Adaptive Leadership

     Some of the best leaders are the ones that thrive under pressure. They are the ones that push through every challenge. When something get in the way of them achieving their goal they don’t stop from trying but look at different ways of reaching their goals. In the reading it talks about the evolutionary part of adaptive leadership. It connects to the survival of the fittest. The animals and humans that survived were the ones that pushed through challenges and adapted to changes. This can even connect to the Derailments of Leaders. One of the four things that derail leaders is the failure to adapt and be flexible. This comes from the very beginning of human life.  Change is required to become adaptable and the ability to change sometimes to even totally opposite directions is important for leaders. Times are changing and things will not always stay the same. At the same time new is not always better and is important to look to the past and to elders to learn what worked and what didn’t. Many mistakes can be avoided by looking into history and paying attention to what went wrong. Adaptation is also said to occur through experimentation. This is okay but only if it is very controlled. No business wants to experiment without proper research or a solid hypothesis that is could work. It is important that it mentions in the text that adaptation takes times. Change is slow and when it isn’t it can cause chaos, something that needs to be avoided.

They made a good point in not doing it alone. Make sure that your goal or vision is a common one and that what you are doing is something others support. Make sure they will be right by your side and not disappear if the going gets tough. This can relate to making your partner your real partner.

I think there was also a point that someone’s passion can hide signs of danger. This is a wonderful point in which everyone should be aware if their vision is realistic and if there is something they are possibly unaware of. This is seen a lot. An example would be a student being excited to work overseas, not taking into consideration that a country or region could be in turmoil and dangerous.

Before you leap into action, make sure you are carefully looking over every possible aspect and laying out the pros and cons. Think about obstacles and situations and how you would need to deal with them.

In Dan Goleman’s work it starts out saying that many see leadership as an individual’s personality rather than a strategic choice. This is exactly what I thought before this class and now I have realized I can work on my skills as a leader. In his styles I realized I do mostly the Affiliative and Coaching style sometimes with a little democratic style.  

Service Hours

Service Hours- 15 Hours total of Spring Career Fair.

In the fall semester I volunteered to help out with the career fair. Every hour I worked earned money for a club on campus. It was so fun and successful that I decided to volunteer and this spring it was just as successful. Since it was my second time volunteering I knew the routines and was given more responsibility because I knew the individuals from Career Services that ran it. They even told me that next semester I they would give me good recommendations if I applied to work there. Some of the tasks I did were manual labor such as carrying the boxes that employers had sent to MSU to the individual tables, carrying signs, and setting up tables. My main job on the first day however was greeting and signing in employees which suited me very well because I am a very social person. We greeted them with a firm handshake and gave them their folders. We were instructed to show them their table and give them their name tags and lunch coupons. If their name tags were not correct we printed new ones off. We also had to go over their interview sheets with them and ask that they return them at the end of the three days. Most of the Employers were easy and they brought all the supplies they need to the fair. Others were not as prepared and have us running around campus looking for various things like chalk boards, yarn, markers, extension cords, and other miscellaneous things that they wanted. One of the biggest concerns that we had the first day was that the employers were parking their cars in the bus lanes and we had to politely ask them to move so they didn’t get tickets. We wanted everyone to have a really good experience so they will return again. During the first day I was signed up for 4 hours but because of a lack of volunteers showing up and the faculty really appreciating my ability to see things that needed done and doing them without asked they asked me to stay a few more hours and I worked a total of 7 hours that day. I really enjoyed talking and meeting employers and I think one employer was very impressed that I went out of my way to take his cardboard to recycling.

     I felt satisfied in my first day of volunteering because I knew what I was doing and how I could help. It was frustrating last semester when I was unsure of what needed to be done and felt like I was not participating.

Second day of Career Fair-4 Hours

The second day was the busiest day of the fair. Employers showed up at seven and students started coming a little later. The main job for volunteer is coat check and name tags. Students check in their coats and it is very busy for the poor volunteers running around in the coat check room. After students check in their bags they are asked to fill out a name tag and the volunteers at the front desk are supposed to make sure they are dressed appropriately or not let them in. Another volunteer clicks a counter every time a student with a resume walks in the ballroom to see how many students attend. Employers like to know this number so they can decide if it is worth to attend again. As soon as I showed up I was surprised to see the lady in charge wave at me excitedly and I could tell she was glad I was there. We were lacking in numbers and I took charge of assigning my teammates with what to do. The day went smoothly and when I signed out she asked me to come earlier the next day in case there was a lot to do.

