Session 10 Assmt: Skill Building
March 26, 2009
3. Skill Building: Leadership Styles & Time Management
This assignment has two parts – blog comments here using “I” and “II”:
I. Leadership style “try on”
First, identify a “try on” leadership trait described in the two articles you read (see readings, #2). Type it out as the headline of your post. The trait can be a male or female trait as described in the two articles. Example: Trait of choice – “share power and information” as described on page 32 of “Why Can’t Men Lead Like Women?”
Explain the specific situation in which you tried on the behavior and your thoughts about how it went.
II. Time management – a different kind of leadership
a. Pick a day of the week. In advance, write out your calendar for that day (hour by hour) for a 24 hour period.
b. Pretend you need to “create” an extra hour in the day. How would you get that hour? What activities would you combine, eliminate, etc? Why?
c. What if you needed to create 2 hours, 3 hour, 4 hours? How “ruthless” can you be with your time?
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I. Enhancing Self Worth, Why can’t men lead like women?
I am working with an undergraduate class in the business school this semester guiding them in writing a business plan for an idea of mine. For a meeting with one of the groups, which they requested to clarify questions about the business as well as propose various ideas, I tried on the “Enhancing Self Worth” leadership style. In our meeting, I tried to make the group feel important by giving them praise and credit. By giving them a lot of responsibility and praising steps towards completion, I could see their excitement for the project growing. I will use this style more often from here on out. I also gave credit to the group through sharing my positive impressions with the professor.
II. Time management – a different kind of leadership
a. I chose to work on my busiest day, Tuesday, which involves 6 hours of classes at two different schools, homework, dog walking and group meetings in addition to various other spontaneous activities.
b. In order to create an extra hour, I prioritized my activities into categories of things I can change, and things I cannot. For example, classes, dog walking and group meeting are things I cannot change. On the other hand, emails and errands are activities I could change. In order to get an extra hour, I cut back on a few minutes of each of the activities which I had the power to change. I little bit here and there ended up to be a full hour.
c. I can be quite ruthless. Need be, I can cut down to the bare minimum. I know my limits regarding needed sleep and personal time in order to function appropriately. Time on the computer, running errands and cleaning or cooking can all be cut and redistributed to quieter days during the week.
I. Speaking to the group as a whole, not individual group members.
In the article “Why Can’t Men Lead Like Women?” it was noted that men tend to speak to the entire group in a mixed sex setting, which is an indication of power. Females are more likely to speak to individual group members, which is incredibly true in my experience; I do this all the time. Yesterday during a group meeting I thought it was the perfect setting to “try on” this new behavior. My experiment was a success. Even though the change I made was very subtle, speaking to the entire group instead of specific individuals did a lot to enhance my credibility. Normally, I tend to rely on my feminine abilities in doing my part to make these group meetings run smoothly. I usually speak to people one on one because it’s more inclusive and helps me establish favorable working relationships. It feels good to have this skill in my back pocket for the next time I need to portray myself as a leader.
II. Time Management- a different kind of leadership
a. Tuesday March 31st, I could really use an extra hour or two. I have an incredibly tough exam the next day, and the best way I know how to be successful is by putting the time in.
b. Fifteen minutes on the metro going to and from work is a great time for me to review. This gives me an extra half an hour that I didn’t have in my day for studying before doing this exercise. I could also save some time by wearing shoes on Tuesday that I can really walk quickly in, and having my bag packed/ jacket on before my 3:45 class lets out so that I can head straight to the library. This should save me close to ten minutes. Organizing my notes the night before and making a list ahead of time for what I still need to study should save me twenty valuable minutes of review time.
c. If I had to create two or three hours I would need to be a lot more ruthless with my time, but I know I could do it. I could wake up early to review at least one econ problem before leaving for work. I could review another problem while eating lunch, and if I pack snacks/ a comfortable outfit to study in, I won’t even have to go back to my room after class. I can just go straight to the library. These ideas, in addition to my suggestions from part b, would substantially increase the number of hours in my day. The lesson I have learned here is planning. By preparing for a crazy day the night before, I can save a lot of extra time and get things done more efficiently.
I) Leadership Style- Enhancing the Self-Worth of Others
I chose to try on this leadership style because I felt that it was something that would prove to be beneficial and is something I would like to be more conscious of in the future. In a group project I am working on, we broke down the segments of a paper and each member will send their section to me. We already handed in a rough draft, and I figured that upon receiving each part for the final paper, I would send the person an email response thanking them and providing positive feedback along with the changes or corrections I asked them to make. I think that this had a positive influence on the whole; when including praise along with constructive criticism, the other members of my group sent back a prompt response and addressed all of the changes in their respective sections of the paper. When we had worked on the rough draft, my responses to the group just listed the corrections that had to be made (without as much recognition and praise), and the responses I got back were much slower and slightly more careless. I plan to adopt this leadership style on a daily basis.
