Leadership at the Dentist, By Katelyn Chapman

Yesterday I had the joy of getting my second cavity ever filled. Feeling a roller coaster of emotions during my visit, I reflected on the experience during my drive home. One minute I was comfortable and smiling… another minute almost passing out and being left alone in the room. The rollercoaster experience linked to the concepts within the Bronze Leadership Challenge program at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Even though the five group coaching sessions are offered as “separate” items, a colleague explained that the sessions are

More like a jigsaw puzzle…. Each session is an individual piece which when combined with the other pieces makes a complete puzzle.

I believe the key aspect is that the pieces should complement each other, or elicit the best in the others and work in harmony with the other pieces.

When the dentist first walked in my room, he gave me a friendly smile and asked “How are you?” I proceeded to share “Great, especially since I graduate with my MBA on Friday.” He took off his goggles and looked intently at me and said, “Really? That’s awesome….” I didn’t feel like anyone else was in the room.

Aha, that’s exactly one of the examples we use in the Active Listening workshop. More specifically, Former President Bill Clinton was an amazing listener. People who spoke with him reported feeling as if they were the only one in the room.

Now how does actively listening affect our relationships with our friends, family members, and colleagues? When the Dentist removed his goggles and shared one minute to listen to my story, I felt valued. As leaders, by actively listening, we can build relationships through individuals feeling valued. Now, how powerful is that?

Not listening can adversely affect our relationships. After the assistant injected Novacain into my gum to prepare for the filling, I felt odd. My hands started tingling and chest pounded. Oh No! I communicated to the Assistant: “I think I’m going to pass out.” She comes over, stares at me and asks questions. After a couple minutes, I felt a little better but still not 100%. What happened next shocked me! She said “Okay, I’m going to leave. I’ll be back.” Are you serious?! I just about passed out and you’re going to leave me in a room by myself? Oh that makes sense. Couldn’t she have at least asked me, “Katelyn, I need to get something. Are you okay with me leaving the room? Or would you like me to ask someone else.” We often talk about the power of questions. Well at that moment of time, I saw it in full bloom. How can you ask a question to build someone up, rather than using a directive comment that tears them down?

Speaking of building people up, one of my core values is community which I identified in the What is leadership? session. Community to me is fostering the relationships around me. I strive to facilitate a positive environment where everyone can feel comfortable and learn and grow together. During the procedure, the Dentist was very directive in his communication to the assistant. He would use one or two word orders for instruments. At one point, he firmly said “irrigation.” Besides feeling like a human lawn with a manual irrigation system, I was intrigued. Intrigued because after a couple seconds, he said in an even firmer voice, “irrigation!” No “please” was involved or question as to why it wasn’t immediately handed over. The Assistant, a bit frazzled responded with a few stutters and said “Yes, I know.” After about another 5 seconds, which felt like a lifetime, she stuck the irrigation system in my mouth.

Since community is fundamental to who I am, it extremely bothered me how he treated his Assistant. I didn’t feel like he treated her with human dignity…he didn’t make her feel valued. As I mentioned in Quiet Leadership, we can build people up by treating them as where we see they can be.

Values. Actively Listening. If you remember three words from this post, I hope those are it. Incorporate them and see positive transformation.

Author:

Katelyn Chapman

Creating Social Capital in our Communities, By Cathy Hamilton

From “Me” to “We” - Creating Social Capital in our Communities

Ever heard of the term Social Capital? This term is defined by the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro (www.cfgg.org) as the “inter-personal relationships, social connectedness, trust, cooperation, and engagement in the life of the community. In many ways, social capital equates to the social fabric that weaves a community together.” Using the metaphor of ‘community as social fabric woven together’ opens the door for individual and collective leadership. Beautiful fabric, woven from the connections among diverse textures and colors, thread characteristics and dimensions, calls forth the imagery of creativity in life. How do we creatively respond in our efforts to craft a more just and equitable world?

Leadership is as simple and as difficult as taking ownership of the reality that we both live in and create our world. Peter Block (2009) outlines a significant role for leadership: crafting structures that enhance the experience of belonging (p. 98). Focusing on creating structures of belonging rather than leadership style, liberates leaders from having to think in traditional terms of the associated questions of whether or not one has the “appropriate characteristics” of good leadership. Taking the lead in crafting structures of belonging is taking what already exists within, your knowledge, skills and attitudes, and using it to create social capital within the communities where we live. That social connectedness, trust, and cooperation, the essential building blocks of social capital, can be fostered through intentional conversations that build community connections.

