A521.9.4.RB- Reflections on Leadership

What does it take to be a different kind of leader? Being the best at doing a particular type of work and being appointed to oversee others doing the same work? Have the best ideas? Be someone who talks the loudest and the most? Is it someone who is creative, caring and genuine? We have a come a long way from the early days of childhood leadership, which came in the form of Follow the Leader. First a leader or "head of the line" is chosen, and then everyone lines up behind the leader. The leader then moves around and everyone must copy what is done. Any players who fail to follow or do what the leader does are out of the game. The last person standing other than the leader is now the new leader. In some corporate cultures perhaps that is still a relevant application to what some consider leadership, but I don’t see it that way at all. Exploring Chapter 12 of The Leader’s Guide to Storytelling, Denning describes several different dimensions of interactive leadership and what elements he feels should be present in a leader who takes an interactive approach to thinking, speaking, and acting.

There are several dimensions that are listed in his text that I feel I relate to which are: The interactive leader works with the world rater than against it, interactive leadership builds on personal integrity and authenticity and interactive leadership doesn’t depend on the possession of hierarchical authority. One of the most prominent themes is that regardless where you are within an organization you are able to exercise leadership. This point is highlighted in the idea that leaders benefits from working with the world, not against it. If you go with the forward momentum, the current, if you will then you do not have to spend extraneous energy paddling against it. It is a lot easier to let the world do some of the work for you instead of trying to force your agenda on others (Denning, 2011). Another point that I think is relevant to life in general and especially helpful in leadership is be who you are, your authentic self. Denning does point out that integrity is huge part of being a successful leader. Respect others, speak the truth, do not see others as a means to your own ends and act in accordance to your values (Denning, 2011). Incorporating integrity and authenticity can go a long way and help yield positive results “because you are open to innovation, happy accidents happen” (Denning, 2011, p. 271). The work world will be a better place because you bring meaning to it and in turn can receive superior results. There is nothing worse than a leader who struggles to motivate and inspire. Most importantly I feel that you do not need a title to be a leader and it certainly doesn’t make you good and leading or being effective just because you have one. An interactive leader does not depend on hierarchical authority. You can be a fitting example, help others around you and guide the way without anyone telling you that you have permission to do so. Those who help clarify the direction or improve the structure is a person who provides leadership (Denning, 2011).

I don’t feel like I really have a title in my organization that who make me an obvious leader. However, my role advising students becomes better when I embrace these dimensions. I work diligently to communicate truthful, helpful messages and am constantly concerned for the academic well being of my students. I want to see their success and celebrate that with them. I feel that I coach them to victory. I certainly do not try to gain control and impose boundaries in order to receive compliance. I feel that I am an equal partner in their journey. I think outside of advising the same viewpoint can be applied to guiding others to accomplishing the tasks at hand. Graduation is an obvious milestone and sometimes thought of as the end result, but you do not need a clear finish line to work the steps of being an interactive leader. A final thought on the matter is appropriately quoted from Denning that, “participants grasp the interrelatedness of things in the world- and so are able to connect with the world in new ways” (Denning, 2011, p. 269). It is a shame to see the Follow the Leader or else mentality and effective leadership embraces better ways to lead.

Reference: Denning, S., (2011). The leader’s guide to storytelling; Mastering the art and discipline of business narrative. San Francisco, CA. Jossey-Bass.

A521.8.4.RB- Making Contact

I am very fortunate to be a person who is quite comfortable in their own skin. I have plenty of things I could consider wrong with me, but I have a sufficient amount of confidence. I do not suffer from a fear of public speaking and do not mind talking to other people. In fact, I barely care if I am talked about in a negative fashion, this helps a lot with the fear of rejection. As long as I approve of myself I am confident regardless of others opinions. I always say that it is okay with me if I am the most interesting part of someone elses day, if they are talking about me, I must be.  For arguments sake, I do not think this happens much. I often make jokes about myself when I see the someecards that are popular on the internet. One in particular says: I should be ashamed of myself. Let’s be clear; I’m not, but I should be.  This is not to say I am Miss Personality and wheel and deal my way around a room of strangers, but I get by just fine. I will talk to anyone, at least briefly; I would even consider a tree, especially if I was in a “Castaway” situation, perhaps a Volleyball named Wilson.

