Monday's presenter really impressed me. John Curtis, the mayor of Provo, came and spoke to us about ethical leadership and he definitely knew what he was talking about. He told us that ethical leadership os doing the right thing even when it's hard. I took a whole page of notes on his 45-minute talk. That's kind of a big deal for me. A few of things he said that I really like were: "Doing the right thing gets harder the longer you wait." and "The moment to correct an error is the moment it happens." So true.
On Wednesday in our lab we talked about how ethical leadership means making tough decisions between conflicting values. It's easy when the values at odds aren't of truly comparable value, but as they get closer to each other, the choice gets harder. For example an honesty vs. convenience choice is easier than an honesty vs. human life choice.
In an effort to have a shorter than usual blog and avoid rambling, I'll cut to the chase. We talked about the differences between religious and secular ethics. (Side note: this is one of my favorite things about going to a private, church school—my education is very holistic.) We talked about how in our faith the highest ethical code is following the Spirit's direction. For a simple person like me, learning to follow the guidance of a divine being seems much easier and more comfortable than wrestling with moral dilemmas on my own. True, I'll still need to make judgment calls between conflicting values and have a concrete reason for what I chose, but overall, listening to the whisperings of the Holy Ghost seems like a good way to go. Especially in my leadership role, which is entirely based in the religious world, not the secular one. Recently, one of our girls requested not to be visit taught, specifically one of my girls. I was rather crushed and confused, not gonna lie. But with the Spirit's direction I found a way to negotiate the conflicting values of our need to take care of her and her desire to not be visited.
Quote of the week: "Awareness is the threshold of learning." -Dr. Paul Broomhead, my choir director.
Have a great week everyone!
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Different Times Call for Different Measures: Situational Leadership
Initially, I thought this model was kind of dumb and I think the presented explained it backwards, or I was just super tired (probably that one) but the more I think about it, the more I like it. I've started looking at it as a progressive curve that outlines the path of the maturing follower. Sure, there will be some fluidity because followers won't steadily progress all the time, they will slip up on occasion. And the leader won't always be infallible either, though in the examples I consider the leaders are solid (my parents, almost never wrong, and God, never ever wrong.) Maybe this is a stretch, but I think I remember something about my TA saying I'm allowed to just run with it. ; )
Ok, this is the model. I think it will make better sense if I let it speak for itself at first because when our presenter tried to explain it, he lost me pretty quick.
So there it is, folks. As we develop our leadership and as our followers increase in their capacity to follow, we move from a directing style through coaching and supporting to delegating which is a much more follower-dependent style.
One way I've thought about this model is how it relates to parenting and a child growing up. When I was younger, my parents had to direct me in everything I did. I did not have the maturity or life-experience/know-how to direct myself. As I got older, I became gradually more capable and could have a voice in the decision-making process; I grew into a candidate for coaching rather then merely directing. Fast forward a few years to when I have a pretty good handle on life, I can mostly make my own decisions so I counsel with my parents before I decide what I'm going to do and how. They give me counsel and then support my decision, provided it was a wise one. (They never support my foolish choices. Thank heaven for that.) At this point in my life, I've learned so much from making decisions with my parents, that I have the confidence and competence to, for the most part, choose the path they they would counsel me to take even if I don't actually get to counsel with them beforehand. As I've grown up, I've become a more independent, yet in-tune follower. As we reach the end of the curve, the followers have such a good handle on what the leader wants to see happen and they have adopted that vision as their own so they can be trusted to be almost entirely self-directed. My dad talks about his kids as either in the "asset" column or the "liability" column. As we grow up and become more independent and wise, we get to progress from the liability column to the asset column.
Now, the logical follow up for that thought is, what happens when all the world becomes in-tune with our Eternal leader enough to be trusted with His work? Super awesome things happen, that's what. When humanity (God's children) increase in maturity and knowledge to the point where all of us act, of our own accord, in the way God (our Father) would have us act, we will have built Zion.
And, as my leadership role is in the building up of the Church, getting us all to Zion is among my primary objectives. With this in mind, I think it's important for leaders to have a strong, divine-centered foundation. After all, as leaders, we teach and train our followers to think and act as we would so we must first think and act as He would. And once we are built on the rock of our Redeemer, we cannot fall. (Helaman 5:12) When we are securely anchored in Christ, then we can reach out to others, those who follow our example, and meet them wherever they are on the path. If they need directing, we lovingly direct them as Christ would. When they have enough grounding and maturity to be coached, we coach them. As the approach the point where they can mostly make wise choices, we counsel and strengthen them in their choices. And when they are capable enough to choose well on their own, we support and sustain them because effectively, we have taught and led them as far as we needed to and now they join us as leaders to nurture others.
