Britney Myers. Leadership Portfolio. Britney Myers

Transcription

1 Leadership Portfolio Britney Myers

2 Table of Contents Synthesis... 3 Leadership Challenge... 4 Discussion Board Posts... 5 Week One... 5 Week Two... 5 Week Three... 5 Week Four... 6 Week Five... 6 Week Six... 7 Week Seven... 8 Week Eight... 9 Week Nine Week Ten Week Group Journal Posts st Group Meeting: Woop woop! rd Group Meeting th Group Meeting th Group Meeting: I m Bossy! Loyalty Activity Biography Poster... 19

3 Synthesis I learned a lot about myself through Dr. Griffin-McCoy's leadership and facilitation course. This course was unlike any other that I have taken so far in my educational career. Not only was material in the textbooks covered, but also my peers and professor provided me with a further and enriched education that I learned more from. The nature of the course really allowed me to grow more as a person, and to learn to be more confident in my ideas. There were classes where the tension and stress among the classmates was high, and I saw this as an opportunity to grow. I was one of the people who let myself get "heated" at times and defensive of my own thoughts and ideas but throughout various sessions, I soon learned how to transform my defensive feelings into ones of opportunity. I learned that a leader is a person who should have their own ideas and should voice them but should also be able to work with others. If a conflict arises, it does not mean that I need to become incompetent or take a step back because others do not agree with my idea or I do not agree with someone else's idea. Rather, it is a chance to form an even greater and better idea. I also really saw just how much people are different from one another and that just because we all have personal and learning differences, it does not mean that those people cannot work well together. As long as people are willing to communicate their preferences and are willing to learn and accept other preferences, then there is no reason arguments should arise. Based on this class I was able to form my own definition of a leader. A leader is someone who is competent in his or her own knowledge and skills and is able to communicate them in a way to guide and encourage others around them while also actively engaging and taking in other's knowledge and skills. Some people have easier time acting in the position of a leader, while it takes other people more learning and experience of how they can become an effective leader. I believe that every person has the ability to be a leader. I also believe this class gave me much more insight and handson experience about what it means to be a leader and how to be an effective leader. Most importantly, I learned that there is always room for growth in both you and your ability and knowledge on being a leader; one is never done learning.

4 Leadership Challenge My Challenge Currently I am a graduate assistant at James Madison University. I started working as a GA the end of August One of my responsibilities for this job includes organizing and facilitating end of the year course evaluations. December 2011 was the first time JMU s Assessment and Evaluation office went around to conduct the course evaluations in class, rather than having the students fill them out online and on their own time. This option was available to any and all professors within the College of Education. A part of this responsibility, that I am still currently trying to manage, is communication with the professor. It was intimidating, and still is, because I am responsible for organizing and conducting an exercise each semester that requires me to be, at times, above authority (professors) in a way that I am not accustomed to. This has posed as a challenge for me because I am not in a position to be very assertive with those who stand at a higher level than me. The key players in this challenge include my boss, other various professors and myself. The mess I am trying to work through is approaching situations that (1) I am not always comfortable responding to or (2) simply do not have all the information to completely answer the professor s request and/or question. This is a big part of my job, so therefore I am expected to handle these situations and requests with maturity but I am having trouble defining the line of when I should try and answer those questions/requests on my own, or whether I need to reach out to receive further guidance from my boss. Actions Taken I have done my best to try and facilitate all requests of the faculty, knowing that their schedules are just as hectic as mine. I have come up with certain responses that I can use throughout various requests that both are respectful to the professor but that also get the notion across that we cannot facilitate their requests. There are still some requests and/or questions I receive that I am not completely comfortably answering, whether it s because I don t know how to respectfully decline their requests or because I simply do not have the complete answer to their request/question. Questions Posed How can I ensure I am respectful to professors while also giving them truthful feedback? When is it necessary to reach out to someone more on the same level to communicate news to professors about not being able to meet their requests?

