Friday, February 14, 2014

February 14th Meeting Reflection Prompt

Name of Cohort Meeting: Change (but more about Personal Values)
  • At this weeks meeting I was able to get even more excited about out community service project tomorrow!
  • I was able to learn about how successful we have been as a cohort fulfilling LCP requirements.
  • Lastly, I was given the chance to explore my personal values further and begin thinking about my personal leadership philosophy presentation.

Values play a huge role in anyone's personal leadership philosophy. These values, whether we chose to explore and identify them or not guide our decisions as people and as leaders. To be a truly effective and ethical leader though, one must align their morals,values, and beliefs with their actions. As a leader I personally go out of my way to consistently demonstrate one of my strongest values which is gratitude. I am aware that I wouldn't be where I am today or be as successful without others' hard work, guidance, and support. Being appreciative of those individuals and guaranteeing they feel my sincerest of thanks is always a top priority.

Leadership is important to complex organizations because without the tools to effectively communicate and include others ideas, value sets, and experiences groups would never be successful. It is vital to a group to explore the strengths and weaknesses of their members to strengthen their foundation. A strong foundation to begin leads to much better forming, storming, norming, and performing in the future. Overall, by taking the steps to empower others to actively participate and become a leader in their own way, whether it be through task or committee, not only benefits the individual but greatly impacts the organization as well.


Sunday, February 2, 2014

January 31st Meeting Reflection Prompt

Name of Cohort Meeting: Interacting with Teams & Groups 
  •  I was able to learn about what the rest of this year for FLI will look like for meetings and presentations. 
  • I learned about Tuckman's model for team formation which includes Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, and Adjourning. 
  • Lastly I realized how to cooperatively keep balloons in the air while 'human' obstacles become present. 
By taking into account what we learned during this meeting as a cohort we can better understand and come to terms with the fact that its a very dynamic model. Team building and cooperation can go through those stages in a variety of orders and back up or reverse when needed. To cite specifics, we had to completely stop all storming and norming for our service project and return to the forming stages in order to successfully put on our event. As a part of this cohort I believe that I have done a lot of summarizing and clarifying to better align the group towards our new goals and responsibilities. I think it would be most difficult to fulfill the role of gatekeeper at this point in time for our cohort since we have gone through so much together and we are so close to accomplishing our goals. I cannot wait to be a gatekeeper for the falcon leadership institute for years to come though!

My simple definition of leadership still encompasses the concept that it is a role that anyone can take on to effectively and efficiently work with a group of individuals to accomplish a common goal. Through the literature, knowledge, activities, and experience that FLI has provided me I have a multitude of theories and scenarios which demonstrate the many levels and flavors of leadership which come together to achieve great things.


Just a sneak peak at our coffee filter flower bouquets for center pieces! (: