Leadership developement.
Hey guys.
Okay so the goals of the internship course is to provide us an opportunity to:
(1) 'see' leadership in action by working closely with a mentor who is in a leadership position
(2) 'do' leadership by taking the lead in a project within your capability while at the placement site;
(3) clarify your career goals;
(4) learn to use a reflective journal to help hone your observaation skills and to extract learning aout leadership and the RC outcomes from daily activities.
How many of these do you guys feel you are learning at? Achieving?
And how much do you all remember from Leadership class in first semester? I remember nothing, really. I have opinions about leadership which are definitely directly influenced by whatever we learned but I really do not remember the models or theories (maybe I should have read the bloody chapter a little more often). Not being able to remember those things, have really made it more difficult, or at least less structured, when it comes to me trying to 'see' leadership in action. To me it really seems like past leadership I've seen in other organizations. I am having a difficult time drawing structured, efficient leadership to what I observe and demonstrate at my job.
Perhaps my frustrations have nothing to do with the job itself, rather my own lack of preparedness from slacking in school . . . I'd be interested to hear how you guys relate/feel
posted by Emily @ 12:09 p.m.
2 Comments:
Emily, and all of you. A very RC conversation, which is I guess the intention. I could probably write an essay on this, but I won’t, because i’ve had enough essays for a good while.
This is probably too long for a comment, but I don’t want to post it alone. I think that if you click on Emily’s title on the side of the main page that it will show up in a more readable format.
Just to remind, I haven’t taken Leadership yet, which makes it a bit strange when I try to explain to people that I am studying leadership, and interdisciplinary-ness. But anyways, I hope that anything you remember from Leadership makes the 3rd essay for Jonathan better for you than it was for me. That was a terrible essay, and took me way too long to write. So basically, I wish I did know these models or theories or something so that I could comment on a bit of that.
I think I’ve made it pretty clear that most of the time I pretty much like my internship. Again, most of the time, it does get slow and frustrating at times (like today), which happens with anything and everything. But I’ll comment on those 4 points.
(I don’t know who all has the web address for this in terms of parents or integrators or … potentially my mentor..? but just in case, please skip reading this post…)
(we should really elaborate on who is reading this, just so everyone knows… do you want to leave a comment for us please, if only to say Hi?)
1. I am seeing a certain amount of leadership in action. I am seeing this mostly in meetings and in a bit about the Station’s operations in general. Mostly in meetings, as it is hard to watch something of any size operate. But I am seeing how my mentor is good at leading meetings and projects and things like that. I would say that he is in a position of leadership, but this is hard to observe (except, for the 3rd or 4th time, in meetings). I would also not say that I am working closely with my mentor, as the work seems to be fairly independent.
2. ‘Do’ leadership? Not really. I am working on projects for the Station, but these are mostly up to me to do the stuff. It is more like a school project. So in the day-to-day doing stuff, I am leading me, which I, like most people, usually do anyways. Like with school. And in the bigger picture, I am being led, from a distance, by my mentor, as in he suggests people to talk to and get ideas from, and helps me when I get stuck. And, of course, the projects are his idea.
3. Clarify my career goals. Oh, if only. Well, I guess I am getting to see the daily workings of a research place, which is neat. I can see that I might like this. Mostly I have clarified that I need to work more with people than I am right now. (I know, some of you are thinking Yeah right, she doesn’t talk and she doesn’t need people, but I do). So I know that I’d like to work more with people, either the public or colleagues or something in the long run. But I still don’t know what I’m going to do after RC, if that is the question.
4. Well, I am liking having to keep a journal, it is something I have occasionally considered but never really stuck to… or even bothered doing. I guess I figure that since I have just lived through the day that I don’t need to explain it all to myself, cause I should remember. But I don’t, and I sort of like having to think about it all again. I like filling out the feedback forms too, (not the reading of them, but thinking about it). Maybe these do help with some of the leadership seeing or observing from daily life. But the linking to Outcomes is insignificant and bad. Trying to do this on a day-to-day basis invites a lot of overanalyzing and thinking, which doesn’t help anything. Maybe thinking in terms of months, or even just weeks, would be better, but I still rather like doing it my semester as we did this year. It makes it easier to see major themes or events, or in any case gives me some more time to mull them over.
Again, I do like my internship (and I am NOT just saying this, what would be the point of that?), and I AM learning things. Actually, when I stop to think about it, I am learning a lot of things, and a lot of very Relevant and Important things. But I don’t see this as necessarily linking to the official Course Goals. Maybe that’s just me today, but I don’t think so.
Long enough? Opps.
Hey Em, and everone else out there... this is my first time actually using this site properly as I have never understood it til now! I'm so pumped and i'll visit more often for sure! To answer your query about this whole leadership thing, I think alot of us are having a hard time with it. At least I am. I dont see much leadership at all from my advisor boooo but I am analyzing (persay) the leadership of the other three guides I am working with. I get frustrated as hell with my internship a lot but then I get a really good tour in or I learn something interresting about this organizations conservation movement and I feel better for a bit. I guess the "do" in leadership with me comes with leading tours, but that seems pretty small, like its not like I'm leading some revolution.
Clarifying my career goals? I will never work in tourism! That is one thing to rule out but the conservation side is opening up a new can of worms (but in the good sense). I see myself doing all kinds of things... still havent narrowed it down too much... things just keep getting more interresting, like new areas! Journals would be good if only I kept up with them...
wow this was a nice little exercise in reflection! I feel better about my internship because I realize that I am making the best of it. No, its not my dream job but I'm taking what I can from it... every last drop
Post a Comment
<< Home