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                Leadership serves as the lifeblood running throughout my organization. Leaders are charged with split second decisions that carry catastrophic consequences.  In today’s military operations time is often cut short and leaders are left to make decisions based on intuition and training. I believe an important element of a leader is where the “Leadership participates.” I thoroughly support that a leader needs to be down on the front line and not making decisions from an office chair. I support leaders getting their hands dirty and not forgetting about the little people grinding it out every day. Second, “Leadership that connects” is equally as important. Although I understand the significance of rank and good order and discipline within an organization leadership has to realize that even the little people have feelings, families, and the bottom line is not the only important element of the organization.  Third, “Leadership that is relatively free of ego” is important particularly because you have to have someone who is self serving. Stephen Denning was able to explain this as “True leaders do not lead because they expect something in return. They lead because they have something to give.” I fully support this mentality and believe leaders who expect compensation are distracted from their true nature or position. Lastly, it is important for leaders to understand thoroughly what Winston Churchill once said, “Fear is reaction courage is a decision.”

References

Denning, S. (2011). The Leader's Guide to Storytelling. (pp. 269-293). San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc..

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My personality falls into two categories. The first is carefree, outgoing humorous personalities which can approach strangers with ease and start a conversation. This usually occurs outside the professional setting where I’m not concerned with maintaining my professional bearings. I generally don’t care if I am rejected as his is my “off duty” side and it serves as a purpose to relax and enjoy myself. When starting a new conversation with someone I’ll ask the basic, ritual questions and observe their body language. If they continue to be interested in a conversation I’ll digress into other topics. If their body language appears to be apprehensive then I’ll wrap up the conversation with “have a good day” and move out to somewhere else.

The second personality I claim to have is within a professional setting and here is where the art of conversation is important. Although body language plays a part your qualifications or certifications also come into play. I’ve always stayed within my lane. It appears foolish in my organization to talk about something you have no idea about. The one thing I need to work on is to be an active listener. I have the ability to complete people’s sentences or ideas before they do which naturally turns me ears off when they are talking. I first identified this during the self awareness section of MSLD 520 and have been working to improve m listening skills. I’ve been able to improve slightly but by continually working towards being a better listening I will be a better conversationalist.

                Another aspect to my professional personality is that rejection is common. Since we all work within specific fields it is easy for you to associate within your group. At times we venture out however like the readings suggest you should anticipate rejection. Lastly, I think that body language and conversational skills will be the key indicators to breaking the ice when making contact with someone new.

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The context of my story is based a personal experience of mine as a junior aviator in the Armed Forces. I was both young as an officer and as a pilot, more over a pilot in command. I allowed the elements to control my decision making and failed to properly plan for the weather. This resulted in a causation effect that potentially impacted the next day’s operations. This was a learning experience and I’ve this story several times as I’d mentor junior pilots. Y sharing this story my knowledge and personal feelings are conveyed and hopefully helps as people make decisions in the future.  

Expeditious Failure:

It was a bitter cold afternoon which rolled into a rainy winter night. We completed a through pre-flight inspection in the warmth of our hanger to ensure our aircraft was mechanically sounds prior to the training flight. As our training mission was wrapping up after the sun went down we all dreaded the rainy walk from the parking apron back into the hanger. Once the engines and rotor blades stopped our minds were focused on getting out of the cold rain. We rushed through post flight and expeditiously tied and chained the aircraft. When I arrived at work the next day I found out a support mission was cancelled due to maintenance. It was discovered that our transmission filter button had popped and we failed to catch it during post flight. Even through there’s a possibility it popped well after we left I could not say with certainty. If we caught it they could have repaired it in time to support the missions. Our negligence was an expeditious failure to our flawless support.

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High Performance Teams:

     The elements of a high performance team are comprised of individuals with a shared sense of values. Team members exhibit the same work ethic and can rapidly change their performance or shift their effort to maximize productivity. These teams grow stronger over time as they learn from the progress that is behind them. Individuals within the team are self motivated and grow independently but the summation of skills contributes to the whole. Lastly, high performance teams are considered the “A” team. Each team members exhibits an extraordinary capability that excels the team beyond normal expectations for a general populace. There is a loyalty and a high degree of trust within a high performance team.
     I operate on a high-performing team within my organization which is comprised of several talented individuals.  We are highly trained and each of my crew members is a master within their specialty. My teammates are like an extension of my family. We place an enormous amount of trust (including our lives) in each other’s hands. There is a self driving motivator that compels you to not “let down the team.”