Yes! We can craft our world simply through talking with one another. Conversations that build on our relatedness, ask the right questions (and listen to the answers!), recognize one another’s gifts to transform community, and focus on the possibilities, can shift the conversation from “me” to “we.” Creative leadership can initiate and sustain these transforming conversations. No sense of belonging happens without trust – one of the fundamental building blocks of social capital. We can build that trust through conversations that make for change. Higher social capital means that people are more inclined to work together for the common good of all. Hmm….this could be a community worth living, learning, playing, and working in, huh? How might you contribute to the social capital of UNCG and beyond?

Author:

Cathy Hamilton, Ph.D.

Director. Office of Leadership and Service-Learning

Leadership Lessons from the Campaign Trail, By Michael Beitler

I have been a student of leadership must of my life. After graduating from a university business school, I entered the financial world and eventually became a Chief Financial Officer (CFO) in banking. In the business world, I saw leaders who were amazingly effective, leaders who were marginally effective, and leaders who derailed completely.

While still serving as a CFO in banking, I decided to pursue graduate school studies (MA in Psychology and Ph.D. in Leadership Development) to get a better understanding of leadership effectiveness. I enjoyed the challenge of graduate school level work and the exploration of a wide range of leadership theories, but all of the theories seemed to focus on only one or two aspects of leadership. None of the leadership theorists seemed to appreciate the complexity of leadership.

After leaving the financial world I entered the academic world. The academic research I read and conducted was interesting. But, once again, it all seemed to focus on particular aspects of leadership at the expense of an understanding of the complexity of leadership.

In 2009, I was asked to serve as my party’s candidate for the U.S. Senate. Being my first political campaign, I expected a very steep learning curve. It was.

I was especially surprised by the lessons learned about leadership. A political candidate is immediately thrust into a leadership role. Fortunately, I had the opportunity to attend the Institute of Political Leadership (IOPL). IOPL prepared me for many aspects of the candidate’s role (talking to the print media, doing TV and radio interviews, crafting political strategy, fine tuning your message, etc.).

After graduating from IOPL in December 2009, I felt prepared for most of the challenges facing a political candidate. Surprisingly, I felt rather unprepared for the leadership role (no fault of IOPL).

I had served as a leader many times throughout my professional career. I had a vision for the campaign. I had a realistic view of our budget constraints. I had sufficient time and energy to devote to the campaign. But I had never worked with a small army of volunteers before.

Peter Drucker’s comments about volunteers became instantly clear. Volunteers are the ultimate in motivated workers. I recall seeing my volunteers working Facebook and other social media sites at 2am every morning. Their energy seemed limitless.

Suddenly a high-energy volunteer would disappear. And then another one would disappear. A few days later another volunteer would vanish. IOPL had predicted a volunteer turnover rate of three weeks, but I refused to accept it.

I assumed it must be about me. What did I do wrong? What did I say that was offensive?

It took a while for me to realize the complexity of my leadership role. I was only one ingredient in the mix.

In addition to my own strengths and weaknesses, I had to consider the strengths, weaknesses, needs, and preferences of the workers. I also had to consider the unique opportunities and threats of our task.

Workers (paid or volunteer) loss jobs, have family problems, go back to school, take on more responsibility in their church or civic organization, start or end a romantic relationship, or experience some philosophical angst that causes them to re-evaluate their commitment to “your” project. The best thing you can do is talk to them; do what you can do to help. But allow them to take responsibility for their own lives.

Keep in mind that leadership is complex and dynamic. Things change. You change, your followers change, and the requirements of the task change. As the leader you are always dealing with a different mix of variables. Get frequent feedback about your leadership effectiveness. Use an instrument such as the Leadership Versatility Index to make feedback dialogue part of your organization’s culture.

Leadership is more than providing an inspiring vision. You must develop the versatility to deal with the changing needs of your followers and the task itself.

Author:
Michael Beitler, Ph.D.
Professor at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG)
Libertarian Canidate, US Senate http://www.beitlerforussenate.org/about
http://www.beitlerforussenate.org/about

Relational Leadership, By Chris Ward

Six years ago I was struggling in one of my leadership roles. I was serving as a Team Leader/Social Service Designee/Life Enhancement Coordinator at an innovative retirement community, and having a hard time.

Let’s just stop right there and address some of the remarkable things about the last sentence. First of all, you may have noticed that my title was a long, ridiculous mash-up of roles. If you aspire to lead, you will at times find yourself carrying the burden of multiple responsibilities and roles that are tenuously connected. Accepting that reality and mentally preparing for adaptation and creative application of your leadership style will position you for greater effectiveness. Also, we don’t tend to think of retirement communities as “innovative,” but this one was extremely cutting edge. The leaders I met there were some of the most dedicated and skilled that I have worked with in eighteen years of practicing leadership. If you aspire to lead, you will find amazing leaders in the most unexpected places.

I was responsible for leading a team of multi-disciplinary caregivers as we served fourteen older adults who were living in our nursing care household. I was in charge of the daily operations of this household. I was responsible for inviting our elders to participate in social events, book clubs, exercise groups, trips to the movies, football games, etc. I was responsible for making sure their personal needs were met by helping them manage their finances, medical needs, support systems, psychological wellness, and social interests. This is where I struggled—try as I might, at the end of every week I would find that I had neglected to call an elder’s optometrist for a replacement lens for a pair of glasses, or to call a family member back with a piece of information about their loved one’s health status, or to play checkers with one older gentlemen who found interaction with peers stressful. I felt horrible when someone’s genuine needs were neglected—I was responsible, and I was always disappointing someone.

I will never forget plodding into my social service mentor’s office and sinking low in my chair as we began our bi-weekly supervision meeting one Monday afternoon. I was understandably frustrated, embarrassed, and discouraged, and ashamed to admit my continuing failure to this veteran, high-powered social worker.

By the way, don’t let yourself be so ashamed of failure that you prevent
yourself from asking for wisdom from those veteran leaders who can help you the
most!

She listened to my confession and seeing my stuckness, she took action. With a no nonsense tone, she said, “Come here.” I obediently walked around her desk to face her. She placed a legal pad on the desk in front of me and put a pen in my hand. “Show me how you write down your social service tasks,” she said calmly. Taking the pen, I kneeled down behind her desk, wrote the date, and began listing items I needed to complete for my elders that day—“phone calls, emails, doctor’s visits, library runs, bank deposits, checker games…” I paused, my pen hovering over the list. Seeing my brain searching for missing items, she waited patiently. After a few moments I finally turned to her, “I know there is something missing, but I just can’t bring it to mind.” I put the pen down firmly on the desk in defeat. She smiled, reached for the legal pad, tore my list off the top, and set it next to the clean page. Then she picked up the pen and raised it towards me expectantly.

If you aspire to lead there will be times when you feel as if you are at a
dead end. When you are at a loss, pause a moment, gather yourself, get yourself
a new piece of paper, and pick up your pen again…

I took the pen from her hand. “Now,” she said, “which of your elders is right next to your office; the first one on the east side of the hallway?” I looked at the ceiling to envision entering the doorway and approaching the residents’ rooms. “John, “ I said. “OK, write ‘John’ at the top of the page. Now, what does John need today, and what does he need this week?” I began to write, “Well, John is still recovering from hip surgery, and seemed to be getting around better this morning. But he did say he will be done with his first round of post-surgery antibiotics on Thursday and I need to get him a refill. He seemed a bit down though, and I should spend some time visiting with him later to see if he’s tired or feeling some post-surgery blues. That reminds me that I should ask him when his next therapy session is. Oh, and I need to call his sister with an update, because she left a message for me Friday afternoon as I was leaving.” My pen was flying across the page and I paused in astonishment. My new list was already as long as my old list and I had only begun thinking about one resident! I turned to my mentor, my mouth still hanging open, and she chuckled. “I have found it effective to think in terms of ‘people’ rather than ‘tasks’, and it looks like it will be effective for you too. See you next week.”

If you aspire to lead, you will have moments of insight that will pop up
quickly. If you don’t hook on to them immediately, they tend to fade into the
busyness of your day as fast as they emerged. Good leaders identify their growth
moments, grab them with both hands, and wrestle them to the ground like a cowboy
roping a calf.

