Final Leadership Blog

So for the Final Blog, we are supposed to reflect upon what we have learned throughout the course, and how we have been able to apply it to our leadership roles in life.  Here we go...

• How have you been able to apply what you have learned about leadership?
• There have been a lot of ways that I have been able to apply what I've learned about leadership, especially in my role in my fraternity.  I have really been able to apply the idea of Understanding Change in my organization.  With our Housing Association moving forward to remodel our house for the University's Sophomore Housing project, there has been a lot of change going on.  Changes in the way rooms will be set up.  Changes in our housing rules.  Changes in the culture of the fraternity as a whole. I have really been able to use what I have learned in facilitating change, as well as understanding change on a personal level to help me push myself and my organization through this change process.
• Another aspect of leadership that I have been able to apply recently is Renewal.  Before I stepped in as President, a lot of things were done, or not done, in our organization for the simple reason that they were done that way in the past.  I have really been able to apply the Renewal process in my journey to make my organization better. Asking simple things about why we exist as a fraternity and not just a house of guys.  Letting the guys think about what it means to be a fraternity and what it means to be AGS.  From this our organization was able decide what is important to us, what new changes we wanted to make, and then how we were going to go about putting these changes into effect.  From here, I ensured that people understood that they were accountable for these new changes, but I also empowered people to take their new responsibilities and allow them to accomplish their tasks in their own unique ways.
• How are you more aware of yourself?
• I think having this leadership book, as well as interacting with other leaders of different organizations has really made me more aware of myself.  Before, I was always questioning myself about whether or not the thoughts, or actions that I was taking in my organization was leadership, and if so what kind.  Having a leadership book allows me to apply a name or concept to what I am doing.  It has also given me different ideas of approaches to issues that in the end, might result in a different, more positive outcome for our organization.  Interacting with other people who are leaders in their organizations is probably what effected me the most.  Before, I sometimes felt like I wasn't making much of a difference because of the way that people in my fraternity were responding to me.  However, listening to leaders of other organizations going through similar problems, and listening to how the are able to rationalize how what they are doing is in the end going to make a positive change, makes me feel like I'm actually moving in a good direction with my fraternity.  In the end, I guess I really have become more confident with myself as a leader.
• What things do you now see differently? How are you changing?
• I think Understanding Others has really made me view people or actions differently.  Before, when people or actions made me upset or unhappy, I just thought they were doing it despite the way they knew I would feel about it.  (if that makes sense)  Now, after reading the Understanding Others portion of this book, I view people and actions in a different light.  Instead of becoming instantly upset or disappointed, I've begun to ask myself why they are doing what they're doing.  Maybe sometimes they are doing it just to spite me? But, what if they're doing it because of something I've done in the organization that they arn't happy with?  Maybe that is the way the person has been all of their life, so maybe I shouldn't let it bother me that much?  These are just some questions that I have begun to ask myself when different issues arise. 
• I believe that I am changing a great deal in my leadership position.  Understanding others has begun to make me try and find commonalities with people, which begins to influence the decisions I make or the actions I take because I'll understand that it may make them upset, or uncomfortable.  Understanding Others has allowed me to look at a bunch of alternatives to a situation to find what will best suit everyone, instead of the one I know will work, but might not be that popular.  I have also changed in the way my friendships are.  Before, I sometimes let my friendship influence my decision making.  Now, I have really learned to separate my friendships from the "business of the fraternity", allowing me to make more clear, unbiased decisions.
• How will you continue your learning about leadership?
• I think I will continually be learning about leadership throughout my whole life.  Taking new roles in different organizations will help me to expand my views of the world and what makes different organizations tick.  I'm sure in my work place, I will end up in some type of leadership position at one time or another.  Constantly being involved in groups and organizations will allow me to continue learning about leadership.
• I will also continue learning about leadership through my leadership classes that I will take on my way to minoring in leadership studies.
• What is your own philosophy of leadership?
• I think my philosophy of leadership is quite simple.  Leadership is having the passion to make an organization, community, family or whatever you may be involved in or care about more than just another run-of-the-mill group.  Leadership is about influencing, or bringing out the best in people.  Leadership is broadening not only your own horizons, but the horizons of people around you.

Models and Mentors

So for this week's blog, we were asked to identify individuals who we viewed as a mentor or a role model.  After identifying those people, we were asked a few questioned about them.  They are as follows...