II) Time Management
a. Monday, March 30 is an extremely busy day for me- I have two classes in the morning after which I have to go tutor a student and then attend a group meeting. Even though I don’t watch much TV, Monday nights are dedicated to my favorite show- 24. On top of this, I have a ton of work to get done for the following week since I am going home on Thursday and probably will not have time to do much over the weekend. My day is spotted with other random errands as well (dry cleaner, CVS, laundry etc) and I try to get to bed on the earlier side on Mondays since I have early class on Tuesday.
b. I realized that on Mondays and Wednesdays, since I don’t start class until 12:45, I tend to move slowly in the morning; I wake up usually somewhere between 9 and 10, but I don’t tend to get much accomplished before I leave for class. If I need to create an extra hour, this is the place to do it. Instead of relaxing and leisurely checking my email and reading the paper in the morning, instead I could address more important emails and try to get some of my errands done, such as going to CVS and the dry cleaner so I wouldn’t have to worry about these activities later in the day.
c. If I needed an extra 2+ hours, I could find other ways to reallocate my time. Instead of eating lunch before class, I could pick something up and bring it to class, leaving more time to get my work done before I leave my apartment, saving me 15-30 minutes. If I limit the amount of time that I spend in the tutoring session to a half hour, this will save me 30 minutes. I could also find a way to eliminate my group meeting by working out a way to accomplish our objectives via email instead of in person. This would save me an hour at least. If I TiVo 24 instead of watching it at 9 pm and save it for a later date, this will save me another hour as well. Even though I might feel rushed during my day and have limited leisure time, I would be able to cut out and combine activities to create those extra hours.
Why Can’t Men Lead Like Women? – Competitiveness
I. I went with a ‘typical man’s trait’ that I needed to improve. While reading all the articles I noticed that I tend to do all the associated women’s traits, I was one of the people that just did what came naturally and never really felt a need to change. I think though, through this process of just doing what came naturally, I’ve actually been missing out. I tend not to be a very competitive person, and like I mentioned in class the other day, I tend to be too understand of others around me, causing me to lower my competiveness thinking that others worked harder, or deserved things more than I did. A great example involves me and one of my best friends; we’ve been in a bit of a tiff since about a month ago, but whenever she did anything hypocritical or wrong, I would just brush it off and forget about it, but after awhile it just builds up and I end up taking this stress out on the wrong people. Basically, being too much of a push over negatively affected me and a lot of relationships I had with different people. I decided to use traits related to being competitive, and I stood up for myself, I realized that I did deserve to be treated better, and I deserved to be treated the way the treated other people. I told her all of this, and while she didn’t take it well initially, we’re slowly working through things now instead of pretending everything is fine. Having more confidence in myself and knowing that I deserve things as much as others is something I definitely need to apply to most aspects of my life and still need to work on.
II. Time Management
a. I chose my Monday’s. I usually have work to finish up for one of my classes on Monday, as well as for the rest of the week. I also usually don’t get a lot of sleep the night before, so I wake up at 10, try to get some work done before my 12:45, then after that head straight to my 3:30 that lasts until 6. Then friends usually text me about dinner plans which takes awhile, and we usually all watch 24 together on TV from 9-10.
b. To be honest, if I need more time in a day, I tend to just stay up later, I usually go to sleep anywhere from 3-5 in the morning. I’m quite nocturnal, but I have huge problems having to get up the next morning, which tires me out for the whole day, and my working habits aren’t as affective if I had just an extra hour or two of sleep. I think what I should really do is bring lunch to my second class so I can work more in the morning, take MUCH shorter showers, and if I feel that I must go to ‘24’ then maybe grab a quick dinner by myself so I can get some more work done, otherwise, right after 6, I could just go straight to work.
c. In terms of being ‘ruthless’ with my time, again, I don’t need as much sleep as your average person! Which I know isn’t necessarily healthy, but if I need the extra time, I can do it. I would just make myself quick meals so I could work from home, and I would try to do more of my work on Sunday so as to avoid being busy all day Monday.
I. Why Can’t Men Lead Like Women? Encouraging the self-worth of others
In a current class that I am taking, I was assigned to a group project with two freshmen girls. As a senior, I was a bit annoyed. These two girls seem very timid and shy and I am not positive if they have ever done a college presentation. This may sound silly but I made the assumption that I would end up doing a majority of the work for the project because I would only feel good about it if it was done my way. After reading these articles I realized that it was unfair of me to make these assumption. I was absent from class when groups had the chance to choose topics. I was impressed with the topic these girls picked and gave them praise on Sunday when we met for coming up with such a creative topic. After I complimented them and told them how impressed I was, they opened up and immediately were less shy and timid. This technique is one I will definitely use in the future.
