In science class, we were all taught the scientific method as a process to get things accomplished. It is just the steps and process that have to be followed in order to accurately do anything in science. Do this, then that. If you skip a step, your doing it wrong. There isn't a whole lot of innovation. Leadership is quite the opposite! There is no one set way to be a "good" leader, every is different. You could take many many different routes and still make a good leader and develop leadership skills. Context matters - one is good leadership skills to one person may not be the preferred way of going about things to another. Because everyone can be a leader, anyone is able to develop a leadership philosophy. But all good houses need a foundation, and the relational leadership model is a great foundation for any good leadership philosophy.

The relational leadership model, which I went through the pains of putting above here, shows the elements it takes to be a good leader. These are the ingredients, so to say, of a good philosophy of leadership. There has to be a purpose of some sort, and a good leader should be ethical, empowering and inclusive. All of these components are then part of the process of being a leader. When reading our book and going through this chapter that focused on this model, I tried to reflect on how I implement each component of this model and in what ways I could work on strengthening my foundations.

"A vision without a task is but a dream

A task without a vision is drudgery

A vision and a task is the hope of the world"

A vision and a task is a purpose, and a purpose is the first part of the model I read about. One thing leaders have to do is not just know the purpose of their group, but make sure that everyone working with them is working for the same thing. There has to be shared goals of the group and for them to be met, everyone has to know what they are working towards. This also helps so that there isn't any miss-communication. When I was reading, one this really stuck out to me in this section. It was an example of a girl who said "I feel capable but I am more of a maintainer than a builder. I can keep things going more than I am able to think them up in the first place" This really resonated with me because I kind of feel the same way. I have a hard time articulating what my purpose is. I know what I want to achieve, but I'm not all that great at spelling it out without the help of others. And sometimes, I don't know what my purpose is. There is a lot of things I am still figuring out and paths I am still exploring, but I'm ok with that most of the time. One thing for sure is once I know what my purpose and direction is, I put my heart into it and no one can really stop me. I try to stay passionate in what I do.

Inclusiveness is also a key part of leadership. The book says you have to understand, value, and actively engage diversity in views, approaches, styles, and aspects of individuality. So true! You have to make everyone feel a part of the group and that they have a place. Diversity was never something I felt I had a problem with. I am a really open minded person. When I took stengthsquest, some of my top strengths were connectedness, empathy, and developer; all of which I think really help with the inclusive part. I don't have a hard time putting myself in other's shoes and seeing it from their perspective. I want everyone to feel involved and I enjoy it when I am talking to people that are totally different from me. I like hearing all the differences and learning from them, but then at the same time seeing how similar we are and building friendships off of that.

Empowerment is another cornerstone of leadership, although there are many shades of it. Over the past year I have become a lot better at this one I think, I've become more self empowered and felt like I had a reason and the ability to be a good leader if I chose to. If you think it, you can do it - or however that saying goes. I'm not someone who is helpless, I'm able to do a lot of great things if I put my mind to it. This doesn't mean I feel like I can put everything on my shoulders though either. Leaders in a leadership position have to let others share the power too, and those that aren't the "leader" have to be responsible too. I've always felt more comfortable in the latter position I think, I like developing my leadership skills and being a part of things but I was never really one for jumping in to the positional leadership roles. I liked being responsible on my own terms, and felt flustered sometimes if I had to carry the weight of a whole group. I feel better with shared power and everyone just doing their part.

Morals and ethics kind of go hand in hand with good leadership. We need standards to uphold and morals to abide by so that we don't fall into corruption. Sometimes it is hard to say no and stand up for what you believe in, you have to be true to yourself and the purpose of your group. This is something even the participants have to uphold too, especially if a leader seems like he or she is taking power to far. I like to think that I have a good sense of self, and belief was another one of my strengths. I grew up in a private school environment and always had religion classes, I was just always taught that my beliefs and morals should transcend everything I do, and I have carried that over into all aspects of my life. The picture here is a retreat I went on in high school that really helped me to become the person I am today and challenged who I was as a person. It was there that my beliefs and morals became so much stronger.

Leadership isn't without rhyme and reason, there is a process behind it. It puts meaning behind what we do and shows us where we are and where we have to go. There has to be some sort of intention to accomplish change in leadership, without an intention there is so force of action. By using processes to accomplish change, leadership is in action.

 

Dumbledore's Army? Seems like a pretty good community that is involving, empowering, ethical and inclusive. I mean, what better purpose to a group than to work together to take down the bad guy and work against evil, right? Plus I was totally thinking about it after class on Monday.

I'm a big potter nerd. Although I'm not exactly in the wizarding world of Harry Potter, I am a buckeye at The Ohio State university. Totally different, I know. But I am apart of a few different communities that fit the bill for the first prompt.

As a freshman, I had the opportunity to get involved in a group called First Year Leadership Initiative (FYLI) on campus.  As a member of the group, I feel included and apart of something bigger than myself. Not only do the student leaders work to get us members involved in the group, but they really help to involve us on campus as a whole. I've had the opportunity to work with greek life for "Very Sharey Halloween", OUAB to help put on the Beat Michigan pep rally, and other various people on campus. Part of  the point of our group is to provide service, which is pretty ethical as it all supports good causes. We don't align ourselves with things that go against good morals. FYLI is also a pretty empowering group to me, because it has been the gateway for me getting involved in other activities and possibilities to look forward to as a buckeye. I've learned a lot on how to be a well rounded student and am learning really good leadership skills that I know will be helpful beyond my freshman year. 

In our book, authentic leaders are described as"persons who have achieved high levels of authenticity in that they know who they are, what they believe and value, and they act upon those values and beliefs while transparently interacting with others." I believe authentic leaders want not only to succeed but to see those around them succeed too. They want to help develop and nurture those who work with them. I found a quote by David Foster that says ‘You can’t buy performance, but you can inspire it.’. I really think it works well when talking about authentic leaders because inspiring others really is a core value. 

In order to be a good leader, I have to find my own way of strengthening others. I really want to be able to do that well someday. Right now, I feel like I play the role of listener and helper to my friends and those who know me. A lot of people come to me for help and I really enjoying sitting down and giving advice. In order to be a good leader, I have to get them to see the solution to the problem at hand. While it might be helpful in the short run to give a person all the answers, if you get them to work through it themselves and just help them along the path when they need it, they become able to do it themselves and believe in themselves. I can influence others in partaking in community council in my dorm, and help others through my job at the front desk. It's what I enjoy doing, and why I decided I have an interest in higher education. I really like college students and want to assist them to become better versions of themselves. 

 "Be an enthusiast in life. He taught me that if you are interested in something, no matter what it is, go at it full speed ahead. Embrace it with both arms, hug it, love it and above all become passionate about it. Lukewarm is no good. Hot is no good, either. White hot and passionate is the only thing to be."
My Uncle Oswald by Roald Dahl

I think one of the biggest challenges of leadership is getting people to believe in themselves or the ideas of the community. People who are passionate in what they do not only enjoy their time but are more apt to try in excel in what they are doing. If a leader can make the participants of the organization feel passionate about the goals of the group, then he or she has succeeded in getting a good followership. No one is going to put good time into something they don't believe in or care for.