Service Learning II

            For the second installment of my service learning I job shadowed the director of the Infectious Control department at St. Vincent's Hospital in Billings. In doing so I learned important things for school matters, possible career options and of course, a way to grow in leadership. Though I only spent one hour there, because she had a busy schedule and I didn't want to disrupt her entire day, I took away a couple of important facts. One is keeping hands sanitized and all of the health promotions of doing so; when washing hands It is suppose to get done in around twenty seconds and fingernails need the hardest cleaning. Besides proper hand washing technique, I learned how to interact with people in a hospital setting. Following the director into patients room's I noticed the dialogue that the director used when talking to patients. It was that of being respectful and compassionate but not overly nice. In that facts good or bad weren't overlay emphasized, they were said without dramatic effect, which I think is important because it establishes a relationship where the patient can trust the doctor and the doctor can expect the patient to do what is needed to become well again. The dialogue was by far the most important thing learned that day from a leadership stance because there were a lot of little details that I picked up on that kept the director control of the situation. They all can be summarized by one thing though is that I think, because I didn't ask her, that before anything she said she carefully thought of what she was saying and the best way to say. She was able to not let impulsive cues disorganize her thoughts. This I thought was beneficial because a leader can't succumb to anything they do, or I think it would be counterproductive. At the end of the hour I learned of my next service learning opportunity and in a couple of days I would help out at a bone marrow donation.

Adaptive Leadership

            By now it is safe to say that leadership is a skill that is used in different situations to have the most productive outcome possible for both parties a win-win situation. Leadership can change to a situation, and so can people, that's the great thing because each of us can adapt. No one has to settle for something lesser than anything than want if they don't want to. Each individual has the ability to adapt to a better style then the one before. I think that is a leaders job to promote this adaptation to get people who are stuck in a routine into something new and exciting. No two people are really the same that's why there is different personalities, to me a leader must focus on the people who need a preemptive change while keeping a eye on the go getters so that they can settle down. It's a balancing act that leader works with and it can also be a tool that the leader can use to even help themselves. The Latin quote "Carpe Diem" seize the day, comes to mind when the reading speaks of challenges happening every day  because each person grows from those challenges arise and it gives the person new experiences. To act on impulse, or to resist involvement, for me, it all ties back into situational leadership. Depending on any given day, any place, time, or people the situation is different than ones similar to it. I think that for every personality there is at least a situation so that would be a lot of different situations to react to and a leader must find that happy medium of knowing what to do, when to do it and how to do it.

Goals and Action Planning

     A person sets a goal because they hope to achieve something that they want to work forward to. It’s about having that self-motivation and accomplishing the daily tasks that need to be done because over time they build up. The author of the reading talks about doing daily tasks and people not always spending the short time needed to do them. Just like setbacks for daily tasks there are set backs to achieving ones goal. The key is to just do the things that need to be done to take the next step on. Spending time thinking about cause and effect on the situation and the importance of the task. To me it’s not about thinking about the task and what the effort will cause because that just builds negative emotions towards the subject. For me, it’s about focusing on the end result and that brings a sense of optimism. Because I doing daily represent progress of things happening and I just don’t like standing around doing nothing, I like to look back to see what I accomplish and look towards new ways to do the things needed to have my successful goal. Encouragement and positive reinforcement goes a long ways. To be more successful a leader must focus not on the tasks that person does but on the person itself. Giving that person a feeling of self-worth to be self-motivated to accomplish more tasks. Creating BHAG and SMART plans for goals is good for organizing what needs to be done and the aspects that go with the goal. There are different ways to make a goal more seemingly accessible but the truth is reaching a goal is a step-by-step process and for me, like the daily tasks, it just comes down to doing them and putting the best forward to accomplish them.

