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In this video, Prof. Baba Shiv of Stanford University talks about the importance of emotion in decision making. After watching this video, reflect on two situations; one, in which you were extremely confident of the outcome and what your attitude was towards the subject; and second, a situation in which you would less confident or not so confident and how you felt about the situation. Based on this module's readings and this video write a reflection blog detailing the situations above and describing the role emotion plays in decision making.  Identify three emotional reactions for each scenario. 

I find myself to be a very emotional decision maker, In some cases, it is the downside of my leadership skills and on the upside, the reason why I think I'm a good leader. The video discussed the confidence that people should show when they're making a decision. According to Prof. Shiv, you want to be confident for your followers, that way there is an instilled sense of follower-ship and direction. People who tend to give direction without confidence are less able to get people to believe in their success.

For my first example, I wanted to share a time when I was successful because of my confidence. When I was in boot camp, there was an opportunity for a select group of individuals to go before a performance board to show why we thought we were the best sailors in our graduating class. We were selected prior to the board by our division leaders as outstanding candidates. When I got to the board, most of the other candidates seemed to be very worried about the procedure and intimidated of the people on the selection board. They had talked themselves out of being successful before they even got the chance to prove themselves. When I went for review, I was extremely confident and happy to have the opportunity. Although I made an error, I apologized and carried on as if it were no issue. Much to my happiness, I was selected for the second highest award at boot camp. The others that had no confidence, left the board one at a time, the same way they came in, unsure about themselves.

The second situation was when I was less confident and I wasn't as successful. During my training as an air traffic controller, there comes a time when you are given the chance to become a supervisor. These chances come after your trainers feel as though you showcase enough control and leadership to handle a facility all on your own. When given the chance, you are sat down in a room with your superiors and they ask you a ton of procedural questions to see how you'd respond. When I was given my first chance, there happen to be double the amount of people in the meeting do to the turnover of personnel. There were people observing the meeting so they could learn how to be on the board. When the meeting began, i was told that everyone in the room would be now participating and asking more detailed questions. For some reason, that threw me for a loop and I immediately got very un-confident and shaky. As soon as the first question was asked, I was shuddering and I couldn't recall any of the information I had studied.  I must have looked foolish but I didn't show any confidence and I didn't trust myself. I felt at that time, like I had given up. I failed that board and went back and studied for a week more. I then passed because I knew what to expect and I then knew what was required of me. 

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The Cynefin framework this week really helped me see the way in which I've made decision in the past and it has helped me see how I can make more informed decisions moving forward. In the outline we were introduced to four different ways that a manger/leader can handle different situations; chaotic, simple, complex, and complicated. Each on of those situations calls for a unique interpretation and input from the leader. For this assignment, I am going to give two examples of my experience and how this framework helped me, or hurt me along the way.

First, the simple framework is revolved around "known-knows". This means that there are clear patterns and outlines that people follow and adhere to. In the simple platform, people tend to give direction and then follow it. There isn't a whole lot of variation involved. For my first example, I wanted to focus on my younger years in the Navy. When you're new to any job, in my case the Navy, there isn't a lot of wiggle room on the things you are privy to. When I first entered the Navy, there was a very simple leadership line formed. We knew exactly where we were suppose to be and we knew what was expected of us. There wasn't to much opinion based thinking or leadership for that matter. We were there to get a job done and get it done one way.

Secondly, I wanted to focus on a situation where I was exposed to a complex situation. While I was working air traffic over seas, we were given direction and outlines for what was expected of us, but we were not aware that there was room for adjustment on our part. As time passed, we found that sometimes we have to adjust and focus our attention on thinking outside the box in dealing with unique situations. In a complex situation, there are higher levels of interaction and communication and in my case, in order to be successful, we had to utilize those tools everyday. Last, there is a time for reflection and correction in a complex situation. In the case of fast paced air traffic control, we would always think about the ways things could have been improved or bettered.

The thing I took away from this week is that we are always going to need to know how to deal with situations and apply our leadership knowledge effectively. I now know that we make decision based on unknown situations and past experiences and assumptions. It will be interesting moving forward to determine how each situation applies to the Cynefin framework and apply my gained knowledge in the matter.

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For this week, I want to share the situation that lead to a decision making process. As my time in the Navy was nearing an end (4 1/2 years in), I began to contemplate what my options moving forward would be. Would I elect to stay in or would I move on and seek employment as a civilian? As I thought about this more and more, I thought it would be good to seek outside input (stakeholders). I thought that by bringing these other people and their opinions on board, I would feel more comfortable with the end result. If everyone was in agreement, how could anyone one party be upset if things were done how we had discussed. It came down to my family and the girl I was dating at the time's input but ultimately the decision was mine to make. The secondary influences was the command I was at in the Navy and the people there and how they thought about me. I only say that because had the people there tried a little harder, it wouldn't have made my choice to get out so easy. It was as if I didn't matter that much to the Navy (which is true, its very large and keep going without you). So when all was said and done, I separated and moved on into the civilian side of things.

Now if the people involved would have shared different opinions or observations with me, I would have not been so quick to make my decision. I actually made my decision a year in advance, that way I knew exactly what I was going to do and it ensured that I had enough time to get ready for the transition. The people involved, that helped me, were important people to me at that time, but they obviously have their own lives to think about and what I did with mine was for me to decide, not them. I question sometimes what would have happened the other way around.

Looking back at it now, I could have looked at a few things in a different light. I could have weighed the option of early retirement a little sooner and I could have looked at the free education I would continue to get and how that could have shaped by choices. I don't spend any time looking back and telling myself I made an error, because all of the choices I've made up until now have shaped who I am and what kind of a leader I am. I don't personally think there is anyone else who could have said anything to change the overall outcome. I made the choice and I moved in that direction full steam. Everything worked out for the best and I have the amazing life I have now. In the end, that decision making process showed me that I need to weigh the pros and cons in every situation before making a long term decision, that I need to trust the people around me, but ultimately that I need to trust my faith and my discretion above anything else. After all, it isn't up to anyone else to decide for you!

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Reflect on a personal or business situation in which the cost of conflict was significantly greater than you would've preferred. Analyze the situation in relation to Stewart Levine's 10 principles of new thinking (p. 46). How would this have changed the situation? Could it have reduced the cost of conflict? What lessons did you learn from this exercise?

The cost of a conflict is something that people have to understand and prepare for. Every time a conflict arises, I feel like there is either something to be gained, or something to be lost. this could include emotional losses, financial losses, or losses in time and effort. In order for a resolution to be found, all of the parties involved have to keep an open mind and want for everyone to succeed without any damages occurring. This week I'm going to share with you a personal story about a conflict i encountered and how me and my family avoided high "costs" in this matter and how it worked out for the best.

