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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.