6.2 Discussion. How Ive Changed
Getting Started
One of the goals we have for each of our leadership programs (bachelors, masters, or doctoral level) is the personal and professional transformation students can experience as part of the program. To be clear, we (department, faculty, etc.) cannot make a student transform. However, we endeavor to create a set of educational conditions that allow students to engage in transformational processes.
This discussion forum gives you space to reflect on your learning and growth in the program. While it is possible you still may have other general education or elective credits to complete for your degree, this course (LDR-485) and this workshop (Workshop Six) represent that last step in the major coursework for your degree. Thus, it is an excellent opportunity to think about where youve been, where you are, and where you are going.
Upon successful completion of this discussion, you will be able to:
Articulate a statement of learning and growth in the program.
Background Information
A substantial part of ones learning and growth journey can be determined by whether a person operates by a growth mindset.
Assess the tabs for more resources.
The Mindset of a ChampionGrowth vs. Fixed MindsetThe Power of Believing You Can Improve
This
TEDx Talk
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video features an entertaining discussion of growth versus fixed mindset by a 5th-grade student.
Instructions
1. Review the rubric to make sure you understand the criteria for earning your grade.
2. Review the information in Getting Started and Background Information sections.
3. Look ahead to
Assignment 6.3
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to understand how this discussion can contribute toward the final submission of the Course Project.
4. Consider the following prompts:
a. Generally, how would you describe your learning and growth during your academic program? How have you changed?
b. In what ways have you experienced the tensions of a growth mindset versus a fixed mindset?
c. In what areas (e.g., intellectual, psychological, spiritual, relational, professional) have you experienced the most significant change?
d. What seems to be the one or two most important things (or processes or activities or resources or people or?) that helped create the change you experienced?
e. Where do you perceive additional opportunities for your continuous learning and growth? What is your plan to pursue those opportunities and development?
f. In what ways will you integrate your learning and growth experience into life and leadership? In other words, how will you help others grow?
5. Compose a 250 to 300-word initial post. You do not need to answer each of the prompts. Rather, use them to stimulate your thinking. Complete reading, research, and review to make your post that might also help you start to develop your Assignment 6.3.
image1.jpeg 6.1 Assignment. One Anothering Devotional Part 6
Getting Started
Many adults have worked in various organizations (e.g., job changes, volunteer work), allowing them to compare and contrast the leaders they have had and the organizational cultures they have experienced. Frequently, our own leadership perspectives are a conglomeration of things we have liked (and thus try to emulate) and things we have not liked (and thus try to avoid).
Ask someone to describe their best and worst organizational experiences (or leaders), and the stories told might contrast an environment of trust and support with an environment of bitter conflict or underappreciation. Succinctly, it is often a contrast of feeling like a valued human versus feeling like a replaceable part in a machine.
Our final one anothering passage contains some of those contrasting themes.
Upon successful completion of this assignment, you will be able to:
Articulate the relational element of leadership in community.
Background Information
Access the drop-down below to read or listen to Galatians 5:13-15.
Galatians 5:13-15
One of the points that the apostle Paul makes in his letter to the Galatians is that Jesus Christs work for our salvation sets us free. Rather than trying to achieve some impossible standard or human works to earn eternal life, we are free to accept a gift from God simply by faith. While living the life of faith should cause us to develop wholesome ways of thinking and doing that align with instructions (and even commandments) as they appear in the Bible, it is not the work of doing those things (e.g., commandments) that saves us or grants us eternal life. Christs gift does that if we accept it. One way to think about it is that we obey God not to be saved but because we are saved. The gift from God comes first. Thus, we are free.
The apostle Paul encountered two (at least!) corrupt ways of thinking as they related to Jesus work and gift to us. First, some rejected it in practice by suggesting that certain rituals or human acts still were required (perhaps likened to obey so that you can earn your salvation). Second, some saw the invitation to faith and its freedom as a license to do anything they wanted, which usually meant indulging in selfish and even addictive pursuits of pleasure that often came at the expense of others (perhaps likened to you dont need to obey anything). Paul rejected both extremes and spoke of the freedom we have in Jesus Christ to live by faith, pursue a life of development, and learn what it means to become more God-like in our attitudes and actions.
