Team Feedback Assignment

The feedback session for the team of Andy and Celeste went very well. Through the course of the semester, Celeste and Andy have grown close as a team and have learned how to work with each other effectively. The things Andy thinks Celeste is doing well is her ability to motivate the group, provide honest feedback on Andy’s work, and work hard to complete her tasks on time. Celeste’s comments on Andy were quite similar. What she likes about Andy is his honesty, support in her work, passion for the project, and that he works hard at his tasks as well. However, Andy and Celeste both have the same concern of accountability in the group. At times, both members place the project on a back burner, but when time is specifically allocated to meet and work on the project, a lot is accomplished. For example, Celeste had the job of contacting a crucial person in the project, but put off following up with the person adequately and could have reached out in other forms of communication sooner than she did. When she thought about the root of this issue, it turned out that this stemmed from a fear of talking on the phone and misallocation of time. Andy could have held her more accountable and encouraged her to follow up quicker. They have decided to hold more regular meetings for the project. More specifically, they have agreed to meet once a week after the NGLP class on Mondays to update one another about progress. This time will also be used to motivate one another to complete goals or make any phone calls or emails that might be needed. These meetings, although only thirty minutes, will be crucial in maintaining progress on the project.

Due to the nature of their relationship (they work together via Sports Clubs, are teammates, and close friends outside of class), Celeste and Andy have gained more trust than most groups. For this reason, feedback is consistent and honest. They are not afraid to tell each other what they could be doing better because they know it is only to improve one another. One area that did cause some concern is that Celeste gets uncomfortable when talking about feedback and feelings, and sometimes ended the conversation short when there could have been more discussion. Regardless, the method of feedback used has been effective thus far.

The main change Andy and Celeste will make in the coming semester will be to meet with more regularity. These meetings will create more communication and accountability between the two and ensure that time is set aside to make progress on the project. The biggest strength is their ability to work efficiently with one another, so the only issue to solve is creating time to do so. The biggest challenge will be to keep up with the schedule they have made because they both have so many time commitments. This makes it difficult to schedule meetings that aren’t planned well in advance and reduces the amount of time they can meet for. Staying organized and knowing each other’s schedules as soon as possible will make this easier and possibly allow more time to be focused on the project.

The Next Generation of Leadership (Response to The Future of Work and the Workplace)

Over the course of history, the business environment has changed dramatically. We have seen businesses change their corporate structure to emphasize many different things: there was focus on production during the Industrial Revolution, the implementation of the assembly line at the turn of the century, and the shift of focus to customer experience in recent year. The next emphasis, however, is and will be placed on the employee. Many companies are taking great strides to increase happiness and comfort in their offices because employee wellness is quickly becoming one of the most important issues in business. The Genesis Research Report’s survey even returned that 88% of those interviewed (business leaders from around the world) viewed employee wellness as a critical issue.  Leaders are beginning to understand the importance of talent retention and some of the most progressive firms are implementing methods, like more flexible hours and more places to work, to allow a healthier balance of lifestyle for employees. Even these, along with other small incentives, can create motivation for employees and convince them to sustain a high level of work because they are happy at their job. I feel as though I am experiencing this in my own internship. I have heard stories from friends that have worked at other real estate offices that entail them sitting down in a room and basically not being able to leave until they finished their cold calls. Contrary to this, my work environment is extremely relaxed and collaborative. I sit in an open room with all of the salesmen that I work for, we are all given company laptops that allow us to move to any part of the office should we need time to ourselves, and the owners of my firm even bring in breakfast a couple time each week. I can honestly say that I get a sense of excitement when I walk in the door to see donuts and kolaches waiting for me in the morning, and the time never seems to go slowly because I am constantly talking with other people and enjoying myself in the office. It is the small quirks of the company that push me to want to work my hardest for them.

