This is Goodnight and Not Goodbye

For my final blog post, my instructors have asked me to answer a variety of questions in multiple formats. I'll show you the questions too, just so we can keep everything in line. It's been a pleasure working with all of you in the past quarter, and I wish everyone the best, you're all great leaders in my book! So, without further ado...

How have you been able to apply what you have learned about leadership?

To me, everyday is a learning experience. No matter what I'm doing, I always believe that there is something to be learned, something to be gained from that event. This is true in all settings, but especially school where learning experiences are something that are the goal of the organization. That's why taking this class was so important for me. To me, a good leader is always willing and able to evolve, learn, and change, and that is what this class has let me do.

That being said, there were two key concepts that stuck out most in my mind throughout this course. Firstly, the relational leadership model is a fantastic tool that allows me and my peers to break down my actions into a more simplistic form. As leaders, we make decisions constantly, and the relational leadership model allows me to categorize and prioritze those decisions and actions that are made on a daily basis. It also allows me to easier explain these actions to my co-horts, as the steps and actions are all highlighted. The other main concept that stuck in my mind was the emphasis on change. In the past, I have been extremely reluctant to change and evolve, as I was stuck in my old ways. However, since taking this course, I have found the change is the only way to survive. Changes makes this better. And if you don't like the concept of radical change, simply evovle. I am doing that exact thing with my student organization right now, as while our mission has remained constant, the way we reach that is changing.

How are you more aware of yourself?

Being self aware is something that I lacked extremely thoughout my leadership life. I was always taught how to be an outward leader, and outward person, and how inward reflection was a waste of time. Fast forward to now, and those concpets are not only outdated, but can cause serious damage to your organization. Because of this class, I have set a variety of goals, as well as have learned a great deal about myself as a leader and as a person.

The part of the class that most helped me become self-aware was the STRENGTH's test. One great thing about STRENGTHs is that not only does it highlight your strengths, but also how to use them to the best of your ability. For me, I got Achiever, Arranger, WOO (Winning Over Others), Self-Assurance, and Communication, which are all themes that I've gotten in the past, but STRENGTHs broke it down even further in a Personalized Strengths Insight and helped me find what I'm good at and how I can improve.

What things do you now see differently? How are you changing?

As someone who has done things the same way for an extremely long time, this course has definetely allowed me to evolve and grow as a leader and as an individual. Let me background my leadership style first and then tell you how I've changed:

In the past, my leadership-style, while adaptive to the situation, has been very autocratic. It is a top-down model that I continuously employ. I expect others to heed my leadership and follow directions, and while creativitiy is encouraged, I only used it when I thought it was in the best interests to the organization.

Now, my style is constantly changing and evolving. I realize that doing things on my own, while seemingly productive, just brings down the team and the organziation around me as I crumble. I employ team-based decision making, democratic style, while still being able to make tough decisions. I surround myself not with like-minded people, but those who see things from an alternate perspective. I employ the upside-down pyramid model, as sometimes I'm there to lead, but often I'm there to support the actions of others.

This vision, while good, is and never will be complete. It needs to constantly change and evolve, as I do, in order to be effective.

How will you continue your learning about leadership?

Like I said before, one thing that I refuse to stop doing is learning. Everyday, every situation is a learning experience, and I will always force myself to have an open mind, even when I think I have everything figured out. I will employ lessons I've learned from past experiences in leadership, as well as lessons I've learned from the few leadership courses I

I will also make it a point to continue taking classes throughout my life. One downfall of being a leader is that there is no end-point. Your work is never complete. Because of this, I must always change and evolve to become the best leader and person that I can be. I must never stop learning, never stop changing, never stop leading.

What is your own philosophy of leadership?

This is probably the toughest question I've been asked in the class, however I find it increasingly easier to answer. At the beginning of this class, I always found it difficult to articulate my personal viewpoints, mostly because I made it a point to not discuss myself and to focus on others. Now I realize that a good leader focuses on himself intrspectively and other externally.

That being said, my philosophy is something that is difficult to define in a few short words. I believe in team-based leadership, where one person can't make decision and do things other their own. I believe in constant, real-time feedback in situations. I don't believe in negative criticism, or belittling someone for past mistakes. I believe in praise in public, and constant reminders of how important people are to the team. I believe in seperation of power, but also work-place seperation: a boss should never be too close to their subordinates.I will continue to build my knowledge by trying new things, reading some of the leadership books that weren't assigned to me, and seeking feedback from my co-workers and fellow officers.
Most importantly, I believe in me. I believe that I have the ability to do things that few others can. I believe that I can win in any situation, unless proven otherwise. I believe that every task should be done to the best of my ability, and to the best ability of those around me. I believe in excedding expectations, I believe in giving it my all, and I believe in me.

