Leadership Class and a Grateful Student

Leadership Class and a Grateful Student

FINAL PROJECT OPTION #3
MGMT 635
PROFESSOR AKBARI
ANNE MEESRIYONG
08/06/2007

I am so grateful I was admitted into your class last minute because otherwise, I would have missed out on a teaching style that is different from what I am used to. From the first day you had us thinking about the purpose of leadership by sitting in the class pretending to be a student like us and waiting till it was many minutes after class was supposed to start. For some reason though, I had an inkling that you were a teacher. Maybe it is the charisma and knack for observation you have and I am not saying this to make you happy but people who have experience have an aura about them that is more pronounced amongst others. You remind me of Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JP Morgan Chase for some reason. Leaders are very observant people as well as adaptable, and understanding. The imprint that is stamped in my mind and beliefs from this course experiences will always be that before you can manage someone, you have to be able to manage yourself because if you cannot adjust to situations, people, and time, you cannot manage effectively and be the leader that others want to become one day. I thoroughly enjoyed the class experience and it made me learn a lot about myself as well as about other people’s experience. I am thankful that you included the interactive games in every class session because it made learning fun and understandable in a way we will be able to apply it to our management exercises in the work place one day. I liked that the first day you had a game for us to learn each other’s names because it was an example of how people should get to know one another as soon as possible since there are so many great opportunities to finding out about each other and leaders should initiate contact.

The weeks later you asked us to make a boat but left the style of the boat to our creative imaginations, I liked this because we saw our different styles of boats, which stand for our different styles of interpretations of what a boat should look like. It showed that not everyone visualizes things the same way so being specific can be good, but being vague can also be good. Towards the end I liked how you had us go outside and played with the hula hoop exercise because it involved double looping, rethinking strategies, teamwork and raising the bar of goals each time we did a round of it. The day you asked the ladies and men to separate and talk about what we wish the other sex knew about each other was a great bonding moment for us ladies. I found out that we all do share the same desires to be accepted by the “male dominating” world, the need to know we do not have to prove to the men we are just as good, if not better. I think it taught some guys in the class to be more sensitive and understanding to their female counterparts, believe it or not. That is a very great lesson in respect for gender and cultural differences. The funny exercise was where we had to say “What is this?” “It’s an Apple” “A what?” “An Apple” “Thank You” It showed how difficult it could be to pass information along within an organization. I just thought it was hilarious because it is so ridiculous to hear it but it is so true that if you only have a centralized organization, information can pass slowly and be time consuming rather than using decentralized ways to balance and disburse information quickly and efficiently. The final one interactive game I enjoyed was the one where we held hands and one person had to stand in the middle and say something they like or dislike about their experience from work. It allowed others to relate to the same feelings and support while after they had to name some thing like a “watch” and anyone wearing a “watch had to switch places and the last person to get into a spot had to stay in the middle and continue this. It was fast, furious, and fun. It reminded me of the other game where whoever had an issue or liking to an experience had to mention it in the circle, and those who agreed or related gave them a high five.

These games were really education, applicable, and useful for when we may want to use it in the work place to get to know each other, relate on similarities, and embrace differences. It sticks in the person’s mind more effectively rather than reading a lesson or case. It is imprinted in the minds of all the potential leaders because it was an experience that some how some way changed the shape of their decisions from those activities, for the future. I will try to replicate those exercises for team building with groups I lead and will always remember that we are all a part of one body of energy in the end. We have the same desire for inclusion to be accepted, respected for our culture and difference or similarities in opinions, and the majority of us would like harmony because we all do not like change but if it is introduced to us in an inspiring, intellectually stimulating, or charismatic way, we can embrace it. I learned that as a leader, that is the duty for us to practice those ways of introducing change to our subordinates who want to be a great contribution for fulfilling a purpose as an organism in an organization and be recognized for our efforts.

The mantra I will forever remember about leadership thanks to this class is that “Everything begins and ends with you.” Like all things in life, this is true, how it usually begins is usually how it usually ends because most things in nature are full circle and meant to be this way. Leadership does not come naturally to all people though because I realized after reading the Leaderships assigned in class that everyone has these traits, but the way their they are brought up with different encounters really shapes them to become an “emergent” leader or an inactive one waiting to emerge maybe one day or never.

