The Meaning of Words MGMT 535 1.4 Reflection blog

I loved this TED talk for the exact fact that it was about the meaning of words. I have a tween daughter….tween. Who made up that word? Not a little kid anymore but not yet a teen: tween. She and her friends are discovering a whole new world of words, changing the meaning of those words as we know them. Take the word ship. You and I know this word as a water vessel, something that floats on water. To her and her friends, it means relationship harmony (two people you want to see together) so they would say, “I ship you and Brad.” Triggered, shook, quaking, etc., these are all words that have other meanings from what you and I know. These words describe feelings for her and her friends. It is a way for her to express herself, anger, joy, happiness it falls into these words and phrases.

Now onto the workplace. I work in financial aid and the list of commonly used jargon that we use is endless. Anyone outside of financial aid would have no clue as to what we were talking about. A typical conversation goes like this, “Anna, can you look at the EFC for this student? The FAFSA shows one thing but the awards are wonky. The COA is correct as well.” Umm what? EFC stands for estimated cost of attendance, FAFSA stands for Free Application for Federal Student Aid and lastly COA stands for Cost of Attendance. We throw out this jargon like it is hello and goodbye. Walk into any university financial aid office and you will hear the same words spoken. Koenig talks about how a word can give one a key to into the brain. Is the word worth knowing and understanding if it only gets us into one brain. But if it gets you into millions of brains, well then you hit the jackpot! So in financial aid, these words are our cultural norm, we understand and use them on a daily basis. It is what helps us communicate with each other.

Chapter two talks about how we use communication for multiple purposes. We can use the same language with completely different objectives in mind. Effective communicators will motivate, teach, clarify, inform, and persuade depending on the audience. This is done with words like good job, you are doing great, this is what you need to do next, help to communicate our needs and desires inside and out of the work place.

To close this out I wanted to go back to the video and the word that Koenig defined…sonder being the idea that we all think of ourselves as the main characters and everyone is just extras. I find this happens in the work place. For example, in financial aid we feel we sonder, we are the main characters and the other departments are the extras. This is not to diminish the other departments at all, it is means that we deal with so many students, campuses and advisors that we speak our own language. When we talk to the “extras” we have to make sure that we speak in a way that they can understand. It applies to management as well. We need to make sure that we are speaking the language by being active listeners, asking questions, communicating in various manners so that the message is easily understood.

Reflections on Leadership

Welcome to my MSLD Leadership Blog page

These pages were developed as part of the requirements for the Leadership Development program and reflect my growth as a leader over the last two years.


I love to blog so writing these reflection blogs were enjoyable, entertaining, and quite the learning experience. Please feel free to review any and all of my blogs! Understanding what it takes to be a great leader is an ongoing process and these reflection blogs are a great start to my life long learning. 

Annamarie Garcia

A631.9.2.RB - Video Debrief of Team MA

The Steve Jobs brainstorming video with his new team at NeXT Inc. was very interesting. The mood in the beginning of the video portrayed something that seemed to be appealing and encouraging to everyone to get the critical thinking juices flowing. In the first 30 days of the new launch of NeXT everyone is super excited to launch this new product and you can see it in their faces and hear it in their voices.  Ideas and grandiose goals are being set and it seems everyone is thrilled and ready to go. The scene moves ahead 90 days and we see a company that is not as excited and pumped up as they were at the start. The goal was to have a product to present in 18 months and yet 6 months in they still have nothing to show for it. Everyone is stressed even Steve Jobs. There is tension in the air and it seems that the finger pointing is getting under way as no one wants to take the responsibility for why there is no product yet.

Watching this video and reviewing my assessment I don’t think that I would have done very well with this type of environment in the long run as my assessment results show me being very much to the right side on the independence attributes. My aptitude to work autonomously is high so the part of the video where Jobs has everyone in the room and they throwing ideas out there I feel would probably make me crazy. I would have done well in that area but when Jobs begins to micro manage I would have bumped heads with him for sure. He seemed to become impatient and I would have felt that he didn’t want to take the time to break things down for me or hear me out on my ideas.