So in my role, as I continue to make sure I'm on the rock, I need to meet people where they are. Some of our girls need our coaching and direction because they aren't seeing (and feeling) the big picture yet. These are the girls who need extra-attention; for them, our leadership style needs to be more involved. Knowing how to reach each heart is something we have to do by prayer and revelation because it's going to be different for each one. On the other hand, a lot of our girls are steadfast and immovable, always taking care of their sisters and consistently attending church. These are the girls we rely on as a presidency. These are the girls we know we could ask to do anything for their sisters and they would. These are the girls who don't need much from us except continued love and support. They're already doing what we're here to help them do. (Let me offer a huge cyber shout-out of thanks to all our girls like that. Thank you! We love you!)
Quote of the week: "Leadership is about what you do and what you leave behind." -David A. Bednar
(My thought/reason for this quote: when we lead well, we leave behind other well-equipped leaders to take the reigns when we move on.)
Ok, this is the model. I think it will make better sense if I let it speak for itself at first because when our presenter tried to explain it, he lost me pretty quick.
One way I've thought about this model is how it relates to parenting and a child growing up. When I was younger, my parents had to direct me in everything I did. I did not have the maturity or life-experience/know-how to direct myself. As I got older, I became gradually more capable and could have a voice in the decision-making process; I grew into a candidate for coaching rather then merely directing. Fast forward a few years to when I have a pretty good handle on life, I can mostly make my own decisions so I counsel with my parents before I decide what I'm going to do and how. They give me counsel and then support my decision, provided it was a wise one. (They never support my foolish choices. Thank heaven for that.) At this point in my life, I've learned so much from making decisions with my parents, that I have the confidence and competence to, for the most part, choose the path they they would counsel me to take even if I don't actually get to counsel with them beforehand. As I've grown up, I've become a more independent, yet in-tune follower. As we reach the end of the curve, the followers have such a good handle on what the leader wants to see happen and they have adopted that vision as their own so they can be trusted to be almost entirely self-directed. My dad talks about his kids as either in the "asset" column or the "liability" column. As we grow up and become more independent and wise, we get to progress from the liability column to the asset column.
Now, the logical follow up for that thought is, what happens when all the world becomes in-tune with our Eternal leader enough to be trusted with His work? Super awesome things happen, that's what. When humanity (God's children) increase in maturity and knowledge to the point where all of us act, of our own accord, in the way God (our Father) would have us act, we will have built Zion.
And, as my leadership role is in the building up of the Church, getting us all to Zion is among my primary objectives. With this in mind, I think it's important for leaders to have a strong, divine-centered foundation. After all, as leaders, we teach and train our followers to think and act as we would so we must first think and act as He would. And once we are built on the rock of our Redeemer, we cannot fall. (Helaman 5:12) When we are securely anchored in Christ, then we can reach out to others, those who follow our example, and meet them wherever they are on the path. If they need directing, we lovingly direct them as Christ would. When they have enough grounding and maturity to be coached, we coach them. As the approach the point where they can mostly make wise choices, we counsel and strengthen them in their choices. And when they are capable enough to choose well on their own, we support and sustain them because effectively, we have taught and led them as far as we needed to and now they join us as leaders to nurture others.
So in my role, as I continue to make sure I'm on the rock, I need to meet people where they are. Some of our girls need our coaching and direction because they aren't seeing (and feeling) the big picture yet. These are the girls who need extra-attention; for them, our leadership style needs to be more involved. Knowing how to reach each heart is something we have to do by prayer and revelation because it's going to be different for each one. On the other hand, a lot of our girls are steadfast and immovable, always taking care of their sisters and consistently attending church. These are the girls we rely on as a presidency. These are the girls we know we could ask to do anything for their sisters and they would. These are the girls who don't need much from us except continued love and support. They're already doing what we're here to help them do. (Let me offer a huge cyber shout-out of thanks to all our girls like that. Thank you! We love you!)
Quote of the week: "Leadership is about what you do and what you leave behind." -David A. Bednar
(My thought/reason for this quote: when we lead well, we leave behind other well-equipped leaders to take the reigns when we move on.)
