Category: LDRS500 Leadership Foundations

LDRS500 2018

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During week 4 of LDRS500 I was so taken aback by Part three, 1. Paul Hamilton Hayne’s “This, too, shall pass away” (Watson, Lillian Eichler 1998). As it was intended to be, from the very first time of creation, “a motto wise and true and endlessly enduring, words by which a man could be guided all his life, in every circumstance, no matter what happened” (Watson, Lillian Eichler, 1998). To me this saying speaks to one having patience to get through times of adversity. Some of my strongest mentors display incredible patience both in business and in their personal life. It’s a quality I’ve admired and although I work hard to emulate, I know it’s something I must regularly practice. I recall with my superiors that were really good at what they did, often using time to solve problems, knowing that the next day allowed the opportunity for things to get better. Let me share more about the leadership lesson and how it is relevant in my life.

Since ever I can remember I have had a competitive streak in me, always trying to be top in whatever it is I do. In my younger years this was prevalent as I competed in team sports. I had an undying will to win at all costs. In my career this served me well as I climbed the corporate ladder. I wanted badly to keep going and move up as high as I could until I was humbly knocked down by a change of corporate direction. The new regime believed in ruling with an iron fist and I knew my style would not have success in that type of environment. I knew my choices were to adapt or move on and at the time the economy was not great and so there were not many options. I also knew that if I left I risked moving to another organization that might also have a similar management style. So I thought to myself better the devil you know instead of the devil you don’t. My career took a back seat for a few years as I decided it would be a good time to work on my family. As it turned out my taking a backseat and moving into a new department was an unexpected great decision in my life as it lead me home to my indigenous community. This takes me to the next chapter in my career and so invite you to read on.

Coming home was almost sacra religious. My entire life was starting to make sense. The patience I needed to have in my career was exactly what was needed. I know now when times are difficult, my mentors were right, sometimes time brings answers. My community has taught me so much about adversity and forgiveness, particularly when speaking with our elders, many of whom are residential school survivors. Time has become less relevant as I have learned I am here on this earth to serve the next 7 generations. This is how much time it takes to instill real change and when I count back to the beginning of colonization I am aware that I am the 7th generation here with the purpose of bringing my Kwantlen family to times of prosperity. Change is happening rapidly and with that brings fear. I am amazed at how much I’m able to preserver and instill change for the better despite those wanting to hold me back. I know if my elders can go through the abuses of residential school that I too can be strong, knowing in time things will get better. I believe now that my community is on the right path and one day we will be free from intergenerational trauma, alcoholism, drug addiction and abuse. In the moments where there is pain and words that are meant to hold me back I know tomorrow is a new day. As I lead my community through change we will have our good and bad days but as long as we move forward we will again be a healthy community. For me personally I’m glad I did not change to be a tyrant. I believe my leadership style has served me well in working with new generations that want to feel valued as employees. I’m very thankful I didn’t panic and stayed true to I was as I can see now with time, life can bring you in many different unexpected directions. Some people in my community say my ancestors brought me home. That may be part of it but I also believe when you follow your heart in whatever you do, life brings rewards.

References

Light from many  Lamps, 1998 Lillian Eichler Watson

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Critical thinking from the notes references

According to Cahalan (2017) there are 8 ways of knowing how to apply critical thinking through practice. Looking briefly at three of the eight ideas, including Situational Awareness, Creative Awareness and Emotional Attunement, I will provide a summary in the form of how it relates to my employment, for each key idea I’ve chosen. My order of what’s most important I believe is very different as I work for an organization that is not only an economic development entity but also a government. In addition, to further complicate things, most of the people I work with are family.

1st Situational Awareness – a good leader is about knowing how your actions will affect others as well as company goals.

