A520.9.5.RB.Power

Are you comfortable developing sources of personal influence to gain power?

I feel that I would comfortable using my personal influence to gain power because it would be for the better of the organization.  It would be used to empower others and help them exceed their expectations.  Power needs to be balanced in order for it to work.  Power shouldn’t be used for my own personal gain and it is something that I will continue to work on and become more comfortable with.

Do you embody the characteristics of likeable people depicted in table 5.4 (pg. 290).

I can say that I definitely embody these characteristics pretty well but of course there is always room for improvement!  Being supportive to others by being open and honest with the relationships I have both at work and at home give me the confidence to be a better person and perhaps maintain long lasting relationships in and out of work.  When you are supporting others by helping them when they are overwhelmed with work or being honest with them when they make mistakes you are creating a loyal relationship with that person.  For example, our department is small and tight knit and we tend to fight like family however if we will defend each other to the death and will always back each up. 

They will know that they can rely on you in any aspect of their life.  It is important to be able to be emotionally available for others to support them.  You have to be able to empathize or sympathize with others and understand where they are coming from even if you can’t do anything to fix it you can be there and accept them for who they are.  Being and keeping a positive attitude makes a big difference in how you react to certain situations.  When you are upbeat and can accept others for who they are you can turn someone’s day from bad to good.  I find that my positive attitude (or positive Polly as my friend Leigh Ann calls me) is something that others look up to.  I have been told that my positive attitude is contagious and that when someone is down they can rely on me to bring them back up.  

It is important that you make sacrifices when needed to keep working relationships and even personal relationships working.  When I was approached by a friend at work who told me that she felt I was leaving her out of activities I listened and explained my side of the story.  I told her I didn’t realize that she felt left out and that I would make more of an effort to include her. It made me realize that you can’t expect any kind of relationship to just flow without some kind of work to maintain it.

Are you able to use influence both up and down your organization considering the information in table 5.5 (pg. 291)

After reviewing the information in table 5.5 I feel pretty confident that I would be able to use my influence both up and down my organization.  My directors’ goals are very clear and he makes a point to discuss with us what he is trying to do for us and our department.  There are a lot of pressures that he deals with on a daily basis between keeping up with federal regulations, student issues, meeting with his bosses and keeping his department running smoothly.

The only weaknesses that I see with my director is that he tends to take on so much meaning he wants to keep a lot of the pressure off of us so he will try to handle issues without us having to deal with them.  This in turn puts unneeded pressure on him that he shouldn’t have to worry about.  He also tends to be too nice from time to time.  He wants everyone to be happy but sometimes you just can’t do that.  I do understand why he does this though has it tends to keep us in harmony 99% of the time.

I know that when I bring something to my director that I feel with help with processes or a change in a regulation that may affect us he is open to suggestions and he listens and coaches me on how to move forward with it.  He is the type of person will do his best to make sure my suggestions are heard and will implement them if possible.  There are expectations that he has for me and I for him.  We have an honest and open work relationship and when I do something incorrectly I expect him to tell me and steer me in the right direction.  He knows he can depend on me to do my best and I can depend on him to guide and coach me to be the best I can be.

A520.7.3 Importance of Having a Coach and Mentor

In this week’s readings we have learned all about being a coach and a mentor and the differences of each one.  Being a leadership coach means working with a person within your organization who can coach you on how to be a more effective leader by communicating better, making objective decisions and influencing others in a certain time frame which in turn the person can use in their job as a leader.  On the other side you have leadership mentoring which can happen anywhere any time either professionally or personally.  We are being mentored or are doing the mentoring to some degree in our lives with our kids, in the work place, or with our significant others.

In my discussion I talked about my director being my mentor and how he doesn’t even realize he is doing it.  I watch how he interacts with others, be it his boss, his subordinates, or other coworkers within the organization.  His easy going personality and honesty make him someone to observe.  I try to put myself in his shoes and think of how he would react to a situation. I have asked him before how he does it.  How does he remain calm?  How does he approach a difficult situation?  Did his upbringing have anything to do with the type of person he is today?

He said first and foremost he steps back and looks at it from their side…what are they thinking?  How are they feeling about what the situation is (I have adapted this approach as well)? He also said that he observed his brother and father growing up and saw how they interacted with many different people and wanted to be like that.  This to me shows that when you see people following the “golden rule” it instills that belief in you as well.  When he speaks to you he is not talking down to you he is sincerely interested in what you have to say and what your thoughts are on a topic.  I know that I can ask him anything be it a question on financial aid or what the best plasma TV is to buy to even how to make a better personal budget for myself. 

He doesn’t give you the answer, he wants you to think about it and come to your own conclusion and if it is wrong he will guide you in the right direction without giving you the answer.  The reason is by giving me the answer I will not learn but if I think about it and figure out how to solve the problem I am now being empowered to understand and increase my learning.  This is like the saying “you can give a man a fish and he will eat for a day but if you teach him how to fish he will eat for a lifetime”.

This leads to me to how I am a mentor.  I don’t realize (or didn’t until now) that the teachings I am instilling in my daughter how to be a better person (be kind, helpful, sincere, polite, studious) are aspects of mentoring.  My goal is to get her to think critically about life and how it works.  That there is a reason for everything no matter how big or small it may be.  For example, she was grumpy one evening and didn’t want to do her homework and complained about how unfair life was and how hard it was.  So I thought how do I make her understand how easy she has it?  I told her to close her eyes.  She asked why but of course I asked that she just bear with me she would find out soon enough.  I then asked her to tell me what she saw.  She said only darkness.  I said now imagine that is all you can see, that is all you know.  You can’t see the sky, or colors or anything else other than that darkness.  She said that she wouldn’t like that very much.  Then I asked her to try to reach for her bottle of water with her eyes still closed.  She did try but was way off and said as much.

Then I asked her if she still felt that life was unfair and too hard to deal with.  She said no that she was very lucky to be able to see when many others cannot.  Instead of just ignoring her whining and letting her complain I wanted her to understand that things we may find easy or that we take for granted are things that others don't.  Like my director does for me by making me think I did for her by making her think about her own statements. 

I feel that you can learn many things from the people around you (hopefully only the good things) and if there is someone who you feel can help you become a better person, leader, etc. that you have to take the opportunity to observe and ask questions of this person to sit down with them face to face or chat with them via email or webcam.  The learning experience will well be worth it and you will become a better person and a better more effective leader for it.