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Why Trumps What
I decided to get ahead of the game this week and use my brilliant time management skills from last week. Our presenter this week, "didn't say anything substantial" for the majority of the lecture. (I'm not going to reveal who that quote is from...) Amidst his long-winded train of not much, he said a few things that good leaders should remember.
The core of leadership is character and the crust is skill/confidence. A strong core with a strong crust = a solid, capable, inspirational, safely followable leader. Strong core + weak crust = a kind person without the confidence to be a great leader. Weak core + strong crust = awful person with enough charisma and suavity to do serious damage. Weak core + weak crust = a pathetic person who isn't really a threat. (We didn't actually talk about that last one, that's just what I'm guessing it would be.)
After the speaker finished, one of our teachers, Tommy Montoya, presented to us the RACE model of strategic planning:
R = research
A = action plan
C = carry it out
E = evaluate
We further discussed it on our lab yesterday and put it into application with a hypothetical situation. Something Tommy said helped me realize the importance of being methodical in decision-making and planning. If we make the right decision for the wrong reason or any reason that we can't back up with substantial logic, then it's almost as though we made the wrong decision.
Last week the campus devotional was about motive and I've been thinking about it ever since. Brother Osguthorpe posed to us these questions: What if everything we did, we did out of love? What if everything we said was motivated by love? He told us that in end why we do what we do may very well matter more than what we do.
So to apply this to my leadership role... I need to keep the focus where it should be and make decisions for the right reasons and do everything I do out of love. The focus isn't on getting the numbers. Sure, 100% visiting teaching and attendance looks wonderful, but why? Because it means that everyone is being taken care of. =) In our ward, our RS adviser is really good about keeping everything focused on the individual. She told us that the numbers and the reports don't really matter. We still do them because we are "a record keeping people" and we keep ourselves organized like that. Also because we aren't perfect and we would forget who needs our help if we don't keep track.
Earlier this week the presidency (minus me) met with the visiting teaching supervisors to talk about how the system works and to encourage them. The decision to have an additional meeting was not an arbitrary choice—we don't just up and decide to have a meeting for kicks. The problem was a breakdown in communication between the girls, supervisors, and the presidency. So we met to clarify who needed what information when. Research = problem identification. Action plan = decide, with careful reasoning, on the best way to solve the problem. Carry it out = self-explanatory. Evaluate = well, did it work? Do we see an absence of problem? I think we did it.
Strategic planning sounds all professional and intimidating, but really, it fits seamlessly into our regular lives and we do it all the time without consciously acknowledging it. I think that as long as we take time and really think about why we're doing what we're doing, we won't get too far off track or make stupid, arbitrary decisions.
Quote of the week:
It's not hard to make decisions when you know what your values are. -Roy Disney
The core of leadership is character and the crust is skill/confidence. A strong core with a strong crust = a solid, capable, inspirational, safely followable leader. Strong core + weak crust = a kind person without the confidence to be a great leader. Weak core + strong crust = awful person with enough charisma and suavity to do serious damage. Weak core + weak crust = a pathetic person who isn't really a threat. (We didn't actually talk about that last one, that's just what I'm guessing it would be.)
After the speaker finished, one of our teachers, Tommy Montoya, presented to us the RACE model of strategic planning:
R = research
A = action plan
C = carry it out
E = evaluate
We further discussed it on our lab yesterday and put it into application with a hypothetical situation. Something Tommy said helped me realize the importance of being methodical in decision-making and planning. If we make the right decision for the wrong reason or any reason that we can't back up with substantial logic, then it's almost as though we made the wrong decision.
Last week the campus devotional was about motive and I've been thinking about it ever since. Brother Osguthorpe posed to us these questions: What if everything we did, we did out of love? What if everything we said was motivated by love? He told us that in end why we do what we do may very well matter more than what we do.
So to apply this to my leadership role... I need to keep the focus where it should be and make decisions for the right reasons and do everything I do out of love. The focus isn't on getting the numbers. Sure, 100% visiting teaching and attendance looks wonderful, but why? Because it means that everyone is being taken care of. =) In our ward, our RS adviser is really good about keeping everything focused on the individual. She told us that the numbers and the reports don't really matter. We still do them because we are "a record keeping people" and we keep ourselves organized like that. Also because we aren't perfect and we would forget who needs our help if we don't keep track.
