Servant Leadership!

I would define leadership as a quality that anyone can possess where they serve the ones they lead, and motivate others to do unite with them in achieving a common goal.
One thing that has really impacted me this semester is when we learned about being a servant leader, someone who is willing to serve those they lead. I loved talking about Divine Centered leadership and really enjoyed reading all about it. This is why I BYU is so awesome - in your leadership class you learn how to be a leader through following Jesus Christ's example because he is the perfect leader. He didn't do things to get glory or power. He did them to serve because he loves each and every person he leads. One part in the Divine Centered Leadership talked about doing God's will and not your own. It talks about how we need to ask Heavenly Father in our prayers to help us know what he would have us do each day. Instead of asking "What would Jesus do?" we can ask, "What would Jesus have me do?" We have opportunities that we need to embrace and can truly create and seek leadership opportunities more easily if we are willing to ask what Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father would have us do. I have tried to implement this habit of asking the Lord's will in my daily prayers and have been more aware to the opportunities I have every day in my life to be a leader to others by serving others. I am so happy that this class really emphasized servant leadership because it is a different concept of leadership compared to the world's view of its definition. We, as members of the church, need to be willing to lead humbly through our service. We shouldn't seek powerful roles to get gain or the praise of man - we should seek to first serve the Lord through serving his children. Jesus said, "If ye love me, feed my sheep." I truly want to encompass this statement and show my love for the Savior by having charity towards all people.

Leadership for Change

This week's lecture was a little bit confusing, but Tamara Gray did make some really good points that I want to emphasize. I understood the source strategy of Personal Motivation. We can motivate ourselves or motivate others by allowing self discovery, creating personal experiences or vicarious experiences, and we need to end with an invitation. I liked that she talked about making a personal experience that will make you or the person you're influencing care about that change. When I really understand a cause that's when I want to join. In my English class last semester, for our research paper, we were supposed to do more for our reader by giving a personal story compared to a statistic. When we can create a vicarious experience, it makes the issue more personal. In this way we can "consciously connect to values."
Another point I liked was about goals and social motivation. When we really want to achieve a goal, we will tell somebody who will hold us accountable for it. We need to choose good people to surround ourselves with so we can harness good peer pressure. When you are with good people, you will feel more accountable to them to be the best you can around them. We can find strength in numbers.
This approach to setting a goal to change seems like a good way to harness your own abilities, use others in a good way, and take advantage of our environment (structure).


P.S. Love language - Service (I think?)

Shared Leadership in the Home

This week's lecture by Brother Jeffrey Hill was really interesting as he talked mostly about being a leader as a husband/father and wife/mother. I was happy that he emphasized equal partnership in marriage. It made sense when he said that in the world people see the husband as the more dominant one when in reality it should be equal between the wife and mother. We are to be partners with one common goal. As a family, we should look after each memeber of the family and include them in making goals. This was actually emphasized in the book I read, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Stephen Covey said that we should have a family mission statement and when making this, everyone in the family should contribute. The family is the central team of our lives so we have to make it the best situation we can be leading the other members.
I believe that one of the biggest parts of being a leader in general and in families is to lead by example. I am the youngest and so I've seen all my six sisters grow up, with five of them married and those five having kids. I'm so thankful to be able to see what they've done in their lives so I can learn what works and what doesn't. In addition, I strive to be an example to my sisters and all my nieces and nephews. If they see what I do is working, they will hopefully follow my lead. I'm so thankful for the central unit of the family - it's something that is essential in life and you always feel comfortable when you're home. I'm excited to be able to spend eternity with my family.

Ethical Leadership and Integrity

Dean Kaw (?) did a great job on pointing out many of the various ways people are unethical in our world today. I would have to agree with him - How sad is it that the "norm" now is to cheat and lie? I've experienced this in high school and will admit that I haven't kept perfect integrity myself. Many students in high school would cheat on homework and even on tests. I've seen my friends do it and in the end they really do cheat themselves. It doesn't make them learn anything and doesn't make them smarter, but when they don't get caught they do get the grade. Things get out of hand and "help" on homework resorts to just copying someone else's work, the work that they spent time and effort on. In my school, they implemented something that they hoped would decrease cheating. They had every student sign an academic integrity contract that said that they would not cheat on any kind of assignment. It should have helped, but I'm not sure if it did.
Something I always think about when it comes to cheating is going to the doctor. The question is whether you would want a doctor to perform surgery or any procedure on you if they had only cheated their way through medical school. The obvious answer is no. It's scary what people can achieve through cheating and getting away with it. For this reason, it is up to us, the leaders, to draw a firm line of where we will stand. We cannot reset this line or compromise our standards for anything. It's a difficult situation when there is so much competition and many other people are cheating, but it the end what matters is how you conduct yourself and the integrity you hold.
Integrity is one of the vital characteristics we need to preserve in our society. One way we can do this is by setting the example for others. When we set our standards high, other people see that and watch what we do. If we slip up, they will notice. Therefore, we need to strive to possess within ourselves integrity, high moral conduct. We can follow Christ is this aspect and do the best we can.