     There are four patterned of working together which is outlined as: Work Group, Team, Community, and Network. Work groups are good as they bring together a multitude of individuals for a common task or problem. The downside to a workgroup is when sections are asked to give someone up for the work group you do not always get the sharpest individuals for the workgroup. Teams are great as individuals of the team share a common goal. This usually allows for cohesiveness and focus throughout the team. Communities are good as everyone shares a common idea however there is little control over the execution phase of any operations or procedures. Lastly, networks allow individuals to build connections to others who share similar ideas. This works well especially well as you have a pool of knowledge to dip into if you hit a rough patch along a project. Overall, I think teams are best as the shared goals and sense of purpose allow for the most cohesiveness throughout the individuals.  

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     Story:
Serving as a leader I was faced with a difficult decision. My team was assigned with several tasks and my superior generally affords me the freedom to complete these tasks and report back to him with the results. There is a lot of subjectivity to the results and I could easily fudge a few numbers for the report to have a highly polished appeal. My team came up short on our quarterly training and we wouldn’t have the time to correct our shortcomings before my next report. Facing possible administrative or fiscal reprimands it took a lot of personal courage to report the actual values of our failed training requirements in order o maintain my integrity within the organization.

     The story I have come up from is consisted of a single protagonist that stems from a situation I’ve found myself in as a leader within my organization. The expectation is that an individual should choose to maintain his/her integrity and honesty in all situations while applying the personal courage needed to report to his/her superior of a failed task assigned to their section. Given the fact the superior may or may not know the truth you must never compromise your integrity. Once it’s gone, it’s gone.
     I think this story would have an impact within my organization as a majority of people at some point will have the autonomy within their work environment and feel pressure to report up a picture perfect analysis when in fact there are deficiencies. I think it will allow individuals to assess how personal courage is needed to maintain their integrity and honesty.

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Ethical Pillars:

     Trust, Loyalty and Solidarity are outlined as three pillars that hold up an ethical community. Trust is essential as it forms a bond between individuals allowing the felt sense of members behaving ethically towards them. Second, loyalty establishes the feeling of acceptance of others. Lastly, solidarity demonstrates the care espoused from individuals towards other individuals.

      My organization fosters an environment along these pillars as well. Trust is essential and needs to be established and maintain before we set off on any mission. If there is any breakdown in trust it could have significant drawbacks down the road. As far as loyalty goes, it is most relevant within the lower levels in smaller teams and units. It is common to have competitions between other units or teams which help to maintain the bonds of loyalty. Lastly, there is a significant amount of solidarity within my organization. It boils down to the fact you are on the line and you have to count on the person next to you from time to time and it could be for an ultimate sacrifice. For the missions we perform if you’re not already committed for that you’d be weeded out.

     Since these values are already present the best ways forward is to maintain them in their present state. This is done with small group activities and unit competitions. I also like to have functions either dinner or BBQ’s outside the office so we’re able to interact when people let their hair down. I think that is essential as you need to know who you really are working with.

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Individual & Organizational Values:

      The values within my organization are simple and clearly outlined from higher headquarters throughout the organization as a whole. The Army Values set the foundation with what is expected from each individuals and work as a simple code to follow. The Values are: Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfless Service, Honor, Integrity, and Personal Courage.  In addition to these basic values individuals are expected to continually advance themselves in individual and collective skill sets. These values are generally outlined within each individuals unit through various level of leadership.
     The values I’ve found to be most important through the self assessment would be to have an opportunity for balance between work life and family life. Next I’d like a stability environment and job security while maintaining flexibility in work structure. Lastly, I value having opportunities for advancement and opportunities for supervision, power, leadership, influence within the organization.
     My unit and leaders currently provide great opportunities for advancements both professionally and personally. I’m able to continue my goals of higher education and more demanding levels of responsibility. I really like that they support me in my personal efforts. Having deployed years after year also like I’m afforded a lot of flexibility to maintain my own schedule. Additionally, I’m favorable to the ability to manage my own balance between work and my family time.
     Regarding the differences between my assessed values of priority listed above and the major differences are lie within the job security and the stability of my environment. This is largely due to the fact my environment is ever changing between deployments and relocation. Although I have little to no control over these requirements I have learned how to best deal with them for my family and myself. As far as job security it is largely dependent on the promotion and requirements as the nation at large. If there is not a need for me to move up I could eventually be phased out if I reach a terminal rank. Overall, I feel that my personal values are in line with those of m organization and I’m able to work around through differences.

