Situational Leadership

To be honest, I was somewhat confused with these four "quadrants" and exactly what they meant. To me, delegating and directed sounded like the same thing, and coaching and supporting seemed similar as well. However, after reading about each of the four different sections, I think I kind of understand them a little better. But in all honesty, I kind of still don't, so if none of these don't make any sense...Oh well!

The lecture was interesting, but I had a hard time paying attention, so I don't remember much of what happened. I don't know if I should admit that or not though. Haha. The parts I do remember were interesting and I feel like I did learn some things about leadership that I didn't already know.

Directing: For this one, I am most reminded of my World History class my junior year of high school. The teacher basically just got up in front of the class, told us what we needed to read or showed a video, and then assigned us a project in which we had precise directions to complete. He didn't act very interested in the students, but just told us exactly what we needed to do.

Coaching: This section reminds me of my voice teacher. I had about four years of vocal training while I was in high school, and I had an excellent teacher. Although she obviously had many more years of experience than I did, she would always listen to my ideas. There was a lot of communication. She always gave me wonderful suggestions, and would help me to understand certain concepts or why she was having me do a certain song/exercise. However, if I suggested another course of action would be more effective for me, she would always listen to me and we would come to a compromise. I think that this is my favorite type of leadership.

Supporting: I mentioned this example in class, but it's getting late so I think I will use it again. Throughout my youth, I was almost always in some type of presidency within the Young Women's program at Church. Because of this, I often had to attend Presidency meetings. We always had to have some type of advisor there, or in BYC, the Bishopric, to help facilitate conversations and ideas and help us accomplish certain tasks, but the control was with the members of the presidency.

Delegating: This type of leadership reminds me of family get togethers. My mom sets up a date for everyone to come over for dinner, and asks everyone to bring some type of dessert, appetizer, etc. Beyond that, it is up to everyone to bring what they think everyone will enjoy, and enough of it to share. My mom will tell everyone what the main dish is, and then everyone just decides on something that goes with it.


The quiz on about.com said that I was a "participative leader", which I agree with. I think that leaders definitely need to take the ideas and talents of others into consideration, but at the same there needs to be someone that makes the final decision. I feel like if no one is overlooking the group and making sure everything is being addressed, things tend to fall apart. However, I also believe that if a person takes complete control and doesn't listen to others, the organization or group will not function completely correct either. There is a time and place for all these types of leadership, and it's all about discerning the needs of the group and the type of leader that is needed.

I'm not going to lie, sometimes I tend to get into the mode of leadership where I want everything my own way, and I have a hard time really taking other ideas into consideration. When I get my heart set on something, or think my idea is the best, I have a hard time changing my mind--I'm very hardheaded.  I think that this stems from high school where I often was put with the "slacker" kids that never did their work in projects, so I just got used to doing everything my own way. I should probably work on that, because obviously everyone has ideas that are worth listening too. With my leadership position of being in charge of the BYU/SA blog, I am going to make it my goal to listen to the people on my committee and help involve them more.

From lab today, I really loved the quote that Audrey told us towards the end. In order to be an effective leader, it is necessary to understand the needs of those that you are working with. My mom always tells me that you need to be able to adapt to certain situations, even if it's not exactly how you originally wanted it to go. Being able to be intune with the emotions and situations of others is a skill that is sometimes hard to obtain but once you have mastered it will benefit you in all aspects of life. Even though I can be kind of hardheaded, like I mentioned earlier, I do believe this is a quality I do have, and I find it easy to understand the viewpoints of others. Though, there is definitely always room for improvement, because even if I do understand the viewpoints of others, I still am very slow to change my mind.

And PS...this has nothing to do with anything, but you all should check out my other blog here. I am always looking for more people to read my blog/critique it! haha :)

Inspirtational Leader

When I was thinking about the inspirational leaders in my life, the first person that came to mind was my mom. Not only has she successfully been a joint leader of my family with my dad, she has served in many callings throughout her life and has affected many lives by doing such. While watching her serve to the best of her capacity in these various areas, I have noticed her display many exemplary leadership qualities that I have come to admire. Because of this, I chose to interview her for this assignment.

My mom, Babzanne Barker, is currently the Relief Society president in my ward back in Colorado. It is a rather difficult ward, but she has rose to the occasion and done an awesome job. I asked her to tell me what being a leader meant to her.  She said that it means being organized, understanding, and caring about the needs of those in the organization. One thing that I found interesting is that she feels that by being a leader, "the buck stops here" which means that if something goes wrong or someone is upset by something, that person needs to take responsibility, regardless of who's fault it is. When she told me this, I realized how humble a person has to be in order to do that. Leaders must have humility in order to be positively successful.

Although my mom has served in many leadership positions, I asked her what specifically were her roles as the Relief Society President. She explained that she has to help conduct and teacher First Sunday meetings, attend various meetings, be in charge of Visiting Teaching, make hospital visits, conduct weekly presidency meetings, and serve over the Compassionate Service committee. All of these tasks take a lot of organization to accomplish.