5 Discussion Board Posts Week One The First On the Balcony The first class of AHRD 540 was a very interesting one. It allowed me to see just how creative we as students and leaders will be allowed to be throughout this semester. This was evident in one of our very first tasks of making nametags for ourselves. For me, this was our first chance to really be "on the balcony" and see how others reacted (or didn't react) to the task at hand. It was fun to see how some people were really intrigued and excited by the activity while others seemed as though it was just another task to get done. Also, as we discussed in class, it was interesting to see how some wanted to work right beside others and other peers wanted to work in their own little space. I liked how the class itself had discussions built into the material. I do feel, however, that the class could benefit from more discussions and more feedback on each of our responses/opinions/statements, both from the professor and peers. There were some discussions that went into more depth than others and those that didn't seemed that they were "left behind" and had more to be answered. Overall I am excited to get going with the purpose of this class and to explore myself as a leader in the workplace, educational setting and social setting. I hope that we will be given multiple chances to express ourselves as how we see ourselves as a leader and to really learn what it means to be a leader versus what it means to be a facilitator. I also am hoping to use this class as a guide to strengthen my personal resume and how leadership can apply to my current and past organizational positions that I didn't see/think of before. Week Two Sept. 4 On the Balcony This class was a productive one! I appreciated the fact that we were split into our groups as to begin our process of being on the balcony, etc. within our own little communities. It was very clear that a good portion of the class, including myself, had some confusion going on as far as our next assignment within our groups. Dr. Griffin did a good job of being patient with our mess of questions as well as answering them to the complete extent so ALL of us understood what was going on and what we needed to do for next week's meeting. I also liked how we reverted back to the first class and explained our "hidden" meanings behind our nametags. I think this was another good insight to getting to know our group members better, on a different level than we know them socially. I am looking forward to our first little community meetings next week! Week Three It was interesting to see how the first group meetings unfolded this week. I think each one of us had our own idea of how it was going to go and for me, it was a bit different than I expected, but in a good way. I like the idea that we get to meet for a specific time

6 each week and presume in the same manner as class (as far as the open discussion) but instead of having Dr. Griffin as the facilitator, each one of us is given the chance to be in the facilitator position. I think this will continue with our learning from the case-in-point perspective When we were in class I liked how we got to discuss each group experience with the group meetings and to hear how each meeting was different from the other two. It gave me some other ideas that I hadn't thought of before on how to go about facilitating the group. I think Catherine did a good job of "calling" Dr. Griffin out that she needed to learn our names by our faces rather than the roster. I understand that learning names doesn't come easy to everyone (including myself!), especially when you have more than one class you are teaching, but I do think it means more to the class that the facilitator knows us on a personal level rather than by a class roster. This is even more so for a class that is supposed to be more a "community" rather than just a structured class. That said, you are making a good effort to really learn our names Dr. Griffin! I think the one constructive criticism I have for this specific class has already been mentioned, and that is the drawings we did about how we interpreted our small group meetings. For me, I saw maybe the ultimate goal of the activity, but I don't think the activity was completely followed through. As said previously be another classmate, we didn't show and explain our drawings, but rather the class was asked as a whole and I didn't really take anything from this. Maybe it could have been more meaningful if we discussed it in our groups and we each individually got to explain our drawings. I look forward to what we have in store for next week! Week Four (Absent: sick day) Week Five As I said in class, I really did not know what to expect going into this specific class. I was somewhat disappointed in the fact that it seemed to be a quieter class than usual. From my understanding of Caitlin's post, I agree that this could very well have been attributed that stress/exhaustion/etc. could have been a factor of this. I know for myself, even though we aren't halfway through the semester, I am overwhelmed right now with all of the various projects, assignments and responsibilities going on and this just happened to be a week for me where I was extra tired and stressed so I may not have been up to my full game during class (although I still participated). Maybe others in the class could have been in the same boat. Another peer mentioned that we got through the material in an efficient manner and covered all of the assigned stuff for the day and I do agree with that. However, I think that a big part of this class is to go beyond just the material we study

