MSLD 641 Module 5- ICT at the Team Level

From an honest standpoint, I am very unfamiliar with professional sports and any news regarding to them. For this week’s blog, we examine and compare the leadership styles of the Olympic US Women’s Soccer team and the US Dream Team basketball team between the years 2000 and 2004. Despite the lack of interest and understanding of professional sports and athletes, I was a former volleyball and tennis athlete, and can understand the importance of teamwork and the leadership needed to help the team succeed.

The first team to analyze was the US Dream Team basketball. For several consecutive years, the US basketball team always brought home the Olympic gold medal. In 2004 however, it took a different turn and the team took home the bronze medal. The result of the loss was due to poor organization and team leadership. In an interview, Olympian Emeka Okafor stated that, “the team came together at the very last minute”. Others on the 2004 team also mentioned that Larry Brown, the coach at the time focused mostly towards veteran players rather than the team all together (Leopold & Teitelbaum, 2016).

                US Dream Team’s loss of 2004 reminded me a bit of my past experience as a volleyball player for the high school tennis team. Inspired by an old Japanese anime, I decided to join the team with very little experience. While my coaches initially did an excellent job and helped me become a skilled player, my experience with the team slowly turned into a negative one. Halfway into the season, my coaches began to focus mostly on the top three players of the team: one being an expert player towards the net, middle, and back of the court. Due to the lack of training, everyone else was slowly becoming disorganized: resulting many losses. Rather than providing further training to strengthen our weaknesses, the coaches instead openly admitted that they were disappointed and eventually forced the team (excluding the three players) to run several miles and wrapping it up with a few sit-ups and push-ups as punishment.

                Connecting this to our readings, the result of the losses were likely due to poor relationships. From my personal experience and US Dream Team, it is clear that everyone was not receiving the same treatment. As Dr. Boyatzis (n.d.) stated, leadership is successful when they establish relationships and recognize people as an individual rather than an object. This reminded me of a past TED talk I’ve watched titled What Makes Us Feel Good About Our Work. In summary, Dan Ariely had a series of experiments that focused on the sense of recognition and purpose of work. The results of these experiments showed that motivation: which boost work outcomes, increased when work was being recognized. In addition, it was found that being recognized not only motivated employees to work, but it also promoted happiness (Ariely, 2012).

                By providing recognition, establishing, and maintaining relationships, ones could yield results similar to the Olympic US Women’s Soccer team. Just like the US Dream Team, the Olympic Women’s soccer team consisted of players of different ages, talent, and personality. Despite the differences however, head coach April Heinrich treated everyone as one team and established the mentality of winning (U.S. Soccer Federation, 2004). With a common ground, recognition, and some encouragement, it can establish a successful and powerful team. After a disappointing experience with the high school volleyball team, I joined the tennis team. Just like the women’s soccer and Dream Team, my team consisted of an array of players of all ages and talents. What motivated me to continue for the remainder of my high school days was that my coaches recognized each and everyone’s strengths and weaknesses, and provided personalized training to enhance our skills. Starting as the lowest rank on my first year, my coaches’ efforts greatly motivated me to become better: eventually leading me to become a mid-ranked varsity player by my senior year.

References:

Boyatzis, R. (n.d.). What is Great Leadership? Case Western Reserve University. Retrieved from https://820961.kaf.kaltura.com/browseandembed/index/media-redirect/entryid/1_irqylr7d/showDescription/false/showTitle/false/showTags/false/showDuration/false/showOwner/false/showUploadDate/false/playerSize/400x285/playerSkin/30818691#

Leopold, B. & Teitelbaum, B. (2016).  Red, White and Bronze: The death and rebirth of USA Basketball. NBC Olympics. Retrieved from http://www.nbcolympics.com/news/red-white-and-bronze-2004-death-and-rebirth-usa-basketball

U.S. Soccer Federation. (2004). Heinrichs Names 2004 U.S. Olympic Women's Soccer Team. Retrieved from https://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2014/03/17/13/06/heinrichs-names-2004-u-s-olympic-womens-soccer-team

MSLD 641 Module 4- Tipping Points of Emotional Intelligence

For this week’s blog, we focus on tipping points, or points where events and changes becomes significant enough to cause a larger, more important change. For changes to occur however, two attractors are required: positive emotional attractors (PEA) and negative emotional attractors (NEA). PEA includes dreams, possibilities, and strengths whereas NEA includes fears and weaknesses (Howard, 2006). While Boyatzis and Taylor (2015) states that NEA are required to have people move from vision to action, a person must spend more time with PEA in order to achieve a sustained desired change. Despite this however, he adds that it is important for leaders to maintain balance between PEA and NEA to make effective decisions (Boyatzis & Taylor, 2015).  

A tipping point I recall is when I was working on my past job as a summer camp employee. After a successful first year, I was promoted as a coordinator and had more responsibilities: which included the management of an entire camp and lower-leveled employees. Unlike the previous year, the number of camp participants nearly doubled. In addition to having around the same number of employees as the previous year, everyone was struggling and exceptionally busy.