• What makes your experience with those individuals so meaningful?
• I would say that one the most meaningful experience that I have with these individuals is that they all treated me as an adult.  I was the youngest of four in my family, and because of it, I have always had to "grow up"  faster than most kids my age. And because of the fact that I really always appreciated having people be completely honest and open with me, instead of treating me like the "age" that I was. 
• Another experience that I've found most meaningful is when my mentors or models open up to me, or find comfort telling me, when there are rough patches in their lives.  I think that it can really go to show just how much trust they have in you.
• How did you find or attract those mentors?
• I can honestly say that there is no set method that I have used in finding or attracting mentors, it usually happens pretty randomly.   I guess in school finding a mentor was the easiest because all you had to really do was pay attention, and try your best in class.  This usually got the teacher's attention and pretty soon they started to kind of open up and not have such a strict, professional manner.  Once that happened, it was pretty easy to develop a relationship more on a friend basis instead of a "teacher, student" basis, and then after that I was able to really talk to them about other things in my life.
• How might you bring new mentors into your life as your life changes and you move into new phases of your personal leadership journey?
• I think this is a difficult question to answer.  As I've said, my mentors and models have always come into my life rather randomly.   Other than my parents and family who have been around my whole life to teach me whats right from wrong and issues of that nature, I would say that new mentors are going to surface throughout your life to help in whatever issue you may have at hand.  
• And then… who are you mentoring?
• I guess there's really only one person that comes to mind.  I would say that currently, I am helping to mentor the next chapter president of our fraternity.  He's the one who I think will be best fit to step into the role of chapter president next term (Mentally, emotionally).  I guess my purpose right now is to just help him get ready for all the tests and trials that a chapter president has to go through (IFC, SFL, the various issues that arise within a chapter, dealing with people on a professional level, etc).
• In the future, I will be mentoring incoming first-year students through the FGBLC program.  Which is going to be pretty exciting.  

Positive Change... In One Hour

The activity for this week's blog post was pretty enjoyable.  The entire class had one hour to make a positive change on campus.  For this task, I paired up with Karthik.  We decided that we wanted to make a poster with positive messages, and these positive messages would be written by other college students.  Here is the end result....

I guess I should give some background information on how we decided to go with a student inspired poster of positivity.  Here we go...

Upon hearing that our assignment was to make a positive change on campus in the next hour, Karthik instantly thought of going to the Ohio Union (There's a diverse group of people there, and they're usually pretty willing to help out their fellow buckeyes).  So, on our 15-20 minute trek from North Campus to the Union (which I'm not mad about because I don't particularly care for the CABS system), Karthik was just spewing idea after idea of how to make positive change.  These ideas ranged from making posters with positive phrases on them and hanging them up around campus, to donating blood at the local blood drive on campus.  The blood drive was a pretty good idea, except that I hadn't eaten much that day and it had already closed by the time our assignment was given to us.  So, while the poster idea was still in the running, we kept thinking as we made our way to the resource room at the Union.

Shortly after arriving in the resource room was when I had my one and only idea about what we should do.  Going off of Karthik's poster idea, I said "why don't we have students write positive messages on the poster instead of us" (or something along those lines).  Luckily, that was the only idea I had to come up with because we ran with it and thus began our journey of making positive change.

After buying a $.75 poster board and using Karthik's BuckID as collateral for some scented makers, we ran into a few of Karthik's friends who started off our poster of positivity.  (Seen below)

After that, we moved onwards and asked a student who clearly needed a break from studying if she had any positive messages she wanted to share. (Again, seen below)

Moving on from her, we found a group of students visiting from Oberlin College who shared some messages with us.  (I'm not sure if this showed them how positively awesome OSU is, or how positively wacky some of it's students are... Either way, pictured below)

After the Oberlin Students, Karthik and I turned to a few students sitting at the 35th Annual African American Heritage Festival information table.  However, one stipulation for them signing our poster was that we had to pass out flyers and spread the word about the Heritage Festival....

After the African American Heritage Festival table, we moved on into the Multicultural Center for some positive advice.  (All the while handing our the flyers to anyone who signed our poster)

At this point, I think you get the gist of how the Positivity Poster was created.  There are probably more  photos on other blogs as we were all helping each other's groups out with their projects at this point.

Finally, as our hour came to an end, we took a CABS bus back to North Campus where we (as a group) made our last positive change by singing Carmen Ohio.  (Again, this video is most likely available on other blogs)

And that's the story of the how we made positive change on campus in one hour....