Servant Leadership

I really enjoyed this week's lecture about being a servant leader. In my high school student government we tried to emphasize this point because a lot of people just want to be a part of it for the name and title. Sometimes it's hard to not want to be recognized or praised for the good work you do, but we have to realize that that's not the point in leadership. The best leaders are humble and don't go around telling people about how cool they are. Brother Cox's stories about different leaders were very interesting. When he talked about Alvin York, the World War I soldier, he told about how in the end he didn't want to be famous for the act of service he performed. Even though he was famous for it, he wanted to be remembered as someone who helped others. I think that sometimes when people who are praised for their acts of good and actually soak it up, they can become prideful. That doesn't make anyone like them more. Addiotionally, Brother Cox talked about not being caught up in yourself. You can't get caught up in what you are because with leadership it isn't actually about you - it's about the people you serve. If we can keep that in mind, then we will be able to focus on the people. That was his big main point - to serve outward, not look inward. I won't ever forget his hand motions of pointing outward. It's all about the people and the relationships - not about the projects and processes. Building relationships through serving others in your leadership positions, I feel, has been one of the main themes throughout this class so far. I am going to try to apply this by making eye contact and smiling more at the people I see around me.

Conflict Resolution

Our speaker this week had many good points about conflict and why we need it in our lives. I liked many different things so this post will be kind of all over the place.

I've always really believed in the scripture in 2 Nephi 2:11 where it talks about having opposition in all things. I had never really thought of this scripture in terms of conflict, but it's true that conflict fits as well. I think a lot of people see conflict as something negative, but it is essential to relationships and growth. I think when people are in serious relationships, they should be able to have a conflict, get through it, and still love each other afterwards. What matters is the way we deal with conflict. We can either be negative and bash on another person's ideas or we can be positive by being calm and reasonable. We should see the other person or group's point of view and really make an effort to do so.

I really liked it when he talked about seeing people as people and not things. Brother Pace said that we could either see them as real people like ourselves or see them as obstacles, tools/instruments, or as irrelevant to our own goals. I feel like sometimes I see people as just objects that are sometimes in my way and I don't really try to get to know them or make them happy. I've tried to be better at looking at the people I pass and smiling at them. It makes both people happier.

We also need to spend more time listening to other people. I liked the quote that said "the heart of good listening is authenticity." We need to be genuine in asking people questions and getting to know them.

Some of the things Brother Pace said were actually pretty similar to some things said in the book I'm reading right now (7 Habits Of Highly Effective People). We need to start with ourselves and try to see what our mistakes are in certain conflicts. If we can change ourselves and our way of seeing things, as well as our way of being, success will be the result. We need to realize when some things are our fault, even if we don't think we are at fault. All in all, conflict is something that can be positive and help your relationships strengthen and grow.

Lift Where You Stand - Teamwork

Monday's lecture was really insightful for me. My favorite part of his lecture was the five stages of relationships that he shared with us from John Maxwell. I can see these aspects of relationships in my life more clearly now. I think his point in sharing that was that we need to be more invested in the relationships we created with different people. Another thing he said was that we shouldn't be afraid to fail in these relationships because then we will know if we can trust different people. As a leader, I believe we should try to be open with people and also be genuinely interested in their lives. If we only have surface relationships with the people we work with, our common goal will not only be unsuccessful, but could also be different for each person. When we take time to truly get to know people, we can use their strengths to help in certain tasks of a project.
It is a scary thing to just trust people when you know that there is a chance of failure, but if you give people that chance you and that person will be able to learn. I believe at one point I had a near-solid relationship with a friend of mine and we trusted each other with almost everything. When that trust was broken between us, it was really hard to be good friends. I think that because of that experience, sometimes I'm scared to invest so much trust in people, but I am going to try and being willing to fail again so that I will continue to learn.
I also enjoyed what he said about goals - that if you tell someone your goal, you will have them on your team and they can help you reach that goal. As a team, goals have to be CLEAR to everyone. It's also good to realize that in accomplishing most goals, you have to take "mini-goals" and do them step by step. It won't happen all at once. As a team player, you need to be a "fire-lighter" by encouraging the team in what they do. I think this happened in lab this week when we did the hula-hoop activity. Because there were people in our group cheering and getting excited about it, it made everyone else want to do well and get the task done. His analogy of fire-lighters led into his story about James Earl Jones which I thought was really inspiring. Just one person, his English teacher, gave him the confidence he needed to launch himself into the world. If you can see the potential in someone, you should tell that person and encourage them.
In conclusion, team work has to do a lot about doing your part - lifting where you stand, as President Utchdorf explains. We need to do our part as members of different teams and do the best that we can. When we try our best, others are inspired by our efforts and want to do their best as well.