Third day-4 Hours

    At 7 A.M I arrived on campus and I was told to go into room 232 with Francine and check students who had gotten interviews with employers checked in. As the employers with interviews came in we hung up their interview schedule on a huge board and showed them to their room or area where they were going to hold interviews. As students came in for their interviews we checked them in and someone ran to the big board to highlight their name so employers knew they were ready. It was a fairly easy task and was even boring at times. I spent a lot of time talking with employers and practiced looking them in the eye and trying to feel comfortable. None of them were necessarily individuals that I would look at to interview for a job but I fell it was still good experience.

     This day too many students were signed up to volunteer and a couple times the room was filled with 10 members of the boys and girls team. It was a lot of fun and I think we impressed Francine with our team bonds and how good of a turnout our teams had in those three days. After all the interviews were complete we helped clean up and put chairs and tables away.
The whole career fair was fun and my favorite part was walking around and doind errands for the employers. I helped them with recycling, and getting set up and that for me was the best part.

Car Wash- 4 hours

To raise money for our club we put on a car wash at Peaks Car Wash. It wasn’t the warmest day to have a car wash but we all dressed warmly and then night before I had half the team over at my house baking so we could sell baked goods as well.

We split of jobs as we got there with the plan to switch out every half hour or so. A few girls held signs at street corners while some set up the bake sale in the yard. I was in charge of washing cars first. When a driver pulled up I asked if he would like his car washed by the Bozeman Whitetail. It was slow business at first but the bake sale was getting a lot of attention. The two pies we had went almost immediately. As customers came many were very nice and paid or tipped us generously. A few neighbors of the car wash came to get muffins for breakfast and the bake sale went smoothly all day. I loved washing cars because I had a lot of time to talk to customers and I think that my enthusiasm drew them in. Some asked about Rugby and seemed very interested. One man with a Brewery offered to maybe sponsor us in the fall season. The owner of the car wash was so generous throughout the day opening more bays for us so we could wash more cars in a quicker more efficient time frame.  Some of the cars had so much mud and dirt from the winter months that we had to take our time and scrub them two or three times before they began to look clean. I do not believe we got any complaints on the job that we did but we had one complaint by some snowmobilers that wanted their huge truck and trailer washed as quickly as possible.  They barely paid us for one vehicle and they possibly had the muddiest vehicles of all. That was a moment where I was clearly frustrated and had to bite my tongue in order to not say something that I would regret later.

During that day we almost raised $500 which was more than we had hoped for. We were also able to make it to the end of the boys team and cheer them on. They suffered a loss but played hard and improved a lot.

Applied Leadership

When only reading the title of today’s reading I thought back to the day that we interviewed the teachers from the other country. One had mentioned to me that sometimes American’s seem so ignorant and do not want to learn any other way than their own.

In the reading the first part related to self awareness and how one needs to know how they go about solving a problem compared to someone else. I am  still unclear about single loop and double loops but I might have grasped the concept.

Special Event

General Wesley Clark was an honor to watch and listen to. I have the utmost respect to him and all his accomplishments. The fact that he has been honored by several other countries including ours shows us how accomplished he is. All his past experiences and the way that he talks also show us what a smart and intelligent man he is. He is a great leader and showed many characteristics of why he is such a great leader. He was polished and well put together so when you first look at him you immediately respect he and you are drawn to him. The way he addresses things, he knows how to say things in such a professional manner that you can nod your head and agree when he could be telling you that the sky is pink. He also addressed issues that were important to the audience. He had charisma and enthusiasm that drew people in. I loved the idea that he supports of using our own resources and not other countries, giving them billions of dollars a year. It is something I also look forward to. He also pointed out that our country needs the youth to step up and participate in what is going on. He wants us to get involved and I totally agree. The more that people get involved the better our country will become. I also think that he really won the crowd over when he said that we should not be fighting a war that shouldn’t be fought like in Iraq. But with all these great things said, I also found myself second guessing him later in the night because instead of being gullible with a great talker I wanted to think critically. I wanted to look up what his stand on the Iraq war was when it was first beginning. A lot of Americans were onboard at first but then changed their minds later when the war began to get drug out. I wanted to know what this plan was that people kept mentioning about invading countries and why he wanted to help Israel with Iran if he was against our war in Iraq? It seemed a bit like a double standard. At first I thought his ideas of getting jobs with coal and oil in Montana or new sources of energy was great until I thought about how much he was over simplifying things and how that kind of coal economy might hurt Montana and many of the people here would really hate it. It could turn into another fiasco like in Sidney where the oil pulled in some of the nastiest human beings and crime rates have sky rocketed. I have friends there and they confirm that they do not feel safe and they worry that when the oil leaves the men that came with it will stay. He really over simplified that matter on energy jobs in Montana.