I grew up with two shy parents. I had no idea that they were shy for a long time, but the shy gene seemed to skip me and I came out guns blazing. When I was a little girl I was a sassy little thing. Due to my everlasting energy I was put into gymnastics and dance classes. A big part of learning skills and choreography is performing, which I loved. I could not get enough of it. Let us just say that when I was little I had a big ego and applause was my favorite thing. As I have grown up I learned some manners and have changed quite a bit. I would categorize myself as an introvert with extroverted tendencies. My preference is to be at home, like a hermit and keeping to myself. When I spend a large portion of time engaging with others I find that it drains me the older I get. I think as I am getting older I am getting more stuck in my ways. I find that social conventions, like my refusal to drink alcohol, causes a severe lack of interest between myself and others, especially in my immediate peer group. Though I do not mind morally when others imbibe, I find that it gets old quickly when it gets out of hand and being the sober person makes you eternally the designated driver. If any event with strangers involves this aspect I tend to withdraw and not do as well making acquaintances as I could do.

McKay, Davis & Fanning refer to the fear of strangers as a main reason others have difficulties making contact. I find that this applies to me in the physical sense, not the emotional sense. I have a strange, huge fear of not being able to trust strangers because I am afraid I may be harmed. I also watch too much TruTV and crime shows.

This is not to say I am completely immune to the issues that come along with making contact with new people. I do much better in person due to body language, but have found the necessity to adapt when I know I am going to have a “cold” conversation on the telephone. When I began college, I moved out of state and knew no one. I met a classmate in my first class and we ended up exchanging numbers. I needed to call for notes and assignment related reasons. In case it went south quickly, I made a note card of talking points to keep the conversation on track. Luckily I did not need them. Later I found that my classmate did the same thing and we became friends for a while after college. He taught me the term awkward turtle and I try at all costs not to go all awkward turtle when talking to others and try to bail them out from doing the same. To this day when I need to call new people while I am at work, I have a sticky note on hand just in case I need to recall my talking points.

I find that I employ a lot of the same techniques the McKay, Davis & Fanning text suggests. I use body language to try to convey my openness to communicate such as smiling and making eye contact. I also use icebreakers. I find something I genuinely like about someone, which is not very difficult and let the other person know in a sincere manner. This seems to allow the other person to feel receptive to my presence. I also am quite a goofy person and am comfortable with adding a little humor. The McKay, Davis & Fanning text also discusses the art of conversation. It has come to my attention that I am basically a nosy person, especially when I want to know something. I have a curious mind. I am willing to ask questions like I am interviewing you for a news segment as well as pry when necessary. I am comfortable with follow up questions. I also actively listen so that I can learn the answers to my inquiries and am not fearful of self-disclosure. In fact, I could use a little work reeling that in. Those who have known me long enough know not to ask questions when you are not prepared for very candid, very frank, full-detailed responses. The term too much information can often apply to me. Like I mentioned earlier, I should be ashamed, but I am not.

From experience I find that the most pleasurable conversations result in finding another person that is truly willing to make contact when you are. I can weasel responses out of someone and do my best to be friendly, but sometimes you just don’t make that connection or feel that spark. The best conversations are when two people have a meeting of the mind. I find that it is very rare for this to happen, especially as others are becoming less social in person, maybe due to social media. When I do find someone who I meet that is receptive, I could talk for hours and it is rewarding and exciting to know interesting people.

Reference: McKay, M., Davis, M., & Fanning, P. (2009). Messages: The communication skills book. Oakland: New Harbinger Publications, Inc.

A521.7.4.RB- Knowledge Sharing Story

“Explanations can come to represent lenses through which we view the world” (Denning, 2011, p. 191) From 2010 until 2013, exactly three years to the day, I worked at an Optometry office. While there were leadership flaws that attempted to mar my experience, I came to adore the patients and the subject matter of eyes. One of the many interesting things about working in a medical office is you see the whole human spectrum: shy people, young people, mean people, elderly people etc. Some of the more interesting were the brave people who would say to me, do you wear glasses? To which I would reply, no. Then they would implore, well, do you wear contacts? Unceremoniously I would gently shake my head no. Then my favorite question would be, so why do you work here? At first this question made me feel like an imposter. I understood the underlying question, if you have never experienced wearing glasses, how could you possibly know anything about them?