Earlier this year, I was presented the opportunity to take a job working for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), in Grand Rapids, Michigan. This was a federal job with a pay increase and retirement options. I had actually been in their hiring program for around a year, do to the government shut downs and delays, I was on hold getting hired. Because of that delay, my wife and I started trying to have a baby. After a little trying, we were successful and because we wanted our children to grow up in an actual home, we bought a house. Not long after both of those situations happened, of course the FAA asked me to leave for schooling three months after our son was born. To me, this was not an option and my wife and I exhausted every option to try to make the new job offer work with our new circumstances. Unfortunately for the FAA, I turned down their offer and we decided to stay in Wisconsin and raise our family here. What we faced was a huge emotional cost. The reason I say that is because we both have family in this area and we knew no one in Michigan. It would have taken a huge toll on us, moving to a new state and not knowing anyone and having the new baby. Secondly, we would have faced huge direct costs. Since we had just bought a home and had the baby (big expenses), we would have had to pay to move, pay to sell our home and paid to buy a new home and everything in between all of those. To us, that was not an option and now that I think about it, it still isn't an option. We are glad we made that choice and everything is working out great.

I personally learned this week that there is a cost associated with everything we do and every situation has it's own circumstances and costs. It became clear to me that sometimes we don't take these costs into consideration and people could be hurt or offended by our efforts. As a leader this was important for me to better understand. I truly gained some perspective in this matter this week and I'm sure it'll help me in the long run.

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This week was interesting to me. I never actually sat down and thought about what my protected values actually are. When I made that outline, I thought of things that applied to my life now, they would have been different a few years ago. I wanted to first address the idea of modernization and the rapid expansion of property in my area. I find this to be worrisome but not the highest on my list of protected values. It is important to me because a lot of our history and heritage is being demolished to bring in more and more cheaper based housing. I'm not sure that it is the best idea and I'm not sure how I would actually go to stop or protect that value,

Secondly, I mentioned that gun rights are important to me. The reason is, this is the right that allows us to protect all the other rights. People have to be able to protect themselves, their family and the other interests in their life. We cannot rely on other people to save us in dire situations and we cannot hand over our guns because we use them recreationally. This is actually something that is quite important to me and I would be willing to go to pretty assertive extremes to make sure that we can always have access to guns.

Last, I mentioned taxes. Who likes paying taxes anymore, or ever? I find that with the way our government is moving, our money is being wasted and used for things that the public doesn't have control over anymore. I want to see drastic change where we can all afford to pay taxes and not afford to live after paying  taxes. The thing here is, we need to have some checks and balances on all the wasteful spending. That hasn't been done in a long long time. As far as I would go, I'm not sure. I know that there needs to be a change, but how to we accomplish that where people will listen and not get violent?

My values actually help shape who I am and I tend to make decisions based on them. If they were not important values, why would we not protect them and make decisions by them? What I find interesting in today's workplace, people compromise to much over simple things like money and influence. I would like to think that I am able to stick to my morals and values and make the best decisions based on my values. If we compromise them, what are we actually accomplishing and what do we stand for?

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This week I found myself learning things that I hadn't know before but yet I did know. The things talked about this week are things we tend to do in negotiations to gain an edge are things we either do without thinking or we do because we were trained to do. I actually found this week to be very interesting and informing. For the assignment this week, we need to name four ways to evaluate information during negotiations. The ones I chose are as follows:

1) Establish trust – Like a lot of the learning we have done in our graduate programs, trust is something that can make or break a negotiation. It is the job of the seller to make sure that anyone they are trying to sell to is aware that they are not there to lie to them. When the seller does this, there is less of a chance of things going wrong or people not wanting to work with you any longer.

2) Ask direct Questions – In this process, you want to make sure that you are gathering information as carefully and as informative as possible. In a negotiation, the seller wants to ask direct questions and so does the buyer. In each case, there is something to be gained by being truthful. Fewer things are likely to go wrong. This can be linked to point one, trust.

3) Listen Carefully – In some cases, there are people that present false information or try to sell something without actually knowing the buyers needs or knowing the actual product they’re selling. In a buying situation, you want to make sure you are each relating to one another and listening to what each one of you wants. This could allow you to come to a gainful sale and a sale where both parties are happy with the outcome.

4) Keep records and get things in writing – It is very important to keep records of each transaction and the promises that are made during the negotiation process. In some cases, there is a breakdown in gathering this information, leading to a party not being satisfied with an outcome.

My Example – I can relate to the keep records and get things in writing example. Last January, my wife and I bought our first home. During the move we realized that we were moving to a place where internet access was not going to be available. We called a large, well known satellite company and spoke with the representative. This person basically promised me the world along with a bunch of gift cards and promotions for signing up. When the service came, not only was half of the things she told me incorrect, but they didn't even offer some of the services I needed. Needless to say, I did not get anything in writing. What is funny is that “their calls are recorded for quality control”. Obviously that is not the case because no one there believed my story, because the promises were so outrageous, I guess?

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Frame blindness can be a decision maker's worst enemy. In our reading this week, we learned ways in which we can successfully deal with frame blindness and how we can apply this to our daily encounters and to our leadership traits. This week we are to address three ways we can avoid "framing traps". My examples this week are:

1) Understanding the frames of others - It is important to understand your coworkers perspectives and to understand what they're associating certain situations with the problem solving solutions they might be using. Sometimes people will weed out certain topics or simply not mention things that you might, in that case you need to understand that maybe they're framing something differently then you are. When I began working at my current facility, I never understood why a particular coworker was handling decisions differently then I was. I though the way I was handling these situations was the correct way and that there couldn't be another way of doing that. As time went on and I got to know this person and her habits, i understood why she was doing what she was doing. It took me just stepping back and understanding her frames. Had I been more eager to do this immediately, we could have avoided some debates and confrontations.

2) Identify and change inadequate frames - In this matter, you want to ask yourself a series of questions that may help your direction and understanding. The reading this week mentions that we should ask, is our change adaptable to change?, In which case did your frame allow you to see the forest for the trees?, and is our frame sufficiently simple?.There is a need for us to determine if our frames are actually serving our needs and if they're  effective for our current needs. When I changed jobs, I ran into this very issue. I moved from a military environment to a civilian environment and from handling military aircraft to civilian ones. I didn't have the correct tools or frames. It actually took me a while to deal with that situation. Things were happening that I wasn't up to speed on and that I couldn't grasp. I had to (I didn't know it then) change my frames and ask myself a lot of the question outlined in our reading (page 146-147).

