Leadership - Post-class reflection

Has it been eight weeks already? It's hard to believe. As I wrap up the final assignments for the Leadership course, it is time to reflect on this, the first course in my journey toward an advanced degree.

In my pre-class reflection, I pointed out that the amount of work listed on the calendar seemed a bit overwhelming. After all, this was going to be eight weeks during which time I would work my normal hectic day, come home to spend time with the family, and then dedicate a lot of time toward study and participation. In retrospect, I need not have worried, but not for the reason you would think. It was, in fact, a ton of work, made more complicated by one of our team dropping from the program three quarters of the way through. The reason I need not have worried was because with planning, I was able to get it all done in plenty of time, with quality. It's all about minding your time.

Eight weeks ago, I had expressed the desire to learn about other leadership styles, and to see who at ADP practiced those styles and whether they did a reasonable job of it. And of course, I wanted to see how what I did as a leader fit into all this. Throughout the course, I learned about leadership across two axis. The first had to do with various leadership theories and styles, such as the great man theory, transformational leadership, inspirational leadership, transactional leadership, and the pygmalion effect on leadership, about which I wrote my first paper. To be brutally honest, some were more interesting to me than others. In the end, however, they provided excellent background information for the other axis. We studied the five practices of exemplary leadership: modeling the way, inspiring a shared vision, challenging the process, enabling others to act, and encouraging the heart.

I took the Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI) self assessment, and asked my manager, co-workers and direct reports to take the assessment on my behalf. The results were enlightening. The pattern showed I know where my strengths as a leader are: enabling others to act and modeling the way. I have a strong suspicion that the leadership behaviors I exhibit within challenging the process have been dulled a bit by comfort at ADP, but I'm going to sharpen them again. I also knew my weaknesses, which were within inspiring a shared vision and encouraging the heart. I've worked out a plan to improve in these areas. That said, my self assessment showed I have a much lower opinion of my leadership capabilities than those around me. I suppose that is good in a way, and maybe just knowing this will increase my self confidence somewhat.

At the outset, I was intrigued with week #4, during which we were going to focus on concepts such as vision and vision statements, construction of company communications, and aligning business plans to vision. In retrospect, I may have misunderstood what that week was going to be about. It was far less about the mechanics of those concepts, but more the thought that goes behind them. No biggie. I still learned a lot.

The other interesting note was that I was extremely worried about my first essay in years. As it turned out, the writing came easily. The APA 6th Edition style did not. It is only in the last week or two that I have felt a passing semblance of comfort with regard to the APA writing and citation style. Team project writing is also not straightforward. People have different writing styles and varying levels of command over grammar and readability. As a result, "getting it all together" is a challenge. Fortunately, I was part of a solid team where everyone chipped in as best they could.

Certainly, the entire course will serve me well professionally, as I intend to further develop many of the behaviors categorized across the five practices of exemplary leadership. Having successfully worked as part of a geographically dispersed team will help me along the way in other courses in the MBA program. I will know what to expect to some degree, and how to handle many situations. Presumably, APA 6th Edition writing style--oh, how I hope they don't come out with a 7th edition until I graduate--will be required throughout the rest of the program, in which case, the effort to reach a level of comfort with APA will help me going forward.

In the end, this was a fascinating course of study that is already helping me professionally. I can't have asked for more.

Leadership - Pre-class reflection

I reviewed the syllabus for the Leadership course here at Centenary. To be blunt, I was initially overwhelmed. For many years, I've left my heavy workload and tight deadlines in the office. After a few days to chew on the syllabus, and to complete the first two threaded discussion original responses, my nerves have settled.

Overall, I hope to learn additional leadership styles to which I may adapt in order to fit the problem at hand. It will be very interesting to see which of these styles is employed by those I work with at ADP, and, perhaps which styles may be incorrectly employed. In particular, I'm curious to see where my leadership style(s) fit. Of course, I hope to reaffirm some of the leadership practices I already utilize, but that is only because it's good to think you're doing something right.

I am very much looking forward to session 4. During this session, we're going to focus on concepts such as vision and vision statements, construction of company communications, and aligning business plans to vision. These are areas with which I have little experience yet will be necessary as my career progresses. I am also interested in what the LPI assessment has in store.

One other item of interest -- while I have been writing for quite some time (several short stories, two complete novels, and two incomplete novels), crafting my first essay in many years is a bit daunting.