   Another point I disagreed with was the fact that he wanted the United States to return to being an ultimate super power. When the founding fathers created this country they did not want us to be a super power. They were trying to be free from a power and we have now reversed. I think the United States should focus on itself and helping their own and getting our economy stable and not police the world or become some great dominant power. That scares me.

Over all I think he was a great speaker and had a lot of great points. He held himself well and knew what to say. It was more than an honor to see him.

Challenging the Process

In my paper about developing leadership I wrote how a good leader is courageous and challenges the system and old rules and traditions. Then when reading the text it was awesome to find the same point. Change is can be good. If our country did not change than our country would not be where it is today. Our constitution used to say that black people were only ¾ of a person and that women couldn’t vote. Can you imagine what today would be like if something hadn’t changed. I know that some of my very close friends I would have never met. I might not be in college if it wasn’t for women becoming closer to equality to men. Change is something that does not always just happen. A leader has to be looking for a way to innovate and better a situation, group, event, place, and system. Sometimes the changes that need or could take place are not obvious and you have to look at things from a different angle. To cause an innovation or a change for the better you have to communicate with your group and decide what would be best for EVERYONE. It’s okay to take risks. If something doesn’t work it is okay to go back to the old.

Kouzes Exercise 5

I

1.       We can’t do Fool’s Fest because our team cannot afford to travel that far. X

2.       We can’t practice at a time where everyone is able to come X

3.       Participation is hard because of homework load X

4.       Too Expensive X

II.

1.       Talk to other groups who have built a group from scratch

2.       Look up ideas on how to fundraise

I am going to try super hard on the fundraisers this spring so we do not have to pay so much for traveling since I am cutting back at work.

Vision and Kouzes Excercise.

Kouzes Chapter Four

When you get people to share your vision it can be very powerful. I was already inspired by the story of Alyssa and her team and I have not even met her.  I am someone that can get passionate about many things and I am always looking for something inspiring, like Alyssa’s team. In my case I have to think twice and ask myself, Is this a good idea?. I don’t want someone that is a good leader to fire me up for a cause that is not morally and ethically worth my time.

With that said I have not thought of inspiring people to share my vision. When I wanted to work with kids it was something I thought I would just do MYSELF. I wasn’t being greedy I just thought that everyone else was doing their own thing and I would do mine. But the truth is that there are a lot of people out there who want to work with not just autistic but all disabled kids and there are many parents who want to be ensured that their children are being treated fairly and correctly in schools, sports, and various opportunities. Their children deserve every opportunity that other children get and being autistic does not mean one is disabled. They are bright children and geniuses in their own way. Maybe they aren’t the ones that are different, maybe we are.

I know there are people out there that see the way I do and I would love to work with them and find out what we can do in schools and programs to get autistic children the treatment they deserve. There are so many children that are treated in an appropriate way only because the teachers are not taught how to handle or work with them. To get change we could start in the teachers programs in colleges and educate EVERY teacher, not just the ones working with children with special needs, the effective ways of teaching such special and unique children.

Exercises-Past as Prologue to My Future

1.       My mother passed away in 1996. This has always affected me and always will. This makes mothers very important to me and the idea of family.

2.       Not one but many family trips with the Bignell family and Martin family. I met some of the most amazing people that will always be in my life. The kids I helped watch would inspire me. We went on rafting trips, pack trips, boating, camping, everything outdoors.

3.       Starting high school and deciding that I wanted to work hard to prove to myself I could be number one in my class and to make my dad proud.

4.       Meeting the severely autistic foster children Ben and Faith. Seeing how our school staff disciplined Ben in ways that made me sick. Hearing him cry in a room by himself for more than an hour because the Principal was tired of him. After working with Ben in his second grade P.E. class and seeing how he was so talented especially with music was inspiring. I also worked and grew up with a autistic boy Warren and I saw how he could make anything electronic work perfectly was when I realized how special and misunderstood autism was. I saw how wonderful his mother was and how she was patient and worked so hard with him on his social skills. I saw how their divorce set him back several years and how he had to learn to cope with things his own way.  

5.       Becoming a nanny for a Canadian family and realizing I always wanted to work with kids. I understand kids better than I understand adults and I want every child to have the same opportunities.

My themes would be either family or children related. I think that maybe because as a child I was hurt and I lost my mom that I seem to want to mother all children. I never want to see children hurt and I think I understand when they are and I feel a need to help. Family is very big to me and whenever I think of my childhood I think of the awesome experiences I had outdoors with my family, opportunities that many children never have.