I walked out of her office; my mind newly opened, and realized that I had been given a whole new lens for approaching my work. By thinking through the people I was serving and interacting with, I was able to access the actions I needed to take. I walked back to my office, sat down, and completed my “people list”. By Friday afternoon I realized that I had finally met everyone’s needs.

Since then I have discovered that “relationship” is a mental model that serves me well as I lead. By understanding my leadership responsibilities/duties and then creating a list of the people I am in relationship with, I am able to conceptualize important tasks and create plans of action that enable me to serve people well. I invite you to try this out. Make a list of all of your key relationships this semester—professors, advisors, the students sharing leadership with you in organizations, key family members and friends, your leadership coach, etc. By considering the nature of your relationship with each person/group, and connecting relevant goals and responsibilities to those relationships, you can see how you must take action now and in the future.
Author:
Chris Ward, M.S., NCC
Group Facilitator, TeamQUEST
Doctoral Student, Counseling and Educational Development, UNCG

The 10 Commandments of Small Group Leadership, By Jessica Delk McCall

As a faculty member in the Department of Communication Studies, I often have the opportunity to teach a course entitled “Small Group and Team Communication”. Being able to facilitate student development and growth throughout the semester is extremely rewarding and reminds me just how difficult it is to continuously implement effective communication skills in team and group settings.

Perhaps one of the most challenging concepts to actually embrace and apply is how to identify and develop leadership skills in the group context. After many experiential activities and analysis of key theories, I ask students to analyze the leadership skills within their groups. Many students find that Kouzes and Posner’s (1995) ten commandments of leadership help them better understand what leadership really requires in the group setting.

1) Seek out challenging opportunities for growth. There are always opportunities for growth in a group. This might require the group member to focus on individual areas for improvement or to recognize ways that the entire group can become more effective.

2) Be willing to take risks and learn from mistakes. Taking risks in a group requires confidence, while the ability to learn from mistakes requires all group members to be humble. Because group interaction is so prevalent in our society, we must seek ways to improve and become more effective. By embracing our confidence and humbleness we encourage growth in ourselves and others.

3) Visualize positive future interaction. While many group members enter group contexts fearing the worst, it is critical to keep a positive attitude about the group and the group’s abilities. Even though many of us have had negative group experiences at some point in the past, visualizing positive future interaction will enable us to focus on the group’s success.

4) Seek to develop connections with others to promote shared vision. Building rapport and connecting with others is priceless. It is only by letting down their guards and seeking commonality that group members can begin to create a shared understanding of what should and can be accomplished.

5) Facilitate the development of group goals and trust. Actually discussing group goals and working to develop trust, will unify members and enhance buy-in and interdependence.

6) Empower others. Leadership is certainly not about gaining individual power, but instead, about working to empower others. By assigning tasks that recognize competence, allowing members choice, and offering support when needed, we can give all members power.

7) Exhibit behaviors that model shared values. Leadership requires us to set an example for others by striving to behave in ways that uphold group values and ideals.

8) Set and achieve short term goals to increase commitment. As a group meets short term goals, they are able to better visualize success and thus, members are more committed to not just good, but great work.

9) Reward individuals. Group members will all contribute different ideas and abilities to a group situation. It is important to recognize and reward individual offerings so that all members know they are valued and appreciated.

10) Celebrate team success. Whether this is the reciting of a group slogan or a trip out to dinner, it is critical to recognize the team’s success. Succeeding as a team is a major accomplishment and should always be recognized (as cited in Cragan, Wright, & Kasch, 2004).

Over the years, I have found that many of the strongest and most effective small groups don’t rely on one or two leaders to guide them through the semester. Instead, all members of effective small groups strive for communication behaviors that provide leadership in the task domain, procedural domain, and interpersonal domain. Kouzes and Posner’s (1995) ten commandments provide all group members with a set of leadership guidelines that are critical for a group’s success.

References:
Cragan, J.F., Wright, D.W., & Kasch, C.R. (2004). Communication in small groups: Theory, process, skills (6th ed.). United States: Thomson.

Kouzes, J. & Posner, B. (1995). The leadership challenge. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Author:
Jessica Delk McCall, Ph.D.
Jessica McCall serves as the Basic Course Director and Lecturer in the Department of Communication Studies at UNCG. Additionally, she is a Level III TeamQUESt facilitator and an advisor for the College of Arts and Sciences.