"Leadership is Everyone's Business"

Last blog! Well, your last assigned blog. I certainly hope you won't stop thinking, digesting, reflecting,  supposing, proposing, dreaming, hoping, challenging, and acting after the semester is over. Blogs are great place to do those things, or at least get them started. Just because I don't tell you to, doesn't mean you shouldn't take the initiative. (See image above.)

Now then, let's get to it. Whether you have a cute pair of shoes to grab or not, the point here is what Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner refer to as "Leadership is Everyone's Business" (The title to chapter 13 of their book The Leadership Challenge.)




Think about that for a moment, in a few different ways:

Leadership is everyone's business.
Leadership is everyone's business.
Leadership is everyone's business.







Now, for class this week you are reading about the relationship between power and leadership.

(Sorry, I couldn't resist.)

... but really, that's not what we mean by "power." We're talking about types of power, organizational sources of power, individual sources of power, corruption and power, distribution of power, power v. empowerment, etc. Right?

I'd like for you to reflect on this for your final blog post:

What does "Leadership is Everyone's Business" even mean, and what does power have to do with it?

Share your thoughts, give us a few examples of people/experiences to illustrate your point, and make sure you tie it back to the concepts you read about in the Power and Leadership reading. Also, how has what we've talked about in class over the semester affected how you think about the statement "Leadership is Everyone's Business?"

Okay. Go.

Get on the Balcony.

Hey, now. That's a nice view, huh?

In anticipation of my upcoming trip to LeaderShape Program Coordinator Training in Chicago, I'm sitting here thinking about how lucky I am to get to do all this leadership-y stuff with all of you. I really like our class. I hope you do, too. :)

Anyway, I promised you all a superb activity in place of our class period this week. Hopefully this will help prime you for further discussion on Emotionally Intelligent Leadership next week and serve as a helpful tool for your final projects.

Here We Go!

In addition to being the authors of the book we are reading, our friends Marcy Levy Shankman and Scott Allen are well-known scholars, facilitators, presenters... and are honestly pretty cool people in general. I think you'd like them. Scott actually commented on the Facebook picture I uploaded of Anooj and Tim during class last week.

You guys are so famous.

Marcy and Scott also blog from time to time. Which brings me to your assignment. It's a 4-step process:

STEP 1: In March 2011 Scott asked the blogging world this question: Do you Intervene Skillfully?. (Go ahead and take a look - it's short, I promise.) He quotes directly from a longer article from the Kansas Leadership Center, citing the definitions of...

• "balcony"
• "defaults/default behavior" and
• "intervene skillfully" 

These three terms align with the Consciousness of Context piece of the EIL framework which you read about for class. Many of you realized that the Context facet is the piece of EIL with which you feel least comfortable, so hopefully this new information will help. Keep this in mind as you move forward with this blog post and your final consulting project.

STEP 2: Go back to chapter 2 in your EIL book (the chapter on Environmental Awareness.) Marcy and Scott challenge the reader to "get on the balcony" : 

"The next time you attend a meeting of an organization in which you are involved, pay close attention to what is going on around you. Think about the meeting and the organization as a whole. As you watch the meeting or activity, observe the following environmental factors:" (Shankman & Allen, 2008, p. 15)

... and they then provide a list of questions to ask yourself as you observe the group. I want you to do this. In the next 10 days, before our class on Oct. 18th. Head to a meeting of the student organization you chose for your final project and be the proverbial fly on the wall, using the list of questions outlined in the book as a guide for your observation and reflection. Get into it. Take notes.

If for some reason that organization doesn't have a meeting or activity in the next week, choose another student group to observe. It can be a group you are a member of or not. Just remember what your task is: "get on the balcony." It's an exercise in observation - not participation, not interviewing - observation. So, this should NOT be a meeting you set up to specifically ask them questions about your final project. You should put yourself in the position to watch, listen, think, and analyze what is happening around you without actually playing a part in the meeting.

"Developing environmental awareness can be difficult. It is a skill that must be practiced intentionally. Why? For many, it is often human nature to jump in and react to stimuli rather than observe." (Shankman & Allen, 2008, p. 17)

[Side note: This aligns with what we learned about in the Skilled Facilitator Approach earlier this quarter, too. Would you look at that... :)]

STEP 3: Using the questions posed in the EIL book on pages 15-16 as a guide, I want you to report back on "your view from the balcony" by blogging about it. You can change names to protect the innocent, but paint the picture of your chosen group for the rest of #SLA2572.  Understandably, you will be making some assumptions, but the idea is to be a keen, thoughtful, and intentional observer, thus making your assumptions educated ones. This blog post will adhere to our normal timeline, so the post is due by Wed. Oct. 17 at 11:59pm. You'll then need to comment on a class member's blog post by the start of class on Thurs. Oct. 18.

STEP 4: I need some documentation. Please turn in the following in class on Oct. 18:

• A copy of the notes you took during your observation of your student organization
• The name and email address of the student organization's leader with whom you are working directly and the name and email address of the student organization's adviser.

Okay, team. Make me proud.

- ProfRoc

Inherit the Earth.

We'll get to what the title of this blog means in a moment. For now, let's focus on your blog assignment for this week.