Balance & Time Management

I really enjoyed this weeks lecture and lab. It was fun to hear a different perspective about time management from someone who was a BYU student and was definitely very busy. Although I'm not as busy as she was, I can still feel overwhelmed. I'm so happy she looked at it from a gospel oriented perspective.
The first thing she talked about was seeking the kingdom of God. If we put the gospel first in our lives, then everything else will fall into place. I find that when I am consistently reading the scriptures everyday and praying morning and night that I am happier and just feel better about life. This semester, in my Book Of Mormon class, my professor makes us keep a log of our daily scripture study and requires us to study 30 minutes every day. I really think this has effected my life for the better. I am less stressed and have had my testimony strengthened. It is really easy to just say, "I'll do it tomorrow," but when we have that attitude, usually things will not get done. Also, sometimes you convince yourself that you HAVE TO finish something by the next day, but don't necessarily think you HAVE TO read your scriptures today. I find that if I write it down, it gets done more quickly.
The second piece of advice she gave was to "keep water in your well." I believe I do this one well - sometimes maybe too well. I take time to sit down and watch a show or relax, but sometimes I get too caught up in the show I'm watching (this past week, the Olympics have been addicting!), when I could be doing something more productive. I think one of the things that rejuvenates me each week is actually what I do for my leadership role - volunteering to help out with Special Olympics bowling. It helps me focus on other people and I have so much fun doing it! The other thing that I've taken time to do each week is play on an intramural basketball team which is something I really enjoy.
I loved her third point of obeying the "Ten-Second Rule." I think if you follow the promptings you receive, that you will receive more and more. I am trying to be better at this by writing down random things in my planner. If I didn't do this, I would most likely forget the thing I want to remember. I heard a quote one time that said "The weakest ink is better than the strongest memory."
Brittany Beattie's fourth point was to choose best over good and better. This part is kind of hard for me because there are so many good things you can do with your time that it is hard to decide what is best. I am going to try to work on this one more and more. I think I can be better about not wasting time. I'm going to try to not over sleep so I can be productive in my days. I also want to watch less TV and be able to limit myself. I think this way I will be able to get more things done and possibly be able to focus on people more in my life.
Her last point was my favorite one - to focus on people, not processes or things. I really try to integrate this into my life. Sometimes people and building relationships can be more important than the things that are going on. It was kind of ironic because when she said this I was trying to remember a quote by President Monson that was said the next day in one of the videos we saw in our Lab. It said, "Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved." I love this quote because life really is about the relationships we make in our lives. The memories we hold dear to us would not be there unless we shared them with the people we love the most. I am going to try to be better by being more outgoing.
Overall, if we focus on people and becoming like Christ, other things will fall into place. We need to know how to prioritize and make sure we are doing the right things first and foremost.

Divine-Centered Leadership

I really enjoyed class this week. It was enlightening to read the different parts of Divine Centered Leadership. It really made me feel like I have a mission on this earth to be a leader and one with good motive. I liked when it talked about the roadblocks to having good motive. They were the natural man and pride. With our human nature, we want to be the ones who are recognized and praised for being good leaders, when in reality it should be our Heavenly Father who should be recognized. Sometimes I struggle with that part because it is nice to be recognized as an awesome leader, but I believe it is better to be recognized as a humble leader. You don't have to display it and tell everyone how cool you are because you did something.
One leader that I really admire really encompassed a lot of the aspects in Divine Leadership. She was our ASB (Student Government) President my Junior year and everyone loved her. She seriously knew almost everyone at our school and was friends with them no matter what group of friends they were in. This really exemplified knowing each heart. She got to know people not so she could be popular, but because she really cared about them.

Also, this week in lab I enjoyed going around the library and giving people candy. Some people thought it was weird and refused. In fact, one of the library administration told us we couldn't pass it out downstairs, so we just went somewhere else. However, there were a lot of happy people who took it and were thankful. I looked at it further and made it an analogy to Christ's ministry. He had was the way, the life, and the truth and He shared His light with others. In a way, that is what we were doing by passing out candy. I also thought about how it wasn't easy and that people rejected him and his ideas, but he kept going. I believe it is our duty to do just that - share our light with others through this Divine Centered Leadership. It really is the perfect way to lead - all according to God's will.