My company was in the middle of a substantial negotiation which would eventually result in a large settlement. Discussions were finally moving in the right way with the expected outcome to have impacts to many future generations to come. At the same time, I had bid on a tender for a small contract and was not feeling right about the process. Eventually I had substantial evidence to demonstrate that things were not in fact fair. After carefully weighing my options, I decided that I did not want to risk the negotiations from having a setback, and so felt it was best to leave things be. In the end we settled and included in the agreement was a clause that spoke about a relationship agreement and ways to handle future grievances. In this situation it was not worth risking a large negotiation for a small short term contract that my company would have the opportunity to look at again in the future.

2nd Creative Awareness – having the ability to see one’s own strengths and weaknesses.

In my organization we are a small group and many with multiple skills that are cross applicable. It can sometimes take creative thinking to determine who would be best to assist in any given situation. In terms of real life experience I am often called on to resolve complex situations however a good leader knows when it’s time to consult with others in order to come to the best decision possible.

3rd Emotional Atonement – don’t try and fix others, examine your own actions

Working for a community that is going through reconciliation has its challenges to say the least. As my organization grows there is a need for outside as well as internal expertise from the community. There is often a push and pull between western ways of managing and our traditional ways of managing. This creates conflict as there are employees that can at times feel like there is some favoritism. In this climate I do my best to treat others as fairly as possible. There is the pull from the community government side to continually give our indigenous members multiple chances without consequence. It’s important to me to lead my organization in a fair way so that all employees feel that they are treated the same. Having said that I understand I cannot change the government influences however this does not stop me from doing my job as an effective leader. Instead I have this internal conflict about doing things the right way. I’ve learned to accept that things are the way they are and I’m not going to be able to change people’s perceptions. I’ve also come to recognize that we are in a time of change which is hard for my people. A good friend as well as a cultural teacher from my community reminds me that a leader is never appreciated until their work is done. I remind myself of this and try not to allow myself to be influenced into making the wrong decision.  I know I have to be patient and accept I cannot change others but that I can be the one to change. I end up being somewhere in the middle in terms of how I manage situations. It may mean I need to ease up a little from how I might normally deal with the situation and at the same time it is going to be a little uncomfortable to my government. I’ve come to recognize that change will happen slowly and as long as we keep moving forward, things are going to be ok.

References

Cahalan, K., Foley, E. and G.S. Mikoski eds. (2017) Integrative knowing and Practical Wisdom in Minding Gaps: Integrating work in theological education. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock

 

 

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Response to Student post – Unit one, Learning Activity Four

LDRS 500, Unit One, Learning Activity Four, Blog post Two

My thoughts on achieving a healthy balance between leading and managing are really about applying the appropriate tactic based on the situation. As a senior executive in my organization I am expected to make strategic decisions for the organization. I’m also expected to adapt or change directions should the situation warrant it. Conversely there are times when I also must step in as a Manager as I teach some of my subordinates how to apply employee coaching. It’s not something that I set out to balance but as a leader I’m expected to step into any given situation and apply the appropriate response. At times it can also depend on the strength of a Manager or Director that is reporting to me. As a leader I try and encourage them to make decisions and know when to step in. They are all at varying levels of development in their career and so its about adapting to the right situation. Now my situation may  be different as we are not a large organization (160 employees). My former place of employment however had over 2000 employees and so executives at that company did not spend much time in a management role and instead mainly focused on organizational leadership.

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Comments on other student blogs – Unit 1 Learning Activity 4

Unit 1 Learning Activity 4

I couldn’t agree more with your point Maddison. I am a Coast Salish, Kwantlen woman and have been taught that traditionally our leaders in our communities were not appointed or voted to their position. A Siem’ was followed because they had leadership qualities that the people trusted. A Siem’ was someone that demonstrated skill with diplomacy, took care of the community and was highly educated in the ways of the world. There were often multiple Siem’s in a community that knew how to work together and looked after the betterment of the community. A Siem was born with the gift of leadership and was nurtured to develop their skills throughout life. In today’s society we appoint or vote for leaders however not all are successful. Thank you for sharing a wonderful blog. Your comment really resonated with me!

