Panelicious

So as we come to an end I just wanna say I loved having the opportunity to take this class, meet all of you wonderful people, learn and grow together, and lead in my leadership role! The panel was great on Monday! It was nice to get to hear from people who aren't too much older than us and hear their perspective on where leadership has taken them in their lives. Sorry this post is so short, but it definitely doesn't undermine the wonderful and plentiful new things I have learned this semester about leadership!!

See ya later
Kellon

Change.

It is definitely to my understanding that change is constant and inevitable just as our speaker explained in class this week. I also think it is only logical that change will either have a good or bad impact on the individual or group. I hope that I will be able to make more improvements than downgrades due to change in my leadership role and I hope to do so by seeking feedback often of what the guys on my hall think. I liked how our speaker said this is what good leaders do throughout change because they care abput the impact on those they lead. I have really come to understand that  my own leadership style is centered on the relationships I have with those I'm leading so that is why I think that concept is so vital and definitely important to me as I lead change. I liked some of the other important concepts in leading change that our speaking shared with us and also that we established in Lab. Of those are Truth and Flexibility. I've noticed that truth is definitely a foundational brick to leadership as several of our speakers have mentioned its importance in different areas and principles of leadership. Again, truth comes down to the importance of building strong authoritative relationships with those that you lead. Next, I have forgotten what it feels like to be physically flexible. Recently, I've had the opportunity to take part in the spring football intramurals and boy am I sore after each game despite the stretching I've started to do before and after the games. This reminds me that flexibility is a difficult characteristic to gain and really must become a habit. Flexibility is definitely something I want to work on in my leadership role. As we near finals, any plans we make as a floor may be difficult to please everyone and work with all the study schedules, so I think I should be more flexible in planning events until I have a feel for when and what would work best for the guys on my floor. Furthermore, I really enjoyed the story of the penguins and their melting iceberg in class as I think it was a wonderful example of leading change successfully for the benefit of the group. I'm glad we got to talk about a new model of leading change from that book and I think the worksheet we were given will be great for remembering and applying Kotter's Eight Steps. Also, it is going to be a tremendous help to me on our final papers!!!

Love this class!
Kellon

Let's get Ethical, Ethical... Let's get Ethicaaaaaal

Sooooo did anyone else really enjoy this week's presentation? I can't exactly put my finger on what the Mayor did so well while speaking but I loved his message. I think his principles that he shared with us we solid. I can definitely look back and see how there have been times in my life where the degree of difficulty in doing the right thing increased as time passed. I can especially familiarize myself with his Christmas gift example of the chocolate covered cherries. When I was growing up I would like something a little and my mother would take that to mean that I absolutely loved it and would keep a year supply just for me when I really just enjoyed that item every now and then and I noticed how much harder it was to explain that all along I never really like that thing that much. The worst time was with my dad who just loves to feel like a thrifty shopper... He got the impression that I really liked a certain breakfast cereal and one afternoon while he was at the grocery store saw that it was on sale and went nuts. He probably bought a dozen boxes of the stuff! Anywho, I really liked how the mayor took this principle and explained how it can apply to everything, including procrastination which I have been trying to cut down on this entire semester. Also, I could see evidence from my life about his point that the consequences of telling the truth are never as bad as we make them out to be. Next, I liked how he said he goes about making promises and only promising things that he has control off. I think that is just downright smart and I plan to definitely take that and apply it to the promises that I make to others. Along with that, one of his "separators" was doing what you say you're gonna do. This is something I struggled with back in high school. I'm not sure if my indecisive nature affected it but I would change my mind about things or plans with friends and could see how that upset them. Also, I was pretty bad at saying I would call or text my friends and never following up on that. So, that is my main takeaway and application that I would like to work on from this week. I want to become better at doing the things I say I am going to do. There have been times this year where I know I have told my roommate I would do something and I never came through. Therefore, as I work harder to do better at this I will build more trust with my roommate and the rest of the guys on my floor as well as I offer to do things with and for them. Also, know that I think about it... I want to be more valiant too, or like the mayor described it as doing the right thing when it's hard. If I do a better job of being valiant I think I will be able to build trust with the guys on my floor and because of that build a stronger relationship with them. Also, my example may lead them to becoming more valiant young men!

hasta luego,
Kellon

Situational Leadership.