7 outside of class and interact more with each other, whether it is voicing our opinions, having a healthy debate between however many of our peers and just overall learning how to communicate, listen and facilitate effectively. After all, as it has been mentioned, this class is designed to help us prepare for when we get outside of the classroom and into the real world where our class becomes a part of our everyday routine. I like the fact that I am allowed to openly voice mu opinions, without being judged, but also am challenged by my peer to become a stronger facilitator and learn to be open and accepting of other people's views as well; that is how I learn. I hope to have a more engaging class beyond just the material in future class. What I liked the best about this class was the way the desks/chairs were set up. Being in that specific classroom twice a week, I can't help but notice how much and how often we are "blocked off" from each other during class, with our backs turned towards, etc. I think the horseshoe set up allowed us to become more of a community and also allowed for an even better view from the balcony. With the way the desks were set up, I was able to see everyone's face/body throughout the whole class and could therefore get a better read of the nonverbal messages during the entire time. I think this is important for a leadership class, especially because it has been mentioned that messages are sent more through nonverbal efforts rather than verbal ones. Week Six I agree with many other comments that have already been made that class changed drastically going from the activity to the debriefing and finally to the content for the night. I know that for me, personal situations happening outside of class affected my participation and thoughts for the class that night. I know this is something that should not affect what goes on in class or the workplace, but I am human and I think it s important to consider when thinking about your actions in the workplace. And I do agree it s something that I need to make sure doesn t happen (which usually I am pretty good about not letting happen) because it isn t really professional and fair to others around me who are making an effort to be engaging and interactive with others in the community. My outside issues I think also strongly affected my nonverbal gestures and messages I was sending to the class, whether I was meaning to or not, and as Marissa was talking about, I was probably one of those classmates who seemed frustrated or uncomfortable, especially during the debriefing and let me just say it was not necessarily towards the activity itself or other people s perceptions of it. So again, I apologize for letting myself not be completely engaged and attentive to our class that night. Personally, this is what I learned for myself this week. This is why I think when Dr. Griffin let us free to start the activity, I, as well as a couple of others, made an effort to try and form as a class to collaborate on the two rooms but I let myself sort of break away from the group effort when it kind of became chaotic as far as how we were going to work. Cat mentioned that part of the instructions were to work individually, which I ended up doing in the end, but I was glad to see she took initiative to work on her own rather than collaborate with the group. I wish I could say that my efforts turning from group work to individual work were because it was in the instructions but again the main gear of that was due to myself

8 sort of breaking down from the chaos that was going on and not being able to handle it at that moment. I wanted to comment towards Marissa s post in that I agree that just because some of our classmates are not talking throughout the whole class does not mean they don t have anything to bring to the table or aren t engaging as much as the others who are talking or that it s simply a bad thing. I m glad she mentioned that others tend to take all of the information in and then choose whether or not to comment on that rather than constantly engaging in conversation. Neither way, I don't believe, is better than the other; it's just what works best for that person. If a classmate is not really ever putting their thoughts out to the rest of us, however, that is where I think the facilitator and/or peers should help that person reach out more and ask them to share their thoughts. I agree with others in that actually participating in discussion, at least every once in awhile, is necessary, especially for this type of class, because it s important to see everyone s stance at least every once awhile. Finally, as I was writing this yesterday and continued it over into today, I have to agree with Amanda s comment. I do think that the on the balcony is another way for us to communicate and learn but I think we are at a point where it would be more productive (can t think of a better word here) if we did every other week or whenever one of us has something really pressing to say. It s interesting to hear what each of us takes away during class and what people liked and didn t like about each class but since we are a good amount through the semester I would personally benefit from seeing people write about something that really felt strongly about in a particular class. As Amanda said, it s just a suggestion. Agreements or disagreements? Week Seven Class this week was different from the past couple of weeks. I feel like we did more of "school" work rather than reflects, and like Jordyn said, I am glad we did so we could all get clarifications on what's expected of us for the rest of this semester as far as assignments. I liked the idea of the listening exercise worksheet we did but felt a little uncomfortable filling it out about someone else just because I don't know Yuanjie that well. I was trying my best to answer the questions based on what I have seen from her in class, but I don't think it was a very accurate scale based on some of the questions. In other words, it would have been more helpful for me if I was maybe in her smaller, community group just so I could get the chance to know her better. I know that she is a good listener based on her responses and contributions to class but still had some trouble answering some of the questions. Plus, as it was pointed out, some of the questions were weird to answer for another person. The part I liked most about the activity was comparing our own answers to those answers our partners gave us. Being more of a fly on the wall, I personally like the desks setup the way they were last week, in more of a circular shape with space in the middle. I think the desks brought us "closer together" but I couldn't see everyone and their faces so it was harder to read body language, nonverbal messages. Anxious to see our formation for next week!