Our Galatians 5 passage reflects those tensions (the corrupted extremes versus the real definition of freedom). Note especially that Paul focuses on loving and serving one another as reflective of faiths freedom while the corrupted alternatives lead to biting and devouring one another (a quite descriptive picture that any of us who have lived in that organizational culture of bitter conflict and divisiveness understand too well!).
Perhaps the idea of serving one another offers an entryway into deeper reflection. As a leader, do I think others serve me? Or do I serve them? The simple difference between those ideas reverberates throughout a team or organization in very clear ways. You know the difference. You have probably experienced the difference among the various leaders you have had. So… Which will you be? What type of organizational climate and culture will you create?
Instructions
1. Read or listen to the Bible Passage noted in the Background Information section.
2. Review information in the Getting Started and Background Information sections.
3. Consider the following thought starters:
a. What are your contrasting organization or leader experiences? What did you like? What did you not like? How have those contrasts influenced what you think and do as a leader?
b. Do you think of leading as serving or being served? What is the evidence you could provide to support your analysis? Where is there an opportunity for improvement?
c. What is one leadership theme, principle, practice, or source that you studied in the program that you can relate to the contrast between loving and serving one another with biting and devouring one another in organizational contexts?
d. What lessons can you deduce from your experiences and reflection to help you in your current and future leadership roles? In your personal development? In your spiritual development?
4. After reading and reviewing this information, write and submit a half-page reflection paper (Word document) that shares your thoughts/perspectives on the themes of this devotional.
You do not need to answer each of the thought prompts. Rather, reflect on the questions and then compose a thoughtful response.
image1.jpeg 5.4 Assignment. You Teach it Keys to Effective Leadership
Getting Started
During your academic program, youve been in the formal role of student. However, it is likely that in other roles, you function as a leader, mentor, or even teacher. Certainly, after 15 core courses in leadership that are part of this program, you should be able to share your learning with others that help them lead better. In other words, you should be able to assist others in building their leadership toolkit.
This assignment gives you the opportunity to shift to the other side of the camera and show us how you can help others learn to lead better.
Upon successful completion of this assignment, you will be able to:
Create leadership training and development materials.
Background Information
Training and development materials can be created in numerous ways. Among the possibilities are PPTs, videos, guidebooks, outlines, workshops, assessments, or numerous other options. Perhaps the most important consideration is the desired
learning outcomes.What are participants supposed to be able to know and do as a result?
Once a learning outcome(s) is determined, the variety of potential methods or materials (
learning activities) that could be used provides an opportunity to compare and contrast strengths and weaknesses in approaches. For example, is something best learned by discussion or interaction with others? Practice (e.g., internship or lab)? Writing? Creating? Usually, there is no absolute answer to the best method, but we should consider the
learner characteristics(needs, preferences, and even available resources) as we consider what needs to be learned and how it could be learned.
We also need to consider how the
learning is assessed.In other words, how will you know that a learner has achieved the outcome? Will it be a quiz or test? Will it be an observation? Will it be via a rubric connected to the submitted artifact (e.g., paper) or assignment? A good assessment provides us with valuable feedback about the individual learner and possible revisions that could further improve the training or development. Good learning design creates a virtuous circle of continual improvement.
Something to think about – Most organizations are comprised of adults. Thus, understanding the characteristics of adult learners is very important for training and development activities in organizations. You studied some of those characteristics in your degree program. Be sure to keep them in mind as you build your deliverable for this assignment.
Instructions
1. Review all the materials assigned in Workshop Five. Consider some of your assignments in past courses (including devotional reflections). Conduct any new research that might be needed to complete this assignment.
2. Review the Getting Started and Background Information sections.
3. Create a leadership training and development deliverable with the theme:
Keys to Effective Leadership. What you create is entirely your decision (see some options mentioned in the Getting Started and Background Information sections). The topics, points, materials, etc., are also completely of your choice. The primary requirement it must address the theme keys to effective leadership.