Lastly, one thing that my boss at Camp Christopher always says to me is "this is goodnight and not goodbye." Too often do we say goodbye. I believe that we should all start saying goodnight instead. Goodbye means we may never see you again, goodbye means the book is closed, and goodbye means closure. In leadership and at camp, we will see you again, the book is never closed, and we want you to hold on to the experiences and the things you've learned forever. This is goodnight and not goodbye.

Thinking in Toys: An Alternate View on Leadership

The book that I chose for my leadership course at Ohio State was called Toy Box Leadership: Leadership Lessons from the Toys You Loved as a Child. Initially, I was extremely skeptical. The topic seemed legitimate, yet how could you write a legitimate novel, over 200 pages, by directly taking leadership lessons from silly toys? Wouldn’t some of the parallels drawn be a little bit of a stretch? And, most importantly, what toys could you use?

Well, the answers to those questions would come. Firstly, let me say that I wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone who is still a kid at heart. Many of the other leadership books that I’ve read have great concepts, but seemingly dry filler and aren’t the most effective way of learning to lead. When it comes to leadership books, any text that can simplify leadership lessons to vocabulary and concepts that can be understood by all ages and background definitely succeeds. Even better, when a book relates leadership concepts to things that all of us experienced at a young age: creative play, it truly allows for a great opportunity for learning leadership.

So are you still wondering about the answers to those questions? Well, I don’t want to spoil a surprise, but drawing on the previous paragraph, I would definitely say that the authors (Ron Hunter and Michael Waddel) succeeded by writing a legitimate leadership novel with legitimate leadership lessons. I would also argue that they are not silly toys, and that, in fact, they are great learning tools, regardless of age.

To criticize the book, I must say that drawing some of these conclusions requires a bit of a stretch. A creative mind is definitely something that you need in order to visualize these connections; however most of them are easy to understand.

That being said, in a short summary, here are the connections drawn in this book:

• LEGOs = Relationships, “Building Begins with Connecting"
• Slinky Dog = Vision, “Pull-Then Be Patient”
• Play-Doh = Mentoring, “The Mold Makes the Man”
• Yo-Yo = Creativity, “It Only Happens When You Let Go”
• Mr. Potato Head = Communication, “The Right Face for the Right Place”
• Rubik’s Cube = Ethics, “Making the Right Turn”
• Rocking Horse = Efficiency, “All Show and No Go”
• Little Green Army Men = Strategy, “Success Is in the Setup”
• Lite-Brite = Message, “Illuminate to Communicate”
• Weebles = Endurance, “Staying Down Is Not an Option”

Obviously, it can be hard to decipher, but having a background in some of those topics does help me understand it a lot more. As for the Yo-Yo analysis, it was the one comparison I truly didn’t understand. Not having an extremely strong background in creative roles probably didn’t help, but I really couldn’t understand how they were trying to draw that comparison. That being said, the one’s that most “spoke” to me were Play-Doh, Little Green Men, and Weebles. Those analogies truly hit home and allowed me to grow.

This book also helped me grow personally. It made me discover that things don’t have to be taken too seriously in order to learn. You don’t have to be a militant leader, but rather someone who takes the situation back to the grassroots of figuring out what to do. Make things simple, and most importantly, have fun with it!

Dodge, Duck, Dip... Storming, Norming, and Performing?

For this week's blog, I've been asked to talk about Tuckman's model for Stages of Group Development.

The Five Stages: Forming, Storming, Nornming, Performing, and Adjuourning all conicide with a certain point in the life of an organization, group, or team. I strive to show you guys diversity among my experiences. Being involved in a plethora of things here at OSU and back home allows me to take from my experiences and learn from them in ways that few others can. I'd like to do my best to pass the knowledge on to you. So, for this entry, I'd like to talk about my relationship this year with The Ohio State Dodgeball Syndicate.

The Ohio State Dodgeball Syndiacte (or OSU Dodgeball, for short) is one of the few clubs on campus that has transcended many leadership changes, struggles, and most importantly, time. That being said, the club has had no shortage of problems in its tenure here on campus. One of the most promient problems that they've encountered falls into playing locations, which falls into the Forming aspect of group development.

