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A520.9.3.RB - Course Reflections

The Master of Leadership program at Embry-Riddle is comprised of short 9-week course. Although these courses are short, the readings and assignments required are quite involved and require a great deal of self-reflection, especially with these reflection blog assignments. MSLD 520 Management Skills for Leaders has been an in-depth exploration into the specific skills, attitudes, and behaviors required for leaders to best lead their teams. Organized in a similar structure to the Eastern style Lovingkindness Meditation. It begins with the self (self-awareness), the expands out to an individual (inter-personal), then finally out to the world (groups) (Kang et al., 2014; Whetten & Cameron, 2011).

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One of my major takeaways from this course has been the connection between mindfulness and leadership theory and practice. Previously, I thought that my mindfulness journey and my leadership journey were two separate life adventures. I knew that one might help me with the other, but never imagined that the paths would ever cross. In conducting research for this class, I continuously stumbled upon article after article describing how mindfulness can improve our resilience, conflict-management skills, creative problem-solving (Reb et al., 2020). The course text even began with a section on self-awareness and wellness which is the main goal of mindfulness practices (Whetten & Cameron, 2011)!

Going forward, I plan to continue with this research in my Master of Science in Leadership studies to see where the research takes me. The research that I conducted on mindfulness as a viable conflict-management strategy changed the way that I look at conflict in the workplace and helped me align with a more positive regard for conflict (Reb et al., 2020). One study in particular will stay with me. The one with workgroups planted with a devil's advocate confederate. After the work was done, groups with the confederate all performed better than those without, however, they disliked the individual so much they could not see their contribution. They only saw the conflict that they caused, so they chose to kick this individual out of the group (Whetten & Cameron, 2011). In reflecting on this study, I am reminded that as a leader I walk a delectate balance between maintaining relationships and improving outcomes. Though mindfulness and supportive communication, I believe that the optimal balance can be found and I intend to work towards that. 


References

Kang, Y., Gray, J. R., & Dovidio, J. F. (2014). The nondiscriminating heart: Lovingkindness meditation training decreases implicit intergroup bias. Journal of Experimental Psychology. General, 143(3), 1306-1313. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0034150

Reb, J., Allen, T., Vogus, T. J. [ed.] (2020). Mindfulness at work: Pushing Theoretical and Empirical Boundaries [Special Issue]. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 159, 1-96. 

Whetten, D. A. & Cameron, K. S. (2011). Developing management skills, 8th ed. Pearson.

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