Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Leadership 262: Frailty thy name is ....
Leadership 262: Frailty thy name is ....: "I know I have posted my last blog topic but I have had an incident in the last couple of days which I think reflects the weakness in the lea..."
Final (Class Related) Blog
I definitely found the "predictably irrational" and "drive" books/topics to be quite interesting. Motivation was a subject I wasn't very familiar with and the circumstances involved in performance results around motivation through compensation and independent development was very informing.
My resulting conclusions were not to use the carrot and stick approach unless the tasks were simple and routine. My work uses this for nearly every task for 1/2 of the task force, but does allow a lot of self-directed work time to the other 1/2. I belong to the non "carrot and stick" group and the self directed work time is probably my favorite part of this job. I noticed that the bosses are pretty good about being cheer leaders to their group's accomplishments, and was even called up myself to the stage for an award in front of the entire company.
In following the "Drive" group's presentation, it made quite a few things clear to me about how corporations develop reward programs and where we can learn to improve our own. If I were to request that we add a particular book to the lineup, it has got to be the Army Manual on Leadership. It would be very very interesting to learn through concise statements what they will need to know (at the least) about taking a group into a life and death situation. How do you motivate someone when compensation is not an option!?!!!!!
:)
I love this class.. and I'm sad to have it end. I guess the blog will live on though. As a final lesson, I learned not to depend on what you may have seen from someone before.. they have the ability to suprise you when you least expect it!
My resulting conclusions were not to use the carrot and stick approach unless the tasks were simple and routine. My work uses this for nearly every task for 1/2 of the task force, but does allow a lot of self-directed work time to the other 1/2. I belong to the non "carrot and stick" group and the self directed work time is probably my favorite part of this job. I noticed that the bosses are pretty good about being cheer leaders to their group's accomplishments, and was even called up myself to the stage for an award in front of the entire company.
In following the "Drive" group's presentation, it made quite a few things clear to me about how corporations develop reward programs and where we can learn to improve our own. If I were to request that we add a particular book to the lineup, it has got to be the Army Manual on Leadership. It would be very very interesting to learn through concise statements what they will need to know (at the least) about taking a group into a life and death situation. How do you motivate someone when compensation is not an option!?!!!!!
:)
I love this class.. and I'm sad to have it end. I guess the blog will live on though. As a final lesson, I learned not to depend on what you may have seen from someone before.. they have the ability to suprise you when you least expect it!
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Groups and Leadership- oops, this is out of order :)
In class, we talked about adjusting your leadership for different kinds of groups - volunteer groups, paid groups, etc. Take this time to reflect on your leadership in the different types of groups of which you are a member (even if you didn't see them all this week). How does your leadership style change? Are you more effective in one group versus another? Do you fall into a pattern such that you are in the same role in all groups? Or, as is typical in family groups, do you find yourself regressing to the same role in the family that you've always played, regardless of other accomplishments? Think about other leaders in these groups. What do they do that is effective and how can you learn from them?
Its funny... I thought about this for a bit, trying to reflect on my recent behavior when going out with friends, interacting with my team at work, and spending time with my family... and the funny truth is, I think I am pretty consistent across all of those areas. I'm going to talk through this though, just rationalize why there would be so many similarities in my style... there is a good chance that I have not delved deep enough into thinking about this, so maybe a new truth will come out as I write... :)
Within my family, I am the oldest of the 5 kids, so I while I am by no means the strongest personality, I have a kind of default position of power just based on the fact that I am the oldest amongst my siblings. Do I run the decision making... absolutely not. To be honest, my next youngest sister, who is 28, is the one who I think is the most dominant and controlling personality within our family... and I would say that more often than not she is the one who will forcefully vocalize her opinion and often get her way when it comes to group decisions. I think this is partly because she is very aggressive, which translates into being driven in her outside world, a quality which has served her greatly. But additionally, I think this is also because several of my other siblings, myself especially, have a very laid back personality when it comes to making decisions that we don't consider "vital". Whereas my sister has a voice for virtually everything and anything that comes up, trivial or not, I tend to not mind just going wtih the flow on things that don't really effect me negatively one way or another- such as choosing a location for a family dinner, deciding what group gift to get my parents for Christmas, choosing a menu for my parent's anniversary dinner that we cook them every year, etc. Additionally, aside from the fact that I genuinely don't mind just taking the back seat sometimes, I also don't think some things are worth fighting or debating over. If it is an issue or topic that matters to me, then of course I will stand my ground and fight for what I think is best.