II. Time Management
a. My Tuesday and Thursday schedule are always insanely busy and at many points in the two days, I find myself wishing for more hours in the day. On Tuesday (tomorrow, 03/31) I have an 8:00 a.m. class, a 9:35 a.m. class, an 11:00 a.m. meeting, and a 2:20 p.m. class. I then get on the metro at around 4:30 p.m. to be at the yoga studio I work at by 5:00 p.m. and I do not get home until 9:00 p.m. I also have piles of school work to get done this week.
b. To create an extra hour in tomorrow’s day, packing a bag and a lunch and not returning home until I have to change to go to yoga would be the best way. I usually go home from 11:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m. and eat lunch and then go to the library and work until 2:20. Instead of going home tomorrow, I can save myself time and get more work done by just staying out of my house until it’s absolutely necessary.
c. It’s hard to be “ruthless” with my time because I wake up very early every day and don’t go to sleep at an unreasonable hour. If I really needed to create a few more hours in my day, I would need to plan ahead and pack a huge bag to hold all the stuff I would need in the course of my day.
Energizing and Exciting Others;
I decided to try on Energizing and Exciting Others. My main reason for choosing this trait is because I realized my mentor uses this trait all the time in her work environment. Although I believe she is truly a positive person I think this trait suits her well in a male dominated world. So, my experiment began at home last night. Typically I cook dinner and my husband does the dishes and cleans up after dinner. However, I decided to be really enthusiastic about our meal and asked him if he wanted to help cook with me. At first he was a little apprehensive but I put an apron on him and put him to work. We ended up having a great time making our meal and I think he even felt a bit proud that he helped create the masterpiece. After dinner we both cleaned up, which was actually a fun thing to do together. Let’s just see if he will help again tonight!
II.
a)I picked Thursday because that is my busiest day of the week. Thursdays involved two classes, WEL class and one from 7-9pm. I also usually have homework, errands, lunch, dog time, working out/fun reading, preparing dinner and job searching (and Grey’s Anatomy!).
b) If I had to create an hour I think I would combine reading assignments with working out. I usually read my fun (pleasure reading) books while I am working out but I can sacrifice that time to multitask with a purpose. That would free up an hour of homework time. If I had to create another hour I would eliminate lunch time with my husband and eat lunch while searching online for jobs and sending out resumes. Another combination could be dog time and working out…although he doesn’t like to run very far.
c) If I need to be ruthless I could definitely force myself to get up earlier, cut out Greys (although I would DVR it and watch it over the weekend), prepare dinner the night before or eat leftovers, cut errands to a bare minimum or just do them on the weekend. I think the only things I could not change are classes, homework, working out and dog time.
I. Enhancing Self-Worth
As the article states, enhancing self-worth consist of giving praise, credit, and recognition. The whole is to make others part of the team feel important. I am currently taking a class where I am in a group with two other students. We have to write a group paper and make a presentation to the class. I took the initiative for us to get started on the paper by picking a topic for the group. After we all agreed, I also suggested that we all type up bullet points of the topic and email it to all of us. After I received both of their bullets, I created an outline for our paper that incorporated what each of them had written. Even though I wrote the outline (and they knew I had been doing most of the work), in all of our correspondence, I wrote “we.” I praised the bullets each person had submitted and wrote that all the information was great. After this, one of the members emailed me and she even praised my work. From this, I realize that praise is truly contagious.
II. Time Management
a. My day of choice is Wednesday. I typically wake up at 6am to get ready to go to the gym on time. By the time I come back, I have to get ready to work. I end work at 2pm and head to class that starts at 2:20. I have two classes back to back, so my day doesn’t end till 5pm. For this week, I also have a meeting at 7:15pm.
b. It would be extremely difficult for me to create an extra hour in this day. The only activity I do that is a matter of choice would be going to the gym. However, getting in my daily exercise is very important to me, so I would be reluctant to alter that. If worse came to worse, I would have no choice but to go to sleep later, perhaps 1am. I usually try to sleep by 12am, so that is something I could consider.
c. If I needed to create 2, 3, or four hours, I would definitely consider changing my gym schedule. I may have to cut out going to the gym for that one day, which would open up an extra 1 ½ hours. Because I have to go to class and work, I would also go to sleep later at 1am. I would also try to eat my dinner while performing whatever task I needed to get done, instead of setting a certain amount of time for me to just eat. I would also limit time I spend reading news articles online. Creating more than 2 hours would be very difficult. However, with adequate time-management, I am sure that I would be able to accomplish it.
I.
Trait of choice: encourage participation and inclusion as it is mentioned on page 4 of the article “Ways Women Lead”. I teach Advanced Portuguese Conversation for a class of 20 adults/ professionals, so I thought it would be a good idea to try inclusion leadership in my class. I have been teaching for over a year, and I always feel like some people do not get a chance to speak and give their input, so I decided that I would encourage their participation that day. All my classes have a theme, so in the beggining of class I asked a question regarding the theme. For instance, the theme was travel, so I asked them to tell us what was the best trip that they had ever been to (all in Portuguese). It was great because each student had the opportunity/ turn to speak and be heard by the whole class. They were very happy to share their experiences, so they felt included and part of the class. To me, it was just so rewarding because I liked to see that they were comfortable and motivated to tell their stories and participate in my class!