9 Week Eight I was intrigued by Key Nita s discussion about her constructive criticism that she received in the past and even though she said it really hurt at the time, it was very good feedback for her. I too have had constructive criticism in the past, especially from family members, that has hurt at the time of receiving the feedback. Although not all of my experiences with criticism have been on a professional level, there was a time when I thought my family was being really hard on me and not understanding of the personal struggles I was going through at the time, when in fact their advice/criticisms/opinions ended up being the best things/advice for me. I will be the first to say that I am a culprit of taking things personally and it has been something I have been working on way before our leadership class even started. I have gotten much better but still have a lot of growing to do. Meanwhile, there have been times where I have received feedback and not have taken it as seriously as I later found out I should have. Another thing for me to work on. This class, to me, is a perfect place to learn how to receive constructive criticism without getting overly upset about it and/or not to take it personally, but rather understand that our class is there to be supportive and to help us grow into stronger, more mature learners/thinkers/workers/people. I mentioned some of this in our last class but I wanted to reiterate my thoughts. Also, speaking of class, it was brought up that maybe we can use an alternative word to criticism because of the common negative indications it brings along with it. I personally think we should keep using the word and remembering that constructive criticism does not always have to be negative. With that said, I d like to add in Jared s comment about constructive criticism and that, in order to offer someone constructive criticism, there must be set criteria to which you are evaluating the person against. Otherwise, the only thing that you have to criticize is a person's habits or personality. This definitely has merit to it and I personally will make sure from now on that my criticisms are based on criteria. Finally, constructive criticism, I think, is something that we are going to receive from a lot of different people throughout our lives. Some of it will come from those who ask, and other times it may come from someone or people who you didn't ask or didn't necessarily want to hear it from. Regardless, if it is truly "constructive criticism" then I say take it and try to learn from it. If it's something that you deem pointless or unimportant, then just move on from it; acknowledge that others around you are still trying to help (at least in their eyes). Sometimes those that don't know you well can provide you good advice that those who do know you well may not be able to see. More than a couple of people in their posts talked about the talking about talking. For some of the class, it obviously was a big enough concern for it to be brought up in class and I m glad we did get the chance to discuss in. On the flip side, as some people have already suggested, it s time to move on from that discussion and decide where to go from here; as Marissa talked about in her post, Maybe we all need to have a conversation about where we want to take this class the rest of the semester so we can be on the same page in terms of expectations and the results we are wanting to achieve. I think we started to cover this in last class and I do believe last class was a productive one. We really did start to see and hear about almost everyone s perspectives about this class. Now, I think, we need to discuss where we re going for the rest of the semester. It doesn t have to be a lengthy discussion necessarily but it would be constructive, I think, to talk

10 about how we re moving forward and the result we are wanting to achieve (Marissa). P.S.- This was fun posting at the end of everyone's posts because I was able to read about others reflections and even bring in some ideas others had that reminded me I had too :) Thanks everyone for sharing and providing me when some good quotes! Week Nine I really enjoyed last week s class. It was refreshing to take a step back and have a very structured and set plan for us to all follow through together. As much as I do enjoy our usual discussions and facilitations each week, I think DFS's visit came at the perfect time. I was also glad to see that she lead us through a class in a way in which she herself would not normally teach. Not only did I learn more about myself and troubles I have but also was able to have a better understanding of DFS and where we left off from last semester. As someone mentioned in their post, I really wish Dr. Griffin could have had a partner so she could really get into and experience the exercise, as the rest of us were able to do. I was very appreciative for those who "played" and that all three of you never passed. It was refreshing (there's that word again) to see my classmates and friends really open up and be completely honest with themselves and I was glad to have learned more about those I was able to hear from. Thank you Marissa, Nehali, and Justin for not only playing but for being brutally honest at that. I really wish we all could have "played" to allow us to all share our insights/fears/ahas/etc. but I know that the time restraints did not allow for that. Again, from what I saw from the balcony, it really looked like everyone was not only taking the exercise seriously but also really taking it in and trying to learn and work through it for themselves. As I said previously, I think this class came at a perfect time and I hope it will provide a good "reset" for our class for us as a whole to get back on track. Week Ten Question set 1: Would we benefit from creating personal leadership goals for ourselves? Then maybe we could work towards a goal for ourselves throughout the duration of the semester, and if we shared these goals with each other, peers would also know what we are working on and what we want to achieve in the end. Yes. I agree with Marissa s suggestion in that the goals shouldn t just be towards some activity or assignment, but rather areas in which we ourselves would like to approve upon personally (hope I understood that right). Goal setting is (should be) an on-going endeavor, in and outside of the classroom. I do think that for future classes this would be an ideal exercise/assignment to have these goals made at the beginning of this class, or even the beginning of the entire program. Question set 2: Could small groups help open us up and improve our reception of feedback among a smaller audience? Could the size of our listening audience be too overwhelming for some and stifle voices?

