Can you please revise, edit, and make it flow smoother please? Add anything you
ID: 393444 • Letter: C
Question
Can you please revise, edit, and make it flow smoother please? Add anything you would reccomend.... (It's a reflective paper)
At the beginning of this year, my team and I in my organization were tasked to do a specific job. We arrived at the job site, and there were a few issues in the way of getting our assignment completed. Instead of trying to figure the problems out on our own, we decided to call our supervisor and ask for assistance. The solution to the issues that my team and I were faced with was something that could have been handled without contacting our boss. If I had taken this course before this job assignment, I would have had more of a leader’s point of view and would have had more courage to take the initiative to figure out the solution on our own.
My point of view on leadership was completely different before I took this course. I had more of a follower’s point of view. I would wait for my supervisors to tell me what exactly they want me to do before I would start to work. I would ask questions from a follower’s point of view: What do you want me to do? Can you help me fix simple issues that are preventing me from getting the job done? Now that I have a better perspective of a leader’s point of view, I can avoid questions like these and take more initiative in my organization. I understand the three elements of a leader’s point of view better:
1. Seeing what needs to be done.
2. Understanding all the underlying forces at play in a situation.
3. Having the courage to initiate action to make things better.
This course also taught me different kinds of methods, models, and approaches to lead employees or coworkers in an organization. Managers and leaders that I have had in the past always influenced their employees at a level one type of leadership. This course introduced a new level of leadership that describes methods to go deeper in situations and work with people at a level (level three) to understand their values, assumptions, beliefs, and expectations (VABEs).
Learning about level three leadership helped me better understand my approach in leadership and improved some of my weaknesses into strengths. I also found some new weaknesses that were affecting my leadership skills.
The first element of the leadership point of view, seeing what needs to be done, brought a new light of leadership to me. I changed the way I conduct myself at work. Instead of me sitting back and letting my leaders and managers tell me what to do, I am more proactive. I am beginning to take more initiative and finding things that need to be done in my organization. For example, we have several inspections and regular maintenance tasks to complete once a month at my work. We usually have a checklist given to us by our supervisor to assist us with the job. Some things were not on the list that still needed to be completed. Most of my coworkers ignored those items, but I took the initiative and courage to decide what needed to get done. These were tasks that my supervisor did not know about, but was necessary to be done as well. I was able to see what needed to be done and I exercised the courage to get it done. My boss’s boss thanked me for completing those tasks. The first component of the leadership point of view gave me more confidence to see more in my organization.
I have a broader vision now in my organization. I have been continuously asking more questions, reading more policies and procedures, and observing more around me. I keep thinking about what I can do to improve productivity at work. Most importantly, I have seen what needs to be done in myself. “Few are wise enough to realize that unless they change the way they deal with the world, nothing much is likely to change.” I do not reflect on myself often, but I know I need to change the way I see the world around me to be an effective leader. For instance, I usually do not take criticism well, and I tend to start confrontations when I receive negative feedback. The last couple of weeks I have been able to change the way I listen to feedback and to avoid unnecessary conflicts. Instead of being defensive, I have learned to implement the four practices of dialogue: listening, respecting, suspending, and voicing. I practice giving more respect by removing myself from the turmoil of the past and future and to engage with the person giving me feedback. I was able to use the feedback I received to my advantage rather than ignoring it. “Being able to see what needs to change in yourself is the key to becoming an effective leader.”
The second element of the leadership point of view, understanding all the underlying forces at play, helped me to see the bigger picture in my organization. I know that there are more factors involved in decision making than just the ones at my level. Essential decisions from the top acquire more details from the whole organization not only in my department. I am still at the bottom of the chain of command in my organization, so it is hard to see the bigger picture from where I am. However, understanding the other forces at play gives me a better comprehension of certain decisions that may not benefit my department, but it helps the organization as a whole. “Leaders must continually work to broaden their vision and deepen their insight into the global, societal, market, competitive, consumer, and related issues that surround any organization.” Although I do not influence critical decisions made by my organization, my goal is to eventually be in that position and be able to make wise leadership choices.
The final element of the leadership point of view, having the courage to initiate action to make things better, is the one I can reflect on the most. Courage is the most important trait that a leader must have. “Without courage, you cannot make a difference. Without courage, you cannot have the right conversations that lead to change. Without courage, you would not even get off the starting block as a leader.” I had this kind of courage when I wore a military uniform, but I gradually lost it the longer I have been out. Being a Marine gave me the drive and courage of wanting to be a leader. This course is helping me bring that drive back. I need this drive to get over the fear of rejection.
I did not realize that I had this fear until we talked about it in class. I have been working on facing this fear since the end of August when this course began. For instance, when I found those extra tasks that needed to be done during our monthly inspections I was not afraid of what my coworkers thought of me for finding additional work. I approached this scenario differently than I would have done before this class. My unchanged self would have told my coworkers to help me with the extra tasks that I saw needed to be completed, and most likely they would have told me to kick sand. However, I approached this scenario from a leader’s point of view. I explained to them what I saw and why I thought that the additional tasks needed to be completed. I told them that if we do not do these tasks, it may lead to more unnecessary work in the future. Surprisingly, all of my coworkers agreed with me, and we got the tasks finished without any conflicts. At first, this incident took me out of my comfort zone, but having courage helped me get over that fear of rejection from my coworkers.
