the situations from all angles before providing a suggestion on how to move forward.

I know that in my future career path, I will continue to work with leadership teams, either as the "leader" or as a "follower".  The information provided in these readings is beneficial in that it provides me with additional thoughts to consider when in those teams.

Week 13: Transformational & Transactional Leadership

Transformational and transactional leadership seem to be a popular topic of discussion of late regarding leadership and leaders.  While reading about both of them, I wonder where I fall as a leader.  From what I read and understand, I get the sense that transformational leadership is seen as more ideal.  However, while reading Bensimon's article introducing the concept "trans-vigorational" leaders, I started thinking that transactional leaders and leadership is also valid.

"Transactional leaders consider the relationship between leaders and followers as a two-way process of exchange and mutual influence."  "Transformational leaders initiate relationships which raise followers to new levels of morality and motivation."  Benismon stated that "trans-vigorational" leaders are a mixture of the two other leadership styles.

I want to be able to help those with whom I work to develop as a persona and as a professional.  Does that mean that I am more transformational, or is it more transactional?  I also believe that I can learn from those around me which leads me to see a more transactional view.

Birnbaum asked, "How much of a difference do leaders make?"  He continues by saying why universities don't change that much with a new president.  He says that the reason is that the president is only one element in whatever reform is taking place and unless the president is reform-focused, the it won't be supported.  I liked the following statement Birnbaum shared, "Presidents can lead only where their institutions and society permit them to go, and excessive attention to executive leadership may obscure the importance of history, culture, and leadership dispersed throughout the institution."

President Dubois, University of Wyoming, handled several crises well and spoke well about the process.  The 8 lessons he provided are very valid and something we all should remember when we are in leadership positions.

So, what kind of leader am I?  I like the idea of a mixture of transactional and transformational, but I am still learning . . .

Week 12: Leadership & Change

When we discuss leadership, it seems that change is not far behind.  When candidates come to campus, one of the questions that seems to be always asked is about changes that will be made.  Why do we automatically assume that changes will be made?  Why do we always have to make changes?  I am a big proponent of getting the "lay of the land" before making changes.

I think about my last position and my first month.  I was responsible for organizing the RA training and I tried to make changes that I thought would make some training sessions better.  Those changes did not go well.  It made me realize that I needed to understand the process before making changes.  Another past experience is when the "leadership team" in residence life made a decision that affected the hall directors and RAs without discussing it with the hall directors.  From this experience, I learned to discuss any possible decisions with those directly involved to get their feedback and make appropriate changes.

One of the articles we read was about the changes to a master's program in which the majority of the faculty were part-faculty.  From what I've read, part-faculty are often seen as "second-class" citizens.  The assumption is that they are there for the money and not for the students.  This article changed that view.  It was due to their dedication and the new chair's willingness to build the part-faculty into the decision making process, that the new program was successful.

The article by University of Michigan's president also provided good insight on coming into a very stressful and intense situtation already in progress.  The article reiterated the importance of the president and representing the institution.

So, change and leadership do go hand-in-hand, but what is important is how the change is handled.  This is something I try to keep in the front of my mind when coming into situations or at the beginning of the situation.