A520.9.3.RB – Course Reflections
Over the last 9 weeks I have studied a vast number of
leadership principles and concepts. Some
of the concepts and ideas which I found interesting or valuable as a
leader. To begin with we looked at how
we evaluate ourselves. To me this was
important because the workforce whether you are in the military or work in the
fast food industry will be diverse and have different values and cultures. Whetten and Cameron discuss how if you as a
leader do not have a good understanding of your self-awareness than you will
struggle when dealing with the differences of others. They quote Erich Fromm who stated “hatred
against oneself is inseparable from hatred against others (Whetten &
Cameron, 2016, p45).” Knowing what makes
you tick will help you as a leader when dealing with others.
Next we touched on managing stress and problem solving which
are important for any leader and manager.
The amount of work leaders are expected to produce and the amount of
pressure most people put on themselves to succeed are going to lead to
stress. Learning different coping
strategies and how to manage your stress is vital for your health and
well-being. The text states individuals
are better off if they can eliminate harmful stressors thus reducing the
potential negative effects of stressors (Whetten & Cameron, 2016, p
92). I think that problem solving is
very important when it comes to dealing with stress as well. Leaders and managers spend a good majority of
their time dealing with problems. It is
only a matter of time before these problems will start to lead to stress for
the leader. A leader who can handle
problems is more apt to feel less stress than those who have a hard time when
problems arise.
Another important thing I took from this course was the
personal reflection time. The video we
watched (Puddicombe, 2012) made me realize that taking time for yourself is
very important. In the hectic and busy
work environment it is important for many reasons to take time to decompress
and reduce your stress level. I put a
considerable amount of pressure on myself to try to be able to do everything
for everyone both at work and home. This
normally leads to me feeling overwhelmed and a bit stressed. Knowing my limits and when I need to take a
moment to just breathe is very beneficial.
I like to do this early in the morning while everyone in my house is
still asleep. This allows for no
distractions and it is very peaceful and quite.
The biggest take away for me in this course however, was the
empowerment and motivation sections. I
feels these two areas may be the most powerful any leader or manager can use in
today’s workforce. The main reason for
me I feel empowerment is so important is because it creates meaning for people. Whetten and Cameron state that value will
help people have purpose or value the outcome of the activity they are involved
in (2016). Having meaning also affords people with a sense of purpose, passion,
and enthusiasm for the task they are involved in. people who have meaning in
their work are going to do things for more than just pay. They will feel more apt to do their work and
do it well. Meaning is a powerful thing
and can create valuable results within your organization.
Empowerment and value will go hand in hand with why I feel
motivation is a powerful tool. The
challenge with motivation however, is that different things motivate different
people. As a leader you need to observe
and identify these differences in your people.
According to Leadership-Central.com article (2016) there are several benefits of motivation in the workplace. First off you get increased quality in you products. Another benefit of motivated works is reduced turn over. Motivated workers like to come to work and will continue to do so until they are no longer motivated. Having motivated workers helps keep your speed to market up. Motivated workers will continue to keep the product new and up to date to keep the customers coming back for more. Motivation helps keep product value high. Motivated workers will produce quality product which consumers like and will continually produce this higher quality product. Finally motivated workers are happy people who in turn make people happy which makes society better overall. So as you can see along with empowerment motivation is a very powerful and important tool for leaders.
During one of the final discussion posts for this course Dr.
Rietsema posted a very interesting question.
He asked if personnel who graduate with the degree in leadership should
be experts in leadership. After reflect
over some of the important topics and things that I am going to remember from
this course I think the answer to this question is no. I do not think that any degree will instantly
make you an expert in any field. No
matter the grades or awards you may win during you degree completion. I believe if you ask anyone whether doctor,
lawyer, engineer, or psychologist and they will tell you that the degree does
not make you an expert. My opinion is
that time in the field and experience are going to be the things that make you
the expert. Having completed this degree
will put some (cliché as this sounds) tools in your tool box for when you enter
the workforce and promote into leadership or management positions. Using these tools and developing your skills
are what is going to make you and expert.
Puddicombe, A. (2012). All it Takes is 10 Mindful Minutes.
TEDtalk. Retrieved from:
Whetton, D. A. & Cameron, K. S. (2016). Developing
management skills,
9th ed.
Boston, MA: Pearson.
Importance Of Motivation. (2016). [Data file]. retrieved from:
http://www.leadership-central.com/importance-of-motivation.html#axzz4bAUyNCtJ
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