Managing Conflict

     Managing conflict within our lives is important. For a leader it is ctritcal it's controling people who don't agree to work in a benefical way for everyone.  A mandorla which I first related it to be like a vin diagram brings these of opposites together. It is able to bring about win-lose situations in ones that are a win-win. It was a great way to transintion into the conflict process and it having four parts once new information is introduced within the system; change/distruption, new solutions/stablility, adaptation/evolution, and intensification/chaos. Looking at the diagram I thought it looked very similar to DiSC or elemental and that we each might have a tendency to lead to resolve conflict by using one part of the cycle a little more than the other. Later on I found my assumptions to be right as that each of the elemental styles are mapped well with the conflict process. Noticing that each leader can use their natural tendencies to understand how to resolve the problem. Also, showing that it is a leader's job to be able to effectivly deal with chaos by changing style or outlook on a situtation and being open to broader possibilities. If the chaos is not resolved by a nessarcy change the problem just keeps growing causing more problems compared to if the change was created within the first place. The conflict process to win -win is a fine line to create to ensure safety and hold creative tension without wanting someone else to suffer for the benefit. This remined me of Plato's theory for justice "that the best type of good is one that is desirable both in itself and for the sake of its results". Meaning to me that it is a leaders job to look to benefit everyone through action and results of the action. Seeing how a leader must continual grow and bring everyone to a equal standard with individual self-worth, is what I believe was ctricial for leader developement.

General Wesley Clark

     To start off his speech was not what I think it was going to be; his speech was more about his views of what the United States is and a brief history of America's accomplishments and his views on my they were successful. That is not to say I didn't like what he said or that I didn't agree with what he said during his speech, It's just not what I was expecting. The first thing that drew my attention was that when he got up to the podium his voice waivered from nerves but that didn't effect the sureness and confidence he had within his words. By doing so, along with showing affection for Montana, he instantly caught the audience's attention and brought focus to his words. Showing me that the words themselves don't matter but it's the way they are said and conducted to the audience. Another thing I noticed was that instead of giving a lecture speech he asked rhetorical questions to inspire the people listening along. To me that means keeping the audience intrested by what your saying but not just feeding them information but allowing others to think for themselves. A point that he brought up was that never settle for the present and continue to think about the future. For me as a leader i find that very important because a leader must not settle for what is best right now for themselves, but to have a little self-sacrifice and continue to strive for the future outlook so that everyone can be brought to a better tomorrow. General Clark also hit on some other very interesting points that I found to be important for a leader. He talked about America and setting the foundation for growth, which was economics, but for a leader I think that foundation has to start with the personal evalutions. Starting at the base of the leader and they themselves knowing what they stand for and what they hope to accomplish is pivtol to grow to spur others on to accomplish goals. Along with that comes dialouge, he talked about it in political debates being less emotial and more rational. This is important for leaders because they need to have a good emotional intellegence will controling each situation different by thinking and processing it over, then being able to commicate their thoughts clearly how to resolve the problem quickly and efficently. This is important to build the respect of others and to have effective teamwork throughout the place and setting were one is trying to lead. The las thing he talked about was that the path to real destruction is an implusive decision. This is true for a leader because a leader must not act implusively because sometimes the implusive tendencies one has don't always have the greatest results. A leader must be able to think then act not act then think. Overall, Gerneral Clark was something to see on a Tuesday night and it was nice to get a sense of freshness of politics from the real person talking and not just debates, or reporters on the news.

Vision

     While doing the readings to prompt a vision of mine and describe it on paper. Made me think no matter how hard I work to try and solve the problems there is no easier way to achieve that vision. So when in the readings it says others describe our problems as "No big deal" and that organizations are more accepting of our ideas than what they think, it made me realize that if I looked at the problems with help from the others around the problems turned from milestones to stepping stones. Then after it listed and explained siutations about desires it got me to thinking if I really wanted the desires or if I just wanted something to work towards. At first I was like of course I want everything I work towards but I want to keep the desires progessing to build off one another. I think my desire for the goals is to keep a certain plan but if It was given everything right away the plan would be gone and the purpose to build off each step wouldn't exist. Looking for the growth to that lets me excell in areas where others don't. To noy just grow for myself and improve to be better for me but also for the others around me that I can help out. A leader must strive to continue to grow and never settle in the work place. If the leader becomes comfortable with the standards they have reached it lowers the ceiling for not only them but their wokers as well. Continuing to look towards the next best thing and not becoming statisfied with right now can inspire people to do more than what they think they can acheive. When others that are following the leader achieve higher means for themselves then the leader has don their job correctly.

