SoCCeR!!

Yesterday Jarred and I coached soccer! I thought it was really fun and I thought it went really well. It seemed like everyone was enjoying themselves and hopefully they learned a little something about soccer. We tried to be a bit more organized and similar to football. We started with some drills to get everybody warmed up. Then we broke off into groups to develop specific skills. Next, we broke off into small sided games and then transitioned to a larger scale game. Generally there was a high follower readiness and high motivation to play. I was impressed with most everyone’s attitude and willingness to try and play. I wish we could have gotten our eval's but its all good.Anyways, as for the readings, chapter 14 described the cons of the marshmallow manager and how to act otherwise. I especially liked what the book talked about as far as boundaries and how sometimes as a leader we must move these forward so that the group will move even farther than ever expected. The next couple of chapters talked about the five stages of SDWT which are investigation, preparation, implementation, transition, and maturation. These chapters reminded me of Fish Tales (the book we read in foundations of leadership last sem) In implementing the new Fish vision the leaders had to first investigate the theory and understand it before introducing it to their workplace. Then they had to prepare so that it would be a successful transition and at least an organized one. The next stage is implementation to which they introduce it to the company and help change existing roles or behaviors. Next is the transition stage like in the fish market the workers made it come together and be a success in their business. The final stage is maturation. The example that comes to mind here is the AT&T Company. They completely changed the work environment to a more enjoyable place, and even though they achieved their vision they continued to improve and create new ideas so that they wouldn't become stagnant; so that the Fish spirit would not die. Regarding the MYB articles I found myself reminiscing to the foundations class days yet again. I would like to have or attain some of the qualities listed in the "Leadership remains a key skill to develop" article. One who loves knowledge, averse to corruption and ambition, and seeks truth, justice, courage, and temperance. (According to Plato's definition of characteristics of a good leader. As far as the second reading is concerned I felt like each of our activities (each of the leaders) were high on task and people aka high on both consideration and initiating structure. Also our class participation as a whole demonstrates our high follower readiness and maturity. The third article about talked about power. I believe that everyone in our class has personal power and we all respect each other while performing the tasks as hand. Position power is only granted to Dr Patterson at this time although I see him excelling on personal power rather then position. Etzioni describes that a good leader is high on both and that this power is given by the followers in the sense that the leaders have to use different methods of compliance to have them do what they ask. The next article was all about how in one culture a form of leadership may be appropriate while in another it may be viewed an unacceptable or flat out wrong. As a woman I would have a hard time not disagreeing with those whom I'm forbidden to. I think we are extremely privileged individually in the US but at the same time I wish all women had the option of expressing their opinions. Anyways I'll get off my soap box and continue onto the final article. "All men die, few truly live." This is the first thing I think of when someone says Braveheart. I really appreciated this article and think it is very valid for today and our society. A leader should be for the people, self sacrificing, visionary, and inspirational. We have these in our culture and they're called citizen leaders. They are usually the ones who work the hardest with the least amount of praise. Honestly I think we need more of these people in the world. The first example that popped into my head was in football the position of center. This isn't the glory position by all means and really don't receive much praise at all. But they have a very important job on the field and that is to start the offense and to block for the quarterback. It's a dirty job that requires a lot of effort with little praise but someone's gotta do it! :)

Kickball4SquareVisionMusicVideoDay

The first thing we did last time was get into groups and brainstorm mission statements for different aspects of HSU. My particular group thought of one for the alumni. We used the 6 C's in chapter 5 of our Managing Teams book. We decided to send out smaller, more frequent news letters with opportunity for involvement listed in them. We also thought it'd be beneficial to have alumni speak in chapel and also get involved in NSO to help new students "learn the ropes." We thought it was important to emphasize the fact that the alumni have the opportunity to create a legacy for themselves. So our statement was "Hsu would like to invite the alumni to contribute not only financially, but also with their time in building relationships with current students, in order to leave a legacy and to further the kingdom of Jesus Christ."