3) Recognize Key Assumptions - Th reading outlines that we should research and determine what our organizational frames are. Once you have determined that, you can try and see if you and your organizational are on the same page. Assumptions can play a huge role in the way things get done in a business and if you have one assumption and your company has a different one, you could see potential issues arise. For me, I had a hard time finding out what my assumptions were and what assumptions my company )and my manger) had made about me. There was an understanding of my duties but no real outlining of how I was to complete them and move forward effectively. There was a breakdown between my manager and I because he was expecting one thing and I assumed another.

This exercise has taught me a lot this week. I didn't know anything about framing until this week and it shed new light on how people might be on different wave lengths or think different things and not know it. This has taught me to try and understand those differences and how to tear down the barriers that prevent me/us from being effective together. Moving forward, it'll be interesting to see how I utilize these tools in my work environment. This week opened my eyes to a new way of thinking and understanding.

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 Each time that I can watch Sheena Iyengar, I can honestly say that I learn something. Unlike other presentations I've seen, she has a real way of presenting her data and her information. To begin, she mentions four areas that can help us make choosing a better experience. They are, cut, concertize (concrete), categorize, and condition for complexity. Each one was interesting to learn about this week and I now have a better understanding of how each one can play it's own part in the marketplace.

The first implication I wanted to touch on was the cut aspect. Like she stated, people do not know what to do with themselves when their choices are taken from them. I personally believe that as a society, we want as many choices as possible. Taking what she said into consideration, people don't want there to be less choice even though it would help them in the everyday application of things. When I'm shopping at out local supermarket (Woodmans), I find that my wife and I laugh about how long it takes us to find things and then to decide on what brand to buy. Like Sheena mentions, we have to many choices and it actually makes our buying experience less enjoyable. I doubt the retailers wants to loose customers over their frustration and annoyance. I could see how having less decisions to make in a organizational role could be beneficial to the overall success of the company. You wouldn't want one employee to have to make a lot of minute decisions and have a million options when doing so. In my decision making processes, I like to find the factual information and make an informed choice, limiting any emotional input. So to be able to cut down the information to what is actually factual saves me time and effort in most matters.

The second topic I wanted to focus on is complexity. I feel that every time I have a transaction these days, there is some type pf catch, mail in rebate, little writing, or something we all miss. I'm sure that it has something to do with getting people through the door and then getting them to commit to buying but when did buying get so complex? Like Sheena said, we should try and limit the amount of complex choices we make our shoppers make. If we were able to do that at an organizational level, wouldn't customer have a better time in our store, dealing with us, or remembering how easy we were to work with? As for me, I find it exhausting to have to make complex choices all the time. I just had to deal with picking a TV provider and then choosing between a hundred programming options. Why is TV so hard to set up? Maybe they should look into that so they don't loose a lot of consumers!

I think that I can better my decision making my trying to stick to my moral and religious inputs. Sometimes we are persuaded by secondary influences that are impulsive or less researched. IT is important to me that I don't worry about what other people are doing and to concentrate on what is important for me, my family, and my career. Sometimes we let that get away from us all.

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Critically think about your own decision-making process and reflect on the process you use compared to the process outlined in the article.  Would this improve your decision-making?  What would the impact be on forward planning?  How would you apply optimal dynamic decision analysis to predict future impact of today's decision?

For this week, I wanted to share a recent decision making process and experience I had/used. A few months ago, my wife and I decided that we needed to get a larger car for our growing family. My wife left all of the decision making to me to figure out and so I used what I knew then to better determine what car we should buy and how much we should spend. Based on the reading this week, I now understand that I basically used forward planning to determine the need for our new car along with how that new car might serve our best future needs. I took into consideration the car we had, we had just bought it brand new Jeep a year earlier. I was using my past experiences to form a decision now. The reading this week made mention that when we are making decisions, we sometimes will measure the good verse the bad and that we keep for decisions based on past experiences and emotions. In this case, I was doing that. I knew that I needed something reliable, affordable, and something bigger then what we had. I knew what we didn't need, I just needed to figure out what we NEEDED.

The reading this week said "we are inherently prone to give more weight to that which is more concrete and vivid at the expense of that which is more intangible and ambiguous" (Hock, 2011). I think this is the way I make decisions, in most cases. I like to know the details and information before I make a choice. The reading also mentioned that people tend to look ahead only one step at a time and that we have a hard time seeing well in advance of a situation. Sometimes, I get blond sided that way also. I lack the ability to see a few steps ahead. In my car buying example, I was actually trying to use this method of looking into future scenario which actually turned out well for us and the car we selected.

Lastly, forward planning is something that I have to learn to be better at. What I've learned in other classes is that I sometimes let my emotions and feelings get to much in the way of making informed decisions. The reading made me think of something. The reading talked about how our past knowledge and bias may prevent us from making the best decisions because those experiences could have been not good. What I think I need to work on is weeding out my bias and past emotional experiences in order to make the best choice for the present situation. I will however try and use the good past experiences to lead me into making a decision in the future. Success is something that forms influences and that could be something we find ourselves in later. There is a lot to be learned from this week. Understanding different impacts and outside influences have on you is something that will allow me and others to  make choices and decisions more rationally serving the best needs of ourselves or our companies.

Hock, S. (2001). Wharton on Making Decisions. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.

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Are you comfortable developing sources of personal influence to gain power?

To be honest in answering this question, I'm not sure. I personally do not have the experience in any management level to give a direct response, but I can speculate based on my learning and the reading this week. Based on the three R's presented by Whetton and Cameron 2011, I think I could apply my influence when needed. I think there is something to be said about a manager who is not afraid to experiment with new things, after all, this class has taught me that change can be a good thing and managers/leaders need to keep up with change to be effective. I have all the confidence that I could use reason and reciprocity to gain power in my position. I personally feel that using reason can ultimately be your best bet. I say that because reason "shows others that it makes sense to do what you say" (Whetten and Camerson, 2011). I would prefer to reason with people to help them better understand my point of view and where I'm coming from. If need be though, i could use my gained positional power to make sure things get done the way in which I specify. 

Do you embody the characteristics of likeable people depicted in Table 5.4?

I believe I do. The first one, "support an open, honest, and loyal relationship" (Whetton and Cameron, 2011) is something that I find very important. Honesty is linked to trust. Trust is a foundation in which a lasting relationship can be formed and built on. I truly believe that I encompass the ability to be honest, truthful, and straight forward.  Being all of those allows me to gain at positive foothold in any organization. Second, "provide unconditional, positive regard and acceptance" (Whetten and Cameron, 2011). I feel like sometimes there is a breakdown from management to the main workforce level. The workforce level has to feel needed and accepted as a positive entity to the success of the company. i personally feel as though I am very positive and great at giving positive reinforcement and encouragement.

Are you able to use influence both up and down your organization considering the information in Table 5.5?

  

I think there is a certain amount of "up" and not a lot of influence down. Mostly because in my organization, there is no down really. If truth be told, the working class controllers are the down. There is only a couple levels above us and then it ends. It is hard to understand my boss's goals and objectives, for the most part they are dictated by the government and they are pretty black and white. Second, I am able to address my strengths and weaknesses and how that contributes to my personal style. At our level, learning what we bring to the table is essential for us because we need to know what we can and cannot do. We need to feel comfortable doing our job each day. After all, Leo Tzu said " A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves" (Kruse, 2010). That sums it up!

Kruse, K. (2012, October 16). 100 Best Quotes On Leadership. Retrieved October 10, 2014, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/kevinkruse/2012/10/16/quotes-on-leadership/

Whetten, D. A., & Cameron, K. S. (2011). Developing management skills. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Prentice Hall/Pearson.

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Write a blog entry on the significance, importance, and/or impact of having a coach and/or a mentor to help you in your professional journey.

A mentor or a coach can play a huge role in any career field. Sometimes having a mentor can help shape a potential company leader, influence a body of individuals, or help get a team motivated. In my discussion post this week, I mentioned that I was part of a mentor program when I was in the U.S. Navy. This programs intention was to help younger sailors connect with more seasoned sailors and for the younger sailors to identify with their mentors in order to build their career. Each sailor had the opportunity to take some time to get to know which person they may want to choose. After they determined who they wanted as a mentor, they took time to get to know them personally and then they set up their own mentor program based on the needs of the younger sailor. 

When I began in the program, I was paired up with a sailor that actually took time to get to know my needs and really applied himself to me and the program. One of the benefits of his effort was that I was able to get valuable insight to the system in which I was trying to get qualified. My mentor was actually amazing, he had a huge impact of my career and the direction it took. In some cases however, there isn't quite the success that I experienced. Sometimes the mentor didn't give any effort or direction. When a mentor actually gives themselves to the  program, a younger person is ultimately the beneficiary. According to one source "To reap the benefits of mentoring requires that protégés and mentors are carefully matched" (Management, 2012). Like I observed, a mentor program can be awesomely effective. A person can benefit in a number of areas including, religion based learning, leadership skills, social interaction, and mental growth. According to one of our readings this week, The benefits of mentoring to mentor cannot be overemphasized. Mentor, even though, might an embodiment of knowledge, skills and experience needed by mentee; he or she still stands to gain a lot from mentoring relationship (Ayinde, 2011). A mentor can shape your thought process, help you identify things you might not have noticed, and help you better understand a situation or organization. The benefits of that are endless.

In this weeks class discussion, a lot of people shared the benefits of learning from other people. It was interesting to see that programs like these are actually at work and are being utilized as they were designed to be. I personally feel that I am where I am today, thanks to the mentor program that the Navy had set up. I was afforded great direction and knowledge which I was then able to pass on to my protégé. I feel as though a mentor program can really help any leader or organization.

Ayinde, A. T. (2011). Mentoring: Does it work? Unpublished manuscript, Department of Psychology, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State. Retrieved from https://erau.blackboard.com/bbcswebdav/institution/Worldwide_Online/MSLD_Courses/MSLD_520/pdf/Ayinde.pdf

Management, R. (2012, October 16). Key Benefits of Mentoring. Retrieved September 26, 2014, from http://www.right.com/blog/careerpluswork/2012/key-benefits-of-mentoring/

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I've been observing and asking my peers about my team skill-set and asking for their feedback this week. In our facility, we often times will work independently, each person works their shift alone and then when its time, the next person will relieve them. There isn't an entirely large amount of interaction between us each day but there is interaction between us all on a weekly basis. As far as the first question, do I actively engage my team to accomplish our mission, I would say yes. In the rare cases where a pilot or student brings up a question about us or are work, I make it a priority to help resolve the situation for the teams sake. I personally believe that by doing that, I create a positive atmosphere and a learning environment.  Like I said, I received some perspective this week. Sometimes my feedback to other team members comes across a little pushy and a bit on the "know it all" side. I took this information to heart and I've begun to address that and better apply what I'm learning in grad school. Do I think I'm still helping accomplish the mission, absolutely. I think that if I weren't helping bring these situations to an end, that maybe they wouldn't be resolved, ever.

As to the second question, do you work to improve the team cohesion and collaboration? To be honest again, I haven't done the best collaborating with the other employees to situations that pertain to the entire team here. That could have some negative effect on the cohesion of the group and there could be some small trust issues. I don't think its an entirely "me" situation but I am willing to say that I have some areas in which need work. In this weeks discussions, I've come to better understand how other people view their team experiences and how they have been part of meetings or situations that they shouldn't have. I've learned from our class discussions that sometimes in order to get things accomplished, high efficient teams are needed to be more effective. I have now come to understand that some people have not experienced these high performance teams and that I assumed that most people had. I'm now going to take that and apply it to my everyday job. Maybe I had some assumptions about my team-member roles that were incorrect and my perspective was wrong. This week has taught me a lot about enhancing team members roles and trying to get the right team formed for the right job. The source I read this weeks states, " It is important that each team member feels comfortable speaking her mind about her responsibilities on a project to allow for the expression of creative ideas and to ensure that questions are raised before mistakes are made (Wolski, 2014). What that means to me is that we need to be able to communicate with one another and that we all have input. Each team member needs to have the ability to want to share ideas and thoughts. If we can all do that, we can help solve issues that we face and perhaps we can all find more common ground. Our weeks reading states "team members behavior is interdependent, and personal goals are subservient to the accomplishment of the team goal (Cameron and Whetten, 2011). In this facility, we may have to observe that and maybe I can bring some perpective to the situation through my leanings this week.

Whetten, D. A., & Cameron, K. S. (2011).  Developing management skills (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall.

Wolski, C. (2014, January 1). Characteristics of a High-Performance Team. Retrieved September 19, 2014, from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/characteristics-high-performance-team-1402.html

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In your blog, prepare a summary that compares and contrasts the concepts discussed to those discussed in the text

After all of my readings this week, I find the implementation of empowerment to be a tricky and complex proposal for any organization. What I've come to learn is that a company or organization will first have to determine a few things prior to empowering the employees. These factors include control constraints, boundary limits, and the delegation of management roles. When a company is ready to decide whether or not they want to empower their employees, they need to carefully understand the workforce and understand how each level of workers will handle the opportunity. Will the employees know what to do with power, will they know how to properly take on more work, and will they rise to the occasion of using the new power?