Boy, was this week's presentation cool or what? I really liked how he had such elaborate concrete examples from the Invictus video clips. I'm glad he did a really good job explaining the concept of situational leadership and that each situation may call for a different approach from the continuum of balancing the three ingredients being Directive Behaviors, Supportive Behaviors, and the Maturity level of the followers. I am thankful for his in-depth explanations because although it is a simple model, I had a little difficulty understanding the different applications. Fortunately, our practice in lab today helped to even further establish my understanding of the concept. I liked seeing how different leadership settings warrant for different styles. For example, the difference between leading a volunteer and an employee is pretty well understood, yet it was nice to put some terms to connect with the situations and their natural base forms of situational leadership. I think the most important thing that I have taken away from this week is the understanding that this model of situational leadership reminds me to treat people differently. After all, everyone is different, so it seems natural that a different style of situational leadership is required on a personal level for each constituent that you lead to most effectively lead them. I like this because I'm all about relationships! I suppose this pushes me towards being more inclined to be a supporting situational leader, but at the same time I'm also all about forward motion. Therefore, I come to the conclusion that I am most comfortable as a coaching situational leader. I can apply this to my leadership role much easier than a directing approach because it is difficult to give your peers stern directions though a manner of one-way communication. However, I believe I will be able to show them the importance  that each one of them plays in making our floor a stronger unit. I can do this by remembering that each one of the guys on my floor is different, despite how alike the guys in 2105 think they are... hehe Seriously, if I continue to get to know them better on a personal level and continue to build an authoritative relationship with them, I have better success in being a leader to them in whatever situation arises. So, I plan to be a little more conscious of opportunities to stop and take the time to extend myself to each of them as often as possible to build the personal leadership relationship that I have with each of them.

Byeeeee!
Kellon

P.S. Thanks for reading : )

The Man with the Plan

'Elloooooo!

Okay, so I love being organized and having things planned out, that's just the kind of guy I am. If a group of friends and I don't have a plan for what we are going to do it bugs me to be frank. So, I like the Leadership Principle we talked about this week about what all goes into effective planning. Despite my love for having things set in order, I can be extremely indecisive. Therefore, one of my favorite comments our speaker made was the fact that a leader must be able to make a decision and once that decision is made  they must be able to stand behind it and support it. From there, you can build upon that first decision and plan around it. I enjoyed our group project in Lab because I really thought the R.A.C.E. model was really helpful and a wonderful descison making tool that allows for better planning. Some key parts that I liked about the model was defining your problem and objectives in the Research phase because I have to have direction to be an effective worker and leader. If I can't understand what I am working towards or what needs to be done I notice that I become frustrated and my leadership breaks down from there. Next, I like the concept of making an outline of specific steps in the Action Plan. Deadlines are also a personal necessity for me. I already have a hard enough time with procrastination that I have been trying to minimize this semester as one of my goals. However, I know that if I have a specific timeline to work with, I am a much more productive individual and can keep myself better accountable for my responsibilities in whatever project or task I am involved in. Lastly, I am a pretty competitive person deep down, not only in an outward manner while competing against others, but also in an inward fashion towards myself and my capabilities. I love stretching myself and if I'm not getting better at whatever I'm doing then I am wasting my time and not fulfilling the plan that has been set forth. This is why I think the Evaluation phase is so important. You must be able to measure your performance or else how can you know if you've done well or succeeded? Even if you didn't perform as expected, you need a measurement to let you know what you did do well at and what you dropped the ball on so you can improve next time. I think it's all about improvement. If you take a look at the best and most important Plan ever made it is easy to understand the importance of all these aspects of planning. Heavenly Father's Plan is incredibly perfect. We know the problem that we face and what we must overcome and do specifically to meet our objective to return to Him. His Plan is one of improvement. We should constantly be striving to reflect on our daily performance and trying a little harder to be a little better each day. Well, I plan to use this week's knowledge that I've gained in my leadership role by doing a better job of planning floor events. I think if I use the R.A.C.E. model I can improve the overall success of our events. Also, I think this model for planning can be applied to much more in my leadership arena. I can use the model to help guys on my hall with things they need to get done or overcome problems they are facing because ultimately the model is about addressing a problem and planning how to overcome it and meet objectives. It is not only a beautiful planning tool but also a wonderful problem solving model.