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     The nonverbal elements of communication make up more than half of what is expressed. All too often people convey separate or different messages that what they are trying to say. This occurs through body language, metamessages, and trying to influence hidden agendas. The most significant aspect of communication is to ensure you truly say and show that you are congruent in your verbal and nonverbal expressions.
      Body language is significant as you can sometimes judge a person even before they speak. If they are in a defensive posture it may be best to hold off asking them something until you can crack their shell. I often rely on my outgoing personality to open or soften people up before I ask or request something from them. By using appropriate eye contact, facial expressions and posture you can transfer or take control of the conversation.
     The next aspects to successful communications are through the analysis of paralanguage and metamessages. This is where you apply or diagnosis the tools used in verbal communications such as pitch, resonance, articulation, tempo, volume. If someone is talking too fast for you to comprehend they may be disinterested in actually talking to you. You can use the articulation of their words to aid in determining their credibility of a given subject. Lastly, the volume and resonance of their voice will help aid you in determining the congruent nature about what they are speaking. In regards to metamessages, this breaks down what they are saying into the basic information being conveyed and the attitude and feelings about what was conveyed.    
     Lastly, all communications have an agenda, but when the speaker is trying to apply an underlying message they are guilty of communication a hidden agenda. This is the element I most frequently encounter within my organization. In a recent conversation I found the other person’s body language not matching up to what they were verbally communicating. I didn’t feel that they were congruent in nature and that led me to believed there was a hidden agenda. A co-worker was asking me if I’d swap shifts with him next week and expressed how I would be “trading up.” I left the conversation with “I’ll get back to you” and discussed the nature of his requests with another colleague. I later returned to the individual and picked up the conversation where we left off. He again asked me if I’d consider swapping shifts with him next week but this time I asked him if he was going to tell me about the increased workload and requirements for his shift. I was able to sniff out his hidden agenda but the incongruent nature of his body language.

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My sister is eleven months older and maintained one grade level ahead of me in school. She has always been a bit “curvy” and was the blunt of a lot of jokes growing up. She has pretty thick skin but on occasion would break down. I was guilty of harassing her at times however I had little patience when it came from people other than me. Meanwhile, my father, a man who would give you the shirt off his back had very few sayings or advice growing up. One thing I remember him saying is “Family is family.” Walking home from the bus stop one day a few guys from her class made several jokes and continued to constantly harass her. I walked up to the three of them and asked them to apologize. They obviously weren’t going to as the next comment to come from them was, “or what?” I looked over at my sister who was crying, and then proceeded to punch the ring leader in the face. One against three was not so good odds that day and I hardly won the skirmish however the three of them did not fair to well either. Now as I am serving in the military my colleagues and fellow service members fall under that blank of “family” and there is nothing I wouldn’t do for them.  

In July of 2002, I enlisted at 18 and was sent off to the US Army Basic training source at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. As with most recruits I tried to do my best and stay out of the way. They call it being the “grey man,” they guy who seems to always be there but out of the lime light. I had a revelation here about how the world is filled with a lot of screw ups. We continually received group punishment or corrective training as the Army calls it. I got annoyed and told one of the constant screw ups to fix his area. An hour later in the chow line he was in front of me and smacked me in the face. I lost my cool and punched him in the face and we started to fight until being pulled apart.  Later that day we were marched out to the tree line and the two of us were told to square off and as we lines up the instructor said as I remember to this day, “We’re going to end all this here and now, feel free to finish what you started earlier.” Apparently I took him too literal and punched the kid so hard he went unconscious. I spent the remaining 4 weeks scrubbing dishes and picking rice out of the dining facilities kitchen floor. To this day, I have a low tolerance for stupid people.

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Chimamanda Adichie: The danger of a single story

Single Stories are often incomplete messages received by an individual which invade their imaginations resulting in a stereotype. These stereotypes are based on fragments of knowledge created by single stories which can actually “break the dignity of people” (Adichie, 2009) However, these same stories can be used to “repair” and “empower or humanize people.” Chimamanda Adichie blends several springboard stories composed of events from her personal life to deliver a powerful message. Her message is how stories can help form the backbone of society and provide empowering growth for the people within the misfortune state of Nigeria.  

            Chimamanda blends her stories together while constantly returning to how single stories can warp the perception of people and places. Her presentation is carefully crafted with a superb use of tone and inflection which helps the audience to visualize her stories. She applied strategic elements of humor so the audience doesn’t focus or empathize on a particular story but remains engaged with the overarching message of single stories.
            Joel Whalen (2007) outlines five tools of effective speaking. These tools consist of tone of voice, facial expressions, body language, word selection, delivery. Chimamanda uses inflection cleverly within her stories to allow the audience to grasp the very essence of her points throughout her presentation. She applies modest facial expressions during serious elements and smirks during the light hearted humorous stories. Her presentation allowed the audience time to emplace their emotions for both the springboard story and the over arching message of single stories. Her body language is quite reserved and she in no way distracts the audience from the illustration of her words. The very words she selected fit together like a puzzle. Lastly, she delivers a wonderful performance which leaves the audience captivated by her message of how single stories can help form the backbone of society and provide empowering growth for the people.

Adichie, C. (Artist). (2009). The danger of a single story. [Web Video]. Retrieved from

http://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story.html

Whalen, J. (2007). Effective Communications. The Professional Communications Toolkit. (pp. 15-27). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc..