Its funny... I thought about this for a bit, trying to reflect on my recent behavior when going out with friends, interacting with my team at work, and spending time with my family... and the funny truth is, I think I am pretty consistent across all of those areas. I'm going to talk through this though, just rationalize why there would be so many similarities in my style... there is a good chance that I have not delved deep enough into thinking about this, so maybe a new truth will come out as I write... :)
Within my family, I am the oldest of the 5 kids, so I while I am by no means the strongest personality, I have a kind of default position of power just based on the fact that I am the oldest amongst my siblings. Do I run the decision making... absolutely not. To be honest, my next youngest sister, who is 28, is the one who I think is the most dominant and controlling personality within our family... and I would say that more often than not she is the one who will forcefully vocalize her opinion and often get her way when it comes to group decisions. I think this is partly because she is very aggressive, which translates into being driven in her outside world, a quality which has served her greatly. But additionally, I think this is also because several of my other siblings, myself especially, have a very laid back personality when it comes to making decisions that we don't consider "vital". Whereas my sister has a voice for virtually everything and anything that comes up, trivial or not, I tend to not mind just going wtih the flow on things that don't really effect me negatively one way or another- such as choosing a location for a family dinner, deciding what group gift to get my parents for Christmas, choosing a menu for my parent's anniversary dinner that we cook them every year, etc. Additionally, aside from the fact that I genuinely don't mind just taking the back seat sometimes, I also don't think some things are worth fighting or debating over. If it is an issue or topic that matters to me, then of course I will stand my ground and fight for what I think is best.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Groups Leads
I think my leadership style changes dramatically from work to school, and from there onto family. In the family, we have strong independent folks that all have a good head on their shoulders and are used to running things. I have to use consultation and rational persuasion. Rarely is pressure, exchange, inspirational appeal, etc. going to get you anywhere. In school, you are starting usually from a blank slate for an assessment from your peers, especially when it's a group in which you aren't really friends with any of the members. You are driven to establish a standard for yourself and you may push forward consultation and ingratiation, perhaps some coalition building and rational persuasion. It's tough to use pressure in either of the previously mentioned situations, for me, but it applies perfectly to work situations. I use upward appeal in addition to the aforementioned tactics. At work, however, what you are able to push for leadership is dependent on your ranking, environmental factors (age vs. the person/people you are working with), and perception based on past work history. Here, I believe, your transformational leadership skills apply especially.
I can learn from applying particular tactics with my closest relatives (parents/sister) and move those over to application at work (since I see them, in many cases, for more hours than my own family... they somewhat resemble a second family to me). The work lessons can then be applied to class related groups, as in my opinion, it is tougher to influence those of a older generation than our peers.
I feel I am usually in the same role with family and work. And do find myself, more often in the smaller collaborative groups for school, in the same roll. As the groups get larger, however, I begin to step back more to allow more time for the appropriate skills needed towards the task and those involved to be assessed. It's useful as people that would like to take the lead volunteer more often, but I have also found the opposite to be true (blind square) when the appropriate questions are not asked and people remain ... uninvolved.
I have found that one of the most effective bosses I had at work always kept his schedule, or did his best to keep it no matter what was going on around him. This give him a consistent image that seemed approachable to most of the people working with him, and his organizational skills even championed him as being capable of taking on time to hear out his subordinates. That is probably the single most relevant observation I have made about an effective leader in our group, and something I would like to work on evolving myself.
I can learn from applying particular tactics with my closest relatives (parents/sister) and move those over to application at work (since I see them, in many cases, for more hours than my own family... they somewhat resemble a second family to me). The work lessons can then be applied to class related groups, as in my opinion, it is tougher to influence those of a older generation than our peers.
I feel I am usually in the same role with family and work. And do find myself, more often in the smaller collaborative groups for school, in the same roll. As the groups get larger, however, I begin to step back more to allow more time for the appropriate skills needed towards the task and those involved to be assessed. It's useful as people that would like to take the lead volunteer more often, but I have also found the opposite to be true (blind square) when the appropriate questions are not asked and people remain ... uninvolved.