Next we played 4 square and kickball. The explanation of the games was pretty confusing but since I had played before it wasn't a big deal. We played as individuals initially and then with partners. I thought with a partner it was more fun, but individually I performed better. Next we played kickball. It was a little crowded in the gym but other than that (and not having real bases) it was fun. Until was partnered up... Then it became more difficult! Don't get me wrong it was fun just more challenging to run, while holding hands, while dodging other people.

Next we got into different groups and had to come up with a music video to "kung foo fighting." This was pretty fun because it's such a silly song. The form, storm, norm and perform stages were pretty clear in our group. We first got together all excited about our different ideas (Form), but after a little while we were all having ideas but no way to learn them or put the moves to the song (Storm). But then we came together and figured out more and more what we would do for our final project (Norm). I felt like we stayed in this stage the longest and then at the end we put everything together and most of us understood our different parts (Perform). At one point we did start clowning around and had to regroup but other than that I think we worked together well.

Frisbee Golf

Last time we played Frisbee golf. It was very difficult because of the wind. I'm not really good with a Frisbee either which was obvious from the very first hole! It was pretty difficult but with a good attitude we managed. The first reading in MYB talked about different shades of blue. The distinction between a leader and a manager seems subtle but in actuality is a clear one. In application to our last activity, the leaders not only explained the game but actually walked us out there to our first hole and answered any of our unanswered questions. In my opinion that's a good manager and a good leader (in my eyes as a follower that day).

The second article, mastering the game of management talked about the best ways to become good leaders. We learn from our past experiences yes, but we can grow and learn more through others who have mastered different skills. This is where our Leadership program as a whole comes into play. We are learning by reading about other people's leadership styles and what Patterson is teaching us. More particularly our each team’s class the leaders of the activity have the opportunity to build on past experiences and decide what was effective and what didn't work so well. Also it helps when the leaders of the activity have experience or know a lot about what they're teaching us to do. The exception of course is when we're assigned an ambiguous task in order for us to work together and learn another aspect about individuals and our roles in certain group settings.

The type of power the last group leaders had in my opinion was Referent and Legitimate. We all have respect for each other so that in turn it will be granted to us when were leading our activities but also when it is our turn to present, we have that positional power; "These are the leaders appointed for this class time".

Also, in our leadership class so far I haven’t seen anyone who was a pusher, using threats and coercion to get us to do what they want. It's good to have my eyes open to that though, because out of a class room setting, needing a group of people to do something is going to be a little different especially if they don't really know you and vice versa. It seems obvious that a leader should influence, not push people to do thing but it's an important point. It is more efficient and beneficial to the leader and followers if you are an "influencer" rather than a pusher most definitely. I have seem both in my life as far a bossy people making you do what you don't want and I have seen influencers that are our in the front lines whom people want to follow.

From chapter 8 in LSDWT I learned that I want to become a leader not only on the outside but through my thoughts and values as well. Actions are important but on the flip side of that same coin, so are my invisible elements such as values, vision, assumptions, and paradigms etc. This will in turn influence my actions, behavior, style, writing, and language which will in turn influence my thoughts etc.

Chapter 9 builds in this in the Theories or X and Y ways of thinking. I believe that I currently have a combination of X and Y ways of thinking which are positive yet can hinder empowering others especially when is comes time for Jarred and my activity. I would like to further evaluate these beliefs and question within myself whether their right or wrong. This feels like a weakness in me and it's really uncomfortable but it's good to be honest and evaluate myself to even start to bring about any form of change.

The example of the shepherd verses the sheep herder made me realize that I feel far away from the shepherd and closer to the sheep herder. Sometimes I will get so far in the mind set that something needs to get done that I'll become the sheep herder when it shouldn't be the case. Especially in developing SDWT's this will not work. I look forward to reading on and learning more about developing within my self to become a shepherd who can clear the way rather than a sheep herder who will be bossy just to get things done.