II.
On Wednesdays my schedule is SO busy, but this Wed. It will be crazier:
8 am – Wake up and get ready for school/day
9 am – drive to school
9:35 AM – 10:50 AM : TRDA 191W in J
11:00 AM – 11:50 AM : EXSA 029 in K
12 – 12:30 pm – eat lunch
12:45 PM – 2:00 PM : STAT 112 in ROME
2:20 PM – 3:10 PM : BISC 004 in BELL
Drive to Mount Vernon Campus
3:40 PM – 5:30 PM : BISC 004 in SCIE
Drive home
6 pm – 7:30 pm – Eat dinner and do homework
Drive to school
8 pm – 9:30 pm Meeting with the Foreign Services for Job Information Section.
Drive home
10 – 11 pm – Do more home work and get ready for bed.
11pm – go to bed.
* The only ways that I could add and extra hour or more on my day are if I decrease my sleep time. I could go to bed at midnight instead on 11 pm, or/and wake up at 7 am instead of 8 am. Also, I could skip the Foreign Service meeting if I don’t get to finish HW, but I would miss an opportunity for job info and network. Miss classes is never an option for me… In short, I could add about 2 hours to my day by sleeping less, but that would be detrimental to my well being during the day. No other arrangements could be done.
I. Energizing and Exciting Others
I “tried-on” this leadership trait this week in preparation for a volunteer-based committee meeting which I lead with a co-chair. We are raising money for a silent auction, and I felt very strongly that our committee needed some encouragement and cheerleading! I sent emails on 7 days out, 5 days out, and 2 days out, all listing how well everyone has done with securing items (and how many items we’ve secured), how close we are to our goal, and other specific encouraging comments like, “Great job!” and “Thank you very much for all of your efforts and the time you’ve put in!” In just one week, our committee added more than double the initial items and it kept their focus on updating us with their progress. Although it was not part of this particular situation, I have definitely felt the misinterpretation of enthusiasm in the past and having had some damage to my credibility. I find it very depressing that enthusiasm can be seen as anything other than a spectacular trait for a workplace. I think it goes hand-in-hand with motivation and self-motivation which are incredibly important to job productivity.
II. Time Management
a) If I were to revamp one of my days, it would definitely be Thursday. It is my busiest day. Not only do I have my job from 9 AM – 5:30 PM, but I have two classes (one of which is WEL from 11-1, and the other is from 5-7), and I usually have committee or other planning meetings from 7:30 PM to at least 9:00 PM. Being that I live more than 20 miles from the city in Virginia, it takes me more than an hour just to commute each direction. Because class is from 11-1, I am not actually able to take a lunch hour and I usually just grab lunch on the way in or out of the office. Normally I try to go to the gym during my lunch hour, but on Thursdays I usually try to get in early and go before work.
b) If I needed to create an hour in the day, I would first try to accomplish the task during my commute (since it is basically wasted time). If it’s some kind of work or homework, I can bring my laptop and work on it on my way in or out of the city. If that couldn’t work, I would get up early and leave to arrive in the city earlier (and cut out the gym for the day).
c) If I needed to create 2, 3 or 4 hours in my day, it would be a lot more difficult. First, I would try the two options in part B. Second, I would try to cut down my commute time by driving into the city rather than taking public transportation. Third, I would try to accomplish the task the day before or after. If absolutely necessary, I would leave early from my committee meeting, work, or class. However, I would try desperately to make it to the majority of work and my classes since they are my top priorities.
I. Traditional Leadership
For one of my classes, I am working on a group assignment. As usual, it is not easy conducting group meetings and having everyone participate. A while ago, I took it upon myself to create a comprehensive document detailing what everyone needed to do, tips, Links and linked the document to other important documents so it was all right there for them and sent it out to them. Of course, no one did anything with it, even after I sent follow up emails asking them to look over it, send me progress, and give me times for us to meet up. In class today, we had a chance to meet with our groups and I decided to try on the ‘typical male’ traits of being aggressive, strong and dominating. I told them all that Sunday at a specific time we were going to have a meeting and that I need to have everyone’s parts finished so we can compile them by Monday and get the ball rolling on the project. They seemed to be more responsive to direct directions, so I hope to see them on Sunday.
II. Time Management
Its funny that we are doing this exercise because I have been looking at my schedule and trying to figure out how I can make better use of my time because I know there must be some way. Sadly, I haven’t come up with more answers through this exercise.
a. I used my busiest day, Monday
9:35 – 10:50 : Class
Usually, I do work during these hours and eat, or nap if I haven’t gotten much sleep.