One of the things I noticed in the video is that Jobs seemed to interrupt people a lot when they were trying to get their ideas out.  As a leader it is important to be able to actively listen to your followers. My leadership style is diplomatic so one of my characteristics is to inform. Jobs didn’t seem to follow through in this area because he was too busy interrupting his followers to actually inform and inspire them. As the atmosphere changes the communication drops off and Jobs and the others don’t seem to have the same excitement they did in the beginning of the video.

An area that I think we would have done well with was the fact that Jobs had high goals for himself and his company. I scored highly in this area of goal ambition and goal setting as I like to set high goals for myself as it applies to my job. His drive to meet any challenge also would have worked in my favor and I would have done well in that regard. His motivation to get things done and not accept excuses is something that I feel strongly about as well so that is another level I would have fit in.  I like to motivate others as well as myself and seeing people who get excited about learning new things and adapting to change pushes me to want to go further.  

Because Jobs was starting up a company and I scored highly in the large rapid growth company, I would not have lasted very long as there would have been too many rapid changes for me to be become a vital part of his company. Though Jobs was a transformational leader his overbearing ways and need to micro mange would not have made for a work relationship in the long run for either of us.  While this environment would be good in the short term I need to be in an organization where achievement is recognized, realistic goals are set, people are empowered and inspired.

A631.8.4.RB - Reflective Analysis

I have taken the MBTI test a few times over the years and interestingly enough the only thing that has changed for the most part was the last letter Judging (J) or Perceiving (P). It would be interesting for people to take this test when they first enter college, again when they graduate and then again once they are in the workforce in order to see how much we change in how we look at people, ourselves and the way we think about both. My results this time around were ENFP which is described as:

Ø  Extroverted: enthusiastic, gregarious, sociable, and expressive

Ø  Intuitive: creative, imaginative, unconventional, and forward-thinking

Ø  Feeling: passionate, empathetic, supportive and warm

Ø  Perceiving: open-minded, spontaneous, adaptable and whimsical

This pretty much nailed my personality! Being an extrovert has really helped me to overcome my shyness as a teenager to the point where I am not shy to speak to strangers, engage them in conversation just to learn more about who they are and what makes them tick. Getting up in front a group of people large or small makes me nervous and excited not filled with dread like it does to most people.

            Over the course of this program I have become more in tune as I have learned more about whom I am as a person and how I relate to others. At one time I was more on the thinking end where I would try to suppress my feelings and stayed focused on be rational and objective. As I have gotten older I have gone more to the feeling side where I am more focused on finding cooperation and harmony and I have no fear about following my heart and being sensitive to others needs. As one who takes pride in trying not to judge others when I took this test earlier this year I earned a small percentage in Judging which I didn’t understand.  It wasn’t until I realized that I was on the border of perceiving and judging that I realized that judging was not about how you view others but in how you like to stay committed to deadlines and having clear rules and guidelines.  As I have gone through the program I have become more relaxed about deadlines (though I still like to turn things in within the deadline), and I am more willing to be open to all options understanding that the most obvious one is not always the right one.

            So how does this help me relate to others? There are not too many people that I don’t get along with and even those that I don’t relate to every well I find something in common with so that I can engage them in conversation. One of the biggest things that has helped me being an ENFP is that I tend to value each person for who they are not what group they belong to. I have no problems accepting a person’s unique characteristics and I am a pretty tolerant person. My perceptive nature makes it easy for me to understand where someone is coming from and I am able to connect with most people in some way. My friends joke that I have a story for everything meaning I find a way to relate to what I am hearing from others.

            Having this type of personality will help me out in most situations as I tend to mot be shy and I do my best to make others feel more comfortable. As a leader I know that I have to be able to adapt to other types of personalities and knowing how to work with other types will help me understand them better and for them to understand me better as well. On one website I went on to read up on the ENFP found this statement to be very true for me. “People with the ENFP personality type seem to be everywhere, even though they only form around 5 percent of the population – furthermore, they can easily get along with nearly all other personality types, which makes them ideal co-workers” (16 personalities website). A smart move for me as a leader would be to have everyone take this test so that we can all understand how to better interact with each other. Everyone learns differently and responds to their work environment differently. This doesn’t mean that I have to baby each employee but if I can figure out how each one ticks I can make sure that I am getting the best results out of my employees by making them feel more comfortable in their daily job.