OSU Dodgeball prides itself on being as open and encouraging as any organization on campus can be, which makes them prime examples of utilizing the Forming State to the best of their ability. They have an established game and focus, with predetermined goals. They also are under great leadership, and do their best to recruit to everyone who would like to play. The one problem that they may have is, as said before, playing location.

In Storming, things are still pretty plain. Because the club is set up to play dodgeball, and pretty much nothing else, and dodgeball is a game that has rules that aren't really up for interpretation, the phase is short and sweet.

Norming is where things start to get a little bit more complicated. Because the club is played at more of a casual level, leadership is a little sketchy. Other officers openly mock their peers, and while this definetly makes everyone else feel closer to them, it devalues their leadership. Also, the club recently underwent transition, which puts the "primary leader" position in absolute limbo, as the former primary leader still attends meetings, but strives to just be a regular member, and the new primary leader still hasn't been able to show that he can handle things yet.

The being said, the group still has enough order, vision, and purpose to proceed to the Performing stage. They will no longer truly grow in a way that is significant, their meets are consistent, and no monkey wrenches have been thrown in. They're pretty much a well oiled machine, and will continue to work until something changes. They are absolutely at this stage of equilibrium.

All things considered, this group will not have to worry about the Adjourning stage for quite a while. They consistently generate interest, attempt recruitment events, tournaments, and many more things to keep the group alive. They are the essence of a long-lasting group, and will continue to be around for a long time.

Lost and Found

Since I'm always trying new things, let me start off with this video, and move on from there:

Sometimes, in order to find  who you really are, you have to lose yourself first. Sometimes, and especially for me, you have to start with a blank slate, and build yourself up from there.

For me, my "Lose Yourself" phase was in middle school. Believe it or not, I was a pretty shy kid, wasn't really involved in anything, and did't really have any friends. After some reflection, even at the age of 13, I knew that I needed to make a change to find out who I really was and who I was meant to be. I got involved, went out for a club baseball team, but most importantly, took a class from Dale Carnegie, the world renouned executive leadership company.

The class was called Dale Carnegie Generation.Next, a leadership class specifically tailored for teenagers. I was the youngest person in the class, but that didn't stop me from being the one that truly changed the most. I remember the first class vividly, a bunch of shy teenagers came early, sat in their seats, and were quiet until the instructor arrived. We all came from different background, lifestyles, schools, and experiences, but little did we know that our world was about to be flipped upside-down.

My instructor, a peppy woman named Tracy Robinson, told us that she was going to strip down our personalities and build us better, and stronger from the ground up, and boy was she right. The class taught not only leadership, but public speaking, networking, small-group and large-group interaction, stage presence, but most importantly, confidence. The 8-week intensive course changed who I am, and made me into the outgoing, personable leader I am today.

So now I'm in college, about 6 years removed from my class, and I'm still growing and prospering. I took the Jung Typology test, and here's what it told me:

• I am what they term as a Promoter, with results of ESTP.
• The E, which stands for Extrovert, is the essence of who I am: An outgoing, action-oriented individual who strives for a wide bredth of knowledge. It is an outward function.
• The S, which stands for Sensing, is the basis of how I percieve my reality. I trust my gut on things in life, as well as basing them on facts and data that I have aquired, as opposed to my feelings. It is an outward function.
• The T, which stands for Thinking, is the basis of how I make decisions. I like to step back and take everything in so I can make the best decsion possible. It is an outward function.
• The P, which stands for Perceptive, is the basis of how I live. This means I like to be flexible and keep things open. This is an inward function.

So basically, it told me what I already know, but in a great form. I'm one of those people who is a mix of a lot of personalities, and I can adapt to be the person I need to be for any situation, which is why I love being a leader. It allows me to play many different roles, and succeed in many, if not all of them.

Throughout life, I've gone through many things. Between working at Camp Christopher and becoming President of my student organization (see previous two posts), as well as being youth leader and my parish's Youth Ministry, being captain of my volleyball team, and being a leader on my many baseball team's I've played for, each experience that I've had has allowed me to grow as a person and as a leader.

The most important part, especially for me, is bringing it all together in the end. You can have all these experiences, but until you step back, reflect, and actually learn from them, you won't be able to grow, and you won't be able to find yourself.