12:45 – 2: Class
2 – get on metro, read on metro, arrive to work at 2:30 (this never happens as planned)
5:30 – get on metro, read on metro, arrive back to GWU by 6
6 – see friends, grab a snack, quick homework assignment
6:30 – 7 : meeting
7-8 : drop off stuff, change clothes, get materials for meeting
8 – 10 : Pledge Meeting
10 – 1 or 2: Homework, Applications
b. I guess to get an extra hour, I could not go to the Pledge Meeting at 8, because it starts at 9 but we are encouraged to be there at 8 to study and spend time with the brothers and do interviews. However, I use that hour to prepare for the quiz, which would have to be done at some point anyways, and I need to meet my interview quota, so if I didn’t do it then, I would spend that time elsewhere. At 10, sometimes I end up socializing for about an hour since I haven’t really seen anyone all day, so that is something to cut back on.
c. I’m not really sure how I could create 2 hours anywhere. I feel that any bit of “downtime” I have, I am either eating or working. I suppose I would definitely not socialize and look up train times to make my metro times more efficient.
I. Transformational, Interactive/Participative
I tried on the non-traditional, female model of transformational leadership where individuals transform their own self-interest in to the interest of the group through concern for an ultimate goal. Over the weekend, my sorority had a retreat where we got together in groups to complete different team-building tasks. As a senior in my sorority, other younger sisters tend to assume that seniors have all the answers and have done these things before. I made sure that our group worked together to complete all the tasks so that everyone, including the freshmen, gave important ideas to the different exercises, so that we were all involved with the finished product. Some of these tasks were: constructing the tallest tower from newspaper, creating/drawing/defining our idea of a true leader, and defining what we felt are the most important leadership characteristics. Our group was very strong since we all worked together and valued each others’ opinions and came up with some amazing responses!
II. Time management – a different kind of leadership
a. Wednesday because I have work all day and always have a bunch of assignments due the next day for my classes and also attend a weekly viewing party for a tv show that my friend is on.
b. In order to create an extra hour I would complete some homework early on other days of the week, spend some time at work on homework during lunch hours, and combine dinner and watching my friend’s tv show at night.
c. I guess I could be ruthless with my time and spend more time at the library so I get things done faster but somehow I always seem to get everything done even if I haven’t allotted myself a careful schedule of time to complete a task. Some times I just need to stay up really late to finish something but then I can just nap the next day to make up for it. Overall, I feel that I always have time to complete all my tasks because I stay ahead of what I have due and am always scanning my planner for any upcoming events or assignments.
1. Enhancing the self-worth of others
I am part of a group that is assisting an group of entrepreneurs in Afghanistan with the development of their business plan so that they can find investors for their business. This week, we had a meeting with the creator of the program from the State Department. For the meeting, I decided to “try on” the enhancing self-worth leadership style. He wanted to know how the project went and how responsive the entrepreneur was to our assistance and suggestions. While there have been many obstacles throughout this project in working with an entrepreneur from a different culture and background, I gave appropriate credit to the entrepreneur. Not all of our suggestions will be incorporated but I am certain that this has been a positive experience for all involved. In trying on this leadership style, I not only presented a better picture to that State representative but also developed a broader and clearer picture of everyone’s involvement in the project.
2. Time Management
a. My busiest day of the week is Monday, so I chose this day to try to create an extra hour
b. To create an extra hour, I would have to be very careful about managing my time. To help me manage everything, I need a list of everything that must be accomplished (work assignments, meeting, class) and the things that I’d like to accomplish but can be put off (errands, phone calls, other work projects). I also try to think about things I can work on simultaneously or the best order to do things to make best use of my time.
c. I can be very ruthless in creating time for what needs to be done. There are always things that can be put off until a later time– it just may require adjustments for several days, weeks, etc.
1. Encouraging Participation – Page 32 of “Why Cant Men Lead Like Women”
I decided it would be a good idea to try on “encouraging participation”. I have a tendency to develop very strong opinions on the way things need to be completed and only halfheartedly listen to the suggestions of others. This behavior has evolved from my opinion that I would rather complete a task and be able to accept responsibility for doing something wrong rather than do something wrong because I relied on the opinion of someone else – and thus always wonder if I could have done it better my way. Because of this, I have a tendency to shut people out. I have realized within my sorority than some of the younger girls have been hesitant to approach me in the past when I held various positions, for fear that I would brush them off. Over the weekend, my sorority had a retreat in which we had to form groups and perform different leadership activities. This was definitely my opportunity to redeem myself. When broken into groups, many of the younger girls looked to me, as a senior, to lead the discussion and activities. Instead, I made a point to delegate different aspects of the activities to younger girls and encourage them, even when I was secretly craving to deny their suggestion. The encouragement opened up the activity to more relaxed discussion and included everyone, not just the older girls. I could definitely tell that as a result, the younger girls were more comfortable around me at the end of the activity and were more confident in their own ideas.
