Blog XII: Interviewing Jason

For this activity, I had an insightful conversation with Jason about his personal values and his methods to track and improve the preformance of his employees, both in his roles as an IT administrator and as a senior pastor for different organizations in Jamaica. Jason stressed that his reasons for taking this program is to learn the best practices of leading an organization as he envisions himself as either a full senior pastor or senior administrator five years from now (J. Martin, personal communication, Nov 3, 2018). Jason improves the preformance of his employees by interviewing each of them in a similar fashion as our meeting. Through his interviews he gathers who his employees are as people, what their goals are, identifies metrics to track their progress, and then outlines a plan to achieve these goals during their employment (J. Martin, personal communication, Nov 3, 2018). Jason feels that if he, as a leader, is able to better take care of his employees then they will provide returns for the organization through better preformance.

To best lead his employees however, Jason understands that improvement must first come from within by maximizing his abilities in order to maximize others’ potential which is why he enrolled in this program (J. Martin, personal communication, Nov 3, 2018). Jason also has a lot of experience to draw from which I’m sure enriches his learning experience and understands how to translate thoughts into action. One of Jason’s methods to transition is his thoughts involves a tool he developed at work to centralize the process of improving his employees. His tool functions to provide a structure for effectively goal-setting, setting a development plan, and then quarterly reviews of their development plan (J. Martin, personal communication, Nov 3, 2018). It impressed me by how sophisticated and thorough it was which leads me to believe that Jason is wholeheartedly invested in the development of his employees.

Jason also believes in setting a workplace culture that emphasizes teamwork, respect, and empowerment. As an individual, Jason prefers that he’s given the freedom to make decisions and control his environment so naturally he reflects his preferences on to the workplace he leads (J. Martin, personal communication, Nov 3, 2018). It was a pleasure to interview Jason as his wealth of experiences provided me insight that I have yet to embark.