AGS Sacred Bulls...

I don't know if I had more trouble finding examples of "Sacred Bulls" within my organization, or if I had more trouble finding examples that I wanted to admit to...


Anyways, here we go...

1)  During my organization's election period, people ran for positions because they were "easy" and because you "didn't have to do much".

This was a very common theme/idea when I first joined my fraternity.  I don't know who started or accepted this idea, but I was not a big fan of it.  The way that I went about solving this was basically to tell everyone before they were elected that they would be expected to perform what their office required.  I think this deterred the people who wanted the position because it would look good on a resume and really allowed other people to step up, fill the positions, and shine.

2) People "look the other way" when people don't adhere to rules and values of our Organization.

At first, the issues that were violated when minor, but I think that's led to more and more issues being overlooked.  This may have an effect on the first issue I mentioned. While this was happening, the quality of men that were allowed in our fraternity steadily declined.  Now, we're having to do a lot more work to attract the quality of men we really want.


I know this is a really short blog, but these are really the two major "Sacred Bulls" that I've noticed and worked to fix within my organization.







How can you reframe these sacred bulls in ways that will positively affect your membership or leadership in an organization? What can you try, who will need to be on board, and how do you begin the change process related to those things that are so ingrained in your group’s culture?

Tuckman's Model

For this blog post, I think I going to look back at the time I've spent in my Fraternity...

Forming
This stage of Tuckman's model reminds me of the AGS Officer Transition period.  During this transition period, there is  always a lot that needs to be accomplished.  From making sure the new officers know and understand what all their position entails, to finding out when the best time for executive committee meetings will work best with everyone's schedule, to making sure that everyone is required to do their duty and if they can't, they will be replaced.  Since my time down here at OSU, I have gone through 2 officer transition periods and the Forming stage of this model really hits what the transition periods are like- spot on.

Storming
The biggest portion of our storming stage really occurs throughout the first two executive committee meetings.  I'm not saying that there isn't Storming throughout the entire year, but the first 2 meetings are where we really get the most accomplished.  The first two "Storming" meetings are usually pretty long.  We cover issues ranging from Recruitment, to Social, to Fundraising, to Service, even to continuing member education and different activities to make the actives become more involved in the house.  I really love this part of being on the executive team.  It's a lot of fun to sit down and plan out what a group will be doing for the year.  This is also the part of Tuckman's Model where I find the most issues.  During these meetings, everyone has different ideas of what they want to do in their positions.  There has been a lot of debating over some of the topics, but I have found that if we can find some common ground, the issue will work itself out and we can come to an agreeable conclusion.  However, this doesn't always work, and sometimes it just has to come down to a "majority rules" decision.  

Norming
I'm having a little trouble with this section of the Model.  I guess this part of the model reminds me  most of our chapter meetings.  Like most Fraternities and Sororities on campus, our meetings are very structured. We go through various opening activities, and then we move on to a period of our committee reports.  During these reports, each officer tells of what the events that they will be planning.  We then open up to questions and comments, and then move on to the next officer report.  It's basically just a way for the members to know what was talked about in the executive meetings.

Performing
This is basically go time for my Chapter.  Recruitment events begin getting planned.  Social events are set.  We set dates for different tasks.  People are asked to help with various tasks (distributing flyers, raising money, etc.)  This stage is the result of all of the planning and debating that occurred in the past two stages.

Adjourning
To be honest, I don't really remember being apart of any group that had to dissolve itself while I was still apart of it.  If I had to guess what type of group would have to dissolve itself, I would say a group that has been created to plan a one-time event.   After a group plans this one-time event, I really don't see any need for it to continue to meet.  The only time I could see them continuing is if there event was such a huge success that they have been asked to plan another one.  A good example of this would be the Salem Community Center's Woman's Night Out.  My mother was actually on the planning committee, and it was supposed to be just a one time deal.  However, there ended up being over 500 women attend (which is a big deal because Salem, OH is a small town).  Now, they have hosted the event for over 4 years now, and I don't see them stopping anytime soon.

Chapter 5 Interview

For this weeks blog, I decided to interview Meg Gulick.  She is a Graduate Administrative Associate and was also a leader for FGBLC. Here it is...

1) Q: Throughout your leadership experiences, have you felt like stereotypical gender roles have impacted the assignments or jobs you were given, or the way people treated you in general?