Another important issue this article addresses is the ability for a firm to adapt quickly before competitors. The most successful companies today are those that can address the changing priorities of customers. Similarly, the employees that can keep up with the latest trends in the industry and changes in technology are usually the most successful. When companies have creative projects that push new boundaries, they have access to tap new markets that other firms may not be ready to enter.  As the report states, they ” create the potential for corporations to be able to seize momentary windows of opportunity.” As an employee, I have done my best to stay ahead of the curve and implement new ideas when I have free time at the office. For example, when the new version of Microsoft Excel released in 2013, it was right at the time when I started my class for the certification. I brought these new found strategies for work and was able to take information from hundred of documents and compile them into an organized spreadsheet that created an easy-to-view company portfolio. I took on this project in my free time at work, when I had nothing else to do, and my work came as such a surprise to my boss that he actually awarded me a bonus for the “creative project.”  Although a small example, my willingness to adapt and learn new technology brought significant gain to both the company and myself.

Zenger and Folkman Article Response

The fear of feedback is something I am all too familiar with. As a member of numerous organizations on campus and an intern, I am constantly worrying about whether or not my performance is measuring up to my expectations. Especially at work, I was originally horrified at the idea of receiving feedback on my work. Working at a real estate development firm, my analysis would sometimes affect the decision to build millions of dollars worth of structures.  To add to this stress, the majority of my work is done independently, severely reducing the amount of feedback I received.  In this setting, it has become important for me to learn how to ask for feedback, making it that much more daunting of a task. As Zenger and Folkman say in their article, “This is a pity.” Countless research, beyond this study, have proven the usefulness and effectiveness of proper feedback. Zenger and Folkman’s study quantifies this, saying that those who ranked in the top ten percent of asking for feedback averaged the 86th percentile in leadership effectiveness. As I have learned to ask for more consistent feedback, I have seen a tremendous improvement not only in my quality of work, but also in my relationship with my boss. The open flow of communication has built up a sense of trust between my boss and I, allowing more honest feedback. On top of that, we have been able to tailor my work to provide the most relevant and effective information for the other employees to use.

On the other side of this, as a leader of different organizations on campus, I am also forced to give feedback at times. Because of the nature of the organizations I lead (my fraternity and the club soccer team), the feedback I have to give is usually to my peers, something very difficult to do. One of the worst parts of this is the anticipation leading up to the conversation. Knowing you need to have a tough conversation with someone soon can sometimes be worse than the conversation itself. However, feedback is necessary for an organization to run smoothly and, more importantly, to avoid the situation we discussed in class where the leader is forced to pick up the slack of underperforming members. This is a skill I still need to work on. I often worry about the way my feedback comes off, as I want it to be constructive, but not come off like they are incapable of doing their job. Finding a balance of tone and content is something I will look to improve in order to give more effective feedback to my peers. Zenger and Folkman’s article backs up the importance of this skill, with those judged as the top ten percent in giving feedback averaged the 77th percentile in engagement. This connection with those I lead, which I have seen in my own life with my boss, is something I want to take  advantage of and will be a crucial improvement to my leadership ability.