Comparing the two readings - In out book reading this week, it states, "they (the workers) possess the capability and competence to preform a task successfully. Empowered people not only feel competent, they feel confident" (Cameron and Whetten, 2011). I interpret this to mean that when a company is looking to transition to a new management plan, they need to make sure that the lower level work forces are ready to take on responsibility, do to the fact that some middle managers may loose their jobs. Sometimes, the workforce is not capable or wanting of that extra work. In the supplemental reading, the author states "a transfer of power from those who had it and those who had less of it. Power was seen as a commodity whose currency could be acquired (Forrester, 2000). In this interpretation, power is something that lower level employees wanted to gain from those above them. In my understanding however, sometimes those lower level people do NOT want extra duties and if the company is not careful, they could ruin their implementation of empowerment by forcing it into use to early. Both sources this week hinted at the carefulness that an organization might need to heed in this process. 

Differences - I found that in the (Cameron and Whetten) reading, they focus on articulating goals and sharing information with employees and enabling them through trust and strategy. In the Forrester article, I found that there was more of an emphasis on physiological concepts and implementation inputs and hazards. Our book reading looked into the ability to utilize empowerment as a tool and how we can use it and the article focused on the "how to" get this done and examples of how companies succeeded or failed using the empowerment techniques. One downside I personally noted from the Forrester article was "Empowerment is deployed selectively, segmenting the workforce into those who are empowered to use their brainpower and creatively to solve problems and those who are not. Such deployment is destructive and virtually guarantees failure" (Forrester, 2000). 

I understand that there is a level of care when implementing change, especially empowerment activities into a company. There has to be a clear idea, a workforce who is willing to change and a certain level of trust and direction from the upper management level. The failure to carefully understand your businesses goals and workforce could lead to a failure in successfully changing your open door policy and empowering employees. This week I personally learned that sometimes changing to quickly and for the wrong reasons can lead to un-beneficial outcomes and misdirection in management.  I now know that I need to propose change based on the knowledge that my workforce trusts me, we have a clear direction, and we have the ability (internally) to do so.



 Whetten, C. & Cameron, K. (2011). Developing Management Skills (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc. 

Forrester, R. (2000, January 1). Empowerment: Rejuvenating a potent idea. Retrieved September 11, 2014, from http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/4165660?uid=3739976&uid=2&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=21104154496521

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Create a blog entry discussing each of the motivators identified in this video and discuss their impact on you; additionally identify 3 additional motivators that have a major impact on you.

 Motivators seem to be something that inspire people to come to work and to stay at work. Each of us want to feel as though we are contributing to the overall mission of the company and that the company recognizes our dedication to them. In the video, Andy mentions three motivators that he thinks inspire people. They are interesting work, recognize me, and expand my skill set.

To address how they effect me, I thought about them in my current work environment. I think we've all heard over the years that "we should do what we love". I interpret the "interesting work" aspect as the ability to be involved with a company who peaks your interest and your creative side. For me, I love my job, everyday brings something new and there is a constant need for me at my job. Secondly, I feel as though I'm always looking to expand my skill set. Who isn't? I love to learn and I love to see how different rules of regulations effect my ability to adequately do my job. As Andy mentions, pay doesn't always keep someone working for you and it doesn't always mean that you're happy there. The last aspect was the value me. Like the discussion this week, KPMG has a great program for it's employees. They show initiative to help women in the work place, placing emphasis on family orientated advantages. It was interesting how KPMG was able to keep a lot of the woman workforce employed. In past classes and in past week's, I've learned how hard it might be to do that. In the video from KPMG, we saw how happy the workforce was and how the members at KPMG were having the three principles that Andy talked about addressed.

Last, three motivators that have an additional impact on me are, work schedule, distance from home, and coworkers. My current work schedule is rough. I don't know what a Monday through Friday schedule feels like, I never have. That isn't a current facility thing, that is an air traffic control thing. It seems like we're always at work. Planes are always flying. Second, if I'm going to be spending that much time at work, I need to be close to where I live and close to things I enjoy doing. I recently turned down a six figure job. Why? Because, like Andy mentioned, money isn't everything and why would I want more money to live somewhere I didn't want to be. Last, sometimes we all work with people we don't like or don't get along with. If there was a magic wand that I could wave to make people a little easier to work with, I'd sell that and become rich. Coworkers can make or break the culture of a facility. Sometimes there isn't anything that you can do about it.

I learned a lot this week from looking at things from another angle. When a company can keep you engaged, keep you happy, and then show appreciation for you, you would tend to be a lot happier there. Like everyone else, I think those are things that make people happy and make people feel appreciated. These have to be things that are done daily or weekly, not annually. Being appreciated in your career is great. Sometimes money comes with appreciation, but like Andy said, it shouldn't be a driving force.


Mulholland, A. (2011, January 1). The Three Things We Work For (Money Isn't One of Them). Retrieved September 7, 2014, from http://library.books24x7.com.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/VideoViewer.aspx?bkid=43753

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Create a blog posting describing how you can integrate supportive communication in your present position, utilize the guidelines detailed on page 265 and describe the expected outcomes that may result from your efforts.

The first guideline that I would like to utilize is point number four in supportive communications. It states "use problem-orientated statements; that is, focus on behavioral referents or characteristics of events, not attributes of the person" (Whetten, 2011). In my current facility, each person can approach the way the do their job in their own way. That is, as long as they are abiding by the technical rules laid out for us, they can operate at their own ability and understanding. In a lot of situations, people are called out for making a bad call or not making the correct judgment decisions. In some cases the people are singled out and reprimanded for their actions. What I would like to apply/implement is that we focus on the culture surrounding events and the characteristics that contributed to the error or problem. It could be that there is some weakness within the problem, but maybe the problem is within some other avenue. People can conform to change in the workplace, I think this supportive communication technique is important to that particular change. I would see a boost in moral and job appreciation if the facility was addressed, not the individual.

Secondly, I want to focus on "use specific rather than global statements, and, when trying to correct behavior, focus on things that are under the control of the other person rather than factors that cannot be changed" (Whetten, 2011). When a situation arises in my current workplace, there is a detailed look into why the situation evolved and who is to blame. In most cases (being contract), if the person working is to be at fault, they can be terminated for their lack of ability. In some cases, there is a failure to understand all of the third party influences that may be effecting a person and what those influences could do to make that person not preform at the top level. In recent years, sleeping has come under the lime light as a cause to some errors. Sleep deprivation and scheduling often play a huge part in why things happen in my career field. The companies involved are focusing to much on the basic approaches, such as how much sleep does the average person need and how can we make a better schedule. They need to look into specific situations that people are dealing with. An example would be a person with a newborn. Do they need to be on the hardest rotating schedule the facility has? Probably not. Because there are hierarchies to the schedule and tenure, the important influences that cause situations are unnoticed. It would be my goal to try and better understand the situation of each person. This was talked about in the first couple of weeks of class and getting to know someone could help the facility operate more smoothly.

