Please view at least two of the Reflections videos on the TLTV Network page of our Total Leadership Web site. Then write a comment about each of these two video clips (in a short paragraph for each) describing what you learned from listening to these alumni speaking about their experience.
Andrew speaks of being busy - family, work, volunteer, etc - which resonates with me since I'm constantly making myself busy and taking on new projects. Balancing my time and giving my all in all areas of my life is highly important in order to move forward with everything I want to do. "You get out of it what you put into it" - a true statement for all parts of life.
Kirk speaks of moving from a contributor role to a leader role. I'm also in a similar position, although moving from a contributor/midlevel leader role to hopefully a higher level leader role where I can have more impact on education and children. Glad that this course will give me more tools to influence a larger number of people. Kirk also talks about vision and how good leaders articulate their vision. I feel like I have some sense of my vision, but I could certainly clarify it and be better about communicating it. Kirk then talks about experimenting - which is so important in all domains. If we keep doing what we've always done, then we'll keep getting what we've always gotten. In experimenting, it's ok if we fail, if we try things that don't work - we can always do another experiment the next day.
Both Andrew and Kirk talk about how important the stakeholder conversations are. I have to admit that I'm a bit scared of having these conversations. But it was good to hear Kirk mentioning that stakeholders often don't expect as much from you as you might think - that's probably true. I probably do expect a lot more from myself than they do. Although I think getting some clarification about what things they do expect would be good - from asking my previous employees, they sometimes brought up areas that I didn't even think about. Everyone has different views of the world and expectations about how it should be - it's not the golden rule of 'treat others as you would want to be treated', it's the platinum rule of 'treat others as they want to be treated'.
1.B Goals
As you are about to embark on your journey through our course, please describe, in a paragraph or two, (a) what led you to sign up for it and (b) what you hope to gain from it. Take a few moments to let your responses come to mind, then record your thoughts.
I signed up for this course because I'm hoping to build my leadership skills in order to take my career to the next level and help even more children in education. I feel like I've mastered multiple individual contributor roles and that I'm good (although perhaps not great) at leading a small team for incremental growth. But in order to have a broader impact and give more children the opportunities that they need, I need to build my skills to work in a larger organization.
I also want to be able to balance everything in my life. While work and making a difference are very important to me, I also value family, friends, community, etc. My mom and grandma have been having health issues, so I want to be able to spend some time with them. I have amazing friends who I want to make sure to stay connected with even as I'm traveling and doing so many different things. I love helping with lots of different events and community groups. I want to start a family soon. And of course, I want to stay healthy and dance and learn and have variety in my life! :-)
1.C Skills
This exercise helps you focus on the skills you most want to develop in our course. First, please complete the online TL Skills Assessment. Then,
please choose the two or three skills from the 18 that you would most
like to focus on as you go through our course. In one sentence for each,
please explain why these two or three skills are important to you.
I have strengths most like Michelle Obama. Even though it really
doesn't mean anything, there's something nice psychological about
hearing that you're similar to someone who is influential and making a
difference. :-)
I think the three most important skills that I want to focus on for this course are...
1) Having a vision (and communicating that vision)
I'm
at a bit of a crossroads - sold a business earlier this year, currently
doing a masters. But not sure what I'll be doing after that. Gaining
clarity on my vision will enable me to make easier and better choices
about what opportunities to take and what opportunities to pass on.
2) Being able to convince people to support me in my goals
I
can't move forward in having a broader impact and helping more people
without increasing my influence. While I'm fairly good at rallying
people for a goal, I could still work on getting better at it for larger
goals and larger groups of people.
3) Challenging assumptions and experimenting
I
do a fair number of experiments already, but often within my comfort
zone. I want to work on experimenting outside of my comfort zone and
seeing which assumptions are not actually true.
All of my answers...
BE REAL: Act with Authenticity by Clarifying What's Important
1. I know how important each of the different aspects of my life is to me.
Agree
2. I am able to be myself wherever I am, wherever I go. I act in ways that are consistent with my core values.
Agree
3. I make choices about how to spend my time and energy in ways that match what I really care about.
Agree
4. I tell stories about the key people and events that have shaped my values in a way that binds me to others.
Neither Agree nor Disagree
5. I have a vision for where I am headed and the legacy I want to leave.
Neither Agree nor Disagree
6. I hold myself accountable for doing what is most important to me in my life.
Neither Agree nor Disagree
BE WHOLE: Act with Integrity by Respecting the Whole Person
7. I communicate with people important to me about expectations we have of each other, and I make sure these expectations are clear.
Neither Agree nor Disagree
8. I look for opportunities to help many different people.
Strongly Agree
9. I am able to convince people to support me in my goals.
Agree
10. I use skills and contacts from different parts of my life to help meet any need or goal.
Agree
11. I am able to delineate and maintain boundaries between the different parts of my life.
Agree
12. I am able to weave together the pieces of my life so that it has coherence.
Agree
BE INNOVATIVE: Act with Creativity by Experimenting with How Things Get Done
13. I focus on the results of my efforts to accomplish goals and am flexible about the means for achieving them.
Agree
14. I seek creative solutions to conflicts rather than sacrifice one part of life for another.
Neither Agree nor Disagree
15. I challenge traditional assumptions about how things are done, experimenting to make things better whenever possible.
Neither Agree nor Disagree
16. I am willing to question old habits and innovate in managing life's demands.
Agree
17. I look forward to change—seeing it as an opportunity—rather than fear it.
Agree
18. I look for opportunities to encourage others to learn new ways of doing things.
Strongly Agree
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