Catch ya laterrrrrrr,
Kellon

Tick-Tock Goes the Clock...

Sometimes I feel like the rabbit in the famous story Alice in Wonderland… always running around stressing about my to-do’s, but after this week’s lecture and lab I think I have a better understanding of how I can reduce or put an end to me feeling all hippity hoppity all the time. Firstly, I really enjoyed our speaker this week. Our public speaking lecture could have been of some use to her but her message was great and overall she was wonderful. She had some really cool quotes that a jotted down and look forward to remembering for future use. The most important thing that I took away from her lesson was that the allocations of my time reflect my values, and I think it is so easy to understand and prove this concept as you observe others but it is a little more difficult to keep yourself in check in regards to how your use of time says things about you as a person. The next best thing I feel that I learned from this week’s leadership principle was that the things I spend time on should ultimately be supporting and working towards my long-term life goals. This was an idea that Tamara introduced at the end of lecture and I really enjoyed applying it in lab to see if the use of my time over the 2-day assignment was constructive to my goals. Somewhat surprisingly, none of the things I did over those two days were helping me reach one or two of the goals I determined as things I have been working towards this year. This was a pretty big warning/alert/wake-up call for me as to how I’m spending my free time, and one of my new goals to add to the list is to be more reflective each day about if I have been working towards my goals that day and to do a better job of doing so. I think that it will also be easier for me to do so if I make my goals more visible to myself rather than just leaving them as thoughts in my noggin. So, I plan to add some new decor to the dorm today (a nice big list of my goals somewhere I will see them often).

Got Public Speaking?

Hey all you bloggers out there,

Just thought I should let you know that blogging is definitely not an equivalent substitute for public speaking... even if your electronic thoughts and words are open to the public. So, I encourage you to hop up out of that ever so comfy and captivating chair in front of your preferred nifty electronic blogging device, and go out and find an opportunity to stand up and share your thoughts, opinions, or experiences in front of an audience; share with them a message and have a purpose for your being in front of them and taking up their time which is oh so valuable. Another piece of advice I would like to share with you is to practice. Now, I don't necessarily believe that practice makes perfect; there is always room for improvement. However, practice does make you better prepared. Personally, I admit I should have practiced a little more this week before my presentation, or at least practiced more effectively. One key thing I did not think to do was to time myself... HUGE faux pas on my part. Also, I should have been more aware during my presentation of elapsed time. In any case, nobody starts out as an expert at public speaking... so don't get too down on yourselves if you have the occasional blunder, just learn from your mistake and in doing so enable yourself to do a better job next time. Well, I really enjoyed this week's leadership principle and the project that went along with it. I loved my book (The Servant by James C. Hunter) and I was super bummed I wasn't able to share all of its wonderful contents... buuuuuut I guess you'll either just have to take my word for its greatness, OR you can pick it up and read it! I highly recommend the latter. It's a super easy and enjoyable read. You can go borrow the copy that belongs to the Student Leadership department in the BYUSA offices (just ask Macy). Also, this week has really sparked a new interest to me and I definitely jotted down Sister Wilson's information and public speaking class (TMA 150). You guys should totally plan it in to your future class schedule, for say... Fall 2013? : )
On a serious note, I completely, 100%, all the way believe in the importance of being an effective and experienced public speaker in order to be a successful leader. Communication is so crucial to leadership, and the best form is speaking before those you are leading and letting them know you care about them. A goal for myself as a public speaker is to take all the opportunities that arise or make themselves available to me to speak and practice the techniques and principles to public speaking we learned. This may not tie in to my leadership role in an overwhelming manner, but it still will make me a better communicator to the guys on my floor during floor meetings.

Toodles,
Kellon