I liked the case studies because they were nice and short and to the point. Not all things have to be lengthy to be educational, inspiring, and long-lasting in memory. We are not alone in this world and there are many types of personalities so from this class readings and discussions, I realize that perspective is everything so you must make it clear to your employees what your goals are, be ethical and flexible.

Leaders should have the right agenda when leading. They should be approachable to subordinates, use different styles and approaches because everyone is different. Also, if you let your employees have a clear defined direction from day one to develop structure and trust when you follow through with what you expect. It will be easier to observe what type of support they need later on and then the leader can sort it out accordingly to each group of people how to lead. I learned the significance of finding out what type of leadership subordinates would like. Subordinates are like “babies” that rely on the “mother” who is the leader to cater to their needs. The babies do not know any better to ask for what they need but as an effective leader, they should be able to tell by different clues and signs, what the “baby” needs and deliver it effectively to maintain order. They should find out which style and approach would be best by adjusting to the employee since the leader is the more experienced one to know this. Now I have the options of being directive, supportive, participative, or achievement oriented when considering how to erase an employee’s obstacle. It might be more training concerns on tasks or emotional support and coaching due to lack of confidence in something, the employee is hinting for. I learned the best leadership is the one by leading from within the group, not only by doing the same work the subordinates do but, internally. Inspiration, influence, motivational speeches and leading with passion goes a long way with being able to effectively lead and manage. Balance of yourself as the key is what I have learned for adapting to change and leading effective and efficiently.

Before this course I already knew what type of personality test I had because had the Myers-Briggs test done but as you know we all change every few years, if not slightly. I am an ENFP which is Extravert, Intuitive, Feeler, and Perceiver. This basically means I have had tendencies to socialize and to use my emotion to base my decisions from them, rather than use the solid facts. After this class I learned from the LPC test that I am less task oriented but rather more people oriented. In the future, I will try to steer towards being more task-oriented to get more things done, and waste less time trying to develop too many relationships because too much of anything is not good. This way I can achieve the balance it requires to be a respected leader.

As the cliché’ goes, “change is inevitable.” The key to flowing with the water is not to stand in between in but lay into it and allow it to take you away. I now see the importance of how a leader should always change, adapt, be flexible, and visionary. They can do this by being proactive rather than reactive to many situations. The structure to be set should also enable ability to measure performance, results, and whether the process was implemented favorably for the subordinates so they could be rewarded and recognized. From my understanding of the course, the leaders should act as a decentralized company at times because listening to others opinions, suggestions and feelings can benefit the organization with recommendations that could save the organization more money, time, and improve a process. They should listen and understand their subordinates. It is a key ingredient to showing your subordinates that you do care for their well-being and concerns. Understanding it goes a long way.

I can see that leadership is philosophical in many ways after the course experience. It involves, charisma, passion, knowledge, ability to influence many people towards a common goal and vision as they apply it to their different functions. As a leader, decision making is crucial to make defined goals, clarify the path, removes obstacles and to provide support which raises the bar of success and satisfaction expected. I noticed from all the articles we read about in class and discussed, some leaders had to make challenging decisions with others in mind. This distinguished their success most of the time and ways their organization was as a whole. As I realized earlier, leaders must have well defined goals, objectives and allow room for organic creativity because the point of an organization is to grow and anything too structured to the detail level can be too rigid and inflexible with competitiveness. I liked learning about single versus double loop learning and realize the importance of double looping because it allows a leader, the organization and organisms (subordinates) to be mindful of future actions. Since, the brain is like an organization and it is holographic, if I want my brain to work in a flowingly effective and efficient style, I have to have great feasible ideas, a goal and plan to get there, as an organization should. Knowing I am more of a sensor and intuitive person I should try to base more of my decisions based on facts rather than deciding based on emotion so it makes goals that more easier to reach for the organization.