I was looking for a job and I had an unusual amount of friends all working at the same place. They asked me if I wanted a job and naturally I was hesitant for the reason of not knowing anything about glasses. It was a trainable position, in fact it was preferred that you needed to be trained. They shared their knowledge with me. Suddenly this world of vision and eye health opened up to me filled with concepts I never imagined before. There was so much more than just wearing glasses. Post operative surgery care, cataracts, macular degeneration, glaucoma, lasik surgery, eye problems, refractions, dilations and the list just continues. Of course, vision correction was the most obvious reason patients ended up patients. The term glasses, as a concept, was just the tip of the iceberg. There are so many types of frame materials, face shape matters, nose pads or none, single vision, bifocal, trifocal, progressive lens, lens coatings, anti-glare and of course care and repair. Part of my job was to do phone triage for the office. When patients called, I would obtain the information pertaining to their issues based on questions I would ask to determine how emergent the situation was and to give knowledge and instruction depending on what I heard. Not long after taking the position I found myself a walking eye encyclopedia.

Something I found myself passionate about was sharing the knowledge I had so that I could improve the lives of the patients. I realized the patients were the people in my community; a very large portion of the community, actually. Some were so blind they could truly wreck their car and kill someone. Some yearned to see the faces of their families. Not being able to see well is something that can make life very difficult and many depend on their glasses as a tool to allow them to do anything from basic functions to more complicated processes. Many people told me that if they could not see, they could not do their job.

It was astounding to me how little people knew about the things they wore on their faces everyday, all day and have been doing so for possibly decades. Although I did not specifically train in optical, I acquired the knowledge to share and took opportunities with each patient whether asked a specific question, during small talk or during checkout to improve their glasses experience. I had many adorable patients and I would like to tell them a quick rundown about things you may not realize about your glasses, how to care and how to repair. They were genuinely pleased with how much I cared about their vision and that I was giving them information to improve their lives.

In our office, it was our goal to provide the best quality products that could simulate as close to the human eye possible. Each year vast improvements are being made, however the intricacies of the eye are fully able to be captured. For instructional purposes, most of the glasses were made with Crizal, a built in coat that varies in levels that reduces glare, improves clean ability and comes with a warranty. (FYI, fun tip, never use superglue to repair your glasses, it voids the warranty. You are welcome, world.)

I knew when patients reached for the cleaning cloths or the cleaning spray, it was a great time to talk about how to clean glasses. I would say to them, I see that you are buying cleaning spray and a cleaning cloth, but do you know the best way to clean your glasses? I bet you would never guess what I am about to tell you. What you do is take dish soap, like Dawn, and warm water and wash your glasses like you are washing the dishes. In fact, you can even wear them right into the shower and use that soap, too. Just do not let the water be too hot because you can craze the lenses, which is many micro fractures in the lens that cannot be removed. The grease cutting agents in the dish soap cuts the natural oils the human face has that is constantly rubbing into your glasses. To dry them, a clean cotton cloth will do the trick. In the office, we use cut up old t-shirts. Make sure to dry the temples well so that your screw holding your lenses into your frame does not rust. The spray is great for when you are out and about and need to quickly take care of a smudge, but with your Crizal coating, a cleaning cloth will be able to take off fingerprints quite easily. Also, don’t forget that you can throw your cleaning cloth into the washer. It gets weighed down with oils, too. Just do not use fabric softener because it will not react with your lenses very well. The washing of both your lenses and cleaning cloths will make random daily cleaning much easier because you are not smearing the dirt and oils back and forth, they are actually removed.

Sharing this knowledge made wearing glasses a little easier for the patients. It is hard to have the best vision possible when you are looking out dirty windows. It also improved health. There are many skin ailments and hygiene is important for care and prevention. Denning states that knowledge sharing occurs countless times every day and during this time period of my life it truly did. The act of knowledge sharing continuously required teaching individuals on a one-on-one basis repetitively through the same explanations, but was worth it knowing they could make these industry standards of care part of their routines. Denning also says that through “the acquisition of this new experience, existing thoughts and beliefs can evolve. This is how we learn, and this is why the transmission of knowledge is largely made up of storytelling.” (Denning, 2011, p. 184) My hope was that patients would eventually pay it forward and possibly teach someone else in their lives. What you teach one person may teach many people. Spreading the knowledge around is much better than spreading the dirt and oils around on glasses lenses.

Reference: Denning, S., (2011). The leader’s guide to storytelling; Mastering the art and discipline of business narrative. San Francisco, CA. Jossey-Bass.

