Change is defined as improving the status quo, creating a better world, and demonstrating a comfort with transition and ambiguity in the process of change. Change is important to me because I have experienced situations where change was encouraged and situations where change was never thought of. From these experiences I have learned that there is always room to grow in anything that I am doing. One of my definitions of leadership is innovation and constantly voicing ideas to improve ourselves or what we are selling to others. This attitude can also be contagious and help others see why change is so important. Therefore, I strive to be a change agent in the different organizations that I am in so that I can always see growth. Change may not always be good and sometimes lead the leadership in the wrong direction, but this allows others to reevaluate, learn, and move on from mistakes made. One instance where I have seen that change was a great idea was in my position as the first Welcome Week Chair. The university was discontinuing Hokie Camp and implemented a new idea to have events and activities mainly aimed for new students during the first week or so on campus. As the only Welcome Week Chair, I had no idea what to do and knew that I could not put on a week of events without some help. I researched other ideas on what other universities were doing and I spoke with my supervisor to find the best way to schedule everything. I was given the responsibility of leading 40+ welcome week leaders and worked with all the resources that I had to put on an amazing welcome week including the biggest gobbler nights event, welcome week color groups, and other great occasions that were enjoyable. In this instance, changing the way things were done and implementing a new idea helped me grow as an overall leader and started a new tradition at Virginia Tech. This experience along with others will continue to encourage me to implement change and ask those questions to spark concepts in the workplace and in the leadership positions I will be in in the future.
Collaboration is to speak and discuss events or ideas with others around us. There is a shared interest in the overall goal and is everyone is on the same page to be successful and get the job done. I love the definition of collaboration in the 7 C’s Chart when it mentions on “capitalizing on diversity and strengths of the relationships and interconnections of individuals involved in the change process”. In order to have a diverse solutions and visions, it takes people from different backgrounds and cultures to come together for one specific purpose instead of a team of people that think the same. In one of my minor classes, I learned the societal structure and the fact that different countries have different problems which means that they may solve a problem a different way than American engineers or doctors or lawyers would handle the situation. I know that I may have spoken about this in another submission, but one of the most successful and diverse groups that I have worked with is the Orientation Team that I had the opportunity to be apart of. The team consisted up students from multiple cultures, religions, and backgrounds. We continued to educate and learn from one another and the incoming students that worked with us every day. There was one activity that we did before the job truly started where we got together in the theatre of one of the residence halls. All 30 of us submitted a song prior to the activity and whenever a song was played, we would guess whose song it was, and they would mention what that song meant to them. During this time, we were very vulnerable with one another and shared aspects of our lives that we usually would not tell people we just met. This activity and everyone’s cooperation set the tone for the rest of the summer and how we were able to be successful and lift one another up every day. There was a form of trust that we built through collaboration that was essential to what we took from that summer experience for everyone involved. Collaboration is huge because you get to learn more about others that you are working with. You also get to see where their strengths and weakness are and how anyone involved can give and take from one another. In my future workplace, I look forward to collaborating with others, listening to what they have to say, and use strengths from both of our proposals to be successful overall.
Consciousness of Self means to be aware of my values, beliefs, attitude, and emotions. Consciousness of self reminds me of self-awareness which is one of the Emotional Intelligence aspects that I have studied. It is important to know how I feel so that I can portray that to others and assess the environment around me. If I am unable to realize what I am feeling and thinking about given situations, I will be unable to be vulnerable and relatable to others that may want to confide in me. I constantly use consciousness of self in my job as a Residential Advisor. A situation that happened this year that was tough for me was my residents who are trying to survive their first year of engineering. Both residents were in their rooms bawling and I happened to knock on their doors to invite them to one of my hall hangouts without knowing that they were having a rough time. They expressed to me what they were going through and feeling as though they were alone in what they were feeling and felt that the best plan was to give up. As an engineering student myself, I have been through a lot of what they were going through and was able to share my experience and that it does get better. I showed consciousness of self through knowing what I felt during my first year in college and balancing the different aspects of my life and was able to relay those relatable feelings to my residents. I am hoping that I helped in some way, shape, or form but I know that I did my best to support and that is all I can do in that situation. I want to be the same way when working with others in the future. My top strength is relator which means that I thrive off relationships with others and building those connections. Through shareable and relatable experiences with others I will continue to grow as a leader.
Congruence goes hand in hand with consciousness of self because it means to know your attitude, values, beliefs, and emotions and to exemplify these in your everyday life. It is not enough to know this about yourself, but to be true to yourself and not being afraid to show others. Leaders want to follow other leaders who realize that actions speak louder than words and to demonstrate what they are saying. When thinking of congruence, I think of being a servant leader. Someone who actively lives by serving others and showing what this looks like every day. When I think of a servant leader, some historical figures that come to mind are Mother Teresa, Mahatma Gandhi, and Nelson Mandela. One leader that I would say I look up to is Martin Luther King Jr. Although he could inspire through his words, his actions showed that he was serious about his stance and he was a great leader to get behind. A legendary photo of him conveys a huge march during the civil rights movement. He, along with his family, held hands and made up the first line while marching through a highly segregated area. The huge crowd walking behind him showed how great of a leader he was. He inspired and gave others a future to believe in where they were openly willing to sacrifice their life to walk behind someone and the cause they believe in. Another definition of leadership for me is being an authentic leader. I know that this allows others to be more comfortable having me as a leader and trusting me when they know more about who I am as a person. I look forward to being a servant leader now and in the future so that others can follow the best example to be in cohesion and eventually serve the community around us.
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