Category: LDRS500 (Page 1 of 5)

I find myself coming back to the blog to read my colleagues’ posts, even though we are technically done with this course !

This is in response to Sadie Thompson’s post- https://create.twu.ca/sadiethompson/2017/12/04/unit-10-course-reflection/

She has summarized the content of the course very concisely in different sections. She touches upon the different aspects of leadership theory we learnt from Northouse’s book, stories from different leaders in Light from many lamps, some of which we hadn’t heard about.

She makes a very insightful comment that now she reflects on her behavior at work, rather than just the content of her work related tasks. To me this self reflection was a very important habit that I formed in this course, and hope to take if forward in my future pursuits.

This is in response to Rob Tegelberg’s leadership story: https://create.twu.ca/robtegelberg/2017/11/26/my-leadership-story/

In the text part of his post, the differentiation between admonition and reproach was very enlightening, I will try to remember that in my professional and personal life.  The sandwich method is a powerful tool when delivering a correction to a follower , where you sandwich a critique between two positive comments. It conveys the message without making the listener defensive.

The one big lesson I have learnt so far from my experience has been that to be able to be an effective leader, one has to understand their followers. Some respond better to a gentler approach, and some prefer a more direct and honest communication.

Rob summarizes the principle of leadership beautifully at the end of his story- ” raising, guiding and correcting the followers to be better, rather than shaming them”

George Washington’s words about discipline are very inspirational!

Thanks for sharing your story with us Rob

This is in response to Riggisolinap’s post –

Marcus Tullius Cicero- Unit 10- Light from Many Lamps

There are two very important points he makes in this post. One is about politics – as he quotes “a politician thinks of the next election, a statesman thinks of the next generation”(quote by Riggisolinap, 2017). Looking at the current state of politics, we definitely need more statesmen that politicians.

Another important point he makes is that old age doesn’t necessarily make one useless. I being a Geriatrician and working with seniors can vouch for the fact that the elderly who are often dismissed as being ‘past their prime’ are in fact a fountain of wisdom. The younger generations can profit immensely from the wisdom that the elderly have acquired over the years. And age also doe not necessarily preclude one from taking up new opportunities.

Reference

Watson, L. E. (1979) Light from Many Lamps.  New York:  Simon & Schuster

This is in response to Tim DeHaan’s post “My Leadership Story

My Leadership Story

First of all kudos to Tim for creating a very impressive presentation in this format which for me has been a struggle. It has been very beautifully done with the sound-editing and the background music. His style of delivery is very poignant. As for the story, I sensed an ongoing struggle which I think I can say is not foreign to any one of us. We are constantly discovering things about ourselves, fighting our private demons, doubting ourselves in this journey of growth. If we are honest with ourselves, we will all admit that at some point we doubt ourselves, question where we are going and why we do the things we do, struggle with our individual ‘vices’. Part of the concept of growth is the recognition that this struggle is a part of life, it is everyday. Writing this I am having a sense of deja vu, as I remember a recent conversation with my daughter who is 19. She was complaining about ‘adulting’ being hard. I am in the process of guiding her through the process of accepting that ‘adulting’ is not a one time thing; you don’t ‘become’ an adult at 19 and then get done with growing. Growth is a constant learning process;  in addition to learning about the world and its ways, whats more important is that we learn about ourselves, our responses to people and situations. Self-reflection is very essential for growth and evolution of a personality. Tim seems to have got down the art of reflection. As for “the vortex of personal inaction”, I hope he finds a way out of this; as he says himself “there is hope”.. “always another time”.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Tim.

This is in response to Riggisolinap’s leadership story

My Leadership Story

I am very impressed by how he knew from an early age that he wanted to pursue leadership, and worked his way forward to make it happen. The insight and discipline required to achieve this is commendable. There are lessons to be learnt and passed on to young people about how dedication and discipline are the primary drivers for success. His journey is also a testament to the tried and tested institutions like the cadets, and also to the importance of involvement in clubs and organizations in the development of a rounded personality. I agree with him when he says that a  leader is also sometimes a follower. It is all about context and the people you are working with at the time.

What is also commendable is that he is trying to make an impact on others by his involvement in community and church. Leadership should not be selfish; a good leader is one who in addition to their own growth also focuses on growth of their followers. Giving back to the community is an altruistic investment which brings fruits down the line – this could be personal gratification at being involved in something beyond yourselves, and also in terms of influencing future generations into selfless service.

Thanks for being the leader you are. Hope you continue to be involved in training and impacting our future leaders.

I will admit that in my line of work, I didn’t think that leadership training was absolutely necessary. I started it for my own personal betterment. I always admired great leaders, and thought one is either born a leader or not. In my limited knowledge of this field , I looked at leadership from the trait approach, rather than the skills approach. Over the last couple of years though, I have witnessed some colleague and superiors who have exhibited leadership skills in situations where ‘designated’ leaders have failed to live up to the expectations. This prompted me to think that maybe there is more to leadership than being born with a set of characteristics. Also, there are no fixed set of traits that maketh a leader. This has been confirmed to me with the knowledge I gained abut servant leadership and transformational leadership.

This biggest take away for me from this course has been that there is no one-size-fits-all in leadership. A leader can be a follower and vice versa depending in the circumstances. Also there is no right or wrong approach, as long as it is applied in the appropriate situation. Now that I am more aware of the different leadership theories/ approaches, I have noticed that  I myself change my leadership approach depending on the situation and the circumstance; sometimes depending on the people I am working with. There are some people with whom a transactional approach works better, while with others the transformational approach is more effective. At the end of the day leadership is all about people, and understanding what drives them.

I have enjoyed reading posts from my colleagues; they have been very insightful and informative. I have learned a lot from reading their interpretation of the course material. I also found it very interesting that there were different things that inspired us in the book “Light from many lamps”! We all picked up different authors and stories to reflect on and take our life lessons from. I am grateful to our Prof for helping us navigate through this doorway into the leadership learning process.

This is in response to the post

Unit 9 – LA2 – BP1

Indeed technology has made life easier in a lot of ways, for example his experience of not having to carry cash in a foreign country. I think he also meant that there is also less need to interact with people. While this is convenient in some situations, it is also heralding a change in how the newer generations interact with others. The marked reduction in the need for everyday one to one interaction is concerning. The new generations while more adept at getting things done quickly in their digital world, are losing the social skills that in my view are one of the cornerstones of society. I agree with William when he says that monitoring the impact of this change on the ‘millennials’ would be crucial. The supporters of digital interaction on the other hand could argue that people are still communicating, its just that the method has changed from direct face- to-face communication to a more digital platform. Maybe in the long range this would count as one of the turning points in the evolution of human language and communication.

I am writing this in response to the post by RiggiSolinap – https://create.twu.ca/riggisolinap/2017/11/23/unit-9-learning-activity-2/

He summarizes lessons from Jack Ma’s philosophy. There is one thing that I would like to add. Jack Ma say ‘ forget regret’. but prior to that he did mention some regrets that he had. So this was a contradictory statement to me. I think we all have regrets in life. Instead of ‘forgetting’ about them, what would be more fruitful is converting them into life lessons. If we can transform our mistakes into learning experiences, we can move on and grow in the process. If one dwells too long on a mistake without learning from it and moving on, they risk converting it from a ‘learning experience’ to a ‘regret’.

Reference

“Keys to Success from Jack Ma”. (2016, June, 23). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WjHZ5wLe6w