I have found that one of the most effective bosses I had at work always kept his schedule, or did his best to keep it no matter what was going on around him. This give him a consistent image that seemed approachable to most of the people working with him, and his organizational skills even championed him as being capable of taking on time to hear out his subordinates. That is probably the single most relevant observation I have made about an effective leader in our group, and something I would like to work on evolving myself.
Suprised the heck outta me
I can start this post with a simple statement - I'm very much out of tune with how I see myself and how others perceive me. There were few categories in which I wasn't even close. The people doing the assessing included my ex, my boss, my ex boss, my buddy (with a critical view of myself), my customer service lead, etc. People that have seen me in action anywhere from 2-5 years. I underscored myself entirely in EI by nearly 2 points, on average. My reasoning for picking the scores I had, for example 5.75 in Regulating my own emotions, was because I am near a stone wall with most things but (I believe) you can tell sometimes that I am overloaded when I'm running around like mad to keep up. Apparently I am a stone wall to everyone that has known me for sometime, ranking ~6.7 for regulating my own emotions.
I do not believe the ranking is because I regulate my emotions or use the correct emotions, I believe it's because I disengage from emotions easily... especially in tough situations. I may have received a 6.88 because I could use the appropriate emotion to continue the design concept moving forward, for example, not for necessarily using the correct emotional response for the situation (girl showing signs of sadness, reciprocating with empathy).
As for Influence tactics, I was more so in line with at least the skills I expected to be used more often... but then again there were some exceptions. I was quite surprised that I seemed comfortable with use of Inspirational Appeal. I'm in agreement with more use of Upward Appeal, Coalition Building, and Rational Persuasion... Not really much of a tit for tat guy when it came to work that was supposed to get done anyway, unless it's necessary.
This feedback helps me identify where I need to focus to help move my leadership skills forward/develop my leadership skills. It was obvious that I do not communicate my vision clearly enough, set a good example, push for consensus, or do well in any specific category for Transformation Leadership. I don't get good feedback at all really, the performance reviews sometimes end up really to see how well you did with routine tasks and outlanding goals. They don't really get into development as much as an assessment of this sorts would. I expect to be able to identify what I need to change about myself through this kind of review and understand these categories and their applications a bit better (when I find the key!)
I do not believe the ranking is because I regulate my emotions or use the correct emotions, I believe it's because I disengage from emotions easily... especially in tough situations. I may have received a 6.88 because I could use the appropriate emotion to continue the design concept moving forward, for example, not for necessarily using the correct emotional response for the situation (girl showing signs of sadness, reciprocating with empathy).
As for Influence tactics, I was more so in line with at least the skills I expected to be used more often... but then again there were some exceptions. I was quite surprised that I seemed comfortable with use of Inspirational Appeal. I'm in agreement with more use of Upward Appeal, Coalition Building, and Rational Persuasion... Not really much of a tit for tat guy when it came to work that was supposed to get done anyway, unless it's necessary.
This feedback helps me identify where I need to focus to help move my leadership skills forward/develop my leadership skills. It was obvious that I do not communicate my vision clearly enough, set a good example, push for consensus, or do well in any specific category for Transformation Leadership. I don't get good feedback at all really, the performance reviews sometimes end up really to see how well you did with routine tasks and outlanding goals. They don't really get into development as much as an assessment of this sorts would. I expect to be able to identify what I need to change about myself through this kind of review and understand these categories and their applications a bit better (when I find the key!)
Final Blog...
We've reached the end of this part of your leadership journey - and hopefully you are ready to continue on your own! In this posting, please write about what activity, topic, or reading you found the most interesting and useful. It may be interesting to see how others saw the class and what they found of value.
For me, the most interesting group activity that we did was the one on managing your emotions/emotional intelligence. I have always felt I am very keen at reading and being in tune to the emotional state of others through their facial expressions, tone of voice, etc. And likewise, I have always felt that I am fairly good at identifying and communicating my own emotions accurately through my tones, expressions, etc. However, when tasked with the challenge of reading random phrases verbatim from one slip of paper while expressing a selected emotion as listed on another slip of paper, I found this was quite a challenge for me. I think this speaks to how much of a tie there is between the words we choose to say and the genuine emotions we are feeling at the time we are saying them, as it was extremely difficult for me to try to express "sadness", for example, while reading a phrase that didn't actually evoke that emotional response from me.
