Leadership isn't a goal but a journey

Leadership is bringing your own ideas and the ideas of the others together to create a unified plan.

To be an effective leader it is important to also be able to follow. Without the followers, the leader would not be a leader. The leader and the follower are equals. I did not understand this concept before taking a leadership class. I came in believing that being a leader was more important than the follower but I could not have been more wrong. I find that I get equal fulfillment being a follower or a leader. At times I find myself enjoying activities more so when I am not the one with the master idea. I enjoy listening to other’s ideas especially if they are not the loudest voice. The quiet ones tend to have the best ideas. A leader must also be able to listen to the members of their team. All ideas should be welcomed and an open mind should be kept at all times. I find that inclusiveness can make or break an activity or project. If members of the team don’t feel included, morale decreases and the project may collapse. I also find that respecting your peers is a very important concept of leadership. There were times that group members were less than kind to one another during activities in class. When people were talking over members of the group I found myself getting very upset because members of the group were getting frustrated, both those leading and following. Through after activity discussions we all showed more respect to one another’s ideas and actions. This increased productivity and kept the peace.

As the semester progressed I found myself putting the leadership concepts learned in class into practice in my personal life. It wasn’t something I really had to think much about but I could see differences in how I interacted with the people around me. I find myself listening significantly better. Listening is something I always thought I was decent at but wanted to become better at. The speaker, observer, and recorder activity was my eye opener of the class. This was what I needed to really grasp the concept of what listening should be. The activity also opened my eyes to the experiences of my class mates. I found myself showing more empathy than I had in a long time. I suppose we are all more similar than I originally had thought.

Feedback was another concept that really makes a worlds difference in a group. It feels great to know you are doing well and that people appreciate you but it is incredibly helpful to get feedback on what you can do to be successful. Being able to deliver feedback in a constructive way will create a stronger leader.

In the beginning of the semester my ideas of leadership were rather close minded. I am now able to look at leadership in multiple lights. There is not one type of leadership, which means there isn’t one type of leader or follower. It is important to continuously work on your leadership skills and know that leadership isn’t a goal but a journey.

Change of Perspective

I find that the golf ball and pipes activity reframed my perspective on leadership. The activity had me all worked up and I still find it fresh in my mind. It was not a single student that was responsible for this shift of perspective, but the class as a whole. We are all unique when it comes to how we lead and these differences did create some problems during the activity. There was conflict amongst those who could speak and those could not. Those who could speak were successful in directing those who could not speak in getting the golf ball into the cup but then the addition of a curve and distance from start to finish increased.

As the activity continued those who could speak began to compete amongst one another. There were some members of the speaking team that chose to sit out. This has me now reflecting on how important including people is to success of a group. Everyone has someone to offer, but not everyone is comfortable to input their ideas. I was part of the non-speaking team and I found myself really being able to take in the situation, but after a while of listening to people bicker, I began to lose interest in the activity. While things were getting heated I also saw myself understanding how important respect is to leadership. The followers and the leaders must respect one another to create harmony. Without respect, people feel they are inferior and a loss of interest may take place. If the leader is being disrespectful, the followers may walk away from the project.

Previous to this activity, I had not given thought to how multiple leaders could create conflict during an activity. It is rather difficult to listen to multiple people for direction. Ideas conflict with one another and this may cause a delay in the completion of an activity or for the activity to not be completed. We as a class were not able to successfully get the ball in the cup after the new obstacles were added due to the emergence of multiple leaders. The multiple emergence of leaders created competition and made it more difficult to communicate. Leadership is about having one person giving direction and that one person taking input from the followers. This creates a flow amongst the group. In activities that followed the pipe and golf ball activity, I see groups setting one person as a leader to give direction. I also see those who tend to give their ideas first letting others speak first.

After the pipes and golf ball activity the class seems to keep respect in mind and this seems to keep the peace. Making sure to include everyone should also be kept in mind. I now let others speak first before putting in my own input. I see my perspective on leadership continuing to change as I learn more about myself and about those around me.