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

MSLD 634 Module 9- A Reflection of Our Learning

The Leadership Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility (MSLD 634) course has reminded us of the importance of critical thinking and provided important lessons that can be applied to both my personal and professional life. The three topics that I find to be most beneficial and interesting were the slippery slope arguments (SSA), the differences in age groups in today’s organization, and The Golden Rule.

Of all the topics, I learned some new insights on the slippery slope arguments (SSA). While I’ve heard of the terminology before taking this class, I’ve always thought that SSA were always bad. This class has taught me that this is not always the case and that the general idea is SSA is a chain reaction: we look ahead and view how different kinds of actions leads to certain consequences (LaFollette, 2007). The SSA also reminded us of the importance of considering the thoughts of others in the decision making process, since each and every one of us see and think things differently. With this in mind, we can minimize or completely avoid dealing with negative consequences.

As a millennial and an individual relatively new to the workforce, I’ve sometimes worried and even struggled a little when working with different age groups. This class has provided some more in-depth information about the different age groups in today’s organizations and how they see and think things differently. The lessons learned has also reminded us that working with different age groups is not necessarily a bad thing: as differences can also promote learning opportunities (Deyoe & Fox, 2012). With these lessons, I plan to encourage myself to communicate with others in hope to learn new things to improve my everyday task as an academic advisor.

While the topic was more of a review, the last thing I thought was interesting and important was The Golden Rule. One of the most important thing I follow both in my every day and professional life is the idea to treat others in the same way I’d like to be treated in the same situation (Putnam, 2006). Prior to this class, I mentioned the Golden Rule several times in my assignments, but was not aware that there was an actual name for such idea. Now that I know the name, I can correctly refer to the Golden Rule for my future classes.

References:

Deyoe, R. H., & Fox, T. L. (2012). Identifying strategies to minimize workplace conflict due to generational differences. Journal of Behavioral Studies, 5, 1-17.

LaFollette, H. (2007). The Practice of Ethics. Blackwell Publishing.

Putnam, M. (2006). Reflections on the Golden Rule. Global Ethics University. Retrieved from http://www.globalethicsuniversity.com/articles/thegoldenrule.htm

MSLD 634 Module 8- Gun Control: What is the Answer?

While gun laws and violence has been around for a very long time, recent media seems to be getting into the topic more than ever before. Gun violence in U.S. soil has once again gone up, a 4 percent increase since last year’s statistics (Gun Violence Archive, 2018). While the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution provided rights to bear arms (U.S. Const. amend. II), the public often wonders whether a wide range of alternatives should be considered: including no, partial, or total abolition (LaFollette, 2007).

As intimidating firearms looks, they’re merely just a tool for self-defense. When given to the wrong individuals however, they become deadly weapons. Despite this fact however, I personally find guns to be no different than everyday items such as forks or a pitcher of iced tea. As the Merriam-Webster (n.d.) dictionary defines, a weapon is something used to injure, defeat, or destroy someone or something. Since how the gun is used really depends on the individual, I personally believe that gun laws should revolve mostly around gun users and not the object itself. As easy as it sounds however, establishing gun laws based on our mental state is excruciating difficult since the only person who really understands it is ourselves.

While we hope that future technology allows us to accurately read and understand one’s mental state, I personally think the closest we can get to determining one’s thinking is through a series of personal interviews and close examinations of the individual’s medical and crime records. In other words, individuals should go through extensive background checks before purchasing firearm.