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Friday afternoon, the “TGIF jitters” are starting to settle in and we’re wrapping up the last tasks before the weekend. Our leadership gathers all the members for the usual safety brief. It is common practice for a safety brief prior to the weekend; the problem is the storytellers have become complacent and monotone to the audience. The same topics are covered: drinking and driving, family issues, financial awareness, backyard or water safety. The audience is left to digest the regurgitated topics from the leadership weekly with no spontaneity or fresh flavor.

            The story does promote the goals and ideals of the organization with respect to safety however the failed delivery hardly meets the intent of the leadership. The lack of audience participation is a direct result of several barriers emplaced by the various storytellers. The attempt made by the story teller is on stride with attempting to cure cancer or world hunger with a single swoop of the hand. The leadership does not live up to the role of a storyteller. You can tell that there was no forethought given to the story and the delivery is usually a half moon about the storyteller. I could reenact the speech with a sock puppet and have more audience participation.

            The impact on the organization is dismal. I think more preparation and a better delivery will leave the audience remembering safety throughout the weekend rather than taking a brain vacation for the 15 minute ordeal. Having belabored drinking and driving speech after speech I still recall our organization having on average on incident per week. Perhaps the mind numbing campaign is keeping the numbers down but it still doesn’t prevent the occurrence. We have almost 800 individuals within my organization so I’m not sure how that matches against the rest of the population. Now, after having reviewed this piece I will speak with my leadership tomorrow to discuss my perception of a botched delivery. I think I could offer some ideas to make this weekly gathering worthwhile and productive.  

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            If I were to list the determinants of personal power in order as I see them for myself expertise would lead followed by effort. Next comes personal attraction and lastly is legitimacy. I consider a lot of my personal power to come from my expertise at work. I’ve been through a lot of training and served on several deployments so my level of experience far supersedes that of my peers and many of my bosses. I also place a lot of effort towards whatever mission I’m tasked with completing. We have a saying, “My mission, my men, myself” to gauge of priorities. Although personal attraction and legitimacy come up last they are not in the distance by any means. I am generally friendly and personable. Overall, I am comfortable gaining power within my organization.

            I would say that I do embody many likable characteristics. I am open, honest, and personable.  I consider loyalty to be very important in the way of business and even personal relationships. Along with loyalty comes trust. I don’t however provide unconditional positive regard and acceptance. I think of as “fluff” and I don’t like “fluffing” or “fluffers.” You don’t have to always accept a person, if they make a critical mistake that jeopardizes the mission or sanctity of the organization. This is especially true if they did something for personal gain.  Lastly, I place a lot of importance in social events, interactions, and activities. I wouldn’t consider myself a “social butterfly” but I do enjoy going out with the guys from time to time.
            Relationships are critical within an organization. I always maintain open and honest communications with my superiors. I don’t hesitate with bad news and am not afraid to ruffle a few feathers. Bad news does not get better with time. I believe the open dialogue with my superiors enables me to fully understand the organization objectives but more importantly what his visions includes. My previous organization I considered grand in the way of relations with my boss. We would routinely get together at our organizations bar and throw back a glass of whiskey or two, or three, or more. This was our way to relax but still tackle issues. My current boss is not much of a whiskey fan and we generally tackle everything between nine and five. Overall, open and honest communication is key in whichever style and method works between you and your boss.

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Coach & Mentor:

The importance of a coach or mentor in your life can be paramount to the success of you as an individual within both your personal and profession life. A mentor is helpful and will give you personal guidance and direction in times of uncertainty or difficulties. A coach will help to evaluate your performance, and develop and set goals to improve or mold your productivity.

            I think back to when I was in little league baseball and the relationship I had there with my coach. He was the father of two other baseball players and very knowable in the sport. He had played personally in the sport upwards through college. I’ve always had a lot of natural talent and I remember at our practices the one on one coaching I received. I played the positions of pitcher, catcher and short stop and only recall 3 innings of my entire little league “career” spent in the dug-out. I could throw the baseball fast and hard but my coach trained me to throw it accurately. His techniques and form also made it so I did so safely not to injure my arm. My coach in this scenario would dedicate as much time as I did to practice; if I wanted to stay late so would he to work on a particular skill. His coaching made me a better player and is how I think coaching works to develop skill sets to improve performance overall. This applies also to the professional realm, without someone to give you guidance and hone in your skills you may not achieve your full potential.

            A mentor takes on a similar but different role. I view a mentor symbolically as an “old, wise man with gray hair.” I picture him to have a bag of experiences but would not necessarily be getting his hands dirty in task specific elements of your personal or professional life. The role of a mentor will act to provide inspiration or guidance and allow the individual to seek out their path. I’ve had several instances of being mentored throughout my career however after reading more into how mentorship and coaching differ I can say I’ve not had a steady mentor. I‘ve discussed my future plans with some senior leaders and there feedback gave me guidance and provided some direction.