A: “Yes.  In 4-H all of the guys were asked to do all the heavy lifting, while all of the girls were asked to get food ready.  Even in the OSU Marching Band.  The guys were always asked to load the instruments into the buses while the girls were asked to pack coolers and get snack ready for the trips.  I would have much rather done some of the heavy lifting than make food.”

W.I.T. (What I think): I can’t really say that her answer surprised me.  It’s becoming more and more common for people to defy their stereotypical gender roles.  This will have a lot of impact on how I will lead my organizations in the future.

2) Q: Whenever you succeed at completing the task that you have been working on, do you credit your success to internal or external factors?  (Internal= being prepared and capable.  External= Luck and being in the right place at the right time)

A: “I would like to say that I credit internal factors because I was prepared. However I would probably say that “we” succeeded instead of just “I” succeeded.”

W.I.T.:  After Meg’s answer to the first question, her answer to the second question didn’t really surprise me.  According to our book (pg 156), usually men are the ones to credit their success to internal factors.  So the fact that Meg’s answer continues to defy stereotypical norms was somewhat expected.

3) Q: Whenever you fail at completing the task that you have been working on, do you credit your failures to internal or external factors? (Internal= not being prepared, having the right skills or enough time.  External= fate, other’s not doing their part, or bad luck)

A: “I would probably say that I would blame internal factors.  I may say that, “we as a group failed, and here’s what my part in the failure was””

W.I.T.:  This answer was not what I was expecting.  Based on her two previous answers, I was expecting Meg to defy the stereotypical gender norms once again.   However, looking back in detail to Meg’s previous answers, it is not surprising that she would say “we” instead of “I” again.

4) Q: Do you feel that there has been a lot of cultural diversity in your leadership experiences?

A: “Not as much as I would have liked.   I seemed to just be in organizations that attracted a lot of the same people.”

W.I.T.: I asked this question because of a discussion in last weeks class on increasing foreign student involvement in leadership courses and positions.  I really just wanted to know how much interaction she has had with foreign students.

5) Q: In a group that is culturally diverse, how would you try and make everyone feel included?

A: “I would try and make sure that people in the group saw different aspects to problem or task, that way they can better understand how other people may be viewing a situation.”

W.I.T.: I really like Meg’s answer here.  I think it’s a very obvious answer, but it’s not all that easy to actually do.  Being objective and able to view other perspectives is something that I will continually try and work on in my future.

6) Q: Do you feel that you will become a better leader once you have learned how to make people of different cultures feel included?

A: “Yes”

W.I.T.: There’s not much for me to say about this answer.  I already expected a “yes” answer. 

7) Q: How do you make an international student feel welcome in your group?

A: “Since I didn’t have many international students in my organizations, I was always trying to get international students to join.  Learning how to effectively market your organization to get foreign students interested is crucial.  I think that if you put a lot of effort into marketing your organization, and you are making that effort to invite them in, then you will already know how to make them feel welcome in your group.”

W.I.T.: I like this answer because Meg talks about a bigger picture.  Instead of trying to solve issues as they are presented to you, she suggests that if you purposely try and recruit foreign students, then you may develop a natural ability to make them feel welcomed.

8) Q: How do you overcome the differences in understanding that an international culture may have?

A: “I think that if you don’t just assume international students are going to know everything about American Culture, and you take time to explain things, then you will start to really understand international culture and the difficulties that international students face when being in a foreign country. Once you have an understanding of foreign culture, then you will begin to overcome the differences between your culture and theirs.”

“For example, we just assume everyone (foreign or not) knows how to use a crosswalk.  However, the other day I watched a foreign student stand at a crosswalk for over twenty minutes.  Finally, I went and asked them what was wrong, and they said that they didn’t know how to use a crosswalk.”

W.I.T. Meg’s answer here really opened my eyes.  I already knew that most foreign students aren’t completely knowledgeable about our culture; I just never thought it would be over something as small as a crosswalk.  Definitely makes you think about all of the other small things in American culture that they may not know about.

9) Q:  How do you think an international student feels when they come over to the U.S.? 

A: “Well if I were to go over to a foreign country, not knowing anyone, I would probably feel lonely.  Definitely confused and maybe even a little vigilant.”

W.I.T.: I asked this question because I feel that being able to put yourself in someone else’s shoes can really help in understanding that person. Knowing what they person feels may be a great way to make them feel included or welcome in an organization.