Master of Science in Leadership

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). Image From: https://playfishmedia.com/thats-a-wrap/ 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 kn...

Teamwork is a common thread throughout life. Growing up with parents and a sibling, working at my first job at McDonald's, and my marriage and current household all provide me with an opportunity to practice teamwork. Most, if not all, of the engagements in my life involve interacting and cooperating with others, so this exploration into how teams form and are led is an interesting practice of reviewing literature and reflecting on how I engage in my day-to-date life. As a part of a team, I tend to take leadership roles quite naturally. Whetten & Cameron (2011) describe several roles of embers within a team: task-facilitating, relationship-building, and blocking roles. I believe that I have played each role at some point. I feel most at home when I play a task-facilitation role, but I also make time and space for relationship-building. Teamwork is all about getting individual contributors to work together toward a common goal, so ensuring that the relationships among team membe...

Before reading about conflict from the perspective in Whetten and Cameron's (2016) Management Skills for Leaders I held a rather negative view of conflict in general. Through the lens of the dual concern model of conflict management styles, I took an avoidance style which is uncooperative and unassertive. Basically I thought that conflict was bad and something to avoid at all costs, especially at work. Empowered with new knowledge about the nature of conflict and its benefits to decision-making and problem solving processes I now adopt a more conflict-positive attitude. What caused this shift for me in a big was was the study which described the powerful positive impact that a devil’s advocate can play on improving business outcomes, even though they can cause great stress to a team (Whetten & Cameron, 2016). Perhaps the reason that I’ve avoided conflict like the plague has something to do with the negative emotions that it can bring up. As a remedy to this Whetten and Cameron...

When I went to college, I studied Sociology because I wanted to save the world! At least that’s what I thought at the time. In reality, I believe I chose it because I found it interesting at the time, but the motivation goes deeper than that. My father always told me that if I found a job that I loved, I’d never work a day in my life. That platitude stuck with me and I’ve been engaged in work that I find rewarding ever since. My goal in life is not to be rich and famous or to drive a Tesla (although that might be nice). My goal instead is to be happy and do work that positively impacts the people and community around me. This is why I’ve gravitated to social services and nonprofit all of my life. Over the years I have done the following kinds of work: Training volunteers to advocate for children in foster care Supporting child care professionals to comply with state regulations Tax preparation for low-income populations Short-term crisis counseling As you can see, the work I’ve engaged...

Imagine... You are a manager at Cerner Health Technology and you receive the following email message from the CEO: “We are getting less than 40 hours of work from a large number of our K.C.-based EMPLOYEES. The parking lot is sparsely used at 8:00 A.M.; likewise at 5 P.M. As managers – you either do not know what your EMPLOYEES are doing, or you do not CARE. You have created expectations on the work effort that allowed this to happen inside Cerner, creating a very unhealthy environment. In either case, you have a problem and you will fix it or I will replace you. NEVER in my career have I allowed a team that worked for me to think they had a 40-hour job. I have allowed YOU to create a culture that is permitting this. NO LONGER.”  Image From:  https://www.freepik.com/free-vector/angry-boss-shouting-people-office_8608919.htm   Obstacles: Defensiveness & Disconfirmation The content of this message immediately made me feel defensive and put-down. The CEO made several stat...

Creative problem-solving requires a great deal of flexibility, and acceptance of risk which can be difficult for businesses who are generally risk averse to embrace. Many constraints also exist in our individual thinking which limit our capacity to think and problem-solve creatively (Whetten & Cameron, 2016). In my own experience in the nonprofit and social service industries I have seen these constraints hold back otherwise successful individuals.  “Well, this is how we’ve always done it” I’m sure you’ve heard this common refrain from supervisors and teammates in the past. Generally, we hear this when someone questions an existing policy, procedure, or process. The inquiry is not personal, but this knee-jerk response is a clear indicator that the individuals are experiencing some conceptual blocks to creative problem solving. Complacency is a major impediment to thinking differently, in fact, complacency may mean that the people in question are not thinking at all. When we avo...

Prior to signing up to take MSLD 520 Management Skills for Leaders, I registered for a 5-day Silent  Retreat, a part of my teacher training pathway for Mindful Self-Compassion. I added to my calendar these 5 days' worth of nothingness. Initially, I worried that I could not afford to take this time away from my work, school, and personal life. I wondered if it was worth my time to do nothing for so long. As the retreat approached everything came into alignment. I received signs from work, school, family, and friends that this time of quiet and introspection was welcome and needed. In fact, the retreat occurred during the week that I was supposed to write this blog post! The prompt here was to spend ten minutes a day for three days practicing mindfulness. I did a bit more than ten minutes. I spent 5 days, in silence doing absolutely nothing, but being mindful and meditating. In this practice, I learned about myself and my thought patterns. Meditation and mindfulness are practices tha...

The development of self-awareness is a lifelong journey. One that has been accelerated by recent events. At the beginning of the Coronavirus pandemic, I spent much of my time alone. I did not go to work, and it was considered unsafe to do many of the day-to-day things that occupied my time before. This quiet time was an opportunity for me to practice introspection. I participated in Mindful Self Compassion workshops and honed my meditation practice. This happened to be around the same time that I started working on the Master of Science in Leadership program.  Many factors have contributed to this emerging self-awareness; changes in the world around me along with a focused study of leadership have helped me grow over this last year.  Image From: https://www.linkedin.com/learning/developing-self-awareness/seek-feedback-to-boost-self-awareness?u=26194554 Here I will reflect on how my level of self-awareness has changed over this last year, through the lens of the “Five Core...