11 My answer Yes to both of these questions. Our class has already had at least some experience with the smaller groups in our small communities that took place during the beginning weeks of the semester. For me, members of the group talked each and every meeting and every member voiced their opinions, suggestions, etc. Of course some group members talked more than others but each group member did talk during our meeting when that was always the case when we reconvened in class. This made me answer the second question with a yes. From what I ve seen and observed on the balcony, as well as heard from comments and discussion board posts, that yes, some people have an easier time speaking up in smaller audience settings. BUT Although I can and did answer both questions with a yes, I can also analyze them a little more and ultimately answer them with a so what if the answers to them are yes. It may be easier for people to talk to have fewer people listening to them, but we aren t in school to take the easy way out, we are here to learn. I understand and acknowledge that some of us will go on to work and live in smaller environments, environments in which we are comfortable with, but there will be inevitably be times where we are put outside of our comfort zone. As I have discussed before, the classroom is a perfect practice place for those times (whether they be few or many) where we are in a position that extends past our comfort zone and requires us to talk to and/or interact with others, whether it s in a professional situation, social, whatever. The classroom should be a place to practice how to handle and ways you can deal with situations that may be uncomfortable. With that said, I would not be opposed to having a part of class scheduled in smaller groups (preferably different ones (love you group) just to be able interact more closely with other classmates that we have not be assigned to work with closely yet). I do not think or would personally like to utilize the entire class in smaller groups however. Question set 3: I think it was mentioned that sometimes we are more apt to receive feedback in a positive manner from those with whom we feel close. Often it seems like underlying personal issues that we have with one another surface when giving/receiving feedback. Could team building exercises help us become closer as a group, or at least as a team? Do we need to strengthen our scaffold on which our class stands as a group? I personally think it goes without saying that we are more apt to receive feedback in a positive manner from those with whom we feel close. But with that said, it certainly does not mean we are only going to receive feedback from those we are close to. Feedback will continued to be given to any of us throughout our lives and to me, it shows that others, perhaps that are not close to me, actually care about me doing well and want me to succeed. As I ve mentioned before in my past post(s), if a person with whom I am not close to or who I do not ask for feedback from gives it to me anyways, and I really do not like it or appreciate, that is when I realize they may have merit to what they are saying and I need to step back and analyze if they are really right OR I can choose to simply ignore it and understand that person may have a different motive to their feedback (if this

12 makes any sense). In other words, getting feedback from others who are not close to me just shows that people actually acknowledge me and I am the only one that can choose to accept or reject their feedback. To answer the team building question, I honestly don t know, but would have to lean more towards I do not think so. I personally think I am at a point where I have a good idea on how most of my classmates learn and prefer to learn/a class to be conducted. Week 11 11/6 Class The activity log/journal was very enlightening. As I talked about in class, I found that a lot of my time was spent towards school, work, and my friends here at JMU. I was sad to learn that the least amount of my time these days is spent towards family and friends not in the Harrisonburg area. I know that I need to be concentrating on school and my life as it is now, but I have even noticed before starting the journal that I do not spend the same amount of time talking to my family and loved ones as I always have since I've been at JMU. For example, I was finally able to Facetime with my best friend and her baby (who is to be 1 years old November 30) yesterday and I was able to see him get himself down off the bed, by himself. It was amazing to see how much he's grown, but as I expressed to my friend, every time I talk to her and get to see them virtually I feel like so much has happened since the last time I talked to her and that I am missing some of Gregory's (the baby) milestones. I know that that is simply a part of life, that you can't always be there for everything, everyday, but I learned from this journal that I need to take MORE time from my busy schedule here to talk to my family and friends more again, the amount that I've always been used to. I am very dedicated to this program and the learning and growing of myself but I have let the other pieces of my life, the very important ones, slip away for a little bit and that is very disheartening. I am not meaning to and do not want to do it anymore! (Thank you for taking the time to read this little paragraph of mine :)) Meanwhile, I enjoyed/somewhat was dumbfounded (right word?) by the facilitation kit activity. For whatever reason, it took me a little longer to configure some sort of example to show the class than others. It made me wonder why some of my peers finished so much quickly than others in the class. I know part of that was because I have fun and get caught up in arts and crafts activities but I wonder if there was anything else behind that. Anyone else know why they took a bit longer putting together their "self-art"?