4. Some general guidelines about your deliverable:
a. If you create a paper, it should be @3 pages in length.
b. If you create a PPT, it should be @12 slides.
c. If you create a video, it should be @10 minutes.
d. If you create other activities, their size should reflect the approximately 10 minutes time element of doing the training/development.
e. If you have questions about an idea that you have for the assignment, reach out to your faculty sooner rather than later.
5. At the beginning of your deliverable, provide a brief description of the context (e.g., for use with your organizational team) as well as a summary of relevant learner characteristics. This portion should be no more than page or one slide (or equivalent).
6. Also, include a list of two or three learning outcomes for your deliverable. You might review the various learning outcomes associated with this course for some samples of how to write outcomes.
7. Provide a deliverable for your learning activity (e.g., PPT, video, etc.).
8. Provide a brief means of assessment (no more than 1 page or 1 slide). For example, you might create a survey for learners. You might create a rubric (see rubrics used in this course for some examples). The primary consideration is how will you be able to determine whether or not your learners achieved the learning outcomes?
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image3.jpeg 5.2 Discussion. What Are My Tools?
Getting Started
There is an old saying that if all you have is a hammer, then every job needs a hammer. The idea is that we will try to match the tools that we have in our tool kit or at our disposal to the task at hand. Sometimes, that means we may try to make a tool do a job for which it was not intended.
This assignment gives you the opportunity to reflect on the various principles and practices of leadership that you have acquired, sharpened, and made part of your leadership toolkit during your program.
Upon successful completion of this discussion, you will be able to:
Propose key principles and practices of effective leaders.
Background Information
Throughout the LDR courses in your academic program, you have been tasked with distilling some of your reading and assignments into practical tools for leading. A key focus of the LDR courses has been applied leadership. That is, while having some good theories in mind is practical, we want the outcome of each course and the program to include your ability to apply what you are learning directly to your current leadership context. Hopefully, you have added numerous practical tools to your toolkit so that you have more things at your disposal to effectively meet the demands placed on leaders.
The following two videos from Cheryl Bachelder, former CEO of Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, provide some good reflections on essential qualities for effective leaders. Dr. Bachelder was granted an honorary doctorate by Indiana Wesleyan University when she was inducted into the IWU Society of World Changers in 2018. You can learn more about our world changers and Dr. Bachelder
here.
(new tab)
Access the tabs to view the videos.
The 3 Essentials of Effective LeadershipDare to Serve
Instructions
1. Review the information in the Getting Started and Background Information sections.
2. Read Chapter 9 in the course text,
Leadership in Christian Perspective
3. Look ahead to
Assignment 5.3
(new tab)
to understand the parts of your Capstone Project that you will submit this workshop.
4. Consider the following prompts:
a. What are the most meaningful or practical tools (principles or practices) that you have acquired during your program? Some of the previous discussions have inquired about theories, models, resources, or learning (interviews). While each of those items should have practical value, review the assignments throughout the program where you had to summarize principles and practices.
b. What are the most surprising things you have learned about leadership in the program?
c. In what way could you create a flowchart, graphic, or way of organizing your principles and practices. For example, can you restate them in ways where the first letter of each principle starts with the same letter and fit together like a puzzle or pyramid or ?
5. Compose a 250 to 300-word initial post. You do not need to answer each of the prompts. Rather, use them to stimulate your thinking. Complete reading, research, and review to make your post that might also help you start to develop your Assignment 5.3.
image1.jpeg 5.1 Assignment. One Anothering Devotional Part 5
Getting Started
Many individuals spend more waking hours within their organization than they do with their own families. A job or career becomes a substantial part of our self-identity as well as our commitments, including time, talents, and energy. Consequently, ones job holds a lot of power either to create life satisfaction or contribute to life discontent. At least in part, then, how well we do one anothering and how well we create healthy conditions for one anothering as leaders have an important influence on psychological, physical, emotional, relational, intellectual, and even spiritual health.