This past week we talked a lot about Student Development Theory. I want to thank you all for really engaging in our conversation. I think that stuff is fascinating, and it was clear by your insightful remarks and personal examples that you appreciated the material and enjoyed yourselves.

That brings me to our next topic: Learning. 

Well, it can be. I'd argue it should be, and that the best kind usually is.

Knowing what we know about how traditional-aged college students develop throughout college, how can we be better create and facilitate the learning moments that help our peers along this path? The role of a Student Leadership Advocate is more than just an instruction-giver or a sideline cheerleader. You know that. But sometimes it's easy to fall into that trap and not be quite as intentional and thoughtful about facilitating learning moments as we should.

So, for this week's blog topic, I'd like you to share the story of your "Best Learning Experience." It can be a more formal example like a class or workshop experience, or it can be more informal such as an experience you had with friends or family. But paint the picture for us: What background info do we need to know? Who was there with you? What happened? What did you learn? And the most important, why do you believe this experience to be your best learning experience?

Plan to share your story with the group on Thursday. We'll be tying them all back to some of the theory from your readings for this week and some additional topics we will be discussing in class.

...and regarding the blog title. It's from one of my all-time favorite quotes about the importance of lifetime learning, by Mr. Eric Hoffer:

"In times of change, the learner will inherit the Earth while the learned will find themselves well equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists."

Nosh on that. Happy Monday, Ya'll.

MelRoc

College.

Yep. College. A time for lots of learning and growing inside and outside of the classroom. ("learning and growing" can mean many things, of course. Just ask this guy.)

This week I've asked you read articles on the following:


*  Overview of foundational student development theory
*  Leadership Identity Development (LID) Model

And that's just skimming the surface - there is a lot to each of those bullet points. Essentially, the LID Model stems from the foundational theories of student development. Get ready for the heady, in-the-clouds stuff.

But, that's why we're here, right? To learn about why we do what we do in SLA, beyond the facts the people like us (right?) and that we are positive contributors to the student organization community.

So, here's what I'd like you to write about for this blog assignment; Why would we learn about student development theory in an Intro to Leadership theory class? After digesting your readings for this week, tell me what you think. How does student development theory connect to leadership and facilitation? What's the point? Do me a favor and cite specific ideas, concepts, etc. from the readings that stood out to you or that you still have questions about (At least three, please.) We'll talk more in class, but hopefully blogging about it first will help you organize your thoughts and feelings.

Happy writing!

ProfRoc

Performing Arts and Post-Industrial Leadership

Victorian novelist George Eliot once said: "Acting is nothing more or less than playing. The idea is to humanize life." I think there is some real truth to that. Performance art in many ways can help us illustrate our thoughts and experiences in a way that normal words often fall short, making it easier for us to process our own lives and connect with each other's. So, let's go with that...

Over the past two weeks, your class readings have covered a variety of post-industrial/modern approaches, theories, and concepts of leadership, including:

• Transactional and Transformational Leadership
• Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership
• Neo-Charismatic Leadership
• Spiritual and Values-Based Leadership
• Authentic Leadership
• Reciprocal or Relational Leadership
• Servant Leadership

This doesn't cover all of them, but you get the point. So, in the spirit of exploring a bit more about the performing arts and what they have to do with humanizing leadership, your blog tasks for this week are as follows:

1. Choose at least three of the approaches/theories/concepts above. 
2. Find clips from movies or TV shows, songs, scenes from a play... some sort of example of performance art that illustrates leadership as described by your chosen approaches/theories/concepts.
3. Please share each example on your blog and explain for the rest of us how each relates to the selected approach/theory/concept. (This is also a good chance to further your blogging skills by figuring out how to embed videos, songs, and other media directly into your posts.)

You very well may have many leadership examples within one clip - that's totally okay. You can talk about more than one leadership example with each clip, but I'd still like you to have at least three clips. Also, if there is a particular clip you want to use, but can't find, please at least add some sort of photo or link, and then explain the scene in your narrative.

To give you a kick-start, please enjoy the movie trailer for one of my all-time favorite movies-with-leadership-lessons, (yes, I have a list,) Cool Runnings:

I look forward to your creativity and cleverness. I have no doubt you all are more than capable of providing a good level of sass on this one, too. :)

Happy hunting! See you Thursday.


- Mel

Intro Blog: Your Leadership Lens

What is a "leadership lens?" That's a very astute question. I'm glad you asked.

Basically, I'd like for you to take some time to think about how you see/feel/experience/learn leadership. What does that word mean to you? What or who has informed how you personally know or understand "leadership?" The idea is that we get all our assumptions and thoughts about leadership out there now, at the beginning of the semester, so that we know what we're working with, and where everyone is coming from.

Your leadership lens may not look like this, but someone's could, and that's okay! The point is that everyone's leadership lens is different, but important. This class is about understanding those lenses - whether they be yours, other people's, or even the lens of a theorist/researcher - so that we can use that understanding to better inform our own practice of leadership. 

So go ahead. Show us your leadership lens.

- Mel

New Year, Same Blog!

Welcome, welcome, #SLA2572, the AU12 edition! I'm excited to have you all continue the tradition of ohiostateSLA.blogspot.com this year, building upon the foundation your predecessors have contributed in previous years. After you create your own blog site, we'll add you to the SLA blog list and move forward with a fabulous SEMESTER (?!) of blogging.

And away we go...