November 28th, 2011

The video comes into play in reference to my very last comment. Read that before watching or else it won't make sense... 

Please describe a situation where you have watched a someone successfully lead an organization through a change.  Identify what went well and how they helped the process succeed.

I think the best example that I have for this would be my parents, helping our family make it through hard financial times. I don't think I was very young at the time, but I think what made it successful was their belief in the end result or end goal. I think they constantly looked forward to what they were trying to achieve, and that motivated them. I think in terms of leading our family, they did a great job of information control. They understood that as children we wouldn't understand some things and so they were careful about what they told us, and what was going on. There were simply some things that we didn't have to know, and that was alright. Growing up I was somewhat aware but not entirely, but looking back, I think we really had some struggles, and I can see the success and progress made was through my parents' ability to lead us as a family.

Please share the three discovery statements that you wrote down as you completed each of the challenges.  What do those statements help you understand about your abilities to lead change and what insights do they give you on how you can be effective as a leader in a changing environment.

I had to leave early so I didn't get to participate in the third one, but the first one I wrote that I felt slow, like I wasn't progressing, and like I was wasting a lot of time trying to accomplish that task in a different way.
The second statement was that I didn't trust myself and my own abilities to be able to accomplish the task without being able to see what was going on. I was uncertain and doubting my abilities.
I think collectively these thoughts can apply to leading change, because if we aren't focused or if we aren't guided we can feel lost and we don't trust ourselves, and if we don't trust ourselves and our own abilities, we won't be able to help and lead others to do the same. I found this video on TED about leading change (It's the video I posted) and I thought it was interesting. Sometimes the most influential leaders are the dedicated followers. I think that's an important concept that we need to realize about leadership.