Communication in Leadership

As a leader, I think there are three steps to effective communication as a leader. The three steps are 1. Speaking 2. Listening and 3. Learning. You have to have or develop all of these communication skills to have an effective communication with people in your life.
The first step is speaking. This is you talking about what you think, let others know what is going on. Nothing can get started if someone doesn't start talking. You let people know your opinion. But don't let this become controlling, because then people won't listen to you.
The second step is listening, This is where you would let others do the speaking. You have to listen to their thoughts and opinions, they listened to yours. The more input you have, the better. You can't always let yourself make all decisions, because sometimes your own decision might not be the best decision.
The third step is learning. You are talking with others, but why? You aren't just talking to talk. You are taking each others opinions and ideas and learning from them. You might learn about others or even yourself by what they communicate. I think the learning step of communicating is most important because you have to actually analyze what has been talked about. It isn't worth the time talking about it if you don't take something from it!

Dianna Elrod

Reflection from Thursday's Speaker

Leaders can get caught up a lot when they start thinking about failure. Some people don't like to accept the fact that they are going to mess up at some point. Everyone makes mistakes...it is bound to happen. But I think what makes a good leader is how you rebound from those mistakes. You can't let it get to you. Just find a solution and get on it!
"Pride left unchecked can destroy a person." I think this is saying that if you are a person who has a lot of pride, then you need to make sure you aren't thinking too highly of yourself. Leaders need to realize it takes a lot of effort from everyone, not just the leader, to accomplish the goal. Leadership begins in the dark when no one can see. It is the little things you do in everyday life that no ones sees that really counts.
A leader has to have character. If you don't have character you aren't going to be driven anywhere. I think a leader's character motivates you as a leader. "Character driven leaders make more of an impact in the world than those who just lead!

Dianna Elrod

Creating a Good Relationship

Mr. Jepson came and talked to our class last week. He said "A great leader is someone who can create relationship." I agree very much with this statement. If you don't have a good relationship with the people you are working with, then you are going to get nowhere with them.  You have to build a relationship with everyone so you can work towards that common goal.
Trust creates a good relationship. If you don't have trust in your relationship, then you can't be held accountable or be accountable for anything. Building this trust takes a long time, and it can be lost in five seconds. You can take a lifetime to build a trusting relationship with someone, but it takes you one time to say something you regret that can ruin that relationship. As a leader, you need to try and build these trusting relationships with everyone. You also need to keep them, once you loose it, it is hard to get it back.
He also talked about the 90-10 principle. 90% of your day to day events is what you make of it. The other 10% you can't control. You have to make the best of what you have. Keep a positive attitude throughout your whole day, even if it is a bad day. If you choose to make it a good situation, it will become a good situation. So make that 90% the best part of your day!

Dianna Elrod

Leadership Packaged up in a Frame

This past week we had a frame project in class. It had four different parts to it in the four corners. These were the four different parts:
1. Perceive

• Your perspective in life
• How you see things as an individual

2. Purpose

• Your vision in life
• Motivation
• Values

3. Plan

• Goals
• Plan of action

4. Pursue

• Why?
• Finish line
• Get what you are after

This is the picture I chose to put in the center of my frame. To me it represents you running after something in life. I look at it and see the different colors and realize that everyone is running towards something different in life. The arrows represent that you are never done, you can always run after something more.
When we were presenting these in class it was interesting to see what others did. I heard that you have to believe in yourself before anything else can happen. I totally agree with this. If you don't believe in yourself then you are already starting with the glass half empty.
It was also said that you will always have a key to a door, you just have to find the right door and use it. This is very true to me. If you have a plan, you have to find the right path for you and your plan or you will never get there.
I learned a lot about other people and what their big picture is and how they see things.

What influences how I see things?

Everyone sees things differently in life. Everyone "looks through a different pair of glasses". No one has the same plan for life as you. Someone might have similar goals as you, but how you approach and achieve those goals will differ no matter what.
What makes my glasses different than everyone else? I think a lot of things influence how a person sees things. A person's values definitely plays part in this. If you value something, you are going to look at that as being important and really dig into it. If someone doesn't value that, then they will probably not look at that issue much and sort of look over it. If you value something it is going to stick out at you when you are looking at the big picture.
I also think your experiences influences how you see things. If you have experienced something you know what to expect. So you will see it as you have experienced it. You won't have much other thought in it other than how it was.

Hierachy vs Matrix

Doug Doty, from Mosanto, was a speaker for our leadership development class yesterday. He talked about the difference between a hierarchy and a matrix. He also talked about the difference in leadership between the two. He also talked about the 5 global competencies for Monsanto.
What is a hierarchy and a matrix? A hierarchy is what you see a lot of the time in business. You have the CEO of the company at the the top of the leader board, then you would have people like the district managers, then the managers, and the employees at the bottom. The leaders are the strong ones, maintain control, and are the only ones who know their strategy. With a matrix, everyone sort of communicates with one another and everyone is a leader in their own way.  Leaders in a matrix provide a clear vision and strategy for everyone and supports implementation.
Do I think one is better than the other? No. I think it depends on the business and what works best of the business. I like the idea of a matrix because it seems to me that everyone would get heard more and you would have more opinions. Then there isn't really a "boss" of the show. There is more of a share of the leadership. I think of a matrix as more of a go with the flow but still controlled sort of leadership. A hierarchy is still a great option though and works for a lot of businesses. This way there is someone talking initiative and letting the people right below them know what to do. Then the leader is only "in charge" of a small group below them instead of the whole company. Everyone would have a specific job description and know exactly what to do. So it just depends on the business itself and what works best for them.

Dianna Elrod

Character vs Competence

We had Mr. Hoffman, our vice principal, come and talk to our leadership development. On one of his first slides it said this....leadership theory deals with what a leader is and what a leader does. He said a leader's character is who a he/she is, and a leader's competence is what he/she does. I very much agreed with him when he was talking about this. This is the main message I got from him. He asked us these three questions at the end and here are my responses:
1. How can we build character in high school, college, or in a job?
-I believe you can build character by by being involved in team work. This will build your character working with other people. You can also build character by realizing who you are and what is important to you. Your character will come out even more when you know your purpose and you know what you are after.
2. How can we build competence in high school, college, or in a job?
-I think it would be easier to build your character first and then work on your competence. I don't think you can build competence without knowing who your character is. You can then build your competence by putting your goal into action and talking some initiative. Stay involved in activities, go to college and get a further education, learn of your different opportunities. This will all effect what you do as a leader.
3. Can you ever stop building your character or competence in anything you do?
-No! You can always learn more about yourself and you can always do more. With being a leader I don't think there is ever a finish line. You can always keep going!

Dianna Elrod

Relationships with Leaders

I believe that relationships with other people are one of the most important things as a leader. You need good relationships with other people as a leader because you can't make it to your goal alone. Relationships are very important to me. If I am not getting along with someone, or I know someone doesn't like me, it really bothers me. I will lay in bed at night thinking about how I can fix it. Personally, I believe it is important to put others before yourself as a leader. That doesn't mean you should forget your values and what is important to you. Sometimes I get so caught up with trying to get people to like me and and get along with everyone that I forget my own values. You are not going to get along with everyone....that is just life. So make the best if it and remember you are working tissues a common goal!