Leadership: Week One/Semaine Un
In a graduate seminar I took a couple years ago, I unintentionally found myself amongst a diverse group of students. Our professor had mentioned that a number of students weren’t in groups and could only present on certain dates due to scheduling conflicts. We could either disperse ourselves based on topical interests or simply go by predetermined presentation and co-current due dates. I decided to put my name down for topical reasons and ended up in a group with two others. It didn’t take long to realize-- that I was in many ways-- more invested in the project.
The other two students talked at length about how they had wanted to do another topic, and when it came to working on the project, one of the students even managed to accidentally read the wrong resource material! He had been delegated the task of providing the first round of summaries for us, while myself and (I’ll call her C) were working on research. I realized that when you’re not passionate about something you lose a large percentage of your motivation to move forward. Sure, getting [a good] grade motivated us, but we weren’t working as a TEAM. We had no cohesive. I was very interested in our topic, and in some ways that rubbed off on my group members. They saw that I was excited and that I was trying my best to channel that into the work we were doing.
Towards the end, I couldn’t help but feel as if what had started as a wonderful assignment became more about the increasingly daunting deadline. We had gone from three strangers with a genuine common interest (the course), to three disheveled and moreover disengaged colleagues working at something with three different perspectives. So what did I learn? I learned that the most important thing is having a common purpose. Sometimes that can get misconstrued when factors like grades, influence, or power come into play. Sometimes passion isn’t enough. At the end of the day, what matters is that you’re working together for that common purpose. You can arrive at the same place if you’re leaving from different locations, taking different routes, even driving different cars. But why would we chose to take different avenues when we’re set to meet in the same place, at the same time, with what’s supposed to be a common purpose?
A couple of strengths and/or skills I believe I possess and wish to give an example of:
Listening: People always seem to open up to me which allows a relationship built on mutual trust to develop. It’s easier to be compassionate when you know what’s going on in someone’s life. There are also many different ways of listening. I firmly believe that every single person can and often does have something to say and moreover that they deserve to be ‘heard’. I don’t believe in quieting another person’s voice so that my own can be heard.
Showing care is a form of listening. When someone close to me was going through a tough time, I helped make and package some homemade meals so that that person would be better able to cope on a day-to-day level.
Creativity: I have a diverse academic background and have been told various things about the way I’ve engaged with different disciplines. In Math class I was told that “I did math weird” because I was always looking for shortcuts. In English class I was told that I needed to “tone down my vocabulary”. In Art class I was told to “break the rules”. I consistently try to approach things with an open mind, and to be utterly cliche, think outside the box. I constantly ask myself how things could be different or better than they are, who else could be included or asked about something. I try to challenge not only myself but others.
The most recent thing that comes to mind was my query into parking at Sheridan. I did all the research, weighed the pros and cons, posited the best ad worst case scenarios. I arrived at a creative solution that will not only save me money but also still enables me to claim my receipts during tax season!
Intuition: I don’t really know how else to say this... but I’m intuitive. I can read people fairly well and I try to help them confront whatever it is that they’re not expressing. I’m always observing and trying to suss out a situation. When I see an opportunity I do my very best to take it (while being mindful of the risks in the path of success).
A co-worker of mine was intensely staring at his books, clearly nervous about something. I had noticed that this particular individual was quiet and reserved and tended to stick with the same guy (who wasn’t around at the time). I saw that he was trying to draw a diagram and asked him about it. We got to talking and it turned out he was next in line for the practical evaluation component of the training. He wasn’t sure about the configuration of something and explained to me that he didn’t want to seem incompetent. I offered my help.
Some things I’d like to work on as they relate to leadership are:
Communication: I believe that I am a confident and thoughtful communicator. However, I definitely need to work on my verbal articulation. Sometimes I get stuck ‘in my head’ and have issues explaining exactly what it is I’m thinking about. Writing it down? No problem.
Inspire: I have personal passions that I just assume people aren’t interested in. I’m also a fairly private person (to an extent). I think sometimes I get to know others very well but have a hard time letting them get to know me. So if someone asks me, “Why are you interested in global health?” (the field I dream of working in), I respond with something that stays on surface level. I know a lot of the facts and statistics. I know why it’s important to others and I know why it’s important to me. My unwillingness to share my passions undermine my ability to inspire others. I don’t get to decide whether or not someone is interested in the things that keep me up at night.
Decisiveness: This is one of those token job interview answers I want to share but ultimately decide not to. Here’s the thing: I try to rationalize and over-rationalize, think and over-think just about anything. Depending how you think about it... that could either make me a calculated and thoughtful employee or a non-confident and reluctant employee. It’s a word I tend to avoid but always come back to. It’s why I didn’t apply to medical school. I’d like to come to terms with the fact that I like to understand why I do the things I do, why decisions are difficult, and why questions don’t always have one answer.