Gaga for Ga-Ga: My Success Story

As a freshman, I thought leadership experiences would be few and far between for me, and that joining organizations would allow for me to work my way up to those leadership experiences during my Junior or Senior Year, and boy was I wrong.

I suppose I've learned that having expectations is one of those things that is necessary, yet mine always seem to get blown out of the water. During my first quarter at Ohio State, I joined the Campus EMS Auxillary, Block "O", and The Ohio State Dodgeball Syndacite. I joined the Ohio State Relay for Life Committee, giving me one of my first leadership roles here. I also got a job at the Schottenstein Center, allowing for more leadership experiences, however none of these have helped me grow as a person as much as Gaga for Ga-Ga has.

Now before everyone starts assuming that I'm a part of a Lady Gaga club, let me explain. Gaga for Ga-Ga is NOT a Lady Gaga organization. We are a sports-based organization that teaches and plays the game for ga-ga twice a week in the Racquetball Courts in the RPAC. Basically, the game goes like this: Everyone must remain on a wall until the ball (we just use a volleyball) is thrown in the air and hits the ground three times. After that, its a crazy free-for-all, with players smacking the ball with an open hand in an attempt to hit other players below the knee to get them out. The last person standing, wins.

The game is awesome, and being one of the co-founders of the club, I'm obviously passionate about it. However, Gaga for Ga-Ga has more benefits for me than just the fun of the club, although thats a big part of it. This organization has taught me more about being a leader than almost any of the other experiences I've had in my life. And most importantly, this has been the role that has most helped me develop my Authentic Leadership.

However, since our class is on the topic of Relational Leadership, I'll concentrate on that. First, let me say that I hate the term relational leadership. As many who come before me, and many who come after me will say, relational leadership is completely redundent. You cannot have leadership without fostering relationships. Period.

The Relational Leadership Model outlines five key components: Purpose, Inclusion, Empowerment, Ethics, and Process Orientation. Over the course of the year, I have been working at developing each and every one of these skills, however I'll just outline how I was at the start of the year, and how I am now, as obviously the goal is to perfect my skills in each of these areas.

At the start of this year, I came in with an immense amount of leadership experience for an 18-year-old (hey, I'm aloud to toot my own horn everyone once and a while, right?). Because of this, I immedietly accepted the role of President and Chief Executive Officer of the organization. Little did I know the commitment and change that I would go through when I accepted the role, but alas, I have no regrets. I was very strong in Inclusion (making sure everyone gets involved) and Ethics (making sure things abide by my established morals and values.) I had been steadily working on Purpose (doing things of the future and setting goals and all that) and Empowerment (motivating and sharing information), however I was not so good at Process Orientation (collaberation and feedback from others).

Reflecting back, I can proudly say that I've grown in each and every one of these areas, however, there's always room for improvement. Seemingly, my Inclusion methods and Ethics haven't really changed, which makes sense to me. Camp Christopher (see my previous post for more information on that) promotes great amounts of inclusion, and I naturally carried that over to Ohio State, and Ethics are something that shouldn't be influenced by others, and are grown from your family life and your spiritual life, both things that haven't really changed. Empowerment is that component that I've worked the most on, and while I have improved, I know there's still a lot of room to improve.

My motivation for working the most on Empowerment has been sorta selfish, however its for the good of the organization. I wanted to get the organization to the point that it can survive without me, and that means empowering my four other officer to take initive on their own accord, and not just beacuse I'm pushing them to do something. I've also greatly improved on Process Orientation. I've found that looking for the feedback and collaberation of others, instead of just doing everything myself, has allowed for me to build on Empowerment, as well as has made the other officers more effictive team members, and they know that they have a say in what goes on. It's using this that allows me to build a democratic leadership style, instead of the autocratic style that I've used for most of the first quarter. Finally, Purpose is something that I've neglected in the past, but slowly but surly I'm realizing that it plays an extremely important part of running an organization. Depending on how you use it, it's the reason that we're there, the reason that we commit all this time to a specific purpose (get it?), and its the one thing that puts everything back in perspective. Even though we're not looking months or years ahead, we're still planning out a few weeks, which is definetly progress.

Overall, I know that Relational Leadership, while redundent, is one of the most important, if not the most important leadership concepts out there. It puts the humbling perspective into people, that they can't do it alone. That we're only effective leaders because we surround ourselves with some of the best people around. That a leader is only as good as their support system. Think about it.

Being a Camp Counselor

From every summer since 2005, I have spent at least one week at one of my favorite places in the world: Camp Christopher. After 5 years of camping, I decided to make the leap from camper to staff member. Little did I know that this seemingly small decision would change the way I saw the world.