The terms “inside-out” and “outside-in” caught my attention the most when learning about the third element of a leader’s point of view. I have not heard these terms before this class, and it made me realize a new weakness of mine, I let other people affect my decisions. I have been working on this weakness ever since I have learned about it. I have been making more personal and professional decisions based off of my thoughts and beliefs. For example, unrelated to work experience but relevant to the topic, my neighbors think we should all mow our lawns at the same time, so our yards look the same. It was always a hassle for me to try to mow at the same time, but I made sure to do it to please my neighbors. Now, I mow when I want to without worrying about what they think. By behaving more of an “inside-out” person, I have been less stressed and more confident in the choices that I make.
“Adopting and employing a leader’s point a view is not necessarily easy; it is demanding, yet powerful. It demands broad, strategic thinking, careful analysis and insight, and careful planning mixed with lots of courage.” It has been a challenge adapting from a follower’s point of view to a leader’s point of view, but it has been rewarding and self-fulfilling.
To help me adapt to a leader’s point of view; this course introduced many models, methods, and approaches to use to be an effective leader. The one model that stood out the most to me was the rational-emotive-behavior (REB) model. The REB model is a model to help you dig deeper into human behavior. For instance, my coworker and I may observe the same thing at work, but have two completely different perceptions and conclusions. We observed one of our trainees make a minor mistake and my coworker's perception was different from mine. I concluded that we should address the error he made, but my coworker told me just to let it go because it will hurt the trainee’s confidence. My perception was to help the trainee fix his minor mistake and to make sure that it did not lead to a bigger mistake. My coworker remembered when he was a trainee and related it to this situation (his VABEs). Learning about the REB model gave me a better understanding of VABEs. Knowing the meaning of VABEs and how they shape behavior is essential to effective leadership.
Having a better understanding of VABEs improves my leadership skills. VABEs vary in strength, they differ considerably from person to person, and people have VABEs both about the way other people should behave (the external view) and about the way they themselves should act (the internal view). I have been using this way of thinking in my personal life and work life since the beginning of this course. I have noticed a difference in the way I approach certain situations. As a father, I have more patience with my children, and I try to influence their VABEs to follow mine. As a partner, I have been less argumentative and a better listener to try and understand her VABEs. As a coworker, I have been paying close attention to people jumping to conclusions and trying to understand their VABEs to help improve my rapport with them. “When a person “jumps to conclusions,” we can learn, if we are attentive, more about that person’s basic VABEs, which will help us greatly in our attempts to manage our relationship with that person.”
According to the leadership levels assessment, I use approximately 40% of level three leadership and surprisingly only 24% of level one. I am shocked by the results because I feel like I try to influence people’s visible behavior more. This assessment of the level three leadership helped me to better my approach in leadership, and it improved some of my weaknesses into strengths. My communication got stronger. I have been communicating more with my team and supervisors, and it has helped me to improve my skills and knowledge of my job. I am becoming more of a motivator and a better decision maker. I also discovered new weaknesses during this assessment and course. I follow rigid approaches and never adapt to change. I think about organizational goals more and not about the goals of individuals on my team. I never understood the VABEs of my team members. However, from this course, I have overcome my weaknesses and turned them into my strengths, and now my leadership skills are being successfully implemented in my organization.
Overall, this course has helped me understand my leadership strengths and weaknesses by learning about the three elements of the leadership point of view: seeing what needs to be done, understanding all the underlying forces at play in a situation, and having the courage to initiate action to make things better. I also learned about different types of models, methods, and approaches to help improve my leadership skills, especially the REB model. This course introduced a more in-depth level (three) of leadership and how people hold a set of VABEs about the way the world is or should be. Using level three leadership helped me change my weaknesses to strengths and introduced new weaknesses that I have. This course has improved myself in many areas, and I will be able to implement what I learned in everyday situations.
Explanation / Answer
As a team, we have certain goals to achieve. We have visited the job search engines and there is little trouble to achieve our assignment completion. We have asked for the help to our supervisor but it was unnecessary because we could too resolve the issue by ourselves. The problem was that we are lacking in leadership skills and hence fail to take a strong decision. In fact, I was a follower not a true leader. I used to ask questions from my boss and others like what do you want me to do? Rather to take initiatives by myself. Now, I have a better perspective on leadership, I can avoid questions like this and take more initiative in my organization.
This course also taught me different kinds of methods, models, and approaches to lead employees or co-workers in an organization. I know the importance of leadership at every level of the organization. I understand their values, assumptions, beliefs, and expectations (VABEs). VABE has provided me insights to become stringer and stronger in taking decisions which promotes sustainable way to every people associated with me.
After getting theoretical and practical learning, I am able to translate my vision into reality. Even, the level three studies helped me to become better in my approach and convert the weaknesses into strong capabilities. I know how to set the priorities , meeting with the requirements of the organization , analyzing the influencing factors of business environment and a strong courage to initiate actions to make the things best at any cost.
A true leader is visionary one and this strength now. I am optimistic about goals and motivate people to achieve the win-win goals. I try to learn from top leaders of the organization. I used to discuss with them and then make self appraisals on everything.
In a brief, i can summarize that leadership is both an art and science. It must be taught as well as articulated in different manner. It is easy to develop your insights on the issues of the day today life or organizational challenges at the workplace. A leader should emotionally and ethically brilliant to set example to his leaders. He should bring happiness and satisfaction to each stakeholders associated with his work area or beyond the same.