Ben Franklin Reflection

The biggest concept from our classroom that Ben Franklin utilize in his lifetime is the theory of self awareness. Having learned about this, I know how difficult it is to be constantly aware of your actions’ consequences on others and how others will perceive you based on these consequences. Ben Franklin took time every single night to reflect on his actions and what good he had done that day. This, combined with his planning of the good things he would do each morning, ensured that he understood what he had to do to stay productive and improve himself every day. I would like to replicate this ability through the implementation of a stronger routine in my day to day life. Without planning proper time to reflect, I have found it difficult to set aside the time to truly evaluate what I have accomplished each day. As I continue to eliminate the unimportant aspects of my life, as I described in my first post, I have started to find free time even amongst my busy schedule. However, at this stage, I often find myself not knowing what to do with this time. The next step to keep this momentum would be to schedule out my day so I can know when my free time will be and exactly what I will do with it. Even something as simple as Ben Franklin’s, seen in the article, would be enough to have a better grasp on the time I have to myself and would allow me to “let each part of your business have its time.”
Another way Ben Franklin practiced self awareness is through his creation of virtues to live his life by. Much like our NGLP did in our retreat last semester, Ben Franklin listed out 13 virtues in his autobiography and gave his own definition for each one. However, I think the most important part of this is how he created a scorecard that graded how well he practiced those virtues every day. In a way, NGLP forces us to do something similar. With the constant journal entries, peer assessments, and tests, we are required to assess how effectively we are implementing the skills we learn into our lives. With the new free time I am finding in my schedule, I want to elaborate on these assessments. First, I think it would be extremely beneficial to list out personal virtues important to me. Then, Following Franklin’s model, establishing something as simple as a check list that evaluates my performance on these would raise myself awareness and point out what things I need to improve.
It’s amazing to me how something like self awareness, which seems so elementary, can be overlooked by so many, including myself. However, not recognizing the importance of this can be costly, as it is one of the primary methods of growth. As I continue to become a more competent leader, this has to be a focal point of improvement and I cannot lose the intellectual desire to learn ways to keep Improving.

Randy Conley Response

http://leadingwithtrust.com/2013/12/15/6-conversations-every-leader-needs-to-have/

Communication is, without a doubt, the most important tool a leader has at his/her disposal. Conley states an interesting point in his post when he mentions technology has made communication much easier and more accessible, yet with that facilitation, the quality of communication by leaders has suffered  immensely in recent times. These 6 conversations that Conley discusses provide a baseline for leaders that can counteract this suffering and improve relationships between leaders and those he or she leads. The conversations I see as most important in Conley’s discussion is the first he mentions, the alignment conversations. Alignment conversations are crucial because they should be the first communication a leader has when starting a new project or task. An effective alignment conversation can actually eliminate the need for some of the other types Conley discusses because leaders can outline their specific goals and priorities and explain how to achieve them using the SMART goal setting process.  Conley makes this even more achievable with his reorganization of SMART goals. Drilled into my head since the beginning of high school, SMART goals never really applied to me because there weren’t many opportunities presented to me to apply them. Now that I am required to work in groups, through school projects, organizations, or within NGLP, I see the necessity of establishing clear expectations for those I work with. Reorganizing SMART into STRAM allows this to happen easier. Starting with specific and trackable goals, leaders can outline exactly what they need from team members and set those necessary expectations immediately. Once this has been done, open communication between leaders and other individuals will ensure the goals are relevant and attainable, thus motivating the individual.

In my Foundations of Business group project, I did not do this. Working with many of my friends, I assumed they had the same aspirations as I did in terms of the quality of work we would be producing. As the designated leader of this group, I never explicitly my outlined my expectations for the group members based on this assumption. It became clear very quickly that my assumption was wrong.  Without giving clear direction to my group, They dumped the majority of the tasks and responsibilities the group was designed to handle onto me. Beyond that, when I did allocate other tasks, I did not specify the quality of work I was looking for, and the deliverables they turned into me were very rough, to say the least. This resulted in countless hours redoing their work and creating a final product I was ultimately satisfied with. While the end result was not a complete disaster, there are ways I could have avoided the stress that was placed on me. With the opportunity to retry that situation, the first thing I would have done with my group is have a meeting to discuss what each member wanted to get out of the project, and agree on the level of work we would put into it. With this in mind, I could have delegated specific tasks based on expectations and my group members’ strengths and provided ways for them to check in with me to review their progress. Should the need arise, I could then use the goals set by the group to motivate each member if they fall short of the expectations, creating a sense of accountability amongst my team.