13 Group Journal Posts 1 st Group Meeting: Woop woop! 1. What was the purpose and what was the task of the consultation group session? This week's purpose was to review my leadership challenge paper. The group was assigned to read my paper before our meeting so everyone had an idea of what was going on and to allow ideas to be formed before we all met. Everyone did indeed read the leadership challenge and was ready to go for our meeting. 2. What was the initial event of the group session? The first few minutes were kind of a "welcoming" conversation. We all kind of discussed what we did that day, how the conference room had been changed around, and miscellaneous stuff like that. After a few minutes Jared directed us to my leadership challenge. He thought it was a good idea to first start off with me explaining more in detail what exactly my problem and experiences that I had going on. I immediately realized that my leadership was not exactly reader-friendly as far as explaining exactly what my situation was. I was happy that I could further explain what I really meant and also learned for myself that next time I should clarify certain things more than I did the first time around. Meanwhile, our group dynamic began unfolding and I learned that we all work very well together in our own little community. Rather than having Jared as always the person directing our conversations, he allowed it so anyone at any time could put in their input as far as comments and suggestions for my challenge. 3. What was the primary hidden issue in this consultation group session? I think the primary hidden issues for my own challenge were getting at the real problem I am having at work. Although I attempted to explain my situation, my peers helped me realize what really had going on. It is not necessarily when I need to revert back to my boss with a communication worry/problem with a professor, but rather gaining confidence within myself to understand that this is part of my job and part of that means that not everyone is going to get what they want 24/7. As I explained to the group, some professors were taking advantage (whether meaning to or not) of both my boss and myself by trying to schedule their course evaluations for when it worked best for them rather than looking at the specific times and dates that were clearly planned and laid out for them. My peers reassured me that I can't always be accommodating to each and every request and that part of having a job, and being a leader, is being able to say "No" when it is appropriate. 4. Did the initial event provide a clue for identifying the primary hidden issue of the group session? If so, what was the connection? Yes! Very much so. This question was somewhat answered within question three's answer but my peers provided very useful feedback for me that I also was able to relay back to my boss as well. For one, establishing a deadline for when professors have to

14 schedule their appointments for any in-class course evaluation by would help with both the organization of the process as well as me being able to say no to any requests made after that date (which happened multiple times within the past year as far as professors requesting for an in-class course evaluation a day before their class). It was also suggested that there be a deadline for when professors could cancel their in-class course evaluation they scheduled so my boss and I weren't sitting around waiting to do a course evaluation and have it be cancelled an hour beforehand. Although I explained that there is no way, at least for now, to enforce these regulations for the faculty, we agreed that integrating them into the initial s about end of the semester course evaluations would be very effective and really help out my boss and myself. I was very grateful that the group was willing to listen and really understand my problem and then take the next step to further help me with suggestions of how to rid of the challenge. I especially appreciated the support of them in that I need to be more confident in that I am just doing my job, and that saying no doesn't mean I am disrespecting anyone, even if they are in a position above me. Overall I am very happy with how our first meeting went. It was very laid back but very productive at the same time- the best combination! Jared did a really good job of facilitating, knowing when to step in and guide us in a productive direction and when to step back and let others comment and express their ideas. I didn't feel as though anyone was apprehensive about being in our specific group or felt bored with the subject at hand, which tends to happen in groups, and I very much appreciate that my group was very willing to help me work through my challenge. Thanks guys! :) As far as being on the balcony, I look forward to next week when I can really observe the non-verbal actions/expressions going on because I won't have to worry about talking about my challenge! 3 rd Group Meeting 1. By now each member of the group has probably begun to take on a particular role for the group. In terms of those roles, what perspective on the case did each member of your group represent? To be honest, I am not quite sure I have had enough time spent with the group to say what roles we all represent (it definitely hurt me that I missed last weeks group meeting and therefore have only met twice with them now). What I can say, however, is that it seems to me we are more of a group rather than completely strong roles. We all have equal amount of speaking/inputs and I really like that. For me, I sometimes find myself having a thought that I want to get out there and sometimes begin to blurt it out before someone else is done talking. I do this outside of the classroom as well and I apologize if I have done that to anyone in our group and it is something that I am working on. With that said, please call me out or let me know I am doing it because it is not something I am meaning to do to be rude, I just get extra excited with ideas sometimes and want to share them. 2. Did the group use any work avoidance mechanisms to maintain equilibrium? Did the