Likely due to the high levels of stress and lack of employees, my coworkers and occasionally myself made a lot of mistakes and in general was not performing to the expected standards. With the constant mistakes, I was also progressively getting upset at myself and my coworkers. At one point during the summer camp program, I was entering my exam week for classes. Since my workplace had academics as their top priority, I had two assistants take over my camp for the day while I was given a couple hours to focus on my studies. At one point, one of the camp instructors interrupted and notified me that a few students were missing and was needed to complete an activity. Already stressed from studying, I ended up getting into an argument with my assistants: blaming them for their mistakes.

With the constant arguments and negative emotions, I started to notice that workplace performance and relationships were getting worse. I eventually reached the tipping point when my boss called me into his office for a talk. I was worried, thinking I’d lose my job, but instead he thanked me for my so-far work efforts and pointed out some areas that needed some fixing on. While the talk made me feel better, it also made me think about the way I treated my coworkers. At this stage, I was able to identify NEA and PEA: I became more aware that everyone was stressed and that treating them negatively is only making things worse. Inspired by how my boss treated me, I then decided to get in a better habit to stay positive, even during the most difficult times. This is critical for leaders, as study finds that positivity help improve relationships and overall work outcomes (Fredrickson, 2011). In the end, I was able to apologize for my behavior on the two assistants and we improved on communication.

References:

Boyatzis, R. E., Rochford, K., & Taylor, S. N. (2015). The role of the positive emotional attractor in vision and shared vision: Toward effective leadership, relationships, and engagement. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 670. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00670

Fredrickson, B. (2011). Barbara Fredrickson: Positive Emotions Open our Mind [Video File]. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7dFDHzV36g&feature=youtu.be

Howard, A. (2006). Positive and negative emotional attractors and intentional change. Journal of Management Development, Vol. 25 Issue: 7, pp.657-670

MSLD 641 Module 3- Working with EI: Getting Results!

While having the ability to complete tasks is critical, it’s the social aspects that help drive organizations to success (Boyatzis, 2012).. Emotional intelligence (EI), or the way we handle ourselves and our relationships is often seen as the foundation to building and understanding relationships (Goleman, 2012). In this week’s video, Goleman (2012) describes the four dimensions of EI: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and social skills (Goleman, 2012).

Although I mostly provide general information and resources to students, EI plays an important role in student advisement and help make decision-making more effective. Occasionally, we have students that come to my office for assistance after struggling with academic, work, or personal reasons. Simply telling them to, “retake the class” or “fill these papers out” could result in miscommunication or feelings of discomfort: which could potentially worsen the situation the student is already going through as well as the overall relationship. To avoid these issues, it is important for leaders to thinking critically: which includes thinking about our choices as well as how these choices align how other people think.

Of all the four dimensions Goleman mentioned, my strongest is without a doubt social awareness. Social awareness, as he explains is the ability to understand and respond to the need of others (Goleman, 2012). The key here is empathy: where we sync and relate with one another. While it might mostly be because I previously and currently attend the same university I work for, I can easily sync with the student and respond accordingly. When it comes to a student failing and needing to retake a class for example, I can easily relate to my own personal experience. This is where self-awareness and self-management comes to play: as I start to pick up and understand the emotions that occurred in the past. As I gather all the information, I can then approach the situation.

With EI, I personally believe that there’s more value added to our actions because we are recognizing our people as individuals rather than objects. In my previous example, we’re not only helping the student retake the class, but we also provide emotional support: we understand how they feel and bring out positivity. When I usually approach this situation, I usually ensure that the situation is nothing ones should be deeply ashamed or embarrassed about. We basically let our students know that it can happen to anyone as an array of things can interfere in our lives. We try to empower and motivate our students by providing them the information and other counseling needs. In the end, we hope for the students to have a sense that we care about them: which can help build stronger relationships. With stronger relationships, advising becomes easier and could also boost the campus’s overall reputation.

References:

Boyatzis, R. (2012). Dr. Richard Boyatzis- Resonant Leadership- UNC Kenan-Flager [Video file]. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxjNu6kSpKc&feature=youtu.be&list=PLC5BF495EE698766F

Goleman, D. (2012). Daniel Goleman Introduces Emotional Intelligence [Video file]. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7m9eNoB3NU

MSLD 641 Module 2- Am I a Resonant Leader

For this week’s module, we had the opportunity to complete a brief self-reflection exercise to see whether we have demonstrated or lacked any resonant leadership skills and mindset. As Boyatzis (2012) mentioned in the video, although coming up with strategies, visions, or goals are essential, it’s the relationship between the leader and people that help drives organizations to success. Ever since I started working in my current job as an academic advisor, I’ve followed mostly with resonant leadership. While I have picked up many things from long-time employees at my organization, most of what I do is inspired based on my own personal experience as a student. Just like my students currently do, I also got help from my advisors. With a large campus and a long line of other students outside my advisor’s office, advisement was often rushed to ensure everyone got the help they needed. My overall feedback on my past experiences were satisfactory, but I was wishing some more time and more personalized responses and resources. Now an advisor myself, I can my goal for students is to give them what I was unable to get several years back.