            Overall, mentors and coaches have particular roles that aid an individual along their personal life or professional career. Although individuals can make it on their own, their productively will be better with a coach and their determination will progress with the inspiration of a mentor.

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Team Roles:

Roles and responsibilities are clearly delineated within my organization. Seldom do we have anyone who oversteps there bounds, at least not more than once. As a senior leader I have certain expectations of my guys and when we plan a mission there are basic tasks I expect them to be able to perform. As a team member I would consider myself to be generally light-hearted and carefree for the most part until its “game day.” When we depart for a mission it’s all business and I expect my fellow team members to perform at 110% until we complete the mission.

The relationships we have are separated by rank and seniority however there is also a symbiotic level of equality. As a pilot I can only react to what I’m able to see and hear which at times can be extremely limited by dust clouds, low illuminations or field of view. In this time frame their observations and decisions are crucial to the success of the mission.  I count on my team members to provide situational awareness for me and to make the right decisions as there is not always time to discuss every instance. Because of this we have a high degree of trust in each other.

Throughout the mission, acting as the pilot in command, I am responsible to maintain my crew in a healthy and active state. Long enroute times to a location can breed complacency and I have to monitor each team member’s involvement within the aircraft. I usually provide each team member with a task that is required for the flight but will also keep them employed. An overarching term for this is crew coordination and it rests in the hands of the pilot in command to manage. Failure to do so can have catastrophic consequences.

As a team or sometimes a team of teams we always strive to work at the highest level of efficiency and effectiveness. I cannot recall a time we’ve set out to check the block, we’re always striving to knock the ball out of the park. For each mission we execute there is a follow up meeting where we conduct the after action review. This meeting is generally informal but we focus on the good, bad, and the ugly of the mission. This is primarily to isolate those actions that need to be sustained or improved for the team and individual. The goal of this process is to make improvements that will allow the individual and team to perform at a high level for future missions.

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Empowerment: Compare & Contrast

The concept of empowerment is as simple, it enables people to act freely and make decisions with autonomy to what they think is best for a given situation. However, this concept has been distorted and twisted dating as far back as the late 1990’s. The intent of this blog entry is to compare and contrasts the concepts discussed in the article, Empowerment: Rejuvenating a potent idea, by Russ Forrester (2000) and those discussed in the chapter 8 of the textbook, Developing Management Skills (2011). Whetten and Cameron (2011) identify the “Dirty Dozen” as twelve negative attributes or indicators found in troubling organizations listed as: centralization, threat-rigidity response, loss of innovation, decreasing morale, politicized environment, loss of trust, increased conflict, restricted communication, lack of teamwork, loss of loyalty, scapegoat leaders, short-term perspective. While Forrester (2000), identifies the break down in empowerment into “Six Short Circuits.” They are listed as: precipitous empowerment mandates, overreliance on a narrow psychological concept, one-size-fits-all empowerment, negligence of the needs of power sharers, piecemeal approaches, distortions of accountability.

The concept of precipitous empowerment mandates is referred to as a “retractable leash” (Forrester, 2000) as managers can take the “power” back at any time. This is similar to how Whetten and Cameron discuss that managers can develop a loss of trust and enact a threat rigidity response when power is misused or lost. The one-size-fits-all concept of empowerment discussed by Forrester (2000) identifies how managers fail to differentiate between employees. Thus, giving everyone equal power is not the same as given selected individuals power. This is a main reason empowerment fails as not all individuals either know what to do with “power” or care to do anything with “power.” Forrester goes on to discuss how “needs” play a key part in empowerment and how individual, middle manager and senior managers “needs” require to be fulfilled. This correlates to the dirty dozen in that when a lack of teamwork is experienced it usually results in a lack of accountability. Loyalty within middle management would then occur as everyone tries to pass the buck. The textbook and article both clearly outline negative ways in which empowerment can be twisted and distorted.

The second focus point of Forrester’s article (2000) identifies six ways to improve empowerment within an organization. He outlines these elements as “Six Channels to Higher Voltage Empowerment” listed as: above all enlarge power, be sure of what you want to do, differentiate among employees, support power sharers, build fitting systems, and focus on results. The text similarly outlines nine prescriptions for empowerment as: articulate a clear vision, provide opportunities to foster personal mastery, model the correct behavior, provide support, create emotional arousal, provide necessary information, provide necessary resources, connect to outcomes, and create confidence.