Developing Culture is essential in leadership as well. Within your class, we were doing activities that were developing us into a closer class with interaction, team work, building trust in creativity. You encouraged us to create awareness for change and our differences in culture, think patterns, and experiences by our discussions. The interactive games enabled us to embrace, understand this point and appreciate our diverse cultures and becoming another group culture combined as a whole called a “team” through our exercises. The book and articles you had us read prepared us to think globally, as cultures are working more than ever between different organizations, within the same organization, and within the same team. We have to be sensitive to their cultural instincts, and be able to adapt, adjust and admire the where the people we work with come from because the differences is what can strengthen a global company. If we find a way to be compassionate and understanding we will then be able to bridge a cultural gap that was not that hard to appreciate after all. The whole world is fair game and the world is getting smaller by the minute with the use of technology. Globalization requires us to be embracing of diverse cultures because understanding them is essential

I learned that designing organizations is like designing the brain. Just as the brain is like an organization it must have the right and left brain. The right being the organic side that allows for imagination for creativity and preparation of change, visionary skills for seeing the “big picture” in what goals to achieve. Then there’s the left brain that is like the mechanistic part of the organization which allows us to follow through, commit to short term and long term goals in conjunction with the structure that was planned and well thought out to the specified details. I also learned that just as there is the angel and the devil in a person’s brain that pull people on a tug of war rope to do either good or bad.

Ethics is fundamental in leadership. Ethics is the difference between fairness and taking advantage of others. In an organization that is similar to engaging in politics, power play and how leaders make their choice on ethics. In my future role, it will be essential that I remain to be ethical. I want to lead by example, be accountable and gain the confidence of the people. People are the most valuable asset in an organization. Without them, machines do not work! As for the politics, I have learned that if I come into contacts with it, I should participate in it for the right reasons. I will remember to try to utilize the in group and out group for fair play, leveling it out so it benefits the organization to pair those in the in group with those in the out group which will hopefully develop people towards everyone feeling inclusive and therefore good about being part of the organization.

In class, I think we practiced living with individuals and yourself in organizations the most when we had the organizational company project was fun because we picked a great company. I learned a lot from taking a more detailed look at how Toyota succeeds through their leadership philosophy. I enjoyed sharing my expressive skill in putting a symbolic meaning towards a team project and working virtually with team members swiftly and effectively, to get a project accomplished. I loved how our team actually chose Toyota because it has the same “Japanese” theme of integration with U.S. manufacturers and it also is a car company! I enjoyed learning about how foreign companies had to compromise with our standards of excellence and how they were able to carry their set of values and keep their tradition in a foreign land and still excel with the common philosophy of continuous improvement, respect, teamwork, and leadership from within. Now that more and more companies are setting up in foreign lands like China and India, those countries are starting to charge more money for their services that the U.S. companies depend on. However, if they were of the same “company organization” and not just an outsourced manufacturer, maybe the U.S. companies could keep profits at a decent margin for operation. This is when and how having great “leadership skills” can come in handy. If all the leaders knew about what we know from this leadership course, they would be able to identify the certain styles, qualities, and cultural awareness that could allow any U.S. company to lead and manage from another country effectively, efficiently and ethically.

The movie project allowed me to watch a movie in an entirely different and critical way to look for main lessons when watching the movie, Gung-Ho. Usually if I had to watch a movie like Gung-Ho, I think I might have been bored because I would have thought it was another movie men like to watch about cars, fixing cars, and men’s type of humor, but it wasn’t at all! It was much more than that! It had so many wonderful lessons to teach even between every few clips. I will never watch movies the same way. Usually I an inclined to not watch these types of films but my point of view changed based on what I will look for when watching any type of movie. From now on, I will see different signs of leadership in every movie and learn every lesson there is. The reason there is a movie anyway involves premise involving a reason for change, adaptability, understanding and thus, leadership.

As you see I have learned a lot from MGMT 635 with Professor Akbari and I will apply it when the time sees that it is fit for the factors of time, situation, and environment. I will forever remember the mantra “You first have to manage yourself before you can manage others.” “Everything begins and ends with you,” is what you taught us well. This in itself makes me think of how one has to lead by example, be ethical, commit to expectations. Towards change, I will be flexible, visionary, and passionate because if a leader does not have this within them, how can their followers? These main points will remain close to me when decision making as I strive to use the right tools of leadership skills in my career towards leading the path for those who want to follow but need assurance that they have a confident, understanding, and trustworthy leader. Thank You!

Posted: 12:09 a.m. EST August 25, 2007 by Anne Meesriyong