            After years of working with the same group of people and trying to figure out why I had a hard time getting along with one person, we both realized that we respond completely opposite in situations. She is very introverted and I am very extroverted so right away we are on different ends of the spectrum. After learning that I have to change my approach with her and her with me, we get along much better now.  There is no secret formula to getting along with everyone as I don’t think it is possible to do all the time but if you can figure out how each person works you and they can adapt to make for a more pleasant and productive work place.

Reference:                                                          

http://www.16personalities.com/enfps-at-work

A631.7.4.RB Future of OD

What do you see as the future of the OD discipline? Throughout MSLD 630 and 631, we have studied a lot about how organizations are changing, becoming more diverse, more global, transforming in different ways.  There is a need to grow and change as our workforce changes, becomes something different, something better.  Leaders see the need to make these changes as well to keep up with the ever changing environment in order to stay ahead in the business world. Almost every chapter in the Organization Development text book starts with phrases such as ‘change’, ‘globalization’ and ‘innovation’ just to name a few. The text has emphasized the need to be able to adapt and evolve with the ever changing market. We are no longer local, we are worldwide.  It is so simple to hold meetings with employees who are in England, Asia or Spain all from the comfort of your living room or the company conference room.

Organizations who do not change and adapt will be left behind and die out in the near future.  We are learning more ways to be able to communication with each other, to work together toward a common goal. This means that managers and leaders need to be on board with making these changes for the good of the organization and the people they employ. “Managers need to understand that OD interventions have the potential to make the biggest difference in human development and bottom line performance” (Brown, 2011, p 429).

The practice of OD is also changing as new techniques and approaches are being developed and this shows that even the practice of the different areas of OD are changing and adapting as new research is conducted. Is OD right for everyone? It depends on what an organization is looking to accomplish but one thing that I have learned over these last two classes is that it is important for organizations to recognize who their leaders are, who their employees are and how to get the two to work together as a collaborative team that share the same goals and values of the organization. What is important to understand is that the purpose of OD is that it is not a quick fix, it is a long term plan that must be monitored and changed as needed to continue to grow with the organization. Some leaders will jump on anything that seems to be good enough for the company without realizing that it is not something you put a band aid on and hope that fixes it. “Unless problems are identified and solutions are systemically thought out supported by the commitment of management, the “fixes” may become another fad in a long series of fads” (Brown, 2011, p 425).

One of the things that I have found in these courses is that change is a good thing. It is all in how one approaches it and gets their organizations on board with it. You can’t come into an organization and start making changes without observing first to see where the real issues are.  You don’t stick your nose in the spreadsheets and base your changes on that alone. You have to really truly understand the culture of the organization.  What are the issues?  Where is the breakdown in communication, technology, management?  How can it be fixed?  Just because a technique worked in one organization it is not ‘one size fits all’ you need feedback from everyone within the organization.  Start at the bottom and go up, don’t just rely on the top management because most of the time they have no clue what is going on in frontlines because they are not in it working it every day.

OD practitioners are at the forefront of change.  Some of the future trends of OD are Organization Transformation (OT), empowerment, learning organizations and organization architecture (Brown, 2011). OD practices are here to stay as they have made some great impacts to date.  With anything, the more it is studied and tweaked to fit in with the changes in the globalization the better it will become. Even the best companies have their issues from time to time and being able to recognize it and fix is the first step in the right direction. The future of OD as Brown explains, “The course of change anticipated for OD will predominately surround the issues of a changing workforce, global competence, and transformation within the organization” (Brown, 2011, p 429). I personally cannot wait to see what is in store for me when I am done with this program and how I can take what I learned and make a difference in the workforce.  I know it takes someone who can see the potential, the positive side and vision of where an organization can go.