For this workshops focus, we will examine a passage that contains multiple one anothering principles to consider within the context of organizational leadership.
Upon successful completion of this assignment, you will be able to:
Articulate the relational element of leadership in community.
Background Information
Access the drop-down below to read or listen to Hebrews 10:19-25.
Hebrews 10:19-25
The author of the book of Hebrews presents a highly sophisticated argument throughout the book about how the work of Jesus Christ to make salvation possible fulfilled the requirements of the moral and sacramental law (e.g., sacrifices of animals) articulated in the Old Testament. Throughout the book, the author compares the Old Testament law requirements with what Jesus Christ accomplished and made possible for his followers. In Hebrews chapter 10, the comparison is made between the Old Testament (or covenant) requirements for regular sacrifices as well as a human priest to continually offer those sacrifices on behalf of the people with Jesus’ for all time one sacrifice for sins (Hebrews 10:12,
New International Version Bible) and his position as a permanent High Priest (or our representative, advocate, or spokesperson). Over and over, the author concludes that the New Covenant (or testament) that we have through Jesus Christ is better than or superior to the older version (which served to lay the foundation and point the way forward to the ultimate plan).
In our chapter 10 passage for this workshop, the author of Hebrews (we dont know for certain who wrote it) suggests that Jesus work makes not only salvation possible for each of us individually but that we can have a greater collective confidence, hope, and purpose. We can draw near to God (relationships) and maintain our hope (purpose, beliefs). We can consider one another (think of all the previous one anothering principles we have examined) to spur one another on to love and good deeds (Hebrews 10:24), meet together and encourage one another (Hebrews 10:25).
Although the author articulates the principles within the context of the church or the community of faith, many (or all) of those ideas can be found in organizational leadership literature in some way. An organization (and leader) who can provide a context that allows its members to do the Hebrews chapter 10 one anothering items well will create a social environment for human health (in all ways), community, and even productivity and profitability.
Instructions
1. Read or listen to the Bible Passage noted in the Background Information section.
2. Review information in the Getting Started and Background Information sections.
3. Consider the following thought starters:
a. Which of the various one anothering ideas articulated in the Hebrews 10 passage most connected with you? Which ones least connected with you? Why?
b. In what ways have you seen or experienced the various one anothering principles and practices (or not) in your life? In organizations?What are some of the implications of those principles/practices (or not) that you have experienced?
c. What is one leadership theme, principle, practice, or source that you studied in the program that you can relate to one or more of the ideas found in the Hebrews passage?
d. What lessons can you deduce from your experiences and reflection to help you in your current and future leadership roles? In your personal development? In your spiritual development?
4. After reading and reviewing this information, write and submit a half-page reflection paper (Word document) that shares your thoughts/perspectives on the themes of this devotional.
You do not need to answer each of the thought prompts.Rather, reflect on the questions and then compose a thoughtful response.
image1.jpeg 5.3 Assignment. Leadership Principles and Practices
Getting Started
Have you ever noticed how many books some people (leaders, professors, etc.) have on their bookshelves? Have you ever heard reports about how many books a month certain leaders or professionals read? While there are some people who seem to consume much more material (e.g., read books, listen to podcasts) than others, it does seem to be true that learning is fundamental to leading. Leaders never stop learning.
Although leaders may read a lot of material, they also become quite skilled at distilling key information from what they read. They can summarize the essential information, see patterns, and build a mental schema that allows them to integrate what they are learning with prior learning. We might say it this way they learn the important stuff.
This assignment will give you the opportunity to reflect on the important stuff the principles and practices of effective leading that you have gathered during your academic program.
Upon successful completion of this assignment, you will be able to:
Summarize important leadership principles and practices.
Background Information
This brief
video
(new tab)
describes the Pareto principle. Consider what it might mean for what you read (content) as well as your time management and use of resources as a leader.
Instructions
1. Review all the materials assigned in Workshop 5. Consider some of your assignments in past courses (including devotional reflections). Conduct any new research that might be needed to complete this assignment.