Also, please briefly describe which book - other than your own - you think was most useful to learn about and if you know of other books that you think would be useful for a future class, please provide the title!
As for the books that we read/discussed throughout this course- if I had to pick the 1 with the most interest to me it was definitely the one that my group read and presented on, Social Influence. I guess we picked that book for a reason though, as I knew that it sounded interesting from the first week when we were presented with the options. If I was to choose another book aside from our's that really had an impact on my as far as what I can apply to my leadership behavior, I think it would be the book about motivation- . I think understanding what can motivate others and also what motivates one's self are vital skills in being an effective leader. I have personally learned through the years how to re-motivate myself on several occasions when my job work or school work has become stagnant or boring and I feel myself losing focus... I have struggled with the challenge of becoming bored easily my whole life, which has forced me to figure out tricks for how to re-stimulate myself and get excited and back on track rather than just giving in to my lethargy and changing jobs or doing the minimum to get by in a class.
As far as suggestions for books to read going forward... there was a book that my last company actually required the entire staff to purchase and read- it was called Raving Fans. The company was a media publisher, and we were all working in various capacities, from sales, sales support, customer retention, client services, etc. The book was sales/customer service inspired, but it could be a good one to put on the list for the class to choose from next semester- I though it was a really interesting read and appreciated being "forced" to read it as part of a company directive, as I have never been asked to do something like that before by an employer.
For me, the most interesting group activity that we did was the one on managing your emotions/emotional intelligence. I have always felt I am very keen at reading and being in tune to the emotional state of others through their facial expressions, tone of voice, etc. And likewise, I have always felt that I am fairly good at identifying and communicating my own emotions accurately through my tones, expressions, etc. However, when tasked with the challenge of reading random phrases verbatim from one slip of paper while expressing a selected emotion as listed on another slip of paper, I found this was quite a challenge for me. I think this speaks to how much of a tie there is between the words we choose to say and the genuine emotions we are feeling at the time we are saying them, as it was extremely difficult for me to try to express "sadness", for example, while reading a phrase that didn't actually evoke that emotional response from me.
Also, please briefly describe which book - other than your own - you think was most useful to learn about and if you know of other books that you think would be useful for a future class, please provide the title!
As for the books that we read/discussed throughout this course- if I had to pick the 1 with the most interest to me it was definitely the one that my group read and presented on, Social Influence. I guess we picked that book for a reason though, as I knew that it sounded interesting from the first week when we were presented with the options. If I was to choose another book aside from our's that really had an impact on my as far as what I can apply to my leadership behavior, I think it would be the book about motivation- . I think understanding what can motivate others and also what motivates one's self are vital skills in being an effective leader. I have personally learned through the years how to re-motivate myself on several occasions when my job work or school work has become stagnant or boring and I feel myself losing focus... I have struggled with the challenge of becoming bored easily my whole life, which has forced me to figure out tricks for how to re-stimulate myself and get excited and back on track rather than just giving in to my lethargy and changing jobs or doing the minimum to get by in a class.
As far as suggestions for books to read going forward... there was a book that my last company actually required the entire staff to purchase and read- it was called Raving Fans. The company was a media publisher, and we were all working in various capacities, from sales, sales support, customer retention, client services, etc. The book was sales/customer service inspired, but it could be a good one to put on the list for the class to choose from next semester- I though it was a really interesting read and appreciated being "forced" to read it as part of a company directive, as I have never been asked to do something like that before by an employer.
Monday, December 6, 2010
Motivate, eh?
In retrospect, our discussion of What do you think motivates you? Are there times when you are just trying to get by and are there times when you are striving something really great? When do you experience each kind of feeling? Which feeling are your more comfortable with?
