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.