Beyond talking about her current leadership position, I asked her what skills and attributes a person needs to have in order to be a leader. What she said was simple and are things that most anyone can develop if they have enough desire. She said that communication skills are helpful in many things, but it is absolutely necessary for someone to display patience, have organizationals skills, have humility and be able to show love for those in the organization.

While I believe my mom was a natural born leader, most people have room to improve, no matter how good they are. She said that after becoming RS president, she has become more patient with others and learned how to determine what the most important and immediate needs are. She has also learned that the more positive your attitude is, the easier it is to work together with those you are assigned. Most of all, she has learned to have faith, and that when she doesn't know what to do, Heavenly Father knows and will help her if she shows faith in Him.


I asked my mom for an experience that has shaped her in the passed to help her work at the capacity she is in now. I decided to just copy and pasted what she said:


"One experience I had was a couple of years ago.  I was Compassionate Service Leader and had offered to help a young mom in our ward get ready to move.  At the time I was also responsible to get a very large billing for Castlewood Sanitation District ready by the next day. I thought about canceling with the young mom because I knew I would not have enough time to finish the billing if I took that whole morning off.  But I didn't feel right about doing that--I knew she really needed me--so I decided to go and help.  That night I was able to finish the billing in several hours less than I ever had before.  I learned that when we do what we have promised to do, or in the case of an emergency, what needs to be done that our Heavenly Father will always give us the time we need to do the other things we need to do."



Another experience she talked about was when she was a Primary Counselor. She talked about how the president was always very supportive of her ideas and thoughts, even if they weren't very developed. My mom said that this helped her gain a lot of self-confidence in her abilities, and that her example inspired her to always be supporitve of her counselors and let them fulfill their repsonsibilities "without micro-managing everything."



I feel that the best way to become a better leader is by observing others in action. I asked my mom if she had any tips for developing good leadership skills. She said that you should read your scriptures and pray always,and have faith that you are the right person for the job. She said that you shouldn't be afraid to ask for help and gain all the insight that you can. She also suggested that you surround yourselfe with people who can work with easily and that are diligent and dependable. Most of all, she mentioned the advice her sister gave her when she was first called to be RS president: "Don't let doing good things get in the way of doing the things that matter most," like your family.

 Finally, I asked her if she had any closing thoughts about being a leader. She said it is important to always remember that Heavenly Father wants you to succeed, so rely on him. It's okay to make mistakes, so don't be hard on yourself if you mess up. Care about the people you work with and show appreciation. And most of all, have fun!

Definition of Leadership

Leadership has many different meanings. It can be something as big as being a leader of a country, or as small as facilitating a group project for a class. I think far too many people are intimidated by the thought of being a "leader" because of the general idea that to be a leader you have to be outgoing, extremely smart, and a big people person. I know that's how I always thought of leaders when I was younger. However, to be a leader, all you need is determination and the ability to inspire others. There have been many people that I have met in my life who may not be the best looking, articulate or outgoing people in the world, but they have the ability to inspire others through their actions, big or small.

Everyone can be a leader, whether it be in their family, community, or a much larger venue. There are leaders needed in every aspect of life and anyone who has the drive to do so can be one.

Before writing this and while preparing for the leadership presentation, I decided to google "leadership qualities". After looking through several pages of lists of what qualities leaders posses, I saw a common theme. Almost all the websites said that leaders care about others, have confidence in their decisions, have integrity, and set an example. I believe anyone can accomplish those tasks, but it does take practice.

I'll admit, I can be a rather timid person. After working very hard to come out of my shell, I have started to possess more qualities that enable me to be a leader over the years. I am grateful for the callings I have received within Church that have allowed me to develop the qualities I know that I have which help me to be a leader. The opportunity that I have to work with the BYU/SA blog has been a wonderful experience thus far and I look forward to see how it turns out over the next semester.

All members of this Church were foreordained to be leaders, in my opinion. We are supposed to be an example in our families, communities, and countries. The Lord will provide us with opportunities to be leaders and set an example if we are willing servants. We are a powerful people with so much potential, whether we realize it or not.

My Leadership Project

Since I haven't actually been to class yet, I'm not entirely sure what I'm supposed to write here. So if it's wrong, don't grade too harshly :-)

After thinking about the different areas in my life where I am a leader, I decided that, for the the purpose of this class, to focus on my recent endevour, being the program director for the up and coming BYU/SA Blog. This blog is set to launch sometime this week. Back in December, I started working on this project with the Communications department, and have since sought out writers, thought of topics to write about, and soon will manage the posts that are being published, as well as the upkeep of the blog.

This project has required a bit of time, and I'm sure it will in the future. I am supposed to hold meetings with the fellow writers, facilitate the blog and make sure it is functioning correctly, and be a person that all of the writers can rely on. I am really excited for this project, and I really feel like I will gain some valuable leadership skills through doing this.

(I'm not sure if there is any other posts I need to write, so if so, let me know! :)