Assignment #2 update!

So back in assignment #2 I chose to use my voice in my job to be a leader for my coworkers at work, and to help them find their voices to make our workplace a better place. So far all has been going well. I have been talking with all of my coworkers about what they want out of their jobs, what they have been wanting to change, and how we can all work together to get there. I have been trying to stay positive, and setting examples, so that they can follow and then pass that along to another person. I also practiced the learn as you teach because when telling them about how we can change the bad in our work into good by making changes in our everyday activities, I found that I understood it better and could find it easier to use and follow myself. I also held a meeting at my work a little differently than we normally do. I tried to make it positive, not criticizing, put a game in it so that my coworkers could relate to each other and communicate on a more fun level, and I taught them to share amongst each other things they would like to see change, and how to make a goal and plan for us to get there. I feel like since then everyone at work as tried to make an effort to be more positive, to communicate better with each other and express what they are needing, and by setting an example one of our goals has been met every week since then, which we were struggling badly in before! So I think we are making great progress!

Appendix #3 assignment

Although it may be a short quote, it definitely has a big impact and meaning.
"Leaders are people who do the right thing; managers are people who do things right".
(pg 360 in Covey's book)
This quote really stuck out to me because I could relate to it a lot! In my experience I have a job where we have 6 different managers, and I am the only assistant manager. So in my job I am closest to the employees, while the managers run things... A lot of the time I feel like I am a leader for my associates because I am their voice, I am their way to get them heard, and I care for their treatment and fairness at work. While the managers just tend to make sure rules aren't being broken and paperwork is correct 100%. So I can truly see the difference between a leader and a manager. Managers are equally as important, but may not possess what it takes to be a leader at the same time. I am solely there to represent what the associates need and what the customers are asking from us, and I am there to help and guide them. Managers are there to make sure we are all doing our jobs and making the company a success. I almost see it as a people oriented or organization oriented kind of thing. Leaders are focused on their people, their followers, and their autonomy, where as managers will focus on more tangible or numerical things. So there is a difference between a manager and a leader, and there is no saying that one cannot be both at the same time. I do think a leader can possess manager skills and a manager can possess leadership skills, but there is a difference. I think in society people do think a manager is a leader, but that is not always the case!

appendix #2 assignment

I chose to do the leader that I chose for the earlier assignment, Eleanor Roosevelt, for this assignment, because I learned so much about her from reading up on her. The leadership theory I felt she was closest to from Covey's appendix was on page 356 and titled Aspirational and Visionary Leadership. This theory encompasses that a leader will have a vision for their followers and to motivate their followers aspirations and passions to get them where they need to be. The leader uses motivation and goals to get followers into action and to make a change together.
I felt that this related to Eleanor Roosevelt as a leader because she motivated her people to make a change, she had them working together as one to make a movement for women, those in poverty, and fairness for them both. She did not use power or management as a leadership tool, she used her passion and her values to make a lasting impact. She made a new environment for those who needed a change, and brought them together to work towards a common goal of unity and fair treatment. She never stopped even after her role as first lady did. She kept to her vision even after that job came to an end, which showed her dedication to her followers. Eleanor Roosevelt definitely had the passion as a leader to relate to this theory of Aspirational and Visionary Leadership.

project proposal

Since we are all psychology majors and have similar interests/goals in the helping profession, Chenoa Castro, Jennifer Panehal and I have decided to team up. We have decided to do something along the lines of: “Develop an effective public or professional presentation about some aspect of leadership. Share it with the class for feedback and then deliver your presentation to a group in your community. Write a paper reflecting on what you have learned.”

What we plan to do: Our plan is to hold a type of ‘conference’ for psychology practicum and counseling students and present how vital communication is in psychology, especially when attending to clients. Through this, we’d propose our learning of Covey’s “8th Habit” as an effective tool.

Why: We feel psychology and communication are incredibly interconnected but are never directly taught how to ‘communicate’ with clients, as well as other members of agencies, through earning our psychology degree. In conjunction with our mission statements, we will assist and guide others, while providing them with resourses and encouragement to enhance their education on being agents of change and lead by setting productive examples.

When: Our tentative plan is either right before or right after spring break; we really want to present this at whatever time works best for the students and their learning. At this time, “when” is fairly flexible.

How: We plan to correlate what we are/have learned and apply “the 8th Habit” as an effective method for attending to clients and being agents of change. We will meet several times in order prepare and plan. On a Tuesday evening in about a month, we will make this presentation. This aspect is still in the brainstorming stage.

What we will need to succeed: We will need cooperation and encouragement from our COM 441 class and instructor, as well as psychology faculty and willing students to participate. We will have to work hard as a team in order to pass along the message we are trying to send. We have presented this to the practicum and counseling psych professor and have gotten general cooperation and excitement for the possibility.

How we will know if we have succeeded: We will know we have succeeded through feedback and participation of psych students and faculty. We will be able to “see” our success in future psych graduates as they work in the community.