After completing the short exercise, seeing my results were not that surprising. The first question of the exercise asked whether I am inspirational and how I inspire people. While I don’t find myself to be highly inspirational, I do have goals to inspire students to help them feel hopeful: specifically during challenging situations. As a student advisor, my goal is to help student succeed. As we all have personal situations pop up here and then, this could lead to some difficulties academically. A few years back for example, I had a student fresh out of high school fail his first class. He was clearly upset and was likely worried about how the remaining classes would be like. My approach to this situation adds up to the remaining questions of the exercise. Upon hearing the student’s situation, I clearly saw myself: as I also failed the same class he took. While I knew the course very difficult, I also considered the stressful shift from high school to college and feelings of embarrassment and disappointment that I felt in the past.

With my past experiences in mind, I first approached the student to let him know that he’s not alone and that it happens to anyone. To express my understanding of his situation, I shared my personal experience with the class and occasionally made a few funny remarks for good laughs. To inspire and make him feel more hopeful about the future, I let him know that taking the same course the second time was a lot easier: allowing me to successfully pass the class and eventually get the degree. In the end, I gave him recommendations and some resources to help him overcome the problem. In the end, the student was able to pass the class and is now close to completing his degree. When advisement is successful, I personally believe that this enhances the relationship I already have with students. As a result, communication becomes more frequent and students have better trust in me to provide advisement in the future.

Reference:

Boyatzis, R. (2012). Dr. Richard Boyatzis- Resonant Leadership- UNC Kenan-Flager [Video file]. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxjNu6kSpKc&feature=youtu.be&list=PLC5BF495EE698766F

MSLD 641 Module 1- What is Great Leadership?

            For this week’s module, Dr. Richard Boyatzis asked viewers in his video What is Great Leadership to stop and think about past leaders we’ve worked with. He first wanted us to think of a leader that brought out the best- one that we’d be gladly to work for again in the future. On the contrary, he also asked us to list another past leader that did not- one who you’d avoid working with in the future. With a little less than three years of work experience and technically working on my first and only job (my other was a temporary summer job), it’s hard to come up with an individual that I’d completely avoid. As both individuals that came in mind are overall good leaders, I will instead point out some areas that I believe could have been improved.

            The first person that came in mind currently works for the same organization that I work for. Since I’d like to keep the name anonymous, I will name her “Mrs. I”. For the activity, I described Mrs. I as a creative, caring, and a dependable coach. While Mrs. I isn’t exactly my boss, she has always been someone I looked up to. The main reason why I look up to her is because she has provided training when I first started working in my current job and continues to help sharpen my current skills and knowledge on student advisement. Also knowing that I am currently building overall work experience, she is very patient and provides detailed information and suggestions to help make improvements. When we cross path at work, she never fails to greet me and occasionally checks on me to make sure everything is running smoothly at my campus.

            The second person that came in mind also works for the same organization but was for a different position. Unlike Mrs. I, my former supervisor nicknamed “Mr. F” was more task-driven. For the activity, I described him as strict, task-driven, and single-minded. In my previous position, I was a summer camp coordinator: where I was in charge of escorting and ensuring the safety of middle school and high school participants. As the camp consisted of various activities, staff had to stick with the schedule to ensure everything runs smoothly. With me and my assistant in charge of a camp group consisting of more than 40 participants, we often had some difficulties to manage our students. Rather than understanding our best attempt to ensure everything runs smoothly, Mr. F often called me into the office, giving me a “do better next time” feedback (no detailed explanation). When things do run smoothly, I also never received any detailed feedback on what I did good or could do better. Often times, I felt that I wasn’t being recognized for my efforts: which made me less motivated to put additional effort.

            As Dr. Boyatzis (n.d.) explained in his video, I think the key to what makes great leaders are that they establish relationships and recognize employees as an individual rather than an object. This reminded me of a past TED talk I’ve watched called What Makes Us Feel Good About Our Work. In summary, Dan Ariely had a series of experiments that focused on the sense of recognition and purpose of work. The results of these experiments showed that motivation increased when work was being recognized. In addition, it was found that being recognized not only motivated employees to work, but it also promoted happiness (Ariely, 2012).

Not receiving any acknowledgement or knowing that efforts will never be acknowledged often leads to negative reactions including frustration, sense of unworthiness, and disappointment. This was something I felt when working with Mr.F: as he didn’t recognize my efforts or provided any good or bad feedback for personal improvement. Lack of recognition and purpose is hazardous for any organizations: as it reduce human capital, which is essential for organizational success (Mathis and Jackson, 2011).

References:

Ariely, D. (2012). Dan Ariely: What makes us feel good about our work? [Video File]. TED. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_ariely_what_makes_us_feel_good_about_our_work

Boyatzis, R. (n.d.). What is Great Leadership? Case Western Reserve University. Retrieved from https://820961.kaf.kaltura.com/browseandembed/index/media-redirect/entryid/1_irqylr7d/showDescription/false/showTitle/false/showTags/false/showDuration/false/showOwner/false/showUploadDate/false/playerSize/400x285/playerSkin/30818691#

Mathis, R. L., & Jackson, J. H. (2011). Human resource management (13th ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western, Cengage Learning