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Light from many lamps – To find happiness we must seek for it in a focus outside ourselves

To find happiness we must seek for it in a focus outside ourselves (Lillian Eichler Watson pg 11-15 ) The leadership lesson of this anthology is to provide a reminder that if we spend too much time thinking about what makes  us unhappy, instead of actually doing things that make us happy, one will never achieve enlightenment. Consuming negative and selfish thoughts are not productive in the quest for happiness. It’s instead about overcoming our fears and taking action in life to make things better.

An example of this I would like to share is a time when I was at one of the lowest points in my life. My son was just diagnosed with being on the Autism Spectrum. In reality by the time I received the diagnosis it was not at all entirely surprizing. It was actually hearing confirmation that actually devastated me. I went through a brief period of grieving, thinking about all the moments I wouldn’t be able to share with my son. I was also struck with guilt thinking I let my husband and all of the grandparents down. I knew all of their future moments too, that they looked forward to were shattered and I somehow took the responsibility for this as it was me that delivered this child. I shut the world off and was tired of hearing all of the token condolence words from friends and family that in no way was doing anything to make me feel better. It wasn’t until I finally mustered up the strength to get out of bed and go grocery shopping where I had a moment that has impacted me to this day. While I sat at the grocery store in tears in my car, finally alone and able to feel sorry for myself, a car pulled in beside me which was a spot for persons with a disability. It was a mother with her daughter and as I watched her walk to the passenger side, smiling and engaging with her daughter I thought to myself that this was a sign from God. I realized that this mother also had obstacles to deal with and here she is enjoying life, laughing and smiling with her daughter. At that moment I knew that everything was going to be alright. I knew it was my destiny to be there for my son and give him the best possible chance at life. I thought, that can be me if I suck it up and just be a mom to my son. I can be the one smiling and enjoying life too with my child. I decided form then on that I would shed no more tears and instead I was going to take action and deal with the card I was dealt. It was time to get on with life and do everything within my power to be the best mother I could be to my son.

I’m proud to say that my son has made significant improvements with his learning and is getting better every day. I know he will never be cured and he will always require care however I have a plan in place and as a result I know he will always be taken care of, even after I am gone. I have had many happy moments with my son since that date and don’t consider my relationship with my son any different from any other mother/son relationship. It’s not been an easy road but he’s achieved things I never thought possible. I recall my mother-in-law saying that my son was a gift to me because I would do everything in my power to make sure he had a rich and fulfilling life. I knew my leadership skills were exactly what he needed – persistence, dependable, diligent and never willing to give up. I am so thankful every day to be the mother to this amazing little boy. He has taught me so much in life about slowing down and the importance of family and community being there for one another. He is a wonderful and caring human being, with such a pure heart. He is often described as someone that is always happy and smiling and is proof that happiness can be achieved no matter what the situation.

As leaders we are faced with obstacles every day and true leaders persevere and find their way out of problems. Some challenges are harder that others but it really does feel good when we are able to move forward and continue to make the world a better place whether at work, home or in our community.

Lights from many lamps – Lillian Eichler Watson originall published 1952, ISBN 978-0-6716-5250-0

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Unit 2, Learning activity 3 Completion of Leadership survey’s

After being tasked with the completion of the Leadership Trait Questionnaire, Leadership Theory and Practice Questionnaire and Style Questionnaire, results from my self assessment in comparison  to others assessment of me were fairly consistent. Perhaps not surprizing was how I was harder on myself than how other perceive me. My overall scoring was in the very high range which was not at all surprizing given that most of my life I have always felt like a leader and have also acted in a capacity of a leader. Perhaps the area where I’m most hardest on myself is in my ability to articulate and communicate with others. For this I scored myself as a three however in all responses by others they viewed me to be a good communicator. I guess in some respects I am a good communicator. I regularly meet with my staff and check in on them daily. I can get people excited and motivated about an idea rather quickly. In my self assessment however I believe why I scored myself lower is because in every organization there can be negative chatter. This can be derived from jealousy or a disgruntled employee.  I pride myself on ensuring all employees are happy at work however it’s a task that is not always achievable. If I’m unable to succeed then I often ask myself what did I do wrong and how can I fix the situation. The other skill that I personally know I need to work on related to communication is my ability to public speak. Others tell me I’m a natural however they have no idea how much work I do to prepare and so they have no idea I’m actually faking it. I suppose though we all compensate for our areas of weakness and as leaders it’s important for us to continue to try and learn and do better.