Forrester’s first point, above all enlarge power, is connected to how the text outlines to foster personal mastery experiences and connect individuals to outcomes. Both of these concepts discuss how the individual have to obtain tangle power whether it is internal or external. The need for a fitting system is similar in that the text calls to provide information, support, and resources. All of which would be involved into a system to prevent the enacted empowerment from burning or fizzling out. Overall, I found that the article and text were similar. They both pointed out general and specific flaw for empowerment and given example of companies that failed to produce. The concepts of both, although organized differently, presented the same message. Empowerment needs to be carefully implemented and tailored to support individuals; a buffet style approach will not suffice.  

References

Forrester, R. (2000). Empowerment: Rejuvenating a potent idea. The Academy of Management Perspectives, 14(3), 67-80. http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/docview/210518384?accountid=27203

Whetten, D. A., & Cameron, K. S. (2011). Empowering and Delegating. In Developing Management Skills. (8th ed.). (pp. 439-489). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education Inc..

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Motivation

     Andy Mulholland discusses three significant points regarding motivation of individuals. Foremost, he belabors the point that money doesn’t solve problems and money cannot be used as an exclusive motivator. The first key element of motivation he discusses is “to give the individuals interesting work.” Menial task after menial task will create boredom and leave the individual unfulfilled. Second motivational technique is to “increase the individuals skill set.” This can be done with additional training or increasingly more difficult tasks. Lastly, and most importantly, he communicates that individuals have to be “recognized and valued for their contributions.”A “job well done,” will reinforce the communication between manager and subordinate. This will also humanize the manager to the employee and convey the feeling of importance to the employee as a valued member of the team.
    
     I believe that the three points of motivation discussed above along with equitable treatment aside my peers, managers being attentive to personal needs and opportunities for advancement are amongst the highest motivational factors I consider in my employer. I like to have interesting and unique work experiences and would find doing the same task repetitively completely boring. It is also important to know that the employer wants to invest resources to increasing my skill set, which in turn should help the organization. This goes along with having room for advancement within the organization. Until I am running the business, I want to be able to continually increase my skill set and move up within the organization. There probably will come a time I settle in, but currently I want to climb the ladder as high as it will go. The motivation of having an employer that focuses on personal needs of the employee is also important; I do not want to be part of a “bottom line” organization.  I believe that equitable treatment among the employees is particularly important so all members of the team feel equally valued. A manager displaying favoritism or giving preferential treatment would not motivate individuals. Lastly, I like to be recognized for my hard work, I do not seek out special attention, but I do enjoy a hand shake or thank you for a job well done. Although these motivators my mostly my personal preferences I can predict majority would be relevant for other individuals as well.

     Overall, motivation is different for different individuals. It is important for a manager to figure out what those motivators are for each particular employee and use those to keep the employee engaged within the workplace. Above all else, money cannot solve the problem.

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My organizations structure is painted by leaders on a canvas of subordinates. The stroke of the brush is like communication and the interpersonal relationship is the paint. I’ve observed over my years Michelangelo’s 16^th Chapel and 1^st graders spatter. I’ve previously stated, “Communication is the key to our success.”  When communication breaks down or turns destructive that sanctity of the mission is compromised. It is essential to have leaders, engaged in subordinates with effective and supportive communication.

Over the next month I plan to integrate supportive communication techniques in my routine. I will include within my personal thinking time each day those who I’ve communicated, and how well I did at communicating supportively. Additionally, I will discuss with the junior officers I mentor routinely the eight attributes of supportive communication. I plan to make it into a game for the group of us to try to catch each other on the residual side of supportive communication. I think for them being able to sneak in a jab from time to time will keep them interested and engaged.

The biggest faux pas I see on a daily basis by leaders or I is not remaining congruent, focusing on problems and not the person, owning statements and supportive listening. I think the congruent aspect is mostly a product of good body language. All too often a lame duck task will come down and our body language expresses disinterest. In order to focus on problems not people, I plan to not judge people and ensure I have all the facts in order to define a problem. I think owning statements will be the easiest to amend and I can catch myself when not using “I.” Lastly, supportive listening will be applied depending on my role in the situation. I see myself in an advising role often but I want to start applying a reflective response to a communicator. I think this will broaden the communication as a whole.