The translation of theory in the first video most definitely struck a chord here. I think it just helped me figure out why I make simple tasks more challenging by combining other tasks with it. What he was referring to as "flow," I believe is often referred to as being in the "zone." This is also what you may have noticed in the movie "Facebook" where he puts on his headphones and just flows code. We do this in design as well as assignments sometimes. If something doesn't seem challenging enough, we may wait off and group it into a slot where it suddenly rises in priority and now has peeked out interest as a challenge (well, at least that's how I seem to sort things for now). I'm much more comfortable with the feeling of arousal and flow. It should be challenging enough to require thought, and it should require enough skill (be it the completion of a thought, within a limited period of time).
Having considered what motivates you, think about how you might motivate others. Can you shift gears between different styles and types of motivation when working with your followers? Can you use fear? Can you use anger? Can you use inspiration? How can you improve your motivational repertoire?
Hmm.. now I can't quite apply this with others. More often than not, they are buried. I have to describe the importance of something for it to be raised in priority level with them. Usually it's based on the consequences of what may happen if we do not take care of something right away, which is in the end, a form of fear. I think this would target my need for defining how I can better collaborate with my coworkers than try to inspire more so than create a task oriented, fear driven, unscheduled chaos that somehow works out in the end. I maybe overstating this a bit, as it's not really chaos, but it does not come through as a finely defined and specific requirement. Perhaps trying that and creating a more through environment will help inspire them to complete the task that was given to them with a clear definition?
I've gotta try that soon.
The translation of theory in the first video most definitely struck a chord here. I think it just helped me figure out why I make simple tasks more challenging by combining other tasks with it. What he was referring to as "flow," I believe is often referred to as being in the "zone." This is also what you may have noticed in the movie "Facebook" where he puts on his headphones and just flows code. We do this in design as well as assignments sometimes. If something doesn't seem challenging enough, we may wait off and group it into a slot where it suddenly rises in priority and now has peeked out interest as a challenge (well, at least that's how I seem to sort things for now). I'm much more comfortable with the feeling of arousal and flow. It should be challenging enough to require thought, and it should require enough skill (be it the completion of a thought, within a limited period of time).
Having considered what motivates you, think about how you might motivate others. Can you shift gears between different styles and types of motivation when working with your followers? Can you use fear? Can you use anger? Can you use inspiration? How can you improve your motivational repertoire?
Hmm.. now I can't quite apply this with others. More often than not, they are buried. I have to describe the importance of something for it to be raised in priority level with them. Usually it's based on the consequences of what may happen if we do not take care of something right away, which is in the end, a form of fear. I think this would target my need for defining how I can better collaborate with my coworkers than try to inspire more so than create a task oriented, fear driven, unscheduled chaos that somehow works out in the end. I maybe overstating this a bit, as it's not really chaos, but it does not come through as a finely defined and specific requirement. Perhaps trying that and creating a more through environment will help inspire them to complete the task that was given to them with a clear definition?
I've gotta try that soon.
Final Blog Topic
I think the most important and useful aspect of this class for me personally has been a realization of my strengths and weaknesses. This course, I hope, have set me on my leadership and self-improvement journey.
The course reader I think has lot of good articles and I did have chance to go through some of them including "Ten Tips for Effective Leadership Communication: Rules of the Dance", "Understanding Communications in One-To-One Relationships", and "Managing Your Boss". I am going to admit that I have not been as diligent on the reading assignments as I should have been (Hope I will not be penalized for being truthful), and as I result, I was unable to take hundred percent advantage of the available material.
I think each of us have different learning style which suits us the best, so while each activity might have varying level of effectiveness, I think overall all the activities were useful and productive.
One book that has been on my bookshelf for quite a while now (still not finished reading it) is "7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Steven Covey. Habit 2 (Begin with the End in Mind) discusses mission and personal charter, Habit 4 (Think Win/Win) and Habit 5 (Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood) are interesting.
The course reader I think has lot of good articles and I did have chance to go through some of them including "Ten Tips for Effective Leadership Communication: Rules of the Dance", "Understanding Communications in One-To-One Relationships", and "Managing Your Boss". I am going to admit that I have not been as diligent on the reading assignments as I should have been (Hope I will not be penalized for being truthful), and as I result, I was unable to take hundred percent advantage of the available material.
I think each of us have different learning style which suits us the best, so while each activity might have varying level of effectiveness, I think overall all the activities were useful and productive.
