I have been having students in the current "Leading for Change" course read the introduction and first chapter of a book by Barbara Mackoff and Gary Wenet, "The Inner Work of Leaders: Leadership as a Habit of Mind". This book is available to you through the UNBC library as an electronic resource - you can find it easily in the online catalogue and you just need your 14 digit library number and your 4 digit PIN to have access to it. I would like you to read the opening to this book to help you understand why I've asked you to look at your leadership in a personal way, through your Self-Portrait assignment. In your first posts, both of you have identified specific leadership lessons in personal experiences - this reflective process is the "inner work" that supports strong self-understanding that translates, in social situations, to more effective leadership. In comments to this post, I would like you to select quotes from this reading and connect them to your narratives and the "life lessons in leadership" that you've shared. I think it works well to use a comment as a paragraph - one main thought per comment! This reading will also take us nicely into the Leadership Mindsets book by Kaser and Halbert. The examples from the lives of leaders in the Mackoff and Wenet book are similar to those in "Mindsets". For me, the main lesson in both, as well as in Senge's books about the 5 disciplines of systems thinking and Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (also his principle-centred leadership, based on the 7 habits), is that, as leaders, we think in certain ways and develop the beliefs that are the foundation of our actions. This thought is expressed more strongly in a different way, in a concept that is central to the field of school improvement: We cannot have sustainable change in practice without a corresponding change in beliefs. We'll come back to that idea, I'm sure!
"Is there something I should be understanding" and "How can I give meaning to this" (Harold Shapiro)
ReplyDeleteThis quote really spoke to me because I truly believe in life's lessons as having a purpose and meaning. As I have spoken of in my self-portrait, I believe it is important to be reflective and to try and give meaning to any situation. In my life lesson in leadership this year, I needed to make meaning of the uncertainty I was feeling in making the move to Grande Prairie. I needed to understand that I was learning a lesson about taking risks. I believe reflection is key to personal and professional growth.
The entire first chapter of The Inner Works of Leaders focused on parental influence. This chapter seemed very representative of how I expressed my childhood and parental influence in my self-portrait. I easily connected to the representations submitted by Al Gamper, Doug Wheeler and Beckie Masaki. All of these individuals presented experiences that allowed me to go back and reflect on experiences in my life that have been similar in relation to my family having an influence on my leadership development. "My family background made me aware that society shouldn't be so class conscious." When Gamper describes his experience of calling a student a derogatory term, I quickly made a connection to a time as a child when I was criticising a fellow student about their poor home situation. I remember hearing the disapointment in my mother's voice when she stressed to me the importance of always treating all people with respect and honor no matter where they come from. This experience has always stuck with me and has allowed me to practice being non-judgemental and empathetic.
ReplyDeleteI can honestly say that I could not connect with the experiences of Barbara Blum or John Macky because my parent were never negative models. However, I can recognize their development in this area by how they chose to accept their childhood experience as something they could build upon and show growth. This assignment allowed me to make connections with other leaders that have truly demonstrated success.
The quote " Leadership is not a role or a set of strategies. Instead it is a point of view that begins with the inner work of integrating and translating past relationships and experiences into powerful habits of mind." I have lived my life with the belief that we must learn from our experiences. Whether the experiences are good or bad we can learn much about ourselves by how we react or act on the experience. With my personal leadership role this summer, I know now that both my daughter and I learned a lot about her experience with bullying. We are reflective on how we treat people. I believe that we will consequently always treat people with kindness and respect. This was definitely a moment of meaning legacy. This will shape our lives as leaders and give us both inner strength. I can certainly relate to President Bruce Hallett's experience with his teacher and know that we learn from the events and relationships we make in our lives. Aldous Huxley's noted, " Experience in not what happens to you but it is what you do with what happens to you. Al Gamper believed that your environment and family life have a big impact on how you think in later life. A supportive, caring environment, was what was needed for my daughter and I was determined that she would rise above this horrible incident and perhaps later in life she would lead others to treat people with dignity and respect.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Terry on this post. As she and I are related, I have always felt that she has been instrumental in providing me with a supportive enviroment. We often engage in discussions about life experiences and how we can learn and move forward. Inner strength comes from you but it also comes from the supportive nature of the people that are in our lives.
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