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A520.3.1.RB - Decision Making

Cautious, Logical, Active, Self-Motivated, Rational, Assertive

     I would consider myself cautious in the majority of decisions. The gravity of the decision has a lot to do with the way I will approach it. Choosing between chedder or american on a cheeseburger is a lot different than buying a new house. Part of the decision making process involves consideration to the 2nd and 3rd order effects. I rely significantly on logic and apply a common sense approach to a majority of day-to-day decisions. I consider myself to be self motivated, I can not stand to sit idle waiting for a decision unless there is a specific need to delay. If it is necessary to acquire more information or data I consider that part of the decision making process. Along with being logical, I also consider myself to make rational decisions. I consider it almost a personality flaw to make irrational and pure emotionally driven decisions. I rarely like to go out on a whim. Lastly, I tend to be assertive. When I make a decisions, good, bad or indifferent I stick behind it. On occasions where it turns out to have negative consequences I learn from that experience. That experience then goes back into my brain to be applied with logic on the next decision.
     The converse of my words above are: Risk Taking, Intuitive, Passive, Influenced by others, Emotional and Quiet. Although I sometimes I may make an intuitive decision it is never based on raw emotions or by being influenced by others. The decision itself is likely to have little or no significant impact as well.  I do not like to wait around or take unnecessary risks as it could waste time or possibly assets.
     I consider the decision making process to be unique in nature for each decision. Although the majority of my decisions fall into the categories listed within the first paragraph I have tapped into the those listed in the second paragraph. Since each decision is unique in nature I can see merit in remaining open minded and focuses on the task, or decision at hand. The military has a process that I apply at work on may occasions named plainly as the Military Decision Making Process. For short we call it MDMP. It has seven steps: Receipt of Mission, Mission Analysis, Course of Action (COA) Development, COA Analysis, COA Comparison, COA Approval, Orders Production. It is actually as bland as it sounds. 

A520.2.6RB_FogartyShawn

Time Management:

     I am afforded in my current position a high degree of flexibility and I enjoy managing my own time throughout the day. Some days I work through lunch on a hot project other days I’d classify it as “grazing about in pasture.” I still have events or meetings to attend at times but day to day I set my own schedule. 

     One of the military schools I attended went to great length to teach time management. On average they charged you with 50 tasks and enough time to complete about 35 of them.  For instance, the day started off with the cadre waking you up, announcing several things (words, numbers, letters, or phrases) you had to memorize as you scurried about to be used throughout the day.  From the first whistle blow your group, about 55-60 people, had to change into the correct uniform, make their bed “correctly,” brush their teeth, and move downstairs into formation. All this had to be accomplished in 7 minutes. Oh the days I do not miss. Since then, I’ve developed skills such as goal setting, schedule making, and over time have maintained an internal locus of control.

     The following rules from our text I apply in a consistent manner as an individual. This stems from the internal locus of control and allows me to manage my time efficiently and effectively. Make a list of things to accomplish today, Prioritize your tasks, Do one important thing at a time, Determine the critical 20% of your tasks, Don’t procrastinate, Set Deadline, Reach closure on at least one thing every day, Write down long-tem objectives (Whetten, Camerson, 2011). As a leader and manager, I find the following rules of out text extremely helpful. Hold routine meetings at the end of the day, Cancel meetings once in a while, have agenda, stick to them, and keep on track. Start meetings on time, Insist that subordinates suggest solutions to problems. Don’t over schedule the day, Have a place to work uninterrupted,   Keep the workplace clean, Delegate work (Whetten, Camerson, 2011).  These lists are ot all includes but represent how I work and manager my time.

      As far as improvement I think I have areas that I can work on as an individual and manager. As an individual I want to be more diligent on reviewing my calendar. I tend to update my calendar in spurts rather than use it as a main stream organization hub. I also need to slow down and add more personal time for “thinking.” I sometimes find myself in a “go, go, go” mentality to get things down. I shall call this “Shawn Time” and its going on the calendar. As a manager, I want to improve on my emotional intelligence. It was the lowest quartile within my personal self awareness and is going to be the most difficult skill to master. I don’t anticipate by the end of the course being able to pull a “Jedi mind trick” on someone. However, after increasing my understanding of this skill, I think emotional intelligence plays an important role in the workplace.

      Action plan is as follows: Calendar review and update each morning prior to work and at the end of the day, just prior to “Shawn Time.” My thinking time will be blocked for 15 minutes minimum with no distractions such as radio, television, wife or kids. Lastly, during “Shawn Time” give thought to interpersonal interactions with the people throughout the day and how emotional intelligence came into effect.

Whetten, D. A., Camerson, K.S. (2011). Developing Management Skills (8th Ed.). New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

A520.2.3.RB_FogartyShawn

Conflict resolution, my wife and I relocated to Savannah, Georgia last summer from Honduras. The housing market and house rental market in the area was complicated to say the least. Due to the economic recession and bursting of the housing market bubble the majority of home owners and rental property owners were asking much higher prices than the properties were worth in an effort to cover costs of their investments.

My wife and I realized that a rental home would be best suited for our situation as she may be relocating for her next job assignment and I would be deploying again within the next 16-20 months. After a week of house hunting we located two properties we really liked but the costs were more than we we're willing to pay.

The two properties are located in one of the premier neighborhoods of Savannah adjacent to a reputable golf course. Both properties have been listed for sale or rent and have been on the market for over 6 months. The cost of each property was around $2000 dollars per month and had a similar size and layout.