One book that has been on my bookshelf for quite a while now (still not finished reading it) is "7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Steven Covey. Habit 2 (Begin with the End in Mind) discusses mission and personal charter, Habit 4 (Think Win/Win) and Habit 5 (Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood) are interesting.
Cultural Mindset
Have you had experiences which, in retrospect, didn't go well because you had different assumptions about causality or use of logic than your interaction partner? What is the geography of your thought and can how does it affect you in your interactions with others? What are the elements of your cultural mindset?
In my PAA, I recall touching a bit on this topic. There is a huge differential in the mindset of a younger generation as well as having grown up in India the first few years vs. the US or England. I know I take on more than I should sometimes.. while my counterpart will not take on more than one activity and doesn't believe much in checking something again. If he did it, it's got to be right and not worth looking over again. I don't mind this as much, but I'm also willing to do things without having to tell him and avoid him where needed. This may not be the best approach, but culturally... I think in general we don't like confrontations. We will do what we can to avoid them, especially with elders. This leads to accepting a lot of behavior from others or avoiding dealing with it directly, rather than finding creative ways of bringing it to the person's attention (if at all).
In our culture, we respect the thoughts of elders and we usually do not confront problems directly. Beating around the bush is expected until the other understands it for themselves. I don't like to do the latter, probably due to the part of my personality that relates to my upbringing in the US. Now, how to avoid doing this is the interesting portion that I have yet to look at.
In my PAA, I recall touching a bit on this topic. There is a huge differential in the mindset of a younger generation as well as having grown up in India the first few years vs. the US or England. I know I take on more than I should sometimes.. while my counterpart will not take on more than one activity and doesn't believe much in checking something again. If he did it, it's got to be right and not worth looking over again. I don't mind this as much, but I'm also willing to do things without having to tell him and avoid him where needed. This may not be the best approach, but culturally... I think in general we don't like confrontations. We will do what we can to avoid them, especially with elders. This leads to accepting a lot of behavior from others or avoiding dealing with it directly, rather than finding creative ways of bringing it to the person's attention (if at all).
In our culture, we respect the thoughts of elders and we usually do not confront problems directly. Beating around the bush is expected until the other understands it for themselves. I don't like to do the latter, probably due to the part of my personality that relates to my upbringing in the US. Now, how to avoid doing this is the interesting portion that I have yet to look at.
Predictably Rational
The bit about the economist and similar example between Paris and Rome (with and without coffee) are darn close to how I recall a lot of negotiations taking place. The fact that you place a completely useless decision next to a decision that normally would look nothing out of the ordinary, suddenly makes it extraordinary in comparison. We do this unconsciously when making our first offer to a client - you can have this produced within the time frame and shipped ground - in which case the item would not arrive in time for your production, or you can have this shipped 2nd day air and pay the same shipping rate. This statement would make the buyer loose track of looking into additional ground in the negotiation and focus on making what would seem the rational decision in the offering, instead of requesting a different set of terms.
I just recently tried something in regards to social influence - I dressed up with a tie and suit when I had to assist with putting on a show overseas. The next day I didn't wear the jacket, just the shirt and tie. I had a sudden increase in the number of people asking me for directions on how to get to particular booths in the show, even if I was in the middle of a conversation with someone else! They somehow felt I was .. less important and approachable for information? My job was not to give directions, but deal with the technical content and organization/controls for part of the event. Those that were asking knew this as I was no where near an information desk... I answered anyway as the number of people doing it was around 4-5 / hour in a 8 hour day vs. 1 / hour in the previous day having worn a jacket.
Anish
I just recently tried something in regards to social influence - I dressed up with a tie and suit when I had to assist with putting on a show overseas. The next day I didn't wear the jacket, just the shirt and tie. I had a sudden increase in the number of people asking me for directions on how to get to particular booths in the show, even if I was in the middle of a conversation with someone else! They somehow felt I was .. less important and approachable for information? My job was not to give directions, but deal with the technical content and organization/controls for part of the event. Those that were asking knew this as I was no where near an information desk... I answered anyway as the number of people doing it was around 4-5 / hour in a 8 hour day vs. 1 / hour in the previous day having worn a jacket.