2. Write a two- to three-page reflection paper (500 750 words double-spaced in a Word document), addressing the following reflection prompts:
a.
Principles and Practices(2 to 3 pages in length):
i. Reflect on your past work in the program. During your LDR courses, you were frequently asked to summarize key principles and practices of leaders as well as tools for your leader toolkit.
ii. Consolidate your list of principles and practices. However, as you analyze the set of items you have collected during the program, develop a way to structure or present them into a cohesive structure. For example, imagine that you have devised 20 important principles and practices. Is there a way you might group them? Perhaps you can conceptualize organizing your 20 principles into four groups of five principles or five groups of four principles (or any other arrangement that helps you make sense of the principles through common threads, ideas, or emphases.
iii. After you have consolidated and grouped your list, provide some category names. Be creative. Develop something that will be memorable to you and easy to remember (e.g., perhaps all the category names start with the same letter or have some type of consistent phrasing).Although your presentation of the principles and practices can be a bulleted list, you may also present them in some type of graphic form such as an infographic or table.
b.
Summary Statement(no more than 1 paragraph or page).
i. As you review your categorized schema of important principles and practices of leadership, what seems to be a central idea, summary thought, or the one thing that binds them all together?
3.
NOTE: Do not include an introduction or conclusion for this paper. Simply provide a title page, the three sections noted above, and a references page. This assignment is part of the larger project for the course. You will compose your introduction and conclusion for the larger project in workshop six.
4. Inasmuch as this is a reflection paper, first-person voice is acceptable.
5. When you have completed your assignment, submit a copy using the Assignment submission link by the end of the workshop week.
6. Feel free to utilize
Academic Writer
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(APA formatting resource) and Grammarly (grammar and plagiarism check) on the
IWU Resources
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page.
a.
All papers must be written per
APA Guidelines (7th ed)
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,
including format guidelines.Papers must be logical, well organized, grammatically correct, and have correct spelling and sentence structure. Write in complete paragraphs of at least three sentences in length.
b. Proofread your paper using Grammarly. Grammarly is provided to you as a student at no cost to proofread and spellcheck your paper. Proofreading your papers prior to submitting them ensures the highest quality of presentation.
7. The maximum number of pages is given to encourage you to be concise and use meaningful words.
8. Failure to meet these minimum writing and formatting requirements will result in a lowering of the overall grade. Use a #12 black font in Times New Roman.
image1.jpeg 6.3 Assignment. Personal Manual of Leadership
Getting Started
Its time!
Throughout the program, youve been collecting ideas, practices, principles, resources, and even connections (e.g., peers in the course; interviews). You have been gaining new tools, sharpening old tools, and otherwise building the toolkit for applied, effective leadership. During this course so far, you have been assembling some pieces that you will now integrate to create your own Personal Manual of Leadership. We might also call it your complete leadership toolkit. But… keep growing. Keep adding tools in the future.
Upon successful completion of this assignment, you will be able to:
Synthesize a comprehensive set of leadership principles, practices, resources, and ideas into a cohesive philosophy of leadership.
Background Information
This
brief video
(new tab)
YouTube-
Create Your Own Leadership User Man might spark some creative ideas for part of your final course project. You should follow the assignment instructions below, but the project is your Personal Manual of Leadership, so feel free to add your own flare within the boundaries of the final submission.
This
video
(new tab)
Youtube
The New York Times Higher Ed Leaderis longer (40 minutes) but worth reviewing about how to create a leadership user manual. The video is an active workshop, so there are places where you can fast forward the video (or you could actually do the exercises in the video).
Instructions
1. Review all the materials assigned in Workshop 6 as well as any other relevant material from the course, assignments, and program. Conduct any new research that might be needed to complete this assignment.
2. The final step in building your Personal Manual of Leadership involves collecting (and revising to address any instructor feedback and further updates) the work youve done thus far in the class (final written assignments for each workshop) as well as some new components. Each of the required components is detailed below.
