Now Looking at Leadership Pt. II

Leadership is more than having the ability to be the person who can talk to a large group of people and have them accomplish a goal.  Leadership, especially genuine leadership, is more about being able to encourage and inspire individuals and groups to accomplish a similar task.  For a leader to truly be effective and successful, they must be able to humbly show others the way to best achieve what it is they are working on.  This humble attitude can originate by thinking about the phrase, “leave your ego at the door.”  I was introduced to this phrase when I first started leading outdoor camping trips.  By leaving your ego behind, you are able to truly focus on the groups goals and desires compared to your own.

Another aspect that truly helps establish successful leaders is the ability to lead by example.  Whether you are intentionally acting in a particular manner or not, your followers will notice and pick up on how you are behaving towards objects.  Often times, the group perceives how you react and treat an object as the norm.  This can impact how your group acts towards that subject either positively or negatively depending on how you behaved.  Understanding this concept is key because whether you want to or not, the group will be watching.  I have noticed this most often when working with children.  Children are typically described as little sponges absorbing everything you do and say around them.  As a leader, working with children has made me focus on how to truly act as a role model.

While studying the material during this course, my perceptions of what it takes to be a leader have modified throughout our time together.  Coming into the course, I had a decently defined picture of what the most effective characteristics for a leader are.  Based on the activities and topics we have conducted and discussed, I now understand that there are many ways to achieve the same goal.  Just because I have one idea about how a situation could be handled or solved, does not mean that other’s approaches are less effective or wrong.  I worked throughout the course on trying to sit back more and let other ideas be played out before I stood up with my own ideas.  Often times I would allow myself to go ahead with ideas that I thought might not work as well simply because for a team to be effective, a follower must be willing to listen and agree to the leader.

While this course has opened me up to being able to try different approaches and gain more perspectives before you begin a task, understanding when it is okay to simply sit back is a key skill I hope to continue to using and learning from as I take on more responsibility in my job on campus.  For me, leadership is now transitioning into how can I be a great leader by allowing others the opportunity to step up and voice their ideas and thoughts with everyone.  This course truly helped me learn what it means to be an effective follower.

Golden Voice

During our debriefing of our pipeline activity, one comment really stuck out to me in particular.  One main focus of this activity was the importance of communication within our group.  We had moments where half of the group was not allowed to talk, forcing the rest of the group to speak up and take control with their voices.  Everyone was allowed to talk for one small period of time that became quite interesting for everyone.

In this small moment where everyone could talk, we had many people talking over top of each other.  Initially, conversations were focused around how we were doing and trying to come up with a new idea of how to solve our challenge.  All of these conversations being held together led to the group becoming frustrated with no one person being listened to.  Finally, it got to a point where I tried to speak up over everyone.  During this time, I was trying to focus everyone on what everyone had to say and their opinions.

After our talking privileges were taken away again, we continued to struggle through the activity as frustration grew.  Towards the end, everyone was allowed to speak again which went right back to a power struggle over who was our main speaker.

The comment that truly stuck out to me focused on how two people can say the same things but depending on how they say it will depend on whether or not the group will listen.  It almost seems that some people have this golden voice that can make them more likely to be heard.

Hearing others describe the situation like this made me think about how I went about talking with the whole group.  Initially I felt defensive about the comment thinking it was a negative description about how I spoke to everyone.  However, I am now thinking about why is this so?  Why is it that someone can say something without being heard and then someone else can repeat it and everyone agrees?

The main thought for me that comes to mind, is how you are speaking to the group.  Whether or not you have a voice that can carry is not a defining quality of a leader.  Some very powerful leaders can be quite soft spoken.  What is important is that you can gain control of the group before you begin to share your thought.  One effective skill as a leader is to gain the attention of everyone before you share information.  Whether you can simply speak up over everyone or if you have a simple trick to quiet the group, the skill is key.

For me, knowing that I can speak up over a group to gain their attention is important because I know that is my style.  As a leader, I need to realize however that some people may not be able to have that skill when speaking.  I am still trying to think about why this is and what it means with my group leadership.