Also, this week I saw Divine Centered Leadership examples in many aspects of my life. First, my mom was in Utah until Wednesday so I was able to spend some time with her and helped her take care of my sister's kids. My one and a half year old niece was sick with a fever and my mom was so good about taking care of her - she held her all night and just tried to make her feel better. I see her leadership in our family all the time and admire the way she does things centered in Christ. Also, when she left, she made me a whole Valentine's decoration thing and left me a nice note in my room. It was really nice of her - she is always serving her family and others. I believe that because of her service to us, we try to follow her example which is making us in turn become better leaders.
Another leadership act that I saw was when it was my twin roommates' birthday on Wednesday. My other roommate was so considerate - she put up a Happy Birthday sign, "heart attacked their door," and made them a cake. It really showed me that it is just the little things that can make a difference. My roommates really appreciated what she did for them.

I believe if we start with what we can do and do our best at it, we will continue to progress in our leadership abilities, and through Jesus Christ's example and Heavenly Father's help we can become more and more like them.

Myers-Briggs Test

I enjoyed learning more about myself by taking the Myers Briggs personality test. I actually took the test last semester for my Career Exploration class so we looked at it from a career point of view. It was kind of cool to look at it from a leadership point of view this time.
My type indicator is ENFJ. I am an extrovert which means I prefer to focus my attention on the outer world. I think this is definitely true- I care a lot about other people and feel energized when I am helping others. This part of my personality reflects in my leadership role as a Special Olympics volunteer. Each week, when I go hang out with these special needs people, I leave feeling so awesome! I love seeing these people and letting them know that I am their friend. They are so cute and really love you unconditionally.
Also, for the way I take in information, it says I use intuition rather than sensing. I am only slightly on the intution side although I do see myself as someone who takes in "the big picture and focuses on future possibilities." I find myself always looking ahead a few weeks when it comes to school work and what I need to get done. I also feel like I am also always looking forward to something that is coming up and am sad when that event is over. I think at times I can be on the "sensing" side where I focus on the here and now, but I could probably become better at being spontaneous. Also, since I've taken the test, I've tried not to get as frustrated when my plans suddenly change or don't go as expected.
My biggest personality trait is in the way I make decisions - I do this according to feeling over thinking. I think this is pretty right on because when I make decisions I care more about the people side of the outcome - which isn't necessarily good. I always ask my family and close friends what I should do when making big decisions.
My last trait is the way I deal with the outer world - I judge more than perceive. I do enjoy having a plan and being organized in knowing what I am doing and what I need to do. Anyone could see by looking at my planner that I like to get things done. I always write down lots of things I need to do, not just my school work. When I am done with it, I make a big check mark and cross it off. I could be a little less OCD in having to stick to a plan and could be a little more laid back with what I do.
Overall this personality test was pretty accurate. I definitely agreed that I am a people person - I like to work with teams, interact with others, and help people. One of my passions is working with and facilitating a team, something I believe is pretty helpful in leadership. The job family that would be "most attractive" to an ENFJ like me is "Community and Social Services" something I've actually thought about doing. I think I would be good at social work and possibly a teacher which is in the third most attractive job family. In the challenges section, I learned some things that I can work on so I will be more versatile. I can be better at not basing my decisions solely on what I think will please others - I need to factor in what I truly think is the best. I also should not be discouraged if people aren't as excited or like to sacrifice as much as I do in a task.
I think realizing what kind of person you are and how you work with other people is a vital part of knowing how to be a good leader. You have to know your own strengths and weaknesses, and also know how to work with different personality types, just like we discussed with situational leadership. I think I will continue to learn more about myself and try to become my best self. I shouldn't try to be like everyone else, but should strive to be my best self.

Situational Leadership

This week's lecture was interesting. I don't usually think of leadership under the four quadrants Adrianne described. Usually I think about it as more of an inspirational and motivating thing, but now as I look at the four quadrants, I understand better what he means by applying these things in different places and for the different people we lead.