Assignment #5 on a speaker

I chose to do Al Gore because he is my favorite speaker. Although he may be a very popular speaker and known global icon for our climate, he just sticks out to me in so many other ways. The second I read the assignment I had him in my head, and hoped he was on the Ted Talks website, and of course he was!
Many of you know Al Gore as a former Vice President of the US, then not long after he became one of the largest spokesman for Global Warming and made the movie "Inconvenient Truth". The speech he gave that I watched was about what we can do as consumers to help in cutting our carbon output. In his speeches he uses a little comedy, his voice is extremely easy to listen to, and he gets to the point and has all the facts there so you can believe every word he's saying. He gives you things you can do to make a difference. The video on his speech I watched was filmed in 2006, right before his movie came out. In his speech, one of his recommendations was to talk about what it is you want to change, to spread the word, get people to get involved, influence them. I thought that really related to my mission statement and to being a leader in general, was to influence the people around me and to get them interested and motivated. Not only did seeing his speech for this assignment help me be better focused on my own mission, but it also got me motivated again on things globally that I used to feel strongly about, but lost sight of a little bit from all the things going on in my life. I am starting to realize that I need to get back to those things I used to be passionate about, because the last 2 years have kind of been very monotone for me. The link to the speech I watched is:
http://www.ted.com/talks/al_gore_on_averting_climate_crisis.html

Response to Bernice Puahi Bishop

Although I am not Hawaiian, I was born and raised on the Big Island and to see the Kamehameha schools enrich so many lives of almost everyone I grew up with is amazing. There are so many benefits of that school as an alternative to some of the not so great public schools on the islands. And for a great leader like Bernice Pauahi Bishop to develop something that would touch us all years and years later is very empowering and the works of a great leader. Although Hawaii has changed so much since her time, her values have been intact for that school system. Its also nice to see someone near to home appreciated as a leader that we can all see the effects on a more personable level.

response to Gandhi as a leader

I believe that Gandhi is probably my favorite leader from all the ones we wrote about as a class. His name to me just brings peace and goodness. A quote my dad always told me that kind of relates to our whole class and the Covey Book is "A man is but the product of his thoughts what he thinks, he becomes".

response to Dr. Becker on Eleanor Roosevelt

Wow I did not know she was gay! Yes I guess I would need to leave out that part of her birth right, "social appropriateness". Although I believe she did care for the social appropriateness in society in that everyone should be treated equal and have the advantages everyone else did. For example: that women could hold a job just like a man could and that it was appropriate for women to be treated fairly in that aspect.

I did put my blog on my profile before...I dont know why it wasn't showing up...let me know if it doesn't again. On my end it says that it is on there...its http://comblog2010.blogspot.com/

What I have learned from a classmates about a leader!

I chose to respond to Reese's Mother Teresa essay because she was another inspiring woman in history. She really did lead many people, although she was of a different culture, background and class level than many other leaders we have witnessed. Mother Teresa used her voice for good and to lead others away from the bad and terrible things that were going on around them. Although she was viewed by many as a saint and a savior, she still lived like the people she was helping, and did not turn away from them at anytime. She lived to help others and because of that she is one of the greatest female leaders that ever lived.
The one aspect I really liked about reading all of the leadership essays was that, Coveys' birth rights really did portray across all of the leaders that we wrote about. There was not one leader who did not have one of those qualities, although some may have used them differently, or some had more than another, they still all had something in common.

Eleanor Roosevelt

Eleanor Roosevelt was born on October 11, 1884 in New York City. She was a niece to Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th president of the United States, and she became first lady to Franklin Roosevelt, the 32nd president of the United States, she was also the mother of 6 children. Eleanor Roosevelt was the woman who really made an impact being the first lady, and truly used her position to be a leader and make a difference. Many of her accomplishments include being a humanitarian, civic leader, working for the welfare of youth, women, african americans, and the poor. She also found jobs and opened factories to help out the jobless, including putting women in the work force, and she fought to end child labor. When her job as first lady ended in 1945 because of her husbands death, she still did not stop her duty to help. She became a delegate to the United Nations General Assembly, specializing in humanitarian, social, and cultural issues. In 1948, she drafted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which affirmed life, liberty, and equality internationally for all people regardless of race, creed or color. Also, she helped in the establishment of the state of Israel and attempted negotiations with the Soviet Union. She was more involved with the help of women's rights and having them treated equally in every aspect. One quote from Eleanor was "A woman is like a tea bag, you can't tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water".
I believe that Eleanor Roosevelt had defiantly found her voice and used it to lead and to help others. In Covey's book, one of the birth rights is the power to choose, and I think that Eleanor Roosevelt chose to use her position as first lady to do good and to become a leader and fight for others rights. She had transformed the "first lady" position into something powerful instead of just the presidents wife. She was labeled as the "first activist first lady", and since then women who later became first lady have for the most part been leaders as well. Eleanor also believed heavily that people had the right to choose and have freedom, so she fought for them almost her whole life.
Another birth right Eleanor Roosevelt had in relation to Covey's book was of moral authority, she cared so much for people and that it was immoral to treat them like slaves, poor, or inhumane. She wanted a world where everyone was treated with equality and had the freedom to do what they wanted. She wanted women to be treated morally in that they could work where they wanted, vote for who they wanted, and be of equal to men, and she wanted the African Americans to be free to do the same. She also wanted children to be free from child labor, and for there to be enough jobs so the poor could earn an income. She cared very much for the morals of others, so she had that quality of moral authority to her.
Lastly I think Eleanor had the emotional intelligence about her because she cared so much for the sake of others. In Covey's book he says words like "social appropriateness", "sensitivity" and "empathy" when describing a character of emotional intelligence, and to me, Eleanor related most to that quality. She had a passion and a caring ability to her that really set her apart from any other first lady, and that is what made her such a great leader. Eleanor Roosevelt died in 1962 at age 78. I have spent many years of my life in opposition, and I rather like the role. -Eleanor Roosevelt