Although there are ten different guidelines to help supportive communication, these are the two that I think I can best implement in the near future. It is important to understand your role in the facility as well as the role of your leadership. I fear that until I'm in a leadership role, the higher leadership will not listen, they assume everything runs smoothly and is the most efficient, so why take advice when they think they don't need it?

Whetten, D. & Cameron, K. (2011). Developing Management Skills (8th ed.). Pearson: Upper Saddle River, NJ.

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What are a few words that describe your decision-making style?

- Rapid

- Informed

- Impulsive

What are the opposite of the words I chose?

- Slow

- Uninformed

- Calculated

Could you see any benefits to making decision using an approach that is based on either the opposites or somewhere in between and what outcome could you expect to see?

To answer the question in one word, yes. My decision making for many years has been impulsive and in some cases based on information that was biased or misleading. I have a natural tendency to get caught up in the heat of the moment and make irrational decisions based on emotion. What I have learned to do more recently is to slow down, gather all of the information about whatever subject it is, and then make an informed decision. My decision making style is changing as my graduate program moves along. Thus far, I have learned that perspective is a powerful tool and getting to know a situation or person is a good step to help hard problems get solved. Our text this week states that "diagnosing a situation so that the focus is on the real problem, not just it's symptoms"(Whetten,2011), is important. One of my personal traits is competitiveness. Like our reading mentions, competitiveness can be a good tool to use to help come through a problem or to gain a motivational edge. The downside for me is that I'm to competitive and that can make for impulsive decisions and irrational understanding of a situation. So to put my goals in practical use, I want to try and be better at understanding a situation from all angels, apply my learned leadership qualities, and then try and make the best decision I personally can. If a calculated, informed decision is made, maybe there might be a level of trust that is gained among my employees and maybe even higher management. My source this week states what I'm trying to accomplish this way: 

• " Demand evidence. Whenever anyone makes a compelling claim, ask for supporting data. Don't take someone's word for it.
• Examine logic. Look closely at the evidence and be sure the logic holds up. Be on the lookout for faulty cause-and-effect reasoning.
• Encourage experimentation. If you don't have evidence, create some. Invite managers to conduct small experiments to test the viability of proposed strategies and use the resulting data to guide decisions" (Tips, 2011).

Although bullet point three is new to me, I find it interesting to explore further.I learned a lot this week from the ability to look at meanings of words and their opposites. I'm going to try and apply them as soon as I can.

References

Tips on Decision Making. (2011, April 14). Retrieved August 30, 2014, from http://hbr.org/product/harvard-business-review-on-making-smart-decisions/an/10323-PDF-ENG

Whetten, D. & Cameron, K. (2011). Developing Management Skills (8th ed.). Pearson: Upper Saddle River, NJ.

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 Assess my time management skills.

To be honest, until I started my leadership program, my time skills were very, very poor. Somehow taking upper level classes has inspired me to become more aware of my time both at work and at home. The reason for this is mostly do to the amount of time and effort that a masters program takes and how I have to fit that into my current on goings. There was a need to be more aware of everything else that I had already planned and then to fit other important things into that schedule also. So to say the least, my time managment skills are on the up swing and they're slowly getting better.

Evaluate how these skills have increased your locus of control.

I actually believe that time management has given me more control over things (book says destiny) that are important to me. When I wake up each day, I have a clear understanding of what I need to get done and where I need to be. I've created that habit in part do to my new born son and my MSLD class and some other small things. When someone takes the time to take control or their schedule, I believe that there is some sort of emotional gain. What I mean is, without time guidance, there is a lack of direction in your day, whether that be at work or home. Not having a plan for time is like not having a plan for your money. The old saying goes "time is money". Well is that is true then they should be scheduled the same way, with a plan.

Identify three new areas in which improved time management skills would reduce stress.

 Work - Sometimes I have a tendency to waste time when I'm in the work place. I don't mean I'm not working, I mean that I don't always have a clear plan for my time when more pressing issues are not happening. To reduce stress, I could have a plan laid out to help me accomplish less important tasks, faster.

In recreational time - applying time management ideas to my free time could perhaps held me have, more free time. This weeks reading mentions a lot of ways in which people can improve their health as well as their success; like working out and eating right. At the current moment I don't pre-plan any recreational time, I basically take time when I can and as often as I can. I think it might be good to plan my off time. If I did that, I may be able to have more time doing the things I like to do.

Sleep- I'm not sure if the accurately applies but I always hear how people are either getting to much sleep or not getting enough. I think that if I would make it a habit to apply the top two ideas and combine that with a decent sleep schedule, I wouldn't be tired and worrying about having to get more sleep. The right amount of sleep can be timed out and applied to make me less stressed about everything each day.

Add an action plan to integrate these to your daily routine.

I want to be realistic here. The reading says that we should maybe apply one at a time to help us be more efficient with our time. What I want to do is try and pre-plan some of my off time. I want to do this by making lists of what I need to get done, how long that might take and then share that with my wife.  I think doing that will eliminate any disagreements we might have as to how we should spend our time. I think each night we should determine what needs to get done and then number them from the most important on down. The next day, we work hard to get them done and if we come short at least the most important ones get addressed first.


Whetten, D.A. & Cameron, K.S. (2011). Developing management skills (8th ed.). Upper Saddle     River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

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For my example, I want to focus on a situation where I was the supervisor however, the subordinates were changing day to day and the work environment stayed the same. Each day our facility would staff itself based on the qualifications that each person had and were each person was training. For the situation I'll be referencing, I was almost always one of the supervisors on shift.

Like I said, each day I would have a new set of trainees and they rotated every two or three days back and forth. Although this is okay, the trainees had a hard time grasping the leadership style and approach I was using. I ran into a lot of resistance when I would demand hard work and dedication to getting these trainees qualified. The problem I ran into is that the trainees did not want to work outside work and they did not want to put in as much work as I was expecting them to. I was trying to push them to get qualified fast so my personal workload was smaller. Some where in the process, I became the leader and they became the subordinates. I did end up having to negotiate with them for a couple of reasons. First, I had to because not everyone wanted to go home and spend all their free time doing work related stuff. Second, not everyone learns the same way and everyone processes information differently. The negotiation between us came from a third party (my boss). He suggested that is the trainees were to apply themselves fully at work, that not much would be expected of them outside working hours (studying). Although I didn't gain that much, it took some stress off of the others. The catch for them though was that whoever showed the most promise or determination to learn, had first priority at the opportunity to move up. This made things interesting because they all then realized they had the same shot to get the same job regardless of tenure.

The result was some what mixed. Some of the people who saw this as an opportunity to move up faster, grasped the concept and took full advantage. Others decided that since the pressure was off of them to HAVE to try hard, they simply applied themselves less and less. Eventually (years later), those people who decided to not try hard at that time found themselves being passed by the people who did. The fact that I was making them ALL try hard was something I thought I was doing for all of them. The way some of them viewed it was as if I was pushing them to hard. I think there was a win win for both me and the facility and perhaps maybe the people who tried hard. It was ultimately a learning situation for all of us. 

Can you see any room for improvement to how the conflict was handled.

I look back at this job/leadership role and I sort of regret not being a better leader. I didn't have any formal leadership training at the time and I didn't know how to handle people's outside influences in any decisions I made. Had my upper management understood that, we could have bi-passed all of this to begin. Overall, I learned a lot from that facility, mostly about how to handle those type of situations and how to look into young leaders.

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Describe how your level of self-awareness has changed since you began your MSLD program with respect to the "Five Core Aspects of Self-Awareness" (p. 63)

Core Self Evaluation - Since I began my MSLD studies I have noticed that I have more self esteem and a bit more confidence. The tools I have picked up thus far have allowed me to have a new perspective on everyday dealings that I might not have before. For example, there is a person I work with that has had some issues adhering to the policies of our facility. Prior to taking any MSLD courses, I felt the way in which I tried to help him/address these issues was sub-par. Since I have learned a wide variety of new methods and ideas, I find myself feeling as though some progress is being made with this individual. Ultimately, this has led to me being more confident about my leadership qualities and making me happier overall. Saying I'm a grad student has also given my pride a boost since no one else in my family has ever gone to grad school before. So overall my core evaluation has seen a huge incline.

Values - I have found that although my values are the same as when I started this program, the idea that I'm correct in my thinking and "if you don't agree with me then your wrong" approach has dramatically changed. The change came when I started exploring how there are huge differences in cultural leadership based around a persons surroundings, family, and external influences. Like I said, my values have not changed that much, I still believe what I believe but I can now say that I am getting better at understanding why a person might have contrasting opinions or ideas as me. I think the overall gist is that my value maturity is increasing with my studies. The more I learn to understand people, the more I can apply these leadership techniques and qualities and become a more effective leader.

Cognitive Style - So what I have learned here is that I still have a long way to go in two of the three categories. I definitely fall into the creating style. I think there is some thrill to handling things this way, however I am quick to acknowledge that sometimes there can be negative consequences for not finishing something or making an error to late to fix it. Since I have started the MSLD program, I have become a little bit more of a planner. With all of the work that has to be completed, each week I find myself laying out all of the work and then determining when I will complete it. I've also adapted a few planning techniques to my personal life. I find it important to have a financial plan and a personal plan for my life. Especially now that I have a son. The other thing that I've noticed is that most companies have a structure that they follow. A creative style does not fit into structure that well and if I ever want to be in corporate America, I might want to increase my overall planning skills.

Attitudes Toward Change - Like other areas, I find that my attitude toward change has not seen that much development quite yet. The MSLD program has taught me a number of different techniques to help me adjust to changing environments and what not but ultimately I have not adjusted to the idea that leaders HAVE to be willing to change so much, rapidly. I completely understand that a company would want a leader who can constantly change to the times, technology, and innovation. I totally understand that side of the coin. What I'm not understanding is why they would potentially want us to change our leadership styles. I know that each place and time has a style of leadership required but it has been my experience that a good leader can lead anywhere, anytime. The reading this week said that we may be headed toward a huge change that only happens every two to three hundred years. I'm hoping that the changes are leaning back toward the older style of leadership where the leader, lead and didn't have a million different inputs from everyone and where people wanted to work and didn't think that there job was always secure. There may be change coming, I hope people know that a lot can change, quickly.

Emotional Intelligence - I personally believe that this may be the area in which I've had the biggest change. Like I've mentioned before, I find it difficult to understand why people want to come to work to discuss and do not job related things. In a previous class, we discussed in detail the art of gossip and how that can do good or bad things to a company. I argue that gossip is mostly bad, and for good reason. It can spread like a disease with no factual backing. Putting that aside, I do understand that life happens to people and sometimes there are emotional consequences to people in the workplace. Someone could be having a hard time dealing with a customer or someone could have put to much time into a project that wasn't successful. In cases like those, i have to be able to recognize that people sometimes need support from their leader. I've learned that a good leader can understand what is going on and then apply techniques to help them get through whatever situation they're in. I still think I have some room to grow here.I'm still having a problem understanding why a leader has to "babysit" emotional people at work. I may not be fully understanding the emotional intelligence side of things when I say that but I feel like each and every person should be able to filter what they can and cannot do/say in the workplace. 

I find it interesting that I've progressed as much as I have thus far. The things I've learned are actually taking root in my life and I find that the MSLD program is helping my improve as a person. I look forward to exploring everything that is to come!

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Prepare a Blogger entry by reflecting on the following questions regarding your overall experience with the self-awareness surveys: What do you notice in your results? How much of this rang true for you? What did you see that you were expecting in the results? What were the surprises? How will you make use of this information? To begin, I'm not sure I've taken a survey of this magnitude in quite some time. Do to some errors in my first attempt, i had to free hand everything on a separate piece of paper!  My results were actually surprising to me. When I was reading through the questions, I felt as though I had all the "correct" answers and that everyone had to think like me, right? After I finished scoring all of the tests I learned that I am literally all over the place in relation to the "quartile" system the book referenced. For example, in the Cognitive Style Indicator I was in the top quartile while in the Emotional Intelligence Assessment I was in the bottom quartile. To be honest, I was only in the top qaurtile in the CSI assessment. Everything else happen to be in the third and fourth quartile. In relation to it "ringing true for me", I believe that it hit me square on the head. I tend to leave any emotional interference alone in my leadership skill set. I have always had the mentality that if people can't deal with things the way I do, then they are wrong. I however have found that I'm not always right. With that said, I find it important to try and be more emotionally understanding of situations and of people. This information has made it clear to me that there are areas that I need to seriously pay attention to and that I need to focus on. In order for me to be a well rounded leader, I need to utilize the art of self awareness more. Until this series of surveys, like I mentioned before, I didn't think that anyone would interpret my leadership skills as wrong. I now know that there are some areas of improvement that I need to focus on. I'll try and keep a more open mind as I re-read the chapter again and try and better understand some of the information and techniques discussed.

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Now, reflect upon and analyze what Rosabeth Moss Kanter has to say and how that does or does not coincide with what Yukl says about gender-based discrimination. Do you agree? Why or why not.

