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In the final week and looking back at the blog post from the first week, I started this course expecting to deepen my understanding of leadership styles and develop skills that would support my growth as a young professional. After completing the course, I feel that my expectations were met and even exceeded. At the beginning, I knew I would be learning about different leadership frameworks, but did not realize how personally impactful the assignments, discussions, and assessments would be in shaping my approach and perspective on leadership.

One of the expectations I mentioned earlier was wanting to learn how leadership styles influence the workplace. Throughout this course, with the use of the textbook, videos, articles, and real-world examples, it helped me build a greater understanding of what true effective leadership looks like. Even though all materials were valuable to study, I found the Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI) especially helpful in understanding and applying what we were learning in class. The LPI feedback came directly from the people I work with every day, making the insights very meaningful. The feedback highlighted several strengths while also giving me clear areas of growth, specifically in the areas of being more direct and confident in my abilities. I feel as if I have already taken this feedback seriously in reflection and have already been applying some improvements in the workplace. Even in just a few weeks, I have noticed that being more direct about my thoughts, ideas, and expectations has helped me communicate more effectively and set clear expectations with others.

In the Week One reflection, I also wrote that I expected the workload to be fair and that the content would apply to my professional development, and these expectations aligned with my experience. The assignments were challenging yet fair, and they genuinely helped me grow my understanding of leadership, and my writing structure and formatting skills.

Looking ahead, the concepts and skills gained from this course will be valuable in my future MBA courses, but also in my professional career. The leadership concepts learned with an emphasis on self-awareness, communication, trust-building, and accountability can be applied to my current role as an admissions counselor and can be implemented as I transition into more advanced roles. Being aware of these topics early in my career can allow me to set myself up to be a successful leader when a leadership role comes my way. This course gave me a very clear idea of the leader I want to become, which includes being confident, values-driven, collaborative, and committed to continuous growth. It not only met my expectations I set in my first reflection, but pushed me to think and develop in ways I did not anticipate. The insights from the LPI, the feedback from my colleagues, and the other leadership materials explored have already influenced how I am showing up professionally and will continue to impact and shape my leadership moving forward. Overall, when individuals are able to receive meaningful feedback, build self awareness, and practice these skills overtime, they can strengthen their leadership growth (Liu, Song, Li, & Liao, 2017).

References

Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2023). Leadership practices inventory: Self: LPI online. Wiley.

Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2023). The leadership challenge (7th ed.). Wiley.

Liu, W., Song, Z., Li, X., & Liao, Z. (2017). Why and when leaders’ affective states influence employee upward voice. Academy of Management Journal, 60(1), 238–263.https://www.researchgate.net/publication/284705812_Why_and_When_Leader%27s_Affective_States_Influence_Employee_Upward_Voice.

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This week in class, we reviewed Chapter 8 of The Leadership Challenge, where Kouzes and Posner argue that fostering collaboration begins with creating an environment of trust and building strong relationships. As a college counselor, these two elements are vital to my role, as when prospective students and family trust me, I can guide them more effectively, and it allows them to feel supported and confident throughout the process.

As shown by McClellan (2014), building trusting relationships in academic advising is foundational as advisors become effective when they are seen as trustworthy, communicate clearly, and engage in relationship building behaviors. In college admissions, this means being transparent about deadlines, financial aid, and requirements, yet still being consistent and genuinely invested in the success of each student. Working at a smaller university allows me to build that personal connection with the students I am recruiting and I can show them I have their best interest in mind. Even in my first recruitment cycle, I have seen students open up to me about their goals and concerns, ask me honest questions, and allow me to guide them through the admissions process with trust.

There was also research done by Hawthorne, Zhang and Cooper (2022) that found that academic advising, when done well, directly impacts students outcomes, as support from the advisor correlates with a stronger academic performance and success. As an admissions counselor, I am not just influencing students’ decision to enroll, I am setting the tone for the students’ overall experience at the institution. It is important that from the start, I develop early trust and connection with my students. This can help them transition to college more smoothly, and let them feel supported from the beginning and they can thrive once they are officially university students.