Anish
Final Blog Topic
Personally I really liked the online surveys that we received from those around us. I think that is essentially feedback, because it very rare to get a snapshot of what those around you think of your leadership skills and abilities, but also compare those to how you view yourself.
Also, I really liked the activity where we tried to project a certain emotion using a statement from one of our cards. This was interesting because it showed most of us that the sender/receiver relationship in any type of communication can sometimes be easily misconstrued no matter how hard we try or earnest our intentions are.
I really liked the presentation on emotional intelligence. I thought this group did a good job of explaining the book and content, and this is one of the more important topics of the course. Many people in our MBA background, such as myself, come from an engineering educational background. Never in any engineering classes is emotion brought into the intellectual environment, so it definitely fills a void for those of us who have a more technical background.
Lastly, I would say that if I could change the course slightly, i would add a selected book by each student on a leader to which they aspire. They should be able to select a book and learn from that leader and understand what are the core principles. I think all students look up to some well known leader as an example of what to become. It could be leaders from any aspect of life, not necessarily business. It would give a concrete role model for a student to aspire to be, so after when the student is faced with a leadership challenge in the future, he or she can ask, "what would _____ do....."
Couple of title Ideas:
Sports: What It Takes to Be #1 : Vince Lombardi on Leadership
Politics: The Leadership Secrets of Colin Powell
Social Movement: A Higher Standard of Leadership: Lessons from the Life of Gandhi
Just an idea.....
Also, I really liked the activity where we tried to project a certain emotion using a statement from one of our cards. This was interesting because it showed most of us that the sender/receiver relationship in any type of communication can sometimes be easily misconstrued no matter how hard we try or earnest our intentions are.
I really liked the presentation on emotional intelligence. I thought this group did a good job of explaining the book and content, and this is one of the more important topics of the course. Many people in our MBA background, such as myself, come from an engineering educational background. Never in any engineering classes is emotion brought into the intellectual environment, so it definitely fills a void for those of us who have a more technical background.
Lastly, I would say that if I could change the course slightly, i would add a selected book by each student on a leader to which they aspire. They should be able to select a book and learn from that leader and understand what are the core principles. I think all students look up to some well known leader as an example of what to become. It could be leaders from any aspect of life, not necessarily business. It would give a concrete role model for a student to aspire to be, so after when the student is faced with a leadership challenge in the future, he or she can ask, "what would _____ do....."
Couple of title Ideas:
Sports: What It Takes to Be #1 : Vince Lombardi on Leadership
Politics: The Leadership Secrets of Colin Powell
Social Movement: A Higher Standard of Leadership: Lessons from the Life of Gandhi
Just an idea.....
It became easier to notice that the perceptions I had of others morphed as I got to know them overtime, usually for the better. In a similar fashion, I would imagine that many others that I meet may, at first, have a similarly abrogating perception of myself or my personality. Sometimes we get a chance to change their minds, sometimes that chance is never presented... From my end, I try and not fixate on my first thoughts of a person and stay neutral when possible for as long as possible. In order to pull the same treatment from others, I again try and stay (although I haven't taken the opportunity to ask if I succeeded at this) until both of us are familiar with what is and is not acceptable of each other's personalities. They at least lets the both of us lay down a foundation of understanding for each other and get time to gain respect of each other's abilities.
Those two tables definitely are close, but not exact. They were likely freehand drawn/modified lines that made it look slightly off, but if they were measured off the original and placed at an angle.. they would be the same. :)
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Or times when others perceptions of you have been erroneous and perhaps harmful to you? How do you deal with other's misperceptions of you? Do you still think those two tables did not have the same surface area?
Those two tables definitely are close, but not exact. They were likely freehand drawn/modified lines that made it look slightly off, but if they were measured off the original and placed at an angle.. they would be the same. :)
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Or times when others perceptions of you have been erroneous and perhaps harmful to you? How do you deal with other's misperceptions of you? Do you still think those two tables did not have the same surface area?
Power - and possibly the reason for the lack there of.
I believe I have some power to influence in my immediate circle of friends and usually in smaller work groups, but in a grand scale affecting many many people... if I have the power, I do not exercise it. I know I do not do enough to empower others in the area of influence either. I have been conscious of this in the recent past (say, year or so) where I used to just take over a job and finish it because I deemed the other person involved would not be able to finish in time. I have maybe improved 30% on this trait and learned to pass on some more responsibility, but it's not where I would like it to be just yet.