John Gardner Response

Reading the meaning of John Gardner’s speech essentially puts the majority of the lessons we learn in NGLP in a nutshell.  However, there are a few key points that he emphasizes that have not been talked about often in class. One of these, which was mentioned last week in class, is the importance of staying interested, not just interesting. Maintaining a mindset of intellectual curiosity is a sure-fire way to constantly finding ways to improve yourself as a leader and person. Personally, I feel I am satisfying my intellectual curiosity and staying interested (at least temporarily) by expanding my reach as a leader. As a newly elected member of the executive board of my fraternity and president of the TCU Club Soccer team, I have been forced to adapt and improve new skills in my life. The first of these skills, and most important, is time management. I am forced to keep up with the responsibilities these programs require as well as maintain my studies and work to earn an income. With so many different activities in my life, I am learning how to take advantage of every moment I can. Gone are the days of long nights watching TV or playing video games. Instead, as I mentioned in my previous post, I am teaching myself to use free time to organize myself and plan how to use my time. Nights now consist of creating to-do lists, updating my planner, and scheduling my time for the next day. Additionally, I have learned the value of a good night of sleep rather than watching one more episode of my favorite show. Learning to use my time productively is a constant process and stimulates my curiosity consistently. To maintain interest in my life into the future, I want to use another message I took from Gardner’s speech, to look at hard times as an opportunity to learn rather than something to regret or dread. As I increase responsibilities in my life, I have found myself overwhelmed and swamped by the various duties my titles present to me. I struggle with bearing the stress of these duties and buckle under the pressure. Instead, I want to be able to take these hardships as a challenge. I want to use this challenge to push myself further and find ways to improve myself with these challenges. Taking this viewpoint would also facilitate self reflection during and after these challenges. When I become overwhelmed, my emotions take over and force me to focus on the futility of my efforts rather than new ways to approach the situation. Removing these emotions presents the situation clearly and allows me to “out-think the competition in ways big and small, to develop a unique point of view about the future and get there before anyone else does” instead of “out-hustle, out-muscle, or out-maneuver the competition,” a trait that Gardner says the most effective leaders posses.

Summer in the Fort

This summer, I had the opportunity to stay in Fort Worth to work for a small commercial real estate firm, called Vaquero Ventures.  As many internships are at this stage in my career, most of my tasks were menial jobs around the office like making PowerPoint presentations or writing emails for employees. While it was nice to gain experience working forty hours a week and to learn about the climate of a real estate office, I often ended my day feeling unsatisfied with what I had accomplished that day. Snowballing this feeling was the fact that many of my friends left Fort Worth for the summer, leaving me limited options for fun after work.  I found it so easy to simply come home and watch television until I fell asleep each night, but as time passed, I developed a hunger to learn new things and improve myself as a person.  With that, I turned to Dr. Youngblood’s teachings of the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Brainstorming tools I could use to become more productive with my time, I decided the most effective tool I could use was the Time Management Matrix. I mapped out how I had been using my time and, unsurprisingly, found that I had been spending far too much time in quadrant four (wasted time), letting time pass to the tune of movies, video games, and long nights surfing the internet. My plan to change this was simple: discern what aspects of my life were most important to me and find ways to improve said aspects. I thought about what I would do if I had to do one thing for the rest of my life and realized I had two real passions in my life: sports and my education. These activities were most important to me and, therefore, formed quadrant one in my Time Management Matrix. I began with athletics, replacing my time spent lounging on the couch with lifting at the gym, running around campus, and playing basketball and soccer with my friends. Towards the end of the summer, I even picked up a new hobby, table tennis. I bought a table off of Craigslist and began playing with my friends. I felt the sense of accomplishment I was lacking before as I watched myself improve from a first time player to the best player in my house of six people. Similarly, I wanted to find ways to engage my brain to stay sharp over summer vacation. Instead of staying up late playing video games, I read about current business events and even bought an old calculus textbook to improve my logic and mathematical reasoning. In just the first week back to school, I have noticed a tremendous difference in my ability to focus and complete my assignments timely and correctly. Even though these were minor changes in my lifestyle, they have taught me far more than table tennis and calculus. Learning to effectively manage my time over the summer, when I am significantly less busy, I now have confidence that I can manage my chaotic semester by prioritizing my activities and using my time efficiently with the help of the Time Management Matrix.