What do you truly care about?

 When trying to understand why people behave the way the do, one area to start looking at is what do they care about?  This question can explain quite a bit about why someone may act in a certain way.  For example, if someone always is telling people about recycling and reusing materials they probably care strongly for the environment.  By understanding the aspects for what people care about, we can start understanding their values.

Values are critical to leadership because everyone who is a leader is still human.  Values become interesting because as a leader you will have your own personal values, the things you truly care about but your followers also have values.  Whether their values are aligned with yours or not, you must be accepting of everyone’s own values.

While this might sound quite obvious, respecting everyone for what they believe in is fundamental.  Imagine how you would feel if the first day you joined a group, the leader stood up and said what he believed and ignored any other opinion or even labeled people based on their beliefs.  As a new member, if you held a differing opinion you would instantly feel unwelcomed and may even drop out.

Now imagine, if the leader stood up and spook about what he believed in and then asked the group to share what they believe.  While you may feel uncomfortable at first being new, if other members felt comfortable enough with everyone they could share their own beliefs.  When a group can get to a level of where they are comfortable sharing their personal values they have reached a special place.  By reaching this point where members can “agree to disagree,” a level of higher group autonomy is present.

As a leader, values can also be used for gaining support in explaining decisions.  While people may disagree with a certain decision you make, if you can explain why you did based on what your values are, members would be more willing to come to this level of agreeing to disagree.  When members support your decision, they can also now believe in what you believe, which is much stronger than simply agreeing to your decisions.

I personally value passion.  I love being able to see people in their prime.  Whether it is getting to go on a trip with friends who are climbers first and students second or getting to see a friend perform in their band, when someone’s heart is there it shows.  Due to me valuing passion, as a leader I seek our what people truly enjoy doing.  Often times in an organization, you may only see one side of person.  By seeking out what they truly love doing, you can better understood them for who they are.

Going from "Faking It, to Making It"

As a student studying environmental education, I have been very fortunate to teach for a wide variety of organizations.  When your friends one day tell you that they counted all of the different jobs you have and they can't believe you've had six (now seven), you start to realize that you have been quite busy.  From working with organizations ranging from the Columbus Zoo to outdoor education camps and now with a high ropes team-building course and the Outdoor Adventure Center on campus, I've started picking up a thing or two about teaching and serving as a leader.
I first heard about this course through an email sent from my boss at the OAC describing the course.  He mentioned that it would more than likely touch on some interesting subjects that would pertain to our programs.  After looking more at what the course is focusing on, I decided to sign up for it to take a look at leadership focusing within organizational structures.  I am looking forward to studying various styles of leadership and learning about the pluses and deltas of each style.

My understanding of leadership has largely came through my experiences of studying how to effectively manage a group of individuals.  Through my different work experiences, I have learned many techniques on how to lead different activities.  For me, I enjoy seeing leaders step up within a group especially when you are challenging people to step out of their comfort zone, such as zipping off of a 55ft. ropes course.  While I am often acting as the leader for a group, I usually look at the actions that happen behind-the-scenes for examples of true leadership.

I feel that leadership is truly demonstrated amongst peers when someone steps up simply because they know they should.  Often times when a situation arises, people will avoid the conflict simply because they know what may happen if they were to take a leadership role.  This notion is brought to light with the prompt of: “If not you, then who?”  In this simple statement, we are able to understand that leadership can exist in all of us and helps demonstrate the importance of the responsibility that a leader takes.

One large area of focus of mine is trying to create a truly organic experience within individuals and groups that I work with, to help demonstrate and develop an understanding of leadership.  For me, I am hoping to learn as much as I can in our time together about how to get from simply leading a group (faking the experience) to truly making an inspirational experience.  I plan on taking the messages and lessons from our course and relating them towards my position as a group leader.  I also hope to share my experiences with others to help give a unique perspective on developing leadership within others.