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Unit 1 Activity 5 – Principles of Servant Leadership

Northouse (2016 pages 227-229) describes Ten characteristics of a Servant Leader. For this post I’m going to focus on Foresight, Commitment to growth of people and Building Community.

A servant leader has the ability to plan for the future. This requires a time commitment and I find the best way to be prepared as a servant leader is to become an avid reader with a focus on what is happening or trending in any particular industry. For example reading publications, attending conferences and networking are all ways a servant leader can stay up to date on industry trends. At the same time a servant leader has a good feel for the organization and plans for potential gaps that are about to come and prepares the organization for when it does. Often the servant leader is motivated to have foresight because they have a desire for the organization and the employees to be successful. The servant leader recognizes that the employees are counting on him/her to adapt and create job security for all employees.

Another trait of a servant leader is having commitment to the growth of people. Employees with goals are often motivated and feel a deep sense of commitment to the organization. In turn it also helps the organization to achieve succession planning for the future. When opportunities are opened up for employees it allows them to grow as an individual and bring value to the organization. Employees engaged in an organization have a sense that the employer cares for them. Employers sometimes will offer assistance with upgrading schooling or provide opportunities within.  Either way ,being engaged with your employees and helping them achieve their goals creates loyalty as well as attracts other good employees to your organization.

Building community is another trait of a servant leader. In my community I am tasked with building capacity with community members that have experienced generational trauma. The lasting impacts have effects on employees performance and as a servant leader it is up to me to find ways to help employees make life changes that lead them to a life of survival versus a victim. This is not an easy task and requires a different style of management. In some ways I am working with family and so I have to find creative ways to accommodate issues that may crop up from time to time. At times we have to put folks in the “penalty box” but because they are family we will always find a way to give them another chance. I tell my non-indigenous employees “if we don’t help our people then who will?”. In essence we are building a safe community where indigenous people can be given a chance to make a real change. It’s the opportunity to make a generational change and impact their children’s future by living in more prosperous times. My challenge however is we need outside expertise to assist us in our growth. How do I balance the needs of my non-indigenous employees versus my indigenous employees without making either feel like they are receiving preferential treatment?

Northhouse (2016 pages 227-229) Leadership Theory and Practice, Seventh addition.

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Unit 1, Activity 4 Assigned versus Emergency Leadership

Northhouse (2016 page 8) explains that some people are leaders because of their formal position in an organization, whereas others are leaders because of the way other group members respond to them. These two common forms are called assigned leader versus emergent leader.

An example of where I emerged as an emergent leader is on my sporting team. At the beginning of the season the team voted on Captain’s and Assistant Captains. I was omitted from one of these positions as instead I was the Team Manager. As a Team Manager my duties included attendance at games, finding players if we were short, keeping contact records of players, communicating schedules and helping to find a coach for our team. As I started into my role I would be considered an Assigned Leader and really one could argue that the Captain and Assistants were as well. I played on this team for a number of seasons and got to know my teammates and became known as a hard worker both on and off the field. As an adult playing on a team there really were not many duties for the Captain or Assistants at the games. I came prepared each game with a line-up, knowing which position each player enjoyed playing. I stepped into positions that no one wanted to do such as goalie when I had no experience. Off the field I got to know many of the players because when they couldn’t make a game for personal reasons they often confided in me. Within a few years the team really bonded and so I put together a team trip, arranged transportation and accommodations which everyone seemed to enjoy. I became known as the glue that kept the team together and often players would comment about how much they enjoyed being part of the team and how unorganized it was playing for other teams. Within a few years I became established as an emergent leader. Northhouse (2016 page 8) says that emergence happens over a period of time by being verbally involved, being informed, seeking other’s opinions, initiating new ideas and being firm but not rigid.