A521.6.3.RB- High-Performance Teams

There is something that is constantly sought and highly coveted in countless and varied organizational settings that it could be considered the universal organizational quest. Sports are a huge example of mixing talent and chemistry and seeing if it cooks up to meet the desired expectations. Some examples are Olympic teams, pit crews; a dream team of basketball players, even a dream team of attorneys once upon a time. Oh, and the Yankees are notorious for trying to pay huge sums of money to try to create this. So what is the crown jewel of all organizational masterpieces? Well, it is the high-performance team, of course. What is better than one giant superstar? The answer is a team of talented, collaborating individuals that together all become superstars. A high-performance team could be described as a group of people growing and working together in a way that cannot be calculated but is effective in such an overwhelming way. Just ask the Beatles, or at least Ringo and Paul.

So the question is what elements are involved with putting together a high-performance team and how do you make one? Most importantly, you cannot force it. There needs to be supportive elements in place like a vision of a clear goal, supportive leadership, an appropriate blend of the members and resources. Beyond those conditions there is no way to design a blueprint to follow. Calculating how to create a high-performance team falls flat. Blueprints and calculations are not alive. Those who have been a part of a high-performance team see it as an experience that is meaningful that will be carried with them even after the years pass and the landscape of their personal and professional lives have changed, well after the team is no longer together. In a way it is like the three musketeers, all for one and one for all, everyone is in it together. The team members grow individually but together the tasks they carry out are more powerful and effective. If one fails, they all do. Passion is another building block that makes all the elements fuse together. The team grows strong together as they learn each other’s strengths and are able to quickly change the course of a situation with short notice. High-performance teams are truly a force to be reckoned with.

Accompanying all of the above, values cannot be overlooked. It is important when a team works together that they share values. If this is misaligned the balance can be thrown off. If there is a difference in the deeply held beliefs this can cause a rift. Having shared values allows for working together toward the common goal. If time permits, the underlying values can be examined, discovered and generated. Aligned values give way to an ease in collaborative efforts.

It took a considerable amount of time for me to find an organization that chose me to be part of their team and fits within the description of a high-performance team. This has been quite recent for me and already our progress together makes it seem like it would be much longer than eight months together. Some members have been a part of the group for longer, but have made comments there has not always been this level of cohesion. The more we talk about ourselves personally, the more I realize how similar we are on a basic level. We do share the same values. There have been times where I felt I was strange or even so unique that no one out there is like me, but together it is like I found “my people” because of our similarities. Instead of asking questions and then settling for not knowing, we go a step further and seek the answer. It matters to each of us how well we perform our job and how we make others feel. For me this has been tremendously positive because I felt like this may not be possible to obtain in reality and I felt lost thinking I was looking for a unicorn, something that did not exist.

While I would say recently I am part of my first high-performance team, there are other types of working together that exist which can be presented as four patterns. This may be accomplished through a team, a work group, a community or a network. I have been part of each of the patterns and respectively they are my academic advising team, a webpage design committee with my current organization, the local Little Theatre community and the Southeast Chamber of Commerce. While each of those was part of important moments in my life I feel there are both positive and negative aspects that can be pointed out. For example, while I met a lot of wonderful people when I spent time with the Chamber, I felt there were ulterior motives with those involved. The promotion of businesses and supporting the local community are wonderful and important for our small town’s survival. However, it seemed as if you were not in the market for that service the relationship became closed off quickly. Something that I feel that is amazing about being a part of the Little Theatre is the community aspect. Those involved are there for no other reason other than they genuinely want to be a part of it. Some are taking their firsts steps into getting involved and others are lifelong enthusiasts. Once you work with someone it opens up so many opportunities at other theatres you may not have necessarily ventured out toward. But if someone thinks of you and you are a fit for a role that is available, pulling someone in that another person knows is always supported. Once you are part of the community you always are regardless of how often you are involved in productions. Interestingly enough I have never acted outside of high school, I always dance or choreograph, but that does not make me any less of a part of the community.

Though I may never be part of something as big as being a Beatle or part of the Magnificent Seven 1996 US Olympic Gymnastics team, there is always potential of reaching new heights if you are fortunate enough to find your way into a place that makes you feel like you belong and can blossom as a high-performance team.If you are part of a high-performance team anything is possible.

Reference: Denning, S., (2011). The leader’s guide to storytelling; Mastering the art and discipline of business narrative. San Francisco, CA. Jossey-Bass.