II Imagine the Possibilities

I am currently involved in Women’s Rugby and my goal is to fundraise over $3000 for gear, travel and uniforms for our team. We want to get grounded as a team so we can be ensured that there will be a team for years to come. This vision is the same as many of the other founding members of our team. We all want to have rugby be recognized because it is such a fun sport that involves teamwork and involves a lot of athletic ability. When this is over I would like people to see us as a team, a team that has good character, and has the ability to win games.

III

What are people doing? People are offering to sponsor us because they see potential and they want to be advertised by a team like us. Others are asking to join and coming to practices because they see the sport as a growing sport and want to take a part of it.

What are People saying? People are saying that we work so well as a team. That we run smoothly and it’s like a family. Not with the Womens but the Men’s team as well. Anyone that spent a weekend with our team would feel like they were in a group of fun hard working brothers and sisters. Our two teams cheer and help each other out. We hang out outside of rugby and we are all good friends. I would call anyone on our team if I was in need of help or in trouble.

What are people feeling? They are feeling like a team, a family, and an athlete. After one season of Rugby you feel in better shape than many people feel ever in their life. Practices are hard but your teammates are encouraging. The coach does everything you do at practice and once you play in one game, you get your first tackle or score your first try it makes everything worthwhile. You become confident because you have your team behind you and you are in amazing shape.

Building a Women’s Rugby team is like restoring a car. You don’t start with much but as you get all the necessary parts it starts working and when it is finished it something anyone could be proud of.

The Fifth Discipline

I picture myself with a clinic, a clinic in which I work with kids that have disabilities. I help with speech pathology, autism and tutoring. It may include a program that deals with foster children. I want this because I want everyone to feel like they have a home. This clinic is colorful and happy. It is very inviting and I spend every waking minute with the children I work with. The other teachers and workers are bright and happy and care as much for the well being of the children as I do. Although I do not know if it is based on helping teach disabilities or focused on foster children or the welfare of children without homes I do know it will be based on children and helping them so they can grow up to be successful.

Self-image- I want to be someone welcoming and a person people would turn to for help. I want to be someone that children can relate to. A professional that enlists others to see that there is a need to help children. To make them feel at home, or to feel good enough.

Tangibles. I want to live in a rural setting. I want my family to have the same bringing up that I did. I also want them to work as much as I did. To know not everything is free. I want to be comfortable. I do not want to have to struggle to make a living but I also do not have unrealistic idea that I will be very wealthy.

Home- rural area near where I grew up in beautiful Ovando, MT. Not too far from town so I could travel for work.

I will keep my athletic routine and will encourage my kids or family to be athletic. I will be a big supporter of sports. I also will try to keep the outdoor activities including horses and dogs that I had when I was younger.

Exploring Biases 2/15/12

In the first reading I did the exercise where we write down what comes to mind when we read some categories. I am not going to list some of the things that I thought about but I thought that it is interesting that I could stereotype whole groups by a few things that stand out. I know I am very bias and I think it has something to do with me coming from such a small town and being a bit naïve. On one side of my family I also have very judgmental people who say what they think even if it is ridiculous. Because they are my family I always felt there must be truth in what they were saying but I was dead wrong in most cases.

     I do not want to offend anyone in saying how I have found that I am bias but I do want to say that I have learned many lessons and I feel I am a very open person now and a very accepting person. I also think there may be something not necessarily biases but when you put a person or a type of person on a pedestal because they are in a certain group so you expect more from them. This can be damaging for people because they have unfair expectations to meet.

I thought it was interesting in the reading how they told a story of how they were trying to describe a man named John without mentioning he was black. I realized I do that a lot. If it is a Caucasian I usually describe the clothes when I point people out but when they are of a different race then I usually use their race. I just thought it was interesting.

I agree with Richard Anderson when he says that communication is getting more and more important. Being able to write in a way that attracts people and also being able to get your message out to people is very important today especially with our media and advertising. What does he mean by only touching paper once? It’s funny that he keeps his clocks ten minutes fast because I do to.  

Interview With Teachers From Around the World

I just had a thought after Mondays class when we talked with all the teachers from different countries. I think that every ethnicity groups others as one type of figure or stereotype. That is why when I see a bunch of Asians it is relatively hard for me to tell them apart. While talking to the teachers many of them asked me if I was the girl they met earlier or yesterday or that morning. I had not met them before but I think that I fit into some stereotype of what an American looked like perhaps. I was even asked if me and the other blonde in the room were sisters. I don’t know if anything is behind this or if I am just crazy but I thought it was a weird coincidence.