Earlier this week the presidency (minus me) met with the visiting teaching supervisors to talk about how the system works and to encourage them. The decision to have an additional meeting was not an arbitrary choice—we don't just up and decide to have a meeting for kicks. The problem was a breakdown in communication between the girls, supervisors, and the presidency. So we met to clarify who needed what information when. Research = problem identification. Action plan = decide, with careful reasoning, on the best way to solve the problem. Carry it out = self-explanatory. Evaluate = well, did it work? Do we see an absence of problem? I think we did it.
Strategic planning sounds all professional and intimidating, but really, it fits seamlessly into our regular lives and we do it all the time without consciously acknowledging it. I think that as long as we take time and really think about why we're doing what we're doing, we won't get too far off track or make stupid, arbitrary decisions.
Quote of the week:
It's not hard to make decisions when you know what your values are. -Roy Disney
Saturday, March 12, 2011
The Two Gifts of Life
"Life gives you two gifts: time and agency. The way you use your time reflects your agency."
That's how our presenter began the lecture on Monday. The topic, certainly one every college student needs to be reminded of now and again, was time management. I saw a little blurb on Facebook once that said the following: "1. Good grades. 2. Social life. 3. Adequate Sleep. Welcome to college, pick two." It's kind of true, unless we find the optimal balance.
My favorite idea from this week is something our lovely TA said in the lab, "It's not about managing your time; it's about managing yourself." I really like thinking of it that way. Time is this huge cosmic deal and I really have no business trying to master it. But myself, I can usually handle.
We also talked about priorities and goals and not doing anything that doesn't help us toward our goals. For an activity this week we all filled out time sheets of everything we did in 15-minute intervals for 48 hours. In the lab on Wednesday, we went through everything we had done and marked if it was in line with our goals in life. I can find a way to relate everything I do back to my life goals. It's nice because I usually don't feel like I'm wasting time, but it's hard to prioritize because everything I do is important to me.
Another idea that resonated with me was the concept of urgent vs. important. We talked about the zones of tasks, things that are urgent but not important, important but not urgent, urgent and important, and neither urgent nor important. In my own life, I often let things get urgent and then have to make snap judgment calls on how important they are. (i.e. do I skip class to finish an assignment that's due today or do I go to class and let the assignment go?) The ideal zone for getting things done is when they are important, but not yet urgent. Like that physics paper that's due in two weeks. (Not like the music civilization paper that's due on Monday.) This is something I need to work on, for sure.
Now, applying to my leadership role. Let me first explain the big rocks analogy to any who may be unfamiliar with it: in planning your time, if you put your first, most important things (big rocks) first, next things next (smaller rocks), then all the little things (sand and water) will fill in the cracks—but if you put trifle things (sand and water) first you won't have room for the important things (big rocks). The Church, and therefore my calling in it, are some of my big rocks. For my whole life, my family has always put church first and it's amazing that we always have time to get done what we need to. Continuing that habit has blessed my life in college. "...seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." (Matthew 6:33) It's true. When I put things in the right order, I end up having time for all the things I need. When I put the Lord and His work first in my life, He blesses my efforts in everything else I do so that I can do everything else. "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it." (Mark 8:35) It's one of those beautiful Christian paradoxes.
I think the most important concept in managing ourselves to use our time wisely, is defining what's important and putting that first in all we do. How we spend our time defines us so we ought to spend it doing something worthwhile.
Quote of the day:
“Time is too slow for those who wait, too swift for those who fear, too long for those who grieve, too short for those who rejoice, but for those who love, time is eternity.” -Henry Van Dyke
That's how our presenter began the lecture on Monday. The topic, certainly one every college student needs to be reminded of now and again, was time management. I saw a little blurb on Facebook once that said the following: "1. Good grades. 2. Social life. 3. Adequate Sleep. Welcome to college, pick two." It's kind of true, unless we find the optimal balance.
My favorite idea from this week is something our lovely TA said in the lab, "It's not about managing your time; it's about managing yourself." I really like thinking of it that way. Time is this huge cosmic deal and I really have no business trying to master it. But myself, I can usually handle.
We also talked about priorities and goals and not doing anything that doesn't help us toward our goals. For an activity this week we all filled out time sheets of everything we did in 15-minute intervals for 48 hours. In the lab on Wednesday, we went through everything we had done and marked if it was in line with our goals in life. I can find a way to relate everything I do back to my life goals. It's nice because I usually don't feel like I'm wasting time, but it's hard to prioritize because everything I do is important to me.