Directing: The example I thought of in my own life of directing was in my new job last semester. I worked for BYU catering and went in not knowing quite what to do. So, my first day I worked with a "Captain" who was trained in how to do everything. She had to tell me exactly what to do, where I could find things, and how to do the tasks right. She didn't really fulfill the supporting role for me because there was a task that needed to be done quickly so she couldn't quite cheer me on which was fine. Because I didn't know what I was doing she had to supervise me closely, but once I started getting the hang of things I was able to also help support some other new comers. The roles are always changing.
Coaching: One instance in which I saw coaching was in my English class last semester. My teacher was very helpful in making me a better writer. Because I wasn't all that great of a writer, she told me how to write and what things I needed to include. She let me come to her and we would revise my papers together, therefore creating two way communication, a big key in coaching. I was so thankful for her coaching because you don't usually get that with a professor.
Supporting: I saw supporting from my student government teacher when I was on the Executive Board last year. My teacher trusted us to make good decisions and helped us when we needed it. Overall, the control of what was to be done was in our hands. We just had to go to her for approval. She let us make important decisions and facilitated what we did. As the executive board, we also played a supporting leadership role to the other class members. We helped them with the activities they wanted to plan and let them do it, with our approval.
Delegating: I think one place we see delegating a lot is in group projects, especially when group members are busy and the group can't meet with everyone as often as needed. You have to assign people to what they can do best and have trust that they will follow through on their tasks.

I think we should all consider the people we are working with and the events we are working in to decide how we should approach each situation with an appropriate leadership role. Sometimes you will even change your roles multiple times within a block of time and depending on who you work with. In every situation, we should be considerate to everyones' needs.

Leadership Interview

For my leadership interview, I decided to interview my twenty four year old sister, Lindsey Glauser. She got back from her mission to Richmond, VA about a year ago and so I thought she could tell me about some leadership qualities she had to have as a missionary. However, when I started asking her questions, she didn't talk about the mission as much as I thought. She talked a lot about how she has transformed into a better leader since she's been on the mission.

I asked her to define "leadership" and "leader" and this is what she said: A leader is somebody who instinctively stands out of the crowd, is able to make decisions quickly, and is also confident and willing to serve. She also said that a leader has to be willing to serve and also willing to step back and follow when needed. Lindsey defined "leadership" as a condition that is obtained by building your own qualities and becoming who you want to be. I also asked her about what she thought was the most important quality and her answer was CHARITY. One of the qualities that I admire in her is her willingness to serve and go help people out. She told me that for her, the most useful quality in serving others was to have a sense of humor and be able to laugh and be happy. She said that when you are willing and happy about serving, all the little things that might bug you will go away.

Another thing I asked my sister was to tell me about an experience where she remembers showing leadership. With that question, she talked about the time when she was Laurel president and helped a less active member. She said that she called her every week to come to the activity, went and visited her once a month, and tried her best to make her feel included. She remembered the one time that the girl came to an activity that they had so she would come. Lindsey remembered feeling that she had made a difference in that girls' life even if it didn't seem like much.

I also asked her about a leader that she admired and she told me about her mission president. Lindsey said that although he was put into that position, he was a natural leader. He loved people and seeing them progress - he loved peoples' successes. He also sincerely constructively criticized people and helped them know how to improve.

I admire Lindsey as a leader because she works well with people and can recognize when people are feeling left out, she loves to serve, and she is a positive person. She influences others through leading by example and serving all that she can. Lindsey also went from having a somewhat negative attitude to being positive. She said that it was a process to become a more optimistic person and that she had to decide to do it. She said that my mom told her that she could either sit and sulk or get up and decide to be happy and have fun. I think a lot of her leadership comes from her contagious positive attitude.

I want to be more like her and follow her example of being positive, being ambitious, and serving others. I think I can be more charitable as a leader and know that by making a concious effort to choose to be better, I eventually will be.

Leadership Role

For my leadership role this semester, I will be volunteering with the BYU Special Olympics. I will help out by attending meetings, going to sports practices, and helping out the Special Olympics players. I've already started helping out by going to bowling practices on Thursdays. They also have a tournament in February that I will hopefully be able to attend with the athletes. I'm really excited about getting even more involved with Special Olympics!

What is Leadership?

I think there are so many different kinds of leadership, but the kind I most resonate with is leading by example. I believe that sometimes a leader doesn't have to be the one that is loud and speaks out first all the time. I think that some leaders are better by leading through example. When someone else in the group sees you doing the right thing, they will follow. I think a good definition of a leader is someone who leads a group, considering all other group members' ideas, in striving to complete a common goal. I also believe that the best leader should not be the one watching other people do the work or the service, but they should be participating with the group. This is what King Benjamin did: "And even I, myself, have labored with mine own hands that I might serve you." (Mosiah 2:14) I believe one of the most important parts of leadership is to serve the people you work with and ultimately help them. I hope that as I go through this class, that I will be able to become a better leader myself.