There is no I in Teamwork, but there sure is Work.

I really enjoyed both the presentation and the lab for this weeks leadership principle. Despite some technical difficulties, I think Mr. Holmoe did a wonderful job of communicating the importance of being able to work together in a leadership environment. He shared with us some really awesome examples and stories that were easy to be apply to our lives. I really liked his firelighter/fighter comparison and thought that was a really good reflection exercise to connect that principle to our past and experiences. Now, what I loved about his presentation was the 5 Stages of Relationships breakdown. I think the building of relationships is so crucial for any leader, especially in the team environment. Working in conjunction with other people and trying to be a leader can be difficult, even more so when they consider themselves leaders as well. Then, I liked how Macy linked the importance of strong relationships to teamwork in lab. In fact, I loved lab this week and hope we can do more joint labs with the other sections of the class because those activities really helped me to branch out and have the opportunity to become more familiar with the people who share a common interest: leadership. For example, I hadn't made a very good attempt to get to know KC very well being that he joined our class after we had done introductions and I'm really glad I had the opportunity to be on his team in the lab and work with him in the activities. That really was a manifestation to me the power of working with other people and putting your trust in them and them doing the same with me and the catalyst that teamwork can be to building a relationship (Sorry if this is a little embarrassing KC, just thought it was a great example).

So last week one of my goals was to try and facilitate a little conflict resolution between two guys on my floor. Good news, I think they are patching things up nicely. We all ate lunch together in the Cannon the other day and everything seemed great, of course there was the occasional joke or two but I think they were purely playful. Even better was that they went and played basketball with a couple other guys on my floor and were on the same team and had a good time together. I wasn't there but I heard about a funny event of one of them having a pretty bad fall from an attempted layup and was glad to hear that rather than making offensive of mean jokes about it they were able to laugh together while retelling the story later on. I think that shows some obvious signs of improvement and less resentment on each end.

Well, a new goal of mine in regards to teamwork will be outside of my determined leadership role involving the guys on my floor; however, I had the opportunity to sign up with a friend's intramural football team and our games start this coming week. I think it is a great opportunity to build relationships with the guys on the team that I don't know and and opportunity to be a leader and example to them in a teamwork environment. I really look forward to applying the things discussed from our lab this week where we learned about the 5 Dysfunctions of a Team and I hope to inversely apply that knowledge.

Over and Out,
KELLON : )

Conflict is a bumpy road.

So this week we talked about some reasons why conflict comes about and also about how to deal with those instances. Also, we talked about certain types of roles that come into play during conflict that are largely derived from one's personality. I really liked how the guest speaker talked about conflict being a source of opportunity. Personally, I have always avoided conflict as much as I can and my quiz results from Lab supported that. Something important that I have taken away from this week's lesson is that I need to slightly alter my approach to conflict. I plan to try and be a little bit more of a competitor in order to get the conflict resolved in a more timely or efficient manner. Avoiding buys time but it doesn't solve much in the ways of coming closer to a resolution. Eventually, the individual has to suck it up and take action.

Well, back to my goal from last week's blog, I thought I'd give y'all a status report. The activity that we decided to put together kind of fell apart at the seams... no one really showed up. I think this is mostly due to the fact that it was a week night and there were probably conflicts with school. However, even though the event may have been a failure it was definitely not useless. I've put some thought into the result of the event and how to make the next event more successful. I think it will be best to keep the events on the weekend (an earlier event we had on Saturday night was a big hit). Also, I now have thought of better ways to keep everyone informed and reminded of the upcoming activity. Still, I think it is most important to make the activity something that everyone can enjoy. So, with the help of our experiment in Lab this week I have learned of some ways to resolve conflict, especially when it involves choosing a group activity. Also, I will continue to improve upon my strengths in preparation of the next activity and try to put them to even more use.

A new goal that I have made for this week is to help resolve conflicts that I notice on my floor. I have one in mind that needs to be dealt with between two guys who have been on both ends of floor pranks and there is still some tension from the aftermath. So, I would like to take the opportunity to exercise the knowledge I've gained about conflict resolution. Hopefully, I will be able to make an attempt at this goal at this weekend's floor activity. If that opportunity doesn't arise, then I will make it happen after our floor meeting or may even talk to my RA about working in some kind of friendship building activity, or even better... a conflict resolution workshop for applicable use among roommates, into the meeting and have them paired up as partners to see if we can fix this problem.

Over and out.
Kellon

P.S. I totally forgot to work in an analogy for conflict, hence the funky title of the post. For what it's worth, I was going to say something like how conflict can be compared to a bumpy road that can get some pretty nasty potholes, but nothing some good ol' asphalt (conflict resolution) can't fix!

P.P.S. I was inspired by the guest speaker's cool water/emotions analogy to try and make my own comparison.

Utilizing my Strengths for Leadership Purposes

So this week in lecture we talked about how Strengths-Based Leadership can lead to more success as a leader. I loved how our speaker emphasized how it is more important to focus on what you do well and improving on those strengths to maximize success rather than focus on what you don't do well. I really like this concept because I feel like I can be a little too hard on myself sometimes, don't get me wrong... I think it is important to reflect and recognize areas where I am terribly lacking and make an effort to fix that problem. However, I also think that when I focus on what I am doing well, and try to establish ways to do those things even better, I am better off and can more easily be the happy, uplifting, Christ-like, servant leader I want to be. After all, Christ looked for the best in people during his mortal ministry and I am confident that as I look for the best in myself I will be able to easier find and come to know the strengths of those around me. In practice, I think it is also important to remember to be observant of the people around me because now that I have learned more about specific types of leaders and personalities I will be more capable to deduce how to best interact and lead those people. The following plans and goals that I have made for myself this week within my leadership role illuminate my aforementioned views on strengths-based leadership. So, on a personal level, I plan to keep track of my future accomplishments and compliments received. I actually have already started this portion of my plans by including in my journal a recent cheerful note I received from one of the floors of girls in my ward. Reflecting on their kind words already helped me to notice some of my strengths and how they can be best used. Also, I plan to prayerfully study my Patriarchal Blessing and politely ask those who know me best to help me identify some of my strengths and weaknesses and will also document those in my journal. Now, as an ENFJ Type I am going to use my interpersonal skills and sensitivity strengths this weekend to determine what the guys on my floor would like to do for our next floor activity. My goal is to knock on each door and seek input from them and at the same time practice my listening skills and see if I can't try and guess some personality or leadership types.

Servant Leadership

This week was Blogtastic as far as our Student Leadership Class went. I really enjoyed the Lecture Monday afternoon by Dr. Cox. I thought all the examples he brought up of Servant Leaders were so cool and it made me really want to read about each of their lives and leadership styles. I also was extremely interested by how he incorporated Servant Leadership into the Business world because I hope to be a leader in business in my future. But for now, I think I can really apply the principles he discussed to my leadership role by serving the gentlemen on my floor. I am definitely more willing to put myself out there more to serve them after our service experiment during Lab on Wednesday in which I saw the results of a little spontaneous friendly service. It is so worth the little time and effort it takes to go out of your way to do things for people. In my opinion, their smile and gratitude are the best returns possible on such a simple and small investment. I plan to let it be more known to the guys on my hall that I am willing to help them out and do whatever I can to lighten their load by personally offering my services and time to them. I am also excited to read my Leadership Book for the semester that is titled The Servant by James C. Hunter and plan to apply the servant leadership lessons within to my leadership role and lifestyle.