I played the role of the frugal renter, the listing real estate agents were the middle man, and home owners played the role of the home owners. The second property's listing real estate agent was not willing to negotiate or entertain our concerns about the price. The unwillingness to establish a negotiation process allowed us to dismiss them from the equation. The first property's real estate agent, the property my wife preferred, was willing to listen to our offer and concerns and forward them to the property owner for consideration.

My knowledge of the area, housing market and being rental property owner myself aided throughout the negotiation process. I expressed sincere interest in the property but offered to rent at a reduced monthly rate for 12 months, $300 less the advertised price. The owner denied our initial offer, and informed us that the previous tenants had not taken care of the property and several costly maintenance repairs had to be preformed. Reducing the cost would not allow him to recoup and lost revenue.

After learning of the owners concerns, revenue and household maintenance, I made a second offer. I still required a reduction of $300 per month to the rent, but offered to extend the lease term to 18 months providing longevity. Additionally, I offered to complete routine household maintenance but the owner would have to pay for the material costs. I also informed the owner I was a rental property owner myself and knew simple but unexpected maintenance repairs can add up fast. The home owner accepted the second offer made by the frugal renter which addressed the concerns of both parties involved. The frugal renter and his happy wife went on to live happily ever after.

A520.1.6.RB_FogartyShawn

The author’s discuss self awareness as being “essential to one’s productive personal and interpersonal functioning, and in understanding and empathizing with other people.” (Whetten & Camerson, 2011). It is reasonable to assume that before you can effectively lead and engage others as their leader you have to know where you stand. Otherwise, it would be like trying to lead a horse to water blindfolded in the dessert.

After the initial self-assessment and completing the chapter my knowledge of self-awareness has grown immensely. The old saying, "You don't know what you don't know" certainly applied in my case. I think I have a much better understanding of my own self-awareness. I'm looking forward to mapping out a plan to improve on areas that require growth and reinforcing positive principles I already apply. Additionally, I have a few "problem children" within my organization and now I will be able to characterize and understand them better while attempting some new approaches. Overall, I now have a better understanding of the five core aspects of self-awareness: Emotional Intelligence, Core Self-Evaluation, Values, Cognitive Style, and Attitudes Toward Change.

             My understanding of Emotional Intelligence has more than doubled as I now understand it refers to the ability to diagnose, understand, and manage emotional cues (Whetten & Camerson, 2011). As stated in my initial blog, I generally keep emotions out of the work environment. Whether someone or I is having a “bad day” has no place when it comes down to business. However, I think developing this skill will allow me to more effectively lead, coach, and mentor individuals in the future.
            Another major facet I found interesting is within understanding and appreciating individual differences. I’m guilty when it comes to focusing on differences not distinction. It is all too common within my organization to focus more on distinction rather than differences. If someone has yet to attain a particular qualification or status whether it be flight hours, pilot in command, advance ratings or fancy training they are discounted. Lastly, I will incorporate this within my plan to improve self-awareness as one major revelation came from reading from the text,

If you were to apply distinctions that belittled someone in another group, for example, that action plants a seed of mistrust in the minds of people who are present regarding what distinctions you may be privately using to discount them. (Whetten & Camerson, 2011)

Whetten, D. A., Camerson, K.S. (2011). Developing Management Skills (8th Ed.). New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

A520.1.2.RB_FogartyShawn

After concluding the self awareness assessment I was initially left unfulfilled. The assessment took a lot longer than I predicted and I grew frustrated trying to grade myself flipping back and forth and reversing numbers. I anticipated the same effect you get when you put a quarter into the machine and spin the knob it spits out a gum ball. However, where I found my gum ball is analyzing the areas I could quantify and pondering over the others. I have always been a good "test taker" so not topping out the chart was a bit surprising. I do like that its design is set-up to allow you to focus more in areas that were outlined.

I plan to use this information twofold. First, by remaining open minded throughout the readings and course work, blogs, and discussions. Second, forcing myself to focus and reflect more in the areas that were in the lower quartiles

My lowest quartile, 3rd, was in emotional intelligence. I anticipate lack of emotional intelligence to stem from over a decade of service where emotions and touchy-feely doesn't come into play. I have and see emotions from colleagues however we very rarely wear them on our sleeves, discuss, or reflect on them. I generally operate day to day on logic, training, and good sense. I think this will be one of the more challenging and eye opening aspects of the course.

My highest quartile laded within the locus of control which matched against career military officers and business executives. I'm glad that one hit the nail on the head. If it matched against peace core trainees I would have to reconsider my profession. The other sections, self awareness, tolerance, and core self evaluation I landed in the 2nd quartile. I look forward to reading the chapter and anticipate some good discussions.