2. Time Management
a. Monday, March 30: Work 9-1230, Gym 1-230, Class 330-6, Errands 630-730 (dry cleaners, sorority nonsense, grocery store), Dinner 730, Gelman 8-eternity
b. Creating an extra hour in the day would not be difficult. I am a pretty early riser and am awake and out of bed by 6am. Most of the time I spend my mornings catching up on homework or reading. Instead, I would go to the gym at this time, giving me the extra hour and half at the gym, and then the additional 45min I would have spent showering and getting ready afterward.
c. Again, since I don’t have a problem waking up early, I would go to the gym at 530, and spend the additional time before work doing homework – this could save me some of the time I would have spent at Gelman. Also, I could push off the grocery store, sorority obligations, and drycleaners to the following day. My only set obligations for the day that I would not be able to work around would be work and class.
I. Leadership style –
Leadership trait: Encourage participation
Specific situation: When I was President of NAWMBA, I was very open with any information I had about certain events or projects. Also, I would ask for everyone’s input on certain projects. I felt that because of the strong communication lines and collective decision making process, the board members and I were more productive and had better results. This leadership trait had positive effects. I was able to make each board member feel valuable and empowered and I am proud to say that we had several successful events.
II. Time Management –
A. Usually Wednesdays are my toughest day to manage because I’m exhausted from the work week and become less efficient with my time.
Wednesday, April 1
7 AM: alarm goes off, snooze
7:15 AM: get up, fix bed, eat breakfast, etc.
8:15 AM: leave for metro, read newspaper or homework assignment on train
9 – 5ish PM: at work
5ish PM: leave for metro, read or zone out on train
6ish PM: arrive home, change into gym clothes, eat quick snack, walk to gym
6:30 – 7:30 PM: aerobics class
7:30 PM: shower, unpack bag, tidy up apartment, cook dinner, return phone calls
8:30 PM: eat dinner, read & reply to emails, do internet searches
9:30 PM: homework
Midnight: write to do list for tomorrow, go to bed
B. I could always use an extra hour in the day – especially to get more sleep. I would get that hour by eliminating or cutting back on certain activities and chores (i.e. going to the gym, returning particular phone calls or emails, and tidying up my apartment). I would select these activities because they can be pushed to another day without impacting any important/immediate deadlines or affecting someone else’s schedule.
C. I can be very ruthless with my time. If need be, I can plan my day down to the minute and prioritize activities. Most of my Mondays and Tuesdays have this hectic schedule because I do not have enough time for work and school activities. From experience, I know that I am unable to sustain this type of schedule for more than a few days. I know my limits and realize that I need a certain amount of good sleep, healthy food, exercise, and an organized work space to be most productive.
I. Enhancing the self-worth of others
I identified extremely well with the description of an interactive leader. It is the leadership style I will work to maintain as I develop my professional character. I have never been a fan of praise but I have always thought that expressing deserved recognition to a subordinate is the key to establishing a powerful relationship. This week I decided to practice enhancing the self-worth of others for a group paper that was due on Tuesday. The paper was for my strategic marketing class and required us to create a professional memo to advise a particular company on how to succeed despite the current economic conditions. One girl in my group decided to step up and begin writing the memo. She sent what she had written to the rest of the team and assigned specific parts to everyone else. After reading what she wrote, it was clear she had basically paraphrased the case we were given and to make matters worse, she had not even followed the assignment. As a perfectionist, I deleted what she wrote and completely re-did the entire assignment according to the instructions we were given. I sent out an email to the group giving credit where it was due and “praising” the girl for doing such a great job starting us off. I mentioned that I had changed a few things around to fit with what we were assigned and thanked her for taking the time to get everything done. I definitely think this was a good way to make sure no toes were stepped on. In the end, we have the opportunity to receive a better grade and everyone feels like they made a valuable contribution.
II. Time Management
a) I will be choosing Monday as my day to work on. Mondays are generally very busy for me.
b)Monday: Class 12:45-2, Work 2-6, GWWIB Eboard 6:30-8:30, Dinner 8:30, Then HW. Tuesdays I have an 8am so I generally need to have all my hw done at an early hour on Monday in order to wake up the next morning. If I were to create an extra hour, it would most likely be during the morning. I am definitely a night owl and it’s hard for me to wake up early. To create this extra hour, I will need to have a strict 9:00am wake up to give myself time to eat breakfast, do my hw for that day, and get ready for work. This would mean eliminating late night television watching the night before to give myself more hours of sleep time. I tend to stay up late for no good reason.
c)If I wanted to be “ruthless” with my time and create 2-4 more hours in my day, I would need to wake up extra early at 7 or 8am and cut my eboard meetings short in the evening as the co-chair.
I. Encouraging Participation
In the article, it stated that Women leaders ted to give subordinates a say in their work and work related decisions, which I can’t not relate to. Being in may leadership roles, and always being the one to assign task without asking my team, has gave me good and bad experiences. I either burn myself out or the team hates me at the end and isn’t connected to the project. So this I decided to try on this behavior and see where it takes me.