One particular weakness of mine that seemed to come through on the self assessment was my ability to influence via collaboration. I must relate this to what I previously stated as well, since I do like to work independently (in particular at work). I would need to break away from this by suggesting that goals required at work are best achieved with collaboration. There are not many achievements in the world without the support of a group, team, partner, or co-worker. I will likely have revise any development plan after seeking council from leaders that excel at this in the workplace. Starting with my own workplace would be ideal.
Negotiation
I believe I know what may have influenced my tactics in the negotiations we did in class. I have been easily "manipulated" by the skilled salary negotiators in my work place in the past few years. I was hardened early in this year with negotiations when my company's managers themselves admitted I was well below where I should be on salary and they were willing to make up for it by helping "influence" HR with accepting the terms of the negotiations. This may have been yet another tactic, but it allowed me to reflect on what I had done incorrectly in the past for negotiations... I always was told what I should be doing for the year, and I didn't ask what parts of the plan were negotiable. I would assume that this was all mandatory and that I had no say in the plan, and they would gladly accept my signature and I would work away. When I let it be known I was offered a job by an associate company with a salary well above my current range, my manager had seeked guidance from upper management and they stated they wanted to talk. I had some grounds to stand on when requesting what was negotiable and let them start the talk... they revealed that nearly everything on the plan was "adjustable." One would need to ask to know this, and few had.
I believe this is on the borderline of ethical, but each manager has their own style of negotiations. Some choose only to reveal what is necessary and only when asked. This changed my tactics with customers as well. I would let them kick out their own numbers first in negotiations, and when I knew they didn't have any references to draw upon or alternative choices to compare to, I would reveal just enough cards to let them see that the figure presented was the best that we could do.
Blog 4- Influence vs. Manipulation
I believe there is a fine line between manipulation and influence. In my definition, manipulation would be the back ended/back door way of pushing someone towards a decision by putting direct effort into making the victim think only the presented path is correct. For influence, you would need to only state your point, and perhaps alternatives that you foresee affecting the decision, and let the person make their own conscious (critical awareness of alternatives) decision.
Unfortunately, this battle is a daily activity at work. I have been asked to get my contacts to go down a certain path because particular solutions or products are more in the company's overall interest than others. As I am pushed into specific categories of product by work, I then need to do the same with the end users. It didn't come to mind until now, but this may have become a normal process that I haven't taken much thought of. I do present some alternatives, but I know I have not done so in all situations. This may have been easier since I had not defined my core values just yet, which allowed for flexibility in decisions. It will be quite hard to continue doing this consciously when I have the LDP completed with a clearer vision of this core values.
I would be curious to the writings of Presidents that have struggled with this conflict and the ethics related to it. They have the abundantly difficult task of influencing a nation to accept a policy, a law, a decision, and the like... without always having the charm.
Unfortunately, this battle is a daily activity at work. I have been asked to get my contacts to go down a certain path because particular solutions or products are more in the company's overall interest than others. As I am pushed into specific categories of product by work, I then need to do the same with the end users. It didn't come to mind until now, but this may have become a normal process that I haven't taken much thought of. I do present some alternatives, but I know I have not done so in all situations. This may have been easier since I had not defined my core values just yet, which allowed for flexibility in decisions. It will be quite hard to continue doing this consciously when I have the LDP completed with a clearer vision of this core values.
I would be curious to the writings of Presidents that have struggled with this conflict and the ethics related to it. They have the abundantly difficult task of influencing a nation to accept a policy, a law, a decision, and the like... without always having the charm.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Final Blog Topic
We've reached the end of this part of your leadership journey - and hopefully you are ready to continue on your own! In this posting, please write about what activity, topic, or reading you found the most interesting and useful. It may be interesting to see how others saw the class and what they found of value.
Also, please briefly describe which book - other than your own - you think was most useful to learn about and if you know of other books that you think would be useful for a future class, please provide the title!
Also, please briefly describe which book - other than your own - you think was most useful to learn about and if you know of other books that you think would be useful for a future class, please provide the title!
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