Another idea that resonated with me was the concept of urgent vs. important. We talked about the zones of tasks, things that are urgent but not important, important but not urgent, urgent and important, and neither urgent nor important. In my own life, I often let things get urgent and then have to make snap judgment calls on how important they are. (i.e. do I skip class to finish an assignment that's due today or do I go to class and let the assignment go?) The ideal zone for getting things done is when they are important, but not yet urgent. Like that physics paper that's due in two weeks. (Not like the music civilization paper that's due on Monday.) This is something I need to work on, for sure.
Now, applying to my leadership role. Let me first explain the big rocks analogy to any who may be unfamiliar with it: in planning your time, if you put your first, most important things (big rocks) first, next things next (smaller rocks), then all the little things (sand and water) will fill in the cracks—but if you put trifle things (sand and water) first you won't have room for the important things (big rocks). The Church, and therefore my calling in it, are some of my big rocks. For my whole life, my family has always put church first and it's amazing that we always have time to get done what we need to. Continuing that habit has blessed my life in college. "...seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." (Matthew 6:33) It's true. When I put things in the right order, I end up having time for all the things I need. When I put the Lord and His work first in my life, He blesses my efforts in everything else I do so that I can do everything else. "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it." (Mark 8:35) It's one of those beautiful Christian paradoxes.
I think the most important concept in managing ourselves to use our time wisely, is defining what's important and putting that first in all we do. How we spend our time defines us so we ought to spend it doing something worthwhile.
Quote of the day:
“Time is too slow for those who wait, too swift for those who fear, too long for those who grieve, too short for those who rejoice, but for those who love, time is eternity.” -Henry Van Dyke
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Love vs. Fear: The essence of public speaking.
Public speaking. As one who often prefers to be behind the scenes of leadership, I don't feel like I have much to say about it. But something the presenter said really hit home with me: truly care about your audience.
She went on to apply caring about your audience to different situations. Someone in the professional world who truly cares about their audience will be perfectly honest with them and not try to con them into a less-than-ideal business move. Managers who truly care about their employees will speak to them with respect and do what's in their best interest. Teachers who truly care about their students will speak to them in a way that helps them learn.
It's a simple thing, but really caring about your audience is a big deal. In my current leadership role, I don't have to do much public speaking. But when I do, it's easy to care about the audience when you think of them as your family. At church everyone is my family, so speaking in church is the perfect venue to practice and get good at public speaking.
Public speaking is a major fear for people. Love conquers fear. Loving your audience is the perfect solution to being afraid of public speaking.
Just because I felt like I wasn't giving you enough, I googled "fear vs. love quotes" and found this cool article. Here's part of it:
She went on to apply caring about your audience to different situations. Someone in the professional world who truly cares about their audience will be perfectly honest with them and not try to con them into a less-than-ideal business move. Managers who truly care about their employees will speak to them with respect and do what's in their best interest. Teachers who truly care about their students will speak to them in a way that helps them learn.
It's a simple thing, but really caring about your audience is a big deal. In my current leadership role, I don't have to do much public speaking. But when I do, it's easy to care about the audience when you think of them as your family. At church everyone is my family, so speaking in church is the perfect venue to practice and get good at public speaking.
Public speaking is a major fear for people. Love conquers fear. Loving your audience is the perfect solution to being afraid of public speaking.
Just because I felt like I wasn't giving you enough, I googled "fear vs. love quotes" and found this cool article. Here's part of it:
There are really only two emotions in the Physical Universe - those being LOVE and FEAR. All other emotions are just variations on these two primary states of emotion. LOVE is the emotion associated with a 'knowing' that everything in the Universe is an expression of a singularity (i.e. God) and is therefore interconnected, whereas FEAR is the emotion underlying the perception (i.e. illusion) of being separate from God. The following article compares these two states of consciousness.
LOVE is an expression of the Oneness that underlies all reality associated with a deep felt knowing that everything is an expression of Source and that nothing (no-thing) can exist outside Source. By contrast, FEAR is rooted in the illusory perception of separation that pervades the Physical Universe.
LOVE expresses itself as an urge towards unity, whereas FEAR is a result of the perception of dis-unity that is part and parcel to God's game of separation that defines the Physical Universe. (i.e. The 'them' versus 'me' syndrome associated with the isolation currently experienced by most humans)
-Alex Paterson
I think the fear of public speaking results from this "them versus me" syndrome. When we allow love to conquer this warped perception and view ourselves on the same team as everyone we're talking to, then the fear dissipates. The end.
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