Response

This is a response to Oliver’s post – https://create.twu.ca/oplearning/2018/01/06/learning-activity-1-2/

Thank you for sharing your decision-making process. My decision-making process shares many similarities with the questions you ask, and that sense of caring “too much about one person’s opinion” and allowing it to make you question your decision is certainly relatable. I am the youngest female member of a male dominant team, and in comparison, I hold much less experience with our work. Along with these qualities, I am an introvert who does not enjoy confrontation. Despite all the items listed, I am put in a leadership role on my team where I must enforce certain policies and confront staff to complete certain tasks. I mull over my emails multiple times to perfect the language before sending modify my conversations to lighten the weight of the issue at hand to avoid negative feelings. I often question whether this hyper-awareness of my words and position as a young woman on a diverse team of men is necessary. Although I continue to struggle with this question, my role has taught me much about working with a culturally diverse team with many personal backgrounds. I learnt of the needs to be flexible and patient in trying to understand my team’s worldview. Each team member has his or her own quirk, cultural dispositions, and passions. Because my role connects me to each member of our team, I have learnt and continue learning how to better communicate and support each member by adapting my language, posture, and tone to each person. Mirroring, the concept of mirroring the gestures and attitude of another, is a great tool in leadership. In my experience, this technique has helped me build trust with my team mates and allowed them to feel understood. As leaders, I believe it is important to acknowledge the difference in views with our followers and allow safe space for them to express their perspectives. Although I also battle with the balance of understanding and caring for a team mate and persisting in the decision I make as a leader, I still believe it is important to allow others’ perspectives to instigate questions for my reasoning behind a decision. As much as I hate it, opposing views help me ask great question for critical thinking. To answer your question specifically, I say, leaders should accept that others will hold different worldviews, try to understand their perspectives, and allow these different insights shape your worldview.