3.
Cover/Title Page. (New work for this workshop)
a. Your Title page does not need to be a typical APA title page. You may be creative in creating a cover page for your personal manual of leadership.
4.
Table of Contents. (New work for this workshop)
a. To facilitate the future use of your Personal Manual of Leadership, develop a basic table of contents for the document (e.g., no more than one page). If you are comfortable doing so, you may use the levels of headings feature in Microsoft Word to generate an automatic table of contents. However, doing so is not required. You may create a manual (rather than the Word automatic) table of contents.
b. You may select the level of detail (e.g., how many levels of heading) for the table of contents and its format. Simply keep in mind what might be useful to you in the future.
5.
Personal User Manual. (New work for this workshop)
a. The videos in the Background Information section provide some ideas about creating a leader user manual. The videos note the potential value of being able to share such a document with your team so that they understand some of the important elements about you as a leader.
b. Create a 1 to 2-page user manual following some of the guidance in the video or other similar resources that you might find. Be creative. Be visual (e.g., infographic-type presentation). In many ways, the user manual is the most concise summary of the most important information about you as a leader that appears throughout your personal leadership manual.
6.
Executive Summary. (New work for this workshop)
a. Your executive summary should be a one-page, high-level synthesis of your personal leadership manual. While the user manual portion of the assignment may be graphical (e.g., infographic) and useful for sharing a bit about you as a leader to your team, the executive summary is a one-page narrative addressing the most important ideas.
b. Use the executive summary to present your integrative motif.
i. Some notes on integrative motif: for the past few workshops, you have been composing various pieces of your personal manual of leadership. As a part of that process, you have consolidated ideas, principles, practices, and resources. You have summarized key ideas and composing brief statements (e.g., of purpose). Review and reflect upon everything you have created so far as part of the course project (and program capstone!). Is there a central theme, idea, or integrative/organizing motif? Perhaps there is a topic or idea that seems to permeate throughout your material. Maybe it has something to do with character, relationships, accountability, or effectiveness (see the looking ahead sections of previous workshops for some other possible themes). Your organizing motif is unique to you. Identify that central theme that defines your leadership.
ii. Be sure to consider how to include the integrative motif in the user manual and executive summary portions.
7.
Personal Development Plan (New work for this workshop)
a. As you come to the end of your program, hopefully, you have learned a lot about yourself as a leader. You have developed much broader and deeper knowledge about leadership. You have gained or refined important leadership skills and abilities. However, every leader has strengths and opportunities.
b. Create a one-page personal development plan assessment. What are your leader strengths? What are your leader opportunities (e.g., weaknesses)? What is your plan for further developing your strengths and leveraging them to enhance leadership effectiveness? What is your plan for managing your weaknesses or addressing them somehow? Be specific in your action plans. (note. Some of these ideas may also appear in brief form in the user manual and/or executive summary.)
c. You may be creative. That is fine if you want to write out the plan as a narrative. However, you may also create the assessment and plan in some type of graphical presentation. Focus on identifying clear, actionable items for your plan. The plan is for you! Remember that you have used various development tools, such as SMART goals, throughout the program (e.g., LDR-220 Developing the Self as Leader; LDR-410 Leading with Wisdom, Vision, and Values). You may want to use some of those tools in your development plan work.
8.
Consolidation of Documents (compiled and revised work from previous workshops).View
this Infographic
(PDF document)
for suggestions on how to create your final submission document.
a. During Workshops One-Five, you completed assignments ranging from 2 to 5 pages. Pull all that work together into a single document.
b. You do not have to put the documents in order as you completed them in this course. You could rearrange them (for example, perhaps you think the Workshop Two paper should be first in order). Arrange the consolidation into an order that best fits you. It is your personal leadership manual.
c. Be sure to incorporate any feedback on those assignments provided by your faculty (I.e., use improved work and not just the original work).
d. Consider where it might be appropriate to include revisions to your documents (from each workshop) to incorporate your integrative motif throughout the documents.
e. No specific page requirement exists fo