This week brought about some interesting points of discussion and examination for me. Mrs. Kanter discussed some things that I think are important to note. First, she mentions that there is a breakdown in the ability to move up any corporate ladder when there is always a change that a woman might take time and leave for her family. She mentioned that there is some perspective issues that do not allow women the fair chance to see promotions or pay increases. She goes onto discuss the fact that, culturally, we may see a shift in that perspective once men decide that they too, want to become more family driven and leisurely. Do to those facts and perceptions, currently there is some breakdown in the ability of women to get as high of a position stature in high risk jobs. An article I reviewed states that "The working parent who laments the degeneration of society while complaining that younger employees “lack work ethic” fails to understand this: Societal problems, which include all the problems found within our organizations, are rooted in the family" (Hyatt, 2014). This is the shift, I believe that she was making hints toward. This may be happening sooner than we can think. Second, she mentioned early on that there is this informal, behind the scenes discussion that takes place when someone or a company is looking to move someone into a leadership role. I think the old saying "it's not what you know, it's who you know" applies here. Almost every leader I've seen promoted within my current company has been part of the "good ol boys" club. Everyone is always talking about how they were stationed with this guy or how they know such and such. I think that the behind the scenes meetings she's talking about are the number one way that companies promote from within. Unless there is some need to look outside the company, why would they? The best way to find out about who the company has available is to ask around. People talk and unfortunately for some, they seal their fate to early. This decision could also be formed do to social similiarities too. I see and saw this too. If people can relate to you and then share things in common, how much easier is it for you to work with them?

This week was interesting to better understand the challenges that people, especially women face in the work environment and more importantly in the upper leadership roles. Transparently, if we are able to look past the family settings and look past the social stature that money brings with it, we may, like Rosabeth says, be able to select the best leaders regardless of gender or any other defining category they may be in.







Hyatt, M. (2014, January 1). How Leadership at Home Affects the Rest of Life. Michael Hyatt. Retrieved July 24, 2014, from http://michaelhyatt.com/how-leadership-at-home-affects-the-rest-of-life.html

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Thinking about my leadership skill set and core values this week helped me to better understand what is important to me and what beliefs may help serve me better as a leader. Until graduate school, I had never really taken the time to examine me, as a perspective leader and I didn't have the ability to look at situations from other people's perspective. Since then, and in this class in particular, I am now able to better understand how I'm effective as a potential manager. Relating this question back to the reading this week, I have a strong belief in God. The relationship I have with God helps shape my ethical and moral compass. This moral compass allows me the opportunity to make sound decisions in business as well as in life. This ability allows me to not hold any prejudice or unwillingness to work with others. Another core value I associate to myself would be hard work/discipline.  Discipline allows me to stay focused on the important tasks at work and the hard work allows me to use that focus to complete the task. Sometimes, leaders are not always focused on what they can do for others an they tend to only finish what they need to get done. I think I have the ability to assist people with their issues, whether that be in the workplace or not. After last week's reading, it is important for anyone who is a leadership role to make sure people know the main objective of a project (or whatever task) and that they can trust you. if you couple that with transparency and my hard work, I can say that I provide a skill set that other leaders may not. according to a source, an effective and good leader can "have integrity and character to complement your ability to get things done. It’s easy to do the right thing when you have an audience, but it takes courage and strength of character to do the right thing when you’re alone. Stay true to your values even when everyone around you is floundering, or when popular opinion goes against what you know in your heart to be right" (Smith, 2013). I believe that my skill set directly relates to that belief.To be an effective leader, I now know that I can reflect on myself by using criticism from others and then think back to the knowledge I've gained through my studies this far. The ability to look into yourself is something that is invaluable and unique. It makes good leaders, great leaders. To summarize, consider this quote about successful leaders, "An optimistic leader has hopeful expectations for the future and embraces challenges. It is more than simply being positive in that leaders understand difficulty occurs and at times failure however, these challenges are not seen as permanent nor do they personalize them.  Optimism builds resilience" (5 Things, 2014). To better myself in the future, I will always apply the art of looking into oneself. The fact that I can do that, sets my aside from other leaders in my field currently.

5 Things Successful Nurse Leaders Do. (2014, April 15). . Retrieved July 10, 2014, from http://www.vibrantradianthealth.com/5-things-successful-nurse-leaders-do

Smith, M. (2013, September 13). The 7 Characteristics That Set Great Leaders Apart.TLNT. Retrieved July 11, 2014, from http://www.tlnt.com/2013/09/11/the-7-characteristics-that-truly-sets-great-leaders-apart/

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Reflect on what you have read and viewed and what it means when we say that leaders must create a “cause” or "meaning." Relate this to the theory of leading change. Use examples and apply the work of others where necessary.

This week I took some time to reflect on what I thought of the article and how a cause or meaning might effect my happiness and ability in the workplace. I found myself asking the age old question "am I doing what I love"? After all, isn't that how most of us selected what we are doing? I think there has been a shift away from what we might love to do and more toward the "what job pays me the most" culture. With that in mind, it was easy for me to understand why someone in a leadership role might have to come up with creative ways to engage their employees and to give them some incentive. I came up with a small idea that might be feasible for a manager. Let's use "Wendy". A manager could inspire meaning in Wendy by giving her some incentive on a weekly, monthly, and annual level. The leader could tell her that for maintaining her clients happiness and loyalty, she can gain a weekly early shove from work and monthly, she can gain one extra day off. If Wendy is able to do that for 10/12 months, she will receive a bonus at the year's end. That way Wendy understands that the company needs her help and that she is important to them. I think sometimes there is a systematic breakdown in the company letting the worker feel important and needed. This could solve that issue. A source I reviewed put that idea this way "This can be important in instances where areas that need improvement have been pointed out previously, such as during a performance appraisal. Positive reinforcement lets the employee know she is making progress and that management is recognizing her efforts (Joesph, 2013). The small details can pay the biggest rewards.

Secondly, there has to be some idea of leadership change in an atmosphere that has been deprived of quality work and worker dedication to their position. When a leader starts work in at a new company, they have to use strategic methods of change and motivation that fit the need of the employee, the company, and the overall mission of the job. With that being said, the employee has to have a sense of attachment or motivation. In another article I read, they talk about love in the workplace. They focus their attention on the happiness of someone at work. They state "Within the management domain, the word 'love' evokes this concept of this soft, fuzzy thing that you really can't take seriously at work," she said. "But companionate love is one of the basic emotions of human experience. Given how much time we spend at work, it's actually ignorant to think it wouldn't be a part of our work lives" (Huppke, 2014). I found that to be interesting. It wasn't the love of the individuals job that they were focused on, it was the focus of loving the company and the overall general direction the company was going. Motivation and cause are important in keeping the workforce happy and driven. That ability to help people find purpose is the main assertion of any good leader. To do that would mean success at your management level.


Huppke, R. (2014, January 20). Don't be afraid of love in the workplace. Chicago Tribune.

Joesph, C. (2013, January 1). Why Is Positive Reinforcement Important in the Workplace?. Small Business. Retrieved July 9, 2014, from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/positive-reinforcement-important-workplace-11566.html