Service Learning Part 1

     For the first part of my service learning I wanted to describe my time with the youth. The youth that ages ranges anywhere from six year olds to teenagers. During the last couple of months, when I had to go back to Billings over the weekend, I helped out in Billings Heights youth sports and Sunday school at the family church for a total of six hours. Now, the thing pops out to me the most about kids is that they are like a owl a night, always watching. Then like a chameleon they change and copy the person they are watching. So to me leading kids was a difficult challenge because I had to work on what I was doing not just what I said. Kids don't really listen they pick up what they want to hear, I know from myself as a kid and now with interacting with other children. So in order to get them to do something I couldn't just say it in a positive tone and just going through the motions of the project. But had to inspire through my body language to them that it was interesting and enjoyable. This gave me a chance to work on leading without speaking because the children followed the "monkey see, monkey do" saying. It was about setting a good example for them the follow. Another important thing I noticed is that kids are social. Being social is a good thing but sometimes the kids didn't always focus. To get there focus I found that the best thing was to use positive encouragement by tapering off their conversations then using subtle transitions to lead on to the next topic. Asking them a lot of questions so that they feel more comfortable around me, so that in a way it showed them I'm not a teacher but a helper, just a guide for them to use. To be able to get children to focus, I found that it was best to relate to each individual. Each child was different from the next and when trying to get them do a task I had to take each ones perspective. Some (if not all the younger kids) wanted to be rewarded with something of monetary value from them to use (or eat) like candy. The older kids though focused more on the quality of the task. They wanted to do something of entertaining value. So in a way as a helper, I took it upon myself to persuade the children into during certain activities. Because like I said earlier each kid has a different perspective. Kids wanted to enjoy what they were doing because they just wanted to have fun. For me I thought it was best to encourage that spirit of having fun. Example would be instead of having the kids just run like the coach was telling them I told them to try and catch me (some of them were pretty fast too). It was a way of accomplishing the same thing but by different means. My entire time with the children they kept surprising and as I'm sure will continue to do so in the future.

Chp 2 Exercise

I.
     1. During a work day, a person called in sick so they wouldn't be able to do the closing shift. Instead of being short an employee I agreed to work a open to close while working in two different areas. Working in two areas I didn't get the time to finish up projects completely so I stayed after closing time. The boss saw this and gave me a small bonus and another effect is that people began doing stuff I asked them to do because they thought I woldn't ask if I had time to do it myself.

     2. A. Set example of strong work ethic
         B. Maximized the quality of my work with quanity
         C. If others won't do it I will; proving I'm not putting myself on a pedistal
         D. Dependablity
         E. Rising to a challenge
         F. Dedication, following the job through

     3. A. If something needs done, be the one to do it, don't depend on others
         B. Be humble, don't act like your better than someone else
         C. Finish what you start

II.
     1. Various tasks within the archery deptartment
     2. A. Relaxed
         B. Appreciated
         C. Humored
         D. Belonged
     3. A. Important tasks
         B. Fun to be around
         C. Kept it productive
         D. Valued my help
         E. Encouragement
         F. Set goals to what needed to be done
         G. Valued the end results more than the process

III.

     1. A. Friend, through the workplace, funny good person, we're alot alike.
         B. Dad, my father people always say i look like him and say he is a good person so I can't ruin that.
         C. Friend, through school, wanted to be better and do use my talents to the best of my abilites. In doing so others reached out towards me for help. I credit to my friend the attention because they had a way of making me try to be a great person.

     2. A. Humorous
         B. Dedicated
         C. Perfectionist
         D. Determined
         E. Quality & Quanity
         F. Competitive
         G. Success