15 people in the case use any work avoidance mechanisms to maintain equilibrium? If so, what were they? Was there any similarity? No that I could see in the group setting, no- I think we just are more of a community style group as I mentioned in the first question. Jared s case was the leadership challenge we explored this week and from what I learned about it and the suggestions there is only one instance where a work avoidance mechanism that was going on and that would be not wanting to bother his supervisor. He described that part of his job is sitting at the desk for a 1/3 of his day and that he was not adequately trained to handle all of the situations/requests that arise. There are supposed to be at least 2 people behind the desk and although it is rare he has been behind the desk by himself, it has happened and he mentioned he does not feel completely comfortable being able to answer any questions/requests asked of him as a library worker. The problem he is facing is that his supervisor and other workers around him are extremely busy and from what I understood from his description is that he does not want to bother his supervisor. Again, from what I understood, he feels as though he should not bother his supervisor with questions when it seems as though she has more pressing issues going on. I think this is around the time where the group noticed the pattern of assertiveness going on in all three of the challenges we have talked about, including my own. The group discussed that Jared should (1) write down specific examples of what kinds of situations/requests he is not comfortable answering or handling on his own (therefore he can be specific with what kind of help/answers he needs) and (2) check the supervisors schedule to see when the best time would be to go and ask for help/guidance when it is deemed necessary. From what I gather from our discussion, is that Jared should continue to learn from experience but that if he was not trained adequately enough in a specific area and it is something he is finding he has to do on his own, he needs to ask for help and that it would not be something he would be bothering his supervisor about, but rather I think it would be showing he is a responsible working to ask for help. 3. Sometimes work avoidance mechanisms are easier to identify than the issues being avoided. The timing and nature of the work avoidance mechanisms often provide a clue to a hidden issue. What issue was being discussed at the time when the group generated a work avoidance mechanism? What was the work avoidance mechanism? Did anyone intervene to redirect the group s attention to the issue? My answer in question two kind of answered the issue at hand when discussing the work avoidance mechanism. The work avoidance mechanism is to simply learn through experience. In fact one of the suggestions was to continue with learning through experience and continue to learn on his own by watching others, looking for the answers for questions he may have, etc., as discussed above. I agree with Jared in that we had a little difficulty in transitioning from Jared's leadership challenge to the article because not everyone had a good grasp of what was going on in the article. 4 th Group Meeting This week we went over Emily's leadership challenge and I was the facilitator. I decided I wanted to begin our meeting with a fun little game, which was the "guess this song" application on Jared's new tablet. I thought it was a way for us to kind of have a little bit

16 of fun for a few minutes since I know we probably all had busy days full of work. Plus I thought that we could collaborate together on our answers towards what song we thought each one was. Emily's case turned out to have very many hidden issues behind her initial proposed challenge. She was having issues, as a new employee, with all of the smack talk going on between her "team" of coworkers, especially two in particular. She talked about how she did not want to be in the middle of all of it, but as a new employee, also did not want to burn bridges right away with the people she would be constantly working around and with. One of the actions she did take was that she approached both S and J (the two difficult coworkers) and asked if they would not talk about other people behind their backs to her. Apparently S did not like this and chose to completely shut her off for a day (ridiculous!). As the discussion progressed our group learned that there were three other hidden issues. The first is "S" himself and the way he not only handles (or not handles) situations but also the fact that he brings his personal beliefs and practices upon others, and does not allow for others to even discuss things that offend him, even when it is apart of the work discussion. I took away from this that he takes things way to far and brings his sensitiveness into work and lets it affect his work in some ways, which to me is ridiculous and unacceptable. What I gathered from Emily, from both her verbal and nonverbal expressions, is that this is something that either has or has the potential to affect work relationships and being able to have the open communication needed for work. The group discussed what is Emily supposed to do if somehow S gets mad and chooses not to talk to her and the other workers and yet they need information from him, how is she supposed to handle that and what things can she do to avoid that from happening? One of the suggestions that were mentioned was that she talked to management about what is going on. This is where another hidden issues came into play in that the manager, "T", already is informed of what goes on and how S handles situations and just says "That's just how he is". Not cool! Management is there to help handle/try to solve these jobs, not to just let them pass on by. The next step suggested was to go higher up above "T" but because Emily is new, she doesn't know the best person to approach about this problem. Overall it was a tough challenge because even though Emily has learned to put all the gossip aside and to not let it affect her work it seems that the other employees, depending on their mood or whatever, can make it affects her work, which is not good. As far as the group dynamics last night I thought it was both fun and productive. Again, not just to talk "happy" talk to others but also I really do believe that our group works good together and that we all participate. I would like to hear from Marissa more though. And I personally think I need to work on not butting in when people are still talking. Maybe that is why I don't hear people talk as much, because I get excited in our group and jump in whenever, and that gives other people less of a chance to talk? Is that a problem I have group? I am definitely not meaning to only mention you, Marissa, in the fact that I'd like to hear you talk more but I can't think of any other criticisms I have for the group right now. This again, can perhaps be contributed to the fact that I am more

