Timeline
Compentencies
Self-Knowledge
Personal/Self
Defintion & Objectives
Definition:
The practice of effective leadership begins within oneself. Leaders work to develop a set of individual skills and attitudes necessary for being productive members of society.
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Objective:
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Participate in the Online Integrity i-Program in October 2020
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Complete “CliftonStrengths for Student: Self-Discovery” workshop in SP 21
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Write a blog post about time management during the pandemic for students for my SCS leadership role in the Fall semester
Justification & Reflection
Justification:
I am unable to describe my weaknesses very well. I understand that I need to know more about my strengths in order to find people who compliment my strengths and weaknesses to create a productive team
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Reflection:
I am able to describe imminent choices in my life. For exam, I can example my major and why I chose it as well as what I like the best about it. I am also able to describe my career goals clearly.
I understand that by accepting my weaknesses, I can lean into my strengths, and find people who compliment my strengths and weaknesses to create a productive team.
Mastery
Some requirements for the self-knowledge competency are:
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Possesses an accurate sense of one’s current interests, values and goals in life
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Can describe one’s personality, interests, strengths, and weaknesses
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An experience that I participated to master in self-knowledge:
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CliftonStrength
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The CliftonStrength divides talents into 34 themes and places the themes into four categories: executing, influencing, relationship building, strategic thinking. The strengths that I was identified were discipline (executive), developer (relationships), harmony (relationships), learner (strategic), and input (strategic). What surprised me when I first looked at these talents is that none of them were part of the influencing category. However, the ones I appreciate and could be beneficial for when working with others is harmony and input. I believe that harmony is a great strength to have in order to discuss topics in a calm manner, and input to have information gathered to be able to participate in a variety of conversations. Overall, this workshop broadened my horizons about how everyone comes with a set of different strengths that could be complimentary and beneficial. I also gained a better understanding of how to be more appreciative of my skills and be more confident about presenting those skills.
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Reflection
I was motivated to develop my communication and cultural sensitivity skills. To do so, I applied to participate in the Leadership Certificate Program (LCP). During LCP, I not only work on my personal skills through workshops and reflections, but also engage with people from diverse backgrounds. Pursuing the LCP helped me to be an impactful, sensible, and cultural leader. Through education and training, team involvement, self-reflection, and mentorship, I was able to improve my communication, organizational, and cultural sensitivity skills. I feel more comfortable discussing polarizing topics and creating a more psychologically safe work environment. The LCP program allows me to improve my self-knowledge, to be more open, and become more aware of ethics and morals.
Any challenges that I came across during the LCP, I was able to discuss the issues and plan next steps with my leadership coach. She was instrumental to my leadership development. For example, I was having trouble getting engagement from my mentees in AIChE. The first semester, I took a passive approach of mentoring and relying that the mentees will come to me with their concerns. The second semester I talked this issue over with my couch. We were able to come up with a comprehensive plan to get engagement: biweekly meetings, set expectations in the beginning, create guiding questions throughout the way. These experiences helped me grow my communication skills. I know these challenges will allow me to take a similar approach in any team challenge I come across.
Throughout the LCP, I had the opportunity to read a couple books about leadership. The one book that helped me develop my competencies the most was "The Art of People" by Dave Kerpen. This book focused on key skills such as relationship management, communication, team dynamics, and more. Each chapter section had a relevant story and opportunities to practice those skills. Each skill section enabled me to reflect back on my own experiences and what I would have done differently if I had practiced the skills discussed in the book. "The Art of People" was not only engaging, but a support system during my continuous leadership journey.
My definition of leadership did not change much after the leadership journey. In fact, I believe that my leadership definition has a bigger impact on my life now. My main message was to become my most authentic self. I also mentioned how being a leader is understanding others, striving to empathize with their feelings and being open minded about their experiences and values. This definition was reinforced in my leadership course, LEAD 260, when the class discussed four theories of leadership: trait, skills, behavioral, and leader-member exchange. I was able to identify my own leadership style by reflecting on past experiences through this course. Overall, my definition has been reinforced through my journey. I know that a leader is someone who empowers others and guides them to be their best, authentic self.