Project Reflection
Over the course of this project, I have been able to learn a lot about myself and the ways in which I most effectively lead. I have found that I prefer to lead by modeling the way and letting others learn by doing, even if this does result in mistakes. In addition, I prefer to use prestige power versus dominant power to earn the respect of the employees I work with. I have found that aviation is predominantly male and so I came to the conclusion that the more dominantly I behaved the more respect I would receive, I found the opposite to be true. If I am able to be a transformational leader by showing someone that I care about their success and value their needs over my own, they are much more likely to want to collaborate with me to make the task at hand easier to accomplish.
In addition to my leadership style, I have found that my ability to accurately break down and complete a project has improved. I have learned to better recognize the pace at which I work as well as those of others whom I work with. When working on a project, such as creating and implementing training materials among employees, you are not able to stick to hard deadlines and expect the learning to be completed on the dates you specify. The idea of creating a basic project plan and then be willing to use it as a guideline to push the project forward rather than a constraint greatly improved my productivity. I noticed towards the beginning of my project that portions of my task that involved training were not moving forward fast enough in order to be in line with the project plan I had created. Because of this, I felt overwhelmed and anxious. Once I was willing to move the dates of the project plan around, however, I found I was willing to be more patient with those whom I was training. I felt the project picked up the pace and the entire experience was much more enjoyable by only changing one simple thing.
When training my new employees, I found they both had very different learning styles. One preferred to absorb the information, use what they had written down and learn to implement the practice. The other preferred to try the technique or process right away and learn by doing it. When training them individually, I found handling their different learning styles not particularly challenging because it was easy to cater to their individual needs in a one-on-one situation. However, training them both at the same time proved to be more challenging. I used situational leadership and found that it was more productive to explain the concept to employee A and let them absorb the information, then bring them both together and show employee B the concept. This allowed for both of them to experience the techniques effectively and also created less confusion then when I attempted to show them both at the same time.
Overall, I learned that being an effective leader means taking every person's needs and learning styles into consideration. In the future, my goal is to continue to work towards transformational leadership. Being a giver and focusing on how the team or organization as a whole can succeed may not look as nice on a resume, but it does contribute to the growth of others. At the start of this venture I wrote a leadership philosophy:
Inspire to be an effective leader by encouraging kindness, justice, and respect and to exhibit honest and ethical behavior with the goal of making a difference.
To accomplish this, it is important to me to make my expectations of others clear, as well as to understand others’ expectations of myself. I have a responsibility to those I work with to be consistent, collaborative and true to my word. I will be a leader who allows everyone a chance at success and is willing to step back. My responsibilities also include making the environment we work in a safe place for learning and making mistakes.
In addition, I will lead by example by breaking down projects into smaller tasks and listing all relevant details and goals. Once those goals are defined, it will be important for me to set personal deadlines to ensure I am ahead of the game. I will also be willing to ask for help or advice when I need it. In these ways, I will be able to portray my respect for myself and my work, as well as my respect for those I lead.
I will prioritize getting work done in a safe and intrinsically satisfying environment. I will focus on respecting boundaries and making sure the environment reflects them, so others feel they can stand up for themselves and receive justice and respect in their place of work.
That being said, I will expect honesty and consistency from others as well as a welcoming and courteous attitude. I also expect the people I work with to be willing to have tough conversations that lead to productivity and effective communication.
At the time I had little experience leading in a professional environment and little knowledge of the myriad ways to lead. I understand now that leadership is not a position, but action. I want to be the type of leader that strives for collaboration and growth through continuous learning.