From a leadership perspective, Camp Christopher is the one place that I have grown and matured most in my entire life. This close-knit community consists of about 60 staff members, including about 30 counselors, as well as over 2500 campers (aged 2-82 at family camp, 7-17 at resident camp) over the course of the summer. You may be thinking, how in the world can a community of over 2500 people be close knit? Well, firstly, these campers are broken up among 10 different sessions, meaning that 2500:60 (or about 42:1) ratio just changed to 250:60 (or about 4:1.) With ratios like that, you can beat that each and every camper receives an extremely close and personal connection to many of the staff members, but most importantly, the counselors.

Obviously, ethics are something that are extremely important in this environment is well, however especially more in a resident camp environment. Parents are trusting us with their kids, their most prized possession, and they expect us to not only abide by an extremely strict code of ethics, but also to provide inclusion, a strong-willed environment, and friendships that last a lifetime. These are very high expectations, but I have NEVER had a week (knock on wood) where each and every counselor at Camp Christopher has meet and exceeded these expectations.

There is something that the campers will never see, however, and that is the immense amount of background work and training that counselors go through in order to be the best that they can be. We are taught to continually motivate and empower the campers and other staff members on a daily basis. We are taught to make life-changing, split second decisions, not to benefit ourselves, but to benefit others. That could mean sacrificing sleep to stay up with a camper who is missing home, or giving up the last brownie to the kid who has already had 5. We constantly share power and authority with each other, as the camp functions as a team, not as individual units. We constantly feed off of each others energy and ideas, and that is how we become great, as opposed to only good.

You may be thinking, how in the world does all of this relate to leadership? Well, lets sum it all up: Camp Christopher is said to be a place to grow in nature, community, and spirit. All of these are extremely important qualities of a leader. A leader must understand the world around them (nature), and how to work with it, and not against it. A leader must understand their followers (community), as they are the ones they are in direct contact with and the ones that, at the end of the day, matter most. A leader must also understand themselves (spirit), because if you can't understand what you're doing, and who you are, you can't change, adapt, and grow in a positive manner.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One the first day of camp, a co-worker (we just call thems co's) and I wake up early and head over to the dining hall for our pre-camp meeting. Its going to be a big week. We're expecting a full house, or just over 300 campers, to roll through the gates just fours hours after our meeting begins. Expectations are high, and stamina is running low. Its the 7th week in a row that we're doing this, and many are tired, hungry, or both. But we can't show it. This week must be as good, if not better, than every other week before it. And everyone knows it.

We get our rosters for the week, and our hope and optimism rises. We recognize some names, while others are new, a great sign. Everyone is cautiously optimistic for the week, except for the counselor stuck with 16 8-year-old girls for the week. But even she will hope for a good cabin, and will try her hardest to make the best of a bad situation.

This is the only time of the week where I still get jitters. I have no idea what to expect, as I have been given cabins full of angels, as well as cabins full of devils. However, no matter what, it is my duty to enstill hope and optimism for the week in all of the parents and campers that I will meet that day. The only way I know how to do this is to be sincere and genuine with everyone I encounter, as well to have hope and optimism for the week myself. I am a reflection of my emotions, and my campers reflect me. So as long as I am happy, joyous, cheerful, and fun, my campers will be too, in most cases.

One thing that never ceases to amaze me is the change these kids encounter in such a short amount of time. I know how it feels, I did it too. These kids are dropped off by their parents to sleep for six nights in an old cabins full of a bunch of kids they've never met before. They're without the support system of Mom and Dad, and are truly on their own for one of the first times in their lives. However, they're really not on their own. As counselors, we not only provide a "brother figure" (I hate saying father or mother figure, as no one can replace their parents), but foster friendship and brotherhood between all of the campers. Some of these kids come from not-so-good background, but we constantly involve everyone in everything, and we have a blast. For one week, they can forget Facebook, school, the internet, bullying, rejection, and bordem. It is this grass-roots childhood that we build and foster, and allow to grow and run wild. We are encourage, thoughtful, and there with them every step of the way.

In every leadership experience I have ever encountered since I started working at Camp Christopher, I have noticed a change. I am different, I am stronger, and I am better. In summary, remember the title of this blog, derived from former Camp Director Herb McGuire. In order to be an effective leader and person, you put your God First, Others Second, and I Am Third.