There is a role for both an assigned leader versus an emergent leader. In the early days of an organization it takes time for roles and responsibilities to be established and for emergent leaders to find their place. In order for employees to function day to day and have accountability an assigned leader becomes important. Eventually though as an organization matures, so does emergency leaders. These leaders display qualities that make employees want to follow them. Emergent leaders display good ethics, a high degree of intelligence, make others feel comfortable/welcome and are people that employees can trust and have their best interest at heart. An organization that does not eventually have an emergency leader may accomplish tasks however it will increasingly become difficult to motive staff. Sometimes organizations have emergent leaders as well that often go unrecognized.  This can come from jealousy, age, race or gender discrimination, as well as a number of other reasons. The question is how does an organization make this change when there is an inherent culture in place that promotes things like gender discrimination?

Northhouse (2016 page 8) Leadership Theory and Practice

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Unit 1, Learning Activity 3

Northouse’s definition of leadership is “Leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal.” (Peter G. Norhhouse 2016)

Northouse continues to explain ideas about the following components of leadership. Process, power, influence, group context and goal attainment.

Defining leadership as a process means it is not a trait or characteristic that resides in a leader, but rather a transactional event that occurs between the leader and the followers. When leadership is defined in this manner, it becomes available to  everyone. (Peter G. Northhouse 2016). Perhaps an example that comes to mind is when an emergency occurs. Imagine at a high school catches fire. The leader of the school may be the Principal during the normal school day however in the event of a fire there are more qualified people that need to take charge. It might start with a floor warden that safely leads the children out of the school. Until the Fire department arrives a designated Incident commander will collect information from floor wardens so that when the fire department arrives they get a clearer picture as to what is happening. When the fire department arrives, clearly they are the ones that are most qualified to deal with the fire and so naturally will take on a leadership role. In this type of leadership style it can become available to anyone. The leader is recognized for their level of expertise in dealing with the emergency and so others will naturally follow.

With respect to leadership and power, I found this section to be of particular interest, mainly because of my experiences with both positive and negative power. Power can be abused and lead people in the wrong direction and do terrible things. Looking back on history it is hard to sometimes understand why some leaders are followed however as explained by Northhouse (page 10), there are many reasons why people will follow a dangerous leader. Motivations of followers stem from people feeling like there is no other alternative and or come from the need to be rewarded. On the contrary positive power can benefit followers by learning from another persons gifts or being influenced by being around someone that cares.

Leadership involving influence stems from those that can see the bigger picture and understand what motivates their followers. By motivating their followers the leader is able to influence them toward a common goal. Influences can be organizationally external or internal in nature .  An example of how influencing followers in an organization might stem from external motivations is for where an employee is struggling to find affordable housing. A leader of a housing organization with a goal of creating affordable housing and is able to articulate their vision on how to solve a problem will likely influence employees wanting to achieve a common goal and to follow the leader. This same employee because of their personal experience may empathize with others and so internally within the organization may also be influenced to follow the leader that stands behind these same values.

Some followers however can be influenced to follow a person using positive power or negative power, simply by being influenced by a group of people. This stems from people wanting to have a sense of belonging and so even if they don’t believe in the leader of the group they will follow the leader because they want to be part of a group.

When it comes to goal attainment by a leader this stems from the desire to achieve organizational missions. Company Missions are built by the leadership and form part of the strategic plan. A Manager is the one however that is assigned to an organization to carry out the day to day tasks that will help the company to achieve it’s mission.

My question however is how do we stop those that abuse power and are in a leadership role, particularly when the followers of a leader are motivated for monetary reasons?

Peter G. Northouse (2016) Leadership theory and practice. Definition and Components pg. 6.

Peter G. Northouse (2016) Leadership theory and practice. Definition and Components pg. 10.