Reference:

Brown, D.R. (2011). An experiential approach to organization development (8th ed). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall

A631.6.4.RB - Transformational Strategies

Watching both of these gentlemen, Jim "Mattress Mack" McIngvale and Stanley McChrystal, I was inspired and motivated by what that they each had to say. They didn’t sit back and let changes overcome them, they took the change “by the horns” and did their best to adapt and get their followers on board as well.  In the first video I watched about Gallery furniture I was impressed with Jim’s drive to want to make changes the right way.  “I could do as much blubbering, cajoling, screaming, and hollering as I wanted to try to get my team to change behavior, but I knew it wouldn’t get us where we needed to go,” says McIngvale. “I was looking for a process that would get my people to want to change their behavior and act in ways that give the customers what they’re looking for” (McIngvale, VitalSmarts website).

When the housing market dropped drastically in 2008 Gallery Furniture was affected along with many other companies. In 2009 the company suffered another blow when their store had a fire that caused $30 million in damage. He knew he had to do something and do it quickly.  They needed innovation and they needed it now. After reading a review in the Wall Street Journal McIngvale knew that Influencer would be the one to help.  He wanted to be influenced on change and how he could do that with his employees. After getting training for him and management he made sure that everyone in his company from the furniture loaders, drivers and sales team got the same training.

One of the biggest challenges McIngvale faced was changing a 30 year sales process that involved two big changes in how they conducted business including changing the “how can I help you” to “I am disappointed you are not going to buy anything” and becoming prospectors instead of sales people so that they could follow up with the customers who didn’t buy right away.  This way they can touch base and hopefully bring them back in at a later date to purchase furniture. He also implemented a wellness program to bring a great work-life balance to the employees.  One of the things I thought was interesting was that McIngvale put a bell up so that each time a team member got a sale they could ring the bell and the other team members could encourage and congratulate them. He also made sure that all members were taught how to use technology as he felt it was important that everyone was brought up to date.

This ties into the chapter and showing the strength of corporate culture as well as figure 15.4 that reflects members’ commitment to values and shared values as being high (a good thing).  “The more members share the basic values and the greater their commitment to them, the stronger the culture” (Brown, 2011).  I was impressed that McIngvale was open to change and willing to do whatever it took to bring his company where it needed to be. It also goes along with figure 15.5 in the Manage the Change quadrant where change is important to the organization and they are compatible to the existing culture of the company which makes it easier to move forward with major changes using the power of the cultural acceptance (Brown, 2011).

In the video, Listen, Learn…then Lead, Stanley McChrystal did an amazing job of explaining how leadership has changed through his years in the military and what that meant to him as a leader and those that he led. McChrystal walked us through a jump touching on things he had been taught when he was first starting out and watching those young men and women around him performing the same skills exactly the way he himself had been taught. “And I realized that, if they had to go into combat, they would do what we had taught them and they would follow leaders. And I realized that, if they came out of combat, it would be because we led them well” (McChrystal, TedTalks 2011).

With so many changes in the way people communicate, he had to learn how to do this on many different levels.  Making sure all the key leaders are on the same page and understand what is at stake is not easy when your leaders are spread out in different parts of the country.  The thing that stuck out for me was that he mentioned how different it was not be able to look into the leaders eyes to build their confidence and get that trust back from them to know that they understood what they needed to do and that they would do it with success.  This required different techniques. “I've got to use video teleconferences, I've got to use chat, I've got to use email, I've got to use phone calls -- I've got to use everything I can, not just for communication, but for leadership” (McChrystal, TedTalks, 2011).

He realized that he was dealing with a new type of leadership here.  Not one of eye to eye contact, a hand on the shoulder for support, the ability to build that trust and confidence that is so vital for what they do.  Leadership, no matter the age or gender of the person leading change, must have a shared purpose. McChrystal pointed out that you have to become more transparent, be more willing to listen and to be “reverse-mentored” from the bottom.

One of the statements he made that really stood out for me was this, “I came to believe that a leader isn't good because they're right; they're good because they're willing to learn and to trust” (McChrystal, TedTalks, 2011). This is so important for leaders to keep in mind that being good doesn’t always mean you are right, it is about making mistakes and being able to learn from them and trusting your followers and them being able to trust you.  These also tie into both figures on the text when it comes to strategy and culture.  “Implementing strategic changes can be done more effectively when the culture of the organization is taken into consideration” (Brown, 2011).  This is a big part of what McChrystal was talking about, taking the culture (the leaders, location, and mission) into consideration when making changes. Both videos showed how leaders can make changes for the better during transformational change and I know that I have learned a lot from both of these videos.

References:

Brown, D.R. (2011). An experiential approach to organization development (8th ed.).Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall

http://www.vitalsmarts.com/casestudies/gallery-furniture/

http://www.ted.com/talks/stanley_mcchrystal.html

A631.5.4.RB - Leading System Wide Change

I have seen a few people who have ‘risen’ to positions of power and how much it changed them and not for the better.  People, who as the frontline workers were excited and willing to help others out, who wanted more ‘power for the people’ and who knew they could do something better for their department and organization if they were just given the chance to do so.  They had strong work ethic and still do however the power has gone to their head.  They treat their frontline people like morons who can’t be trusted with simple tasks and they do not hide it either. Instead of honing their skills by working with individuals and teams which benefits everyone they turned into the type of boss that they as frontline people didn’t like.  They lead like dictators where it is their way or no way, there is no room to ask questions or bring ideas to the table.

The Apple video, Think Differently, you hear words like, “rebels”, “trouble makers” and “ones who see things differently” all things that have led to change for the better.  Without these kinds of people we would not see, hear, or do all the amazing things we do in our personal lives as well as the business world.  This video made me think immediately of a person who has led change in a positive way.   This person, who started at the bottom and worked his way to the top while being able to adapt to his environment, never lost sight of continuing to learn from his surroundings and the people he worked with and for.  My former director is the type of person who has made me want to be a leader.  A truly great leader.   His compassion for others as well as being able to get along with everyone while exhibiting emotional intelligence speaks volumes for the type of person he is. He was able to bring our department from the bottom to the top within 5 years while making changes that has helped streamline our processes and turnaround times for most of what we do.

So what is required for a leader to be successful?  Thinking back to how my former director got to where he is now I have come up with a list.  This doesn’t include everything possible of course but I feel that it is a great start to making sure that I will be successful:

·         Open communication: being able to get your vision across to everyone in your department.  It may make perfect sense to you but if your subordinates don’t get it then you are not being clear and concise.

·         Honesty: holding yourself and your team to a higher standard, being ethical and true to yourself and others.  Being able to admit when you are wrong.  Lead by example, if you are leaving early every day your team will think that is ok to do as well so maintain value and integrity.

·         Don’t give yourself a label: a title doesn’t mean anything at the end of the day so why try to be better than everyone else.  You are still the same person when you walk out of the office so don’t throw your title around.  You need to be willing to roll up your sleeves and get dirty just like everyone else.

·         Positive attitude: when times get tough your team looks to you and if they see you fall apart so will they.  They want someone who will be level headed and steady when tensions are high.  Don’t berate your team but instead encourage them to new levels.

·         Have a sense of humor: make work a place that they want to come to.  It doesn’t need to be party central but if you can show your team that mistakes happen and find the humor in it by making light of your mistakes (minor of course major ones may not be a laughing matter) and not getting so upset by it you are showing them that we are all human.

·         Active listening: this I have found so very important.  Everyone can listen but it takes more effort to actively listen to what your team is saying.  Be ready to open your ears and shut your mouth.  You may learn a lot this way.

·         Commitment: not only to your team but to yourself and your job.  Lead by example by being the leader your followers want to be around and learn from.

·         Lead and follow: being able to lead as well as follow is vital to being a great leader.  A wise person once told me that a good leader is one who knows how to step back and let others shine.  Give your team credit always, don’t reserve it for yourself.

Being successful requires all these skills and then some.  I know that it is important to be open and willing to adapt and change as needed.  Not every day is going to go as planned, there will be good ones, there will be bad ones but learning from these days will help me become better not only as leader but as a person.