Although background checks may help, I believe it is also everyone’s responsibility to ensure that firearms don’t end up with the wrong person. One shooting I recall is the Cascade Mall Shooting that occurred in Washington State last year. The incident occurred just a few miles away from where my family and I live, and I recall several friends and acquaintances who knew the 20-year-old suspect, Arcan Cetin. While the motive is still unclear to this day, Cetin entered the mall with a .22 Ruger rifle, instantly killing five people. Upon further investigation, it was found that Cetin had multiple troubled histories and was banned of possessing firearm. Despite the ruling, he still managed to get his hands on the rifle, which was stolen from a family member (Solis & Hughes, 2016). Although it is unclear how the rifle was stolen, perhaps the incident wouldn’t have occurred if it were locked away and closely monitored by the appropriate owner. In addition, if ones even knew or sensed suspicion of an individual, these should be reported immediately to reduce situations from occurring.
References:

“Gun Violence Archive”. (2018). 2014-2017 End of Year Logs. Retrieved from http://www.gunviolencearchive.org/

“Weapon” [Def 1]. (n.d.). Merriam-Webster Online. Retrieved from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/weapon

LaFollette, H. (2007). The Practice of Ethics. Blackwell Publishing.

Solis, S. & Hughes, T. (2016). Washington mall shooting suspect to face 5 murder charges. USA Today. Retrieved from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2016/09/25/washington-mall-shooting-suspect-arcan-cetin/91071336/

U.S. Const. amend. II. Retrieved from https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/United_States_of_America_1992 

MSLD 634 Module 7- Ethics and Behaviors

Ethics play an important role not only in our personal lives, but also in our professional lives. For this week’s module, we watched two short videos that examined both ethical and unethical behaviors in the workplace. The first video, focused mostly on the importance of treating others with respect whereas the second video explored aftermaths when an unethical situation takes place.

Of the two videos, I was able to mostly relate to Bruce Weinstein’s statements on the Keynote Speech Excerpts from The Ethics Guy video. He first talked about the importance of respecting others. While this ensures a good relationship within the organization, he also states that doing so will also make the individual feel good about themselves (Weinstein, 2012). This was demonstrated when Weinstein called out for two volunteers: who felt unappreciated. Weinstein then told his audience to applaud for the volunteers. Although this was a simple task, it eventually made the two individuals smile as well as the audience (Weinstein, 2012).

I am able to relate to Weinstein’s statements as well his simple exercise to my current job as an academic advisor. Over the course of years, I’ve learned the importance of respect and is aware of how different the outcomes are when doing so. My advisement strategies are heavily based on my past experience as a student. While my advisors provided me the resources I needed, they often rushed through their advisement due to the large traffic of students waiting to seek advisement. In addition to easily be forgotten, I often felt a bit unimportant and a nuisance to the advisors. Now that I’m an advisor and is aware of the student’s point-of-view, I place myself in “the students’ shoes” and ensure that I not only provide the help they need, but to establish good business relationships (such as remembering names, occasionally have small talks, etc.).

In the second video, Chuck Gallagher introduced us to the Unethical Continuum, which identifies the different types of unethical behaviors and the probable outcomes on each of these behaviors. One of the most common reason why organizations and individuals fail to make effective decision making is because they often approach situations as a monolithic process (Anthony & Schwartz, 2017). Gallagher’s statement reminded us of this mistake and explains the importance of thinking critically. This included not only the decisions we make, but also how other feel about the idea (Gallagher, 2013).

Since the primary goal of my organization is student success, we overall have a good practice of looking at situations critically. While most advisement goes smoothly, there are some instances where the student is in distress. If we approach them like any other student, this could cause some difficulties with advisement and misunderstandings: which could potentially hurt our relationship. To ensure that we assist them successfully, I try to identify how the student is feeling. If the student is dealing with family troubles for instance, we have to be sympathetic (it’s important to ensure that we’re not excessive either!) and let them know that we’ll be at assistance through their difficult time. In addition to speaking in a slow, calm voice, this signals the student that we care and want to help: which could help maintain or even improve our relationship.

References:

Anthony, S. & Schwartz, E. (2017). What the Best Transformational Leaders Do. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2017/05/what-the-best-transformational-leaders-do

Gallagher, C. (2013). Business Ethics Keynote Speaker - Chuck Gallagher - shares Straight Talk about Ethics! [Video file]. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUJ00vNGCPE

Weinstein, B. (2012). Keynote Speech Excerpts from The Ethics Guy [Video file]. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLxbHBpilJQ