Character

Monday's class was presented by Colleen and David on the concept of character and how it compares to personality and identity. I think they did a very nice job with their presentation and I really enjoyed the pre-work they provided. When I completed the quiz they sent us, I thought my results were representative of my character. My top five character traits are as follows:

·         Kindness
·         Appreciation of Beauty and Excellence
·         Love
·         Honesty
·         Perspective

I thought that these five presented an accurate description of who I am as a person. I strive to help others and be kind to everyone. I am extremely aware and appreciative of beauty and excellence. And I do think I have a good grasp on perspective. My next two were Fairness and Leadership, which I was pleased to see ranked so high considering I am an aspiring leader and I hope to be as fair as possible with all of the people I will lead.

My lowest four were also just as accurate. They were:

·         Creativity
·         Hope
·         Zest
·         Spirituality

I do not consider myself a spiritual person in the definitive sense of the word, although I do have an innate connection to nature and appreciate the earth very much. In terms of Hope and Zest, I am a very realistic person and, although I can be excited about certain things, I am generally reserved around most people. The definition the quiz provided for hope is “expecting the best in the future…believing that a good future can be brought about”. While I do believe my life is what I make of it, I rarely have expectations of anyone or anything. I would like to have a successful future and I am willing to put in the work to get there, but I do not expect to be the most successful person in the world.

In class, Colleen and David conducted an activity where we had to try and correctly guess each person’s top five character traits associated with them. I was very surprised when Jess got mine correct within the first 10 minutes of starting. I see that as a very good thing though, because it truly shows that I hold true to my values and morals to the point where others are able to sense them as well. Overall I really enjoyed Monday’s class.

Everyday Leadership TED Talk

I know I have definitely seen this TED talk before in some class, but I still think the message behind it is amazing. Drew Dudley talks about the moment when he met a girl who he, unknowingly, convinced to stay in college. This talk is about passive leadership. It's about how small moments to you may that impact others immensely. You never know how you impact other people's lives.

Drew explains that it is really about positivity and giving all people a reason to smile. Like he states in the video, leadership does not have to be something that is beyond our reach. Leadership is about positively influencing people, pushing them to do their best, and putting them on the right track to success. We can all be leaders everyday in some way. I think we all should strive to be that person who inspires others to do great things, even if it's only one person that we influence.

Drew Dudley: Everyday Leadership

EQ vs. IQ

On Monday, Caroline and Regan presented to the class about IQ versus EQ. I thought their information was really interesting and well presented. I have been thinking a lot about the importance of emotional intelligence in the workplace and just in general. I think EQ plays a huge role in every part of our lives.

While going into interviews for summer internships, I have been talking to some people preparing for them. I have been saying that you can be very smart and super overqualified, or you can be qualified and more in touch with yours and others’ emotions, and the emotionally intelligent person is more likely to get the job, in my experience. I believe that no matter how smart you are, it ultimately comes down to how much the interviewer likes you, or how well you are able to connect with the person in a short amount of time. You have to make yourself desirable, sell yourself to the interviewer. Those skills require a high EQ to enact. Even in friendships, people are more attracted to spend time with those who understand you well and are able to empathize, sympathize, or have meaningful conversations with you.

Having a high EQ allows a person to be more approachable because they are more in touch with their emotions, more receptive to the emotions of others, and more responsive in situations of conflict. I believe that being able to connect with people and understand how to relate to other people is the key to any successful interview or interaction. I really appreciated Caroline and Regan’s presentation because it further supported my theory that EQ is just as important, or even more important, than IQ.

Time Management

Time management (n.): “the ability to use one's time effectively or productively, especially at work”.

I used to think that I was fairly good at managing my time and using it efficiently. But the beginning of this semester has really been showing how truly fluid my ability is to use time well. Taking five classes this semester and working two jobs, with tasks coming from all angles, I am slowly (almost too slowly) understanding time management better. I am realizing that although one way of being efficient may work for a while, time management is an active developmental process. It is most effective if it is being constantly developed, absorbing new productivity skills, and learning how to successfully implement those skills into everyday tasks.

I believe that professionalism and time management go hand in hand. To be late to work, to turn in assignments past the due date, or not answering emails quickly portray laziness and lack of interest in the institution’s success. And I think that it can only be successful if people are able to communicate with one another and share ideas openly. I am realizing this throughout my years and years of schooling and through every job I have had thus far in life. To be a manager in any institution requires great coordination and constant communication. Being sure that every department has all of the necessary resources to function properly, being sure that there is enough money in the company to replenish assets and continue to develop the companies brand, and being sure that the communication between all staff members is smooth and that the staff is cohesive… those are all extremely important skills needed to be an effective manager. I believe that in order to be a competent manager, time management is the integral skill that all other skills are built upon.

Presentation "One"

On Wednesday, Jess, Carly, and I gave our presentation on Motivation Theories and how they transfer into the workplace. If I’m being honest with myself, I think we could have prepared more, and practiced with the technology at least once. We could have related the theories into the healthcare industry rather than just going in to detail about them and explaining them, like one person said. As Professor Bonica said as well, we now need to research studies and articles that support our statements made. I think we could have added in some examples from studies done. We also could have had a better interactive section of the presentation, as a few peers suggested.

But also I think it went really well. In terms of content, we knew our information thoroughly and I think we did well with the delivery as well. Aesthetically speaking, I think our clothes were professional enough to meet the standards that we set for ourselves. The slides themselves also looked nice with simple bullets, pictures, and the video. Overall, I am very grateful for my group members.☺

I really appreciated all of the feedback we got yesterday. One of the main reasons I think this class is so interesting and helpful with professional development is because we are almost using this as a “test run” for the future. We are trying to improve ourselves to help each other become more confident and professional. Being able to discuss the presentation and the content objectively with people who want you to succeed makes it feel more meaningful and honest (because if one succeeds, we all do). And I think this supportive environment is one of my motivating factors for me to do well in this class.

Two things:

1. We have all procrastinated at one point in our lives. I am certain there are no exceptions to the procrastination trap. This video is a TED talk that my mentor, Kelly Hardee Wheeler, sent me on Tuesday about why chronic procrastinators are the way they are. It's 15 minutes long, but it is very funny and extremely relatable (at least in my life).

VIDEO: Inside the Mind of a Master Procrastinator


2. My phone call with Ms. Wheeler went really well. She is very insightful and gave me a lot of things to think about. One thing that really stuck with me from my contact with her yesterday was when she said that as a future leader, you should always be thinking of the next question that can be asked. You have to be aware and intuitive and always being asking why things are the way they are and why the people are asking the questions in the first place. We need to be thinking about how to tackle the issue, what the next improvement should be, and how the issue arose to begin with. She said that leaders need to be self-disciplined as well as self-motivated, and that you can't be afraid to change paths and take advantage of every available opportunity presented to you. You can't sit back and expect things to happen for you.

Needless to say, I'm excited about getting to know my mentor better and learning a lot from her.

Respect in Leadership

I have lately been thinking about how respect plays into relationships with others, and how a lack-there-of can lead to unstable relationships. Although this concept can be applied to nearly every relationship, I am focusing solely on professional connections, such as those made in the workplace.

Being a Resident Assistant for the past semester and into this spring, I have learned even further how important respect is when dealing with people you are “in charge of”. A dorm setting is very different to the workplace, but the things I have learned from my position are arguably similar. One thing I have realized is that respect is easy to gain, and even easier to lose. I say this cautiously, because the tricky thing about respect is that it must be established within the first few encounters with a person. You have to lay out the ground rules and then build a meaningful relationship with them. But even after the relationship has been developed, you cannot be afraid to enforce policies and regulations. If you let bad work go just because you have a personal connection with the person, they will take advantage of your kindness and the organization will be full of people who are too complacent to listen to management.

At the same time though, you, as the administrator, must show respect to those you are overseeing. There must be a mutual respect for a cohesive environment to be sustained. If you do not respect those reporting to you, they will feel your disinterest and be less motivated to do well. And why should they be motivated if they know that, no matter what, they will get away with sloppy work?

Sometimes the best way to gain the most respect is to become friends with your workers. Some managers are afraid to become friends with the people they manage because they do not want to have to put their friendship in question if they have to enforce policies. In my experience, I think it is possible to be friends with those you oversee. However, you always have to remember that you are the administrator first, and the friend second. But I do not think this will create a disingenuous relationship, or one that feels almost fake because you have to be stern with them sometimes. I think that they will be more receptive to your feedback and your authority if they are friends with you because what you have to say will be genuine and coming from a place of support.

Motivation and Discipline

Last week, I reviewed Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, to refresh my memory and to see how I could apply it to Organizational Behavior. I had never thought of this theory as it applies to organizations, but I learned that it is extremely relevant to a workplace setting.

I read one article that explained the correlation between the Hierarchy and how it works within an organization, and its shortcomings within an organization as well. This article states that, of course, motivation is the reason or reasons why people act a particular way and what make us want to participate in making the organization run as efficiently as possible. However, motivation can only go so far and “lack of motivation” can be used as an excuse to do the work poorly or to avoid fulfilling their roll at all. This argument, when I first read it, came off as far-fetched and abstract, but after doing further probing of the idea, it began to make more and more sense. People only do things if they have a motivator. For instance, most people only go to work at boring jobs if they get a paycheck at the end of the week, or to get the bonus at the end of the fiscal year, or to help support their families. But what if we took away those incentives? A CEO, for example, who has reached the highest position in the company and who is financially stable with incredible job security does not have to be concerned with the bonuses and the money. What is the motivator for them to get their work done, and to do it well?

This is when a second idea comes into play: the idea of discipline and self-discipline in the workplace. Motivation can only go so far to get things done in an organization. And if the CEO or other management is not motivated to do well, why should the workers on the floor be motivated to do well? Maslow’s Hierarchy says that going through the process of self-actualization, or the top level of the needs pyramid, is the only way to learn self-discipline. This in turn means that motivation to do good work must come from within, and only if all other lower level needs are met.

I believe that in order for any of these theories to work successfully within an organization, people have to enjoy what they are doing at work and enjoy the setting in which they work. Only then, when people are positive about and confident in the work they are doing, will money no longer be the primary motivator. When the CEO and others in management are happy to work at the organization, do their best to improve it in any way they can, and make it known to the employees that they care about what they need and what they have to say, that is when the organization has risen to the highest level of the Hierarchy.