This week is a big week form my organization. We are putting together out 2009-2010 programs and events, which is very special to me because next year, I will be a senior and leaving GW. So naturally, I want say in every event other people come up with, but I decided to oped it up for discussion and see if my eboard was on the same page as me, which was a GREAT idea!!! They had sooo many great ideas, some I have never thought of or would have even tried. I was so surprised and happy. After coming up with a great Women Month’s Calendar, I realized that 8 heads are better than 1!
II
a. I chose Tuesday. I have to work from 9am-5pm, then I have class from 6:10-7:30pm, I try to workout from 8pm-9pm and then check my email and eat and watch a little tv ( I call this my me time) from 9:30-10:30 I have meetings from 10:30pm-12:00am.
b. If I could create another hour in the day< I would definitely take if from work. I work, so I wont get bored with ust doing school work and go to class, but Tuesdays are way to long. Instead of getting off at 5, I would change it to 3:30pm. In my Tuesday schedule, I never leave time to do homework which I really should, so I won’t cram on others days.
c. If I needed more time on Tuesdays, I would probably move my meeting to another day. However working with other schedules can be hard and very time consuming, but If I needed the time to do more school related stuff so I want up late on other days, I would move it.
I. In the article “Why Can’t Men Lead More Like Women”, I found it extremely interesting, but very true, that while men focus strictly on financial success and the bottom line when it comes to their employees, woman tend to judge the success of their business by employee satisfaction. This is such a strong statement because when looking at statistics, employees who are not satisfied or happy in the workplace can a. lead to stress, a registered OSHA hazard which costs companies about $1000 per year (stress related medical problems, insurance, missing work etc.); and b. high turnover rate. Woman understand that fostering relationships leads to long term success throughout the whole business. This is why this week I’m going to really try to foster relationships with people people in the workplace, that I’ve networked with, or simply friends. But taking the extra step and, for example, actually e-mailing someone who has given you their card, could lead to really great things.
II. Time management.
I would like more time today! I have 2 classes between my 8-6 job, plus a massive amount of homework and a major test to study for.
6- Wake up, shower, get ready
7- Leave for work
8-10:30 work
10-11:10 commute back to school
1110-315 2 classes
315-330 commute back to work
330-6 work
6-630 commute home
645-745 work out
745-815- shower and eat dinner
815-12 homework/studying
b. If I wanted to create an hour of time I could take cabs everywhere. If the time was more valuable than my money, it could save me just about an hour.
c. Three to four hours would be VERY difficult. I could shower the night before so I could do some work in the morning before I leave for work. I could also work while commuting and while working out so it opened up hours elsewhere. I think it’s also important to pack a lunch so you can have food throughout the day without ever having to stop for it and interrupt your day.
I. Energizing and Exciting Others
In general, sharing passion and motivating other is something that comes naturally to me. However, with the stress of senior year, I have found both my energy and dedication to achievement dwindling. An area that was particularly affected was the Business Council, which seemed to stagnate without me as the driving force behind our work. I decided to push through, and at this week’s executive committee meeting, I spent a good portion of time trying to bring everyone back to the vision, and realize the importance of making as many strides as we can before the academic year is over. There has been some response already, but I believe it will take my continued efforts in this area to ensure that we succeed as an organization.
a. Pick a day of the week. In advance, write out your calendar for that day (hour by hour) for a 24 hour period.
b. Pretend you need to “create” an extra hour in the day. How would you get that hour? What activities would you combine, eliminate, etc? Why?
c. What if you needed to create 2 hours, 3 hour, 4 hours? How “ruthless” can you be with your time?
II. Time Management
a. I decided to write out my Thursday, which includes class in the morning, tabling for a student group event in the afternoon, completing some academic assignments and rehearsal in the evening. I even scheduled in some time for a bar outing this evening!
b. The easiest way to combine activities on this day is to bring work with me while I table. There is no way I will be busy the entire time, so if I come prepared to work on some of my assignments, I can save myself about 2 hours of homework time.
c. If I really wanted to save more time, the next step would be working through meals, and bring dinner with me to my rehearsal tonight. I really prefer not to do this, even in light of the time savings it may provide. Everyone needs some time to relax and take a break!
MY LAST POST HAD A TYPO, SO I’M REPOSTING!
I. Energizing and Exciting Others
In general, sharing passion and motivating other is something that comes naturally to me. However, with the stress of senior year, I have found both my energy and dedication to achievement dwindling. An area that was particularly affected was the Business Council, which seemed to stagnate without me as the driving force behind our work. I decided to push through, and at this week’s executive committee meeting, I spent a good portion of time trying to bring everyone back to the vision, and realize the importance of making as many strides as we can before the academic year is over. There has been some response already, but I believe it will take my continued efforts in this area to ensure that we succeed as an organization.