17 overpowering in the group than I should be. I am not sure, but for next week I plan to be way more on the balcony than off to get a better observation of each of our group members individually. 5 th Group Meeting: I m Bossy! This week we looked at Jordyn's case while Marissa facilitated. I really enjoyed having Marissa facilitate. She kept us on task but also made it fun. She began our meeting by playing the song "Bossy" to go along with the theme of Jordyn's case, bossiness. It fit perfectly. Jordyn's case was an interesting one. She went started working for a company in which her friend began working for as well. She said from the start that her friend would go and tell other coworkers how bossy Jordyn was. The group quickly began to unravel the hidden issues as to why Jordyn maybe "bossy" or maybe how this one person's perception (Jordyn's "ex-friend") of her may just be skewed and she really are in fact not bossy. Jordyn did point out that she has been called "bossy" before in the past so it's something she wants to work on. We basically came up with three solutions. The first solution included alternative ways to say, "Do this" for Jordyn to use and talked about altering her words to go from sounding "bossy" too assertive. The second solution we discussed is that Jordyn needs to be more assertive in the position she is in now and future positions. It sounded to me like that she is trying not to be mean to other coworkers when in fact she could simply just be doing her job. We discussed how the workplace is meant for employees to get stuff done, not to sit and hold hands and be happy together all the time. I think I can say that we came to a consensus that it is okay to be assertive, especially if you are in somewhat of a leadership position (whether meant to be or not, which Jordyn is) and that it sounds like her ex-friend/coworker is bringing emotions too much into the workplace rather than realizing that Jordyn is just doing her job. There we go again with the assertiveness! Common theme among our group members :) As I stated in class I think we are getting more concise and to the point with our questions, and learning to know what to really ask. I continue to enjoy working with our group dynamics. Marissa definitely contributed to the group discussion a lot more and I enjoyed her leading the fun this meeting. I haven't really paid too much attention to the way Marissa usually sits in our meetings but I noticed how she was turned with her chair facing to the side of the table rather than under it and for whatever reason, it sent the message to me that she was engaging more in the community. Emily contributed her "normal" amount and definitely helped the energy stay alive. Jared and Jordyn remained consistent to their contribution to the group. I tried to listen more this meeting and be more of a fly on the wall, which was nice and I was able to take in more nonverbal communication. Last food for thought: I was thinking about how we always sit in the same seats each group meeting. For next week, I challenge us to change seats completely, or at least sit by different people, and just see if that changes any dynamics/interactions/etc. of the group.

18 Everything may stay the same but I am interested in seeing if it does affect anything for our group "norms". Loyalty Activity My Time Spent School/Work Friends Family I was not very surprised to see how my time was spent these days. When I started graduate school I quickly noticed how busy I was between both my new graduate assistantship and school, including classes and outside work. I was very used to being able to go home a lot and seeing my friends and family but as graduate school has progressed, I have only gotten busier. My time this semester, especially, has been committed fully committed to school and work, and relaxing whenever I can. I am actually pretty proud of myself for staying committed to school. I have only gone home once in October and plan to go home Thanksgiving and for Christmas break. In the past I would have gone home at least a couple more times before the holiday breaks. I am also happy to say that I do give myself some relaxing time to either hang out with friends or have some me time. The hardest part for me, especially after doing this loyalty journal for a few weeks, is realizing that I have not been keeping in touch with my family the amount of time that I am used to. I still talk to my grandmother, aunt, dad, stepmom, and sisters once a week, but that is less than I am used to. I try and take time to call them as much as I can but even before I began logging in this journal my aunt had mentioned to me how busy I must be because I have not been calling home as much. I know that is what I have to do right now to accomplish my goal of getting a Master s degree and just have to keep pushing on!

19 Biography Poster I made this poster towards the beginning of the course. It displays some of the leadership positions and challenges I have faced. Each wave represents a different leadership situation. Some of my examples include lacrosse team captain, community service, and group team leader.