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Follow the Leader

For the person I admire the most at this time would be Canadian Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould. Ms. Wilson-Raybould is an indigenous Canadian whom advocates for the environmental and social justice. For this assignment I followed Ms. Wilsom Raybould on both Facebook and Instagram.

Ideas and impacts I noticed on her social media platform include criminal justice reform, the Charter of Rights and Freedom, Human Rights advocacy, support for survivors of sexual violence, harassment and discrimination. My greatest degree of interest in following her is with respect to the work that is still needed with truth and reconciliation.

As an indigenous woman working for my community these are topics that are of great interest and importance to me. Particularly as I am tasked with building community capacity and creating an environment that is better for this and the next 7 generation. In Ms. Wilson-Raybould’s posts she often speaks about the UN Declaration on the rights of Indigenous peoples (UNDRIP), and the work the government is doing to implement the declaration. Having said that she is upfront that there is lots of work to be accomplished and it will take years to fully implement.  I respect her as a politician for acknowledging that changes will not occur overnight. The key section of the declaration and why UNDRIP is important to me is the section that speaks about “free, prior and informed consent”. What this means to Canadians is that in the unseeded territory of First Nations, large projects such as pipelines will require consultation and consent with the local First Nations governments. Its a step toward acknowledging the sovereign lands of the Indigenous peoples. As a leader of my community whom is responsible for rights and title, this is an important piece of legislation that would have significant effects on my community. It has the potential to instill positive change for many years to come. As a community leader I need to consistently advocate for rights and title when large projects occur in my traditional territory. This will further support the work that I do for my community and provide a legal framework with how consultation and consent should take place.

My advice to Ms. Wilson-Raybould on how to motivate followers is to perhaps sometimes provide some background into the complex issues facing First Nations today. Also a legal understanding on how rights and title came to be. I often hear ignorant comments such as the war was won a long time ago, in reference to the First Nations people and that they should just get over what happened in the past. It’s astounding given that there never was a war. This is the part that I don’t think the general public has a clear understanding about why these issues are important. Ms. Wilson-Raybould speaks about truth and reconciliation but doesn’t often share the horrid stories behind it. I do think this is in an attempt to keep a positive image however perhaps by educating the general public about why implementing UNDRIP is important it will create greater support. On a smaller scale I find this effective when in a conversation with an acquaintance about Indigenous Rights and Title. Majority of people I speak with do not understand how land was divided and taken away or how indigenous people could not own land up until the 1970’s.  When I share information about the residential school era or the 60’s scoop, people are astounded that this information was not public until recently. I often get “I had no idea”. This is what I believe creates understanding is by not hiding from what happened in the past. This is exactly the premise of truth and reconciliation. Meaning we can’t get to reconciliation until we speak the truth and understand our past.

Ultimately though, I am very proud of Ms. Wilson-Raybould and the work she does, particularly for the indigenous people of Canada. Her values, ethics and morals are similar to my own which is why I suppose I look up to her as a leader. As indigenous people we have to help each other to get stronger and Ms. Wilson-Raybould is making changes on a national scale, which is impressive. In my small world of Kwantlen I work each day to bring the same change. I try to represent my community and businesses in a way that encourages respect and trust. Always keeping a balance of taking care of community while also finding ways to create opportunities for families to put food on the table. It’s important to keep a balance and respect my elders teachings about caring for mother earth and so businesses that disrespect mother earth, while may be lucrative in the short term are not businesses that are worth leaving for future generations. Instead I focus on opportunities that match the community values and or, when it comes to rights and title, I give people the chance to feel vulnerable and ask questions. For example sometimes breaking the ice by saying “what have you always wanted to ask a First Nations person but have been afraid to ask?” opens the door to greater understanding. It encourages people to want to help and or at least come to a compromise. I know that Canada is still learning the real history of indigenous peoples in Canada. As a leader in my community I know it’s part of my role to share the stories of my ancestors and elders so that greater understanding can be had and the healing can begin. It’s also my role to set an example for future generations and be the best I can be. It may not be on a national scale however one indigenous life changed in my world is a step toward a brighter future for my community.