II. Time Management
a. I decided to write out my Thursday, which includes class in the morning, tabling for a student group event in the afternoon, completing some academic assignments and rehearsal in the evening. I even scheduled in some time for a bar outing this evening!
b. The easiest way to combine activities is to bring work with me while I table. There is no way I will be busy the entire time, so if I come prepared to work on some of my assignments, I can save myself about 2 hours of homework time.
c. If I really wanted to save more time, the next step would be working through breakfast and lunch, and bringing dinner with me to my rehearsal tonight. I really prefer not to do this, even in light of the time savings it may provide. Everyone needs some time to relax and take a break!
I. Leadership Try-on
Leadership trait: Interactive Leadership
I use interactive leadership on a daily basis with the GW Softball team. As their assistant coach for the past three years, I realize that they are most responsive to me when I acknowledge their individual strengths as a collective unit of success for the team as a whole. Softball can get very frustrating at times when establishing an emotional balance between ongoing wins and losses. They say it’s a game of failure since a good hitter only hits successfully 1 out of 3 times on average. Although they are college kids and we have to be tough parental figures while challenging them athletically, often times too much negative feedback leads to less responsive results. Although I grew up playing for an adamant male coach who built us into national champions by yelling and scaring us into performing well, I find that this is not my coaching style. I have put myself at a university in which education is a strong value in addition to the importance of sport. Therefore, I know that the best way to motivate my players is to create a forum in which they can view their academic and athletic challenges as opportunities to succeed every day. When the team is on the same page, this is easy to do. However, sometimes players need individual attention so they feel that they are participating and playing a specific role that is important to the team. In the end, the strength of our team depends on what each person can bring to the field and their acceptance of that energy working together.
II. Time management
a. Wednesday, April 2, 2009
-7-9:30AM working on CBT paper
-10AM-12PM office work
-12-12:30 lunch
-12:30-6PM GW Softball doubleheader vs. George Madison
-6-6:30PM writing my paper while my ride is driving me home
-6:30-7PM shower
-7-12 midnight writing paper and finished by deadline (friend brought me dinner )
-12 midnight-1AM chatted with a friend on facebook and she is going to start me up as a Combat bat dealer so that I will have a small, yet flexible side job come graduation in May.
b. I was pretty impressed by how I eliminated any extra gaps in time by formatting my paper in the car ride home from work. Not all days are like this, but this week has. In this case, I just have to get focused and stay on task by ending anything that is distracting. If I needed an extra hour I would have waken up at 6AM. Luckily I had already gone shopping so that I could wake up to a healthy and quick granola breakfast with mixed fruit to get me going. Lately, I’ve been eliminating phone calls with people, texting, and anything else that gets in the way.
c. If I could create 2-4 more hours I would cook for myself more often. I used to cook in bulk which would last me for a few days of the week, however I really haven’t prepared my own meal in roughly two semesters. Usually, I open up more space by talking on my phone while driving. Yesterday, I scheduled lessons while in the car with my coworker driving. However, most of the time I am talking while behind the wheel so I should probably invest in an earpiece. I think getting more ruthless with my time would lead to illegal substance abuse so I probably should just focus on not over loading my schedule after I graduate.
A. 12-330 homework 330-4 ready for bed, 4-12 sleep 12-1245 eat/ get ready for class 1245-2 class, 2-3 lunch, 2-5 work in Hist Dept 6-730pm Professional event at Marvin center,730-9 dinner 9-10pm DPE event at marvin center 10-12 out with friends.
c. B. In this day, I’d like to find an hour to work out. I could get up an hour earlier but going to be at 4 and getting up earlier than 12 would be less than 8 hours sleep… which is okay, but the past few nights I was sleeping less so I’ve been trying to catch up on sleep. To create my hour, I could take less time for dinner with my roommates. I could go work out and then come back and eat a frozen burrito that only takes a few minutes. (Not sure my roommates would appreciate me not doing dinner though…and as a second semester senior it is hard to give those things up!)
C. For this day I had too many events. In a normal week I would never have two events almost back to back. But if I wanted more time I could commit to only one event, give up my going out time… neither of which I would want to do. Honestly, I don’t feel that crazed in my days… more stressed and I think I was time dwelling on things instead of acting so my time gets wasted on futile emotions that don’t translate into a benefit (i.e. a job!!)
1. Encouraging Participation
We were trying to figure out filed positions for our kickball game. Usually the captain assigns. This time we went around and asked everyone where they liked playing, where they thought they were good, what they wanted to try or never do. By listening and placing people where they wanted (it worked out mostly) we had a very successful game and everyone had a good time.
2. combining activities such as making phone calls while driving or stuck in traffic and eating while working on something is a way to carve out time. Unfortunately that becomes very stressful. Cutting out social activities and exercise is another way but that leads to a boring, depressing life. Sleep usually gets cut but it can’t continuously continue.