To build this sense of support and trust, I can give students friendly phone calls, email them after tours, remember names and personal goals, and offer my help, or simply check in with students throughout the enrollment process. These may be small gestures, however over time they are creating a foundation where students feel comfortable seeking help, voicing their concerns, and accepting guidance. Applying to many colleges can be stressful for these high school students. As an admissions counselor, I want to make this a positive and simple process, and develop a connection with my recruits. Overall, my job as a counselor is not just to evaluate applications, I am building relationships, offering trust, and helping students feel that they have someone in their corner. That foundational strong relationship can impact the student’s admissions decision as they feel supported from the beginning, which can lead to long-term success at the university.

Hawthorne, J., Zhang, Y., & Cooper, M. (2022). Advising undergraduate students: An exploration of how academic advising impacts student success. Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Practice, 24(2), 460–478.
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1347870.pdf.

Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2023). The leadership challenge: How to make extraordinary things happen in organizations (7 th ed.). Wiley.

McClellan, J. L. (2014). Developing trusting relationships in academic advising. Mentor: An Academic Advising Journal, 16.
https://journals.psu.edu/mentor/article/view/61269.

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The past few weeks of class, I learned about different leadership styles and charisma in the workplace. Writing my academic essay, I got the chance to learn a lot about the servant leadership model in depth. I found this model very interesting, as I did not know a lot about it before this class. When choosing my topic to write about, I did some brief research on the style, but became very interested in it the more I read. First, I found it very interesting how the origins of servant leadership developed from a character in a novel that Robert Greenleaf took inspiration from. The novel is Journey to the East by Hermann Hesse, which follows a servant named Leo who becomes a great leader (The International Journal of Servant-Leadership, 2023). Inspired by this model, was the servant leadership style where leadership is not based on power and authority, but that leaders arise with a desire to serve others and prioritize follower growth. I find this style and perspective interesting, as some leaders are only in it for their own gain, but true servant leaders are there to see the success of their followers. Learning about this style has made me more aware of my own leadership style. As a leader, I feel I will only feel successful if those I am leading are growing and improving, and this is something I will be taking into my own workplace.

The most recent discussions and textbook chapter also helped me understand charisma differently. Many people assume charisma is a “magical personality trait,” but The Leadership Challenge explains that charisma is a set of learned behaviors. The authors also emphasize that authenticity is key, when someone truly believes in something, their passion naturally makes them charismatic. As I interact with leaders myself, I’m going to pay closer attention to these types of behaviors. They can help me recognize when leaders genuinely care and are committed to their vision, and they’re also behaviors I can adopt to inspire others, strengthen commitment, and build belief in a shared purpose.

Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2023). The leadership challenge: How to make extraordinary things happen in organizations (7 th ed.). Wiley.

The International Journal of Servant-Leadership. (2023, September 26). Robert Greenleaf on Servant-Leadership. Gonzaga University. https://www.gonzaga.edu/news-events/stories/2023/9/26/robert-greenleaf-servant-leadership.

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Throughout Chapter 1 of the course material, the idea that leadership is not just about the titles or authority a person has, but their credibility as well. Especially the materials throughout week 2 really focus on this aspect of credibility. From chapter 1, the authors are looking at when leaders were at their personal best, and they found that a lot of leadership are learnable actions and skills, which creates that sense of credibility (Kouzes, 2023). Chapter 1, also outlines the Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership which include Model the Way, Inspire a Shared Vision, Challenge the Process, Enable Others to Act, and Encourage the Heart. In week 1, we also looked at these to see which we resonated with the most. Personally, I find enabling others to act is my leadership philosophy. Being an athlete for many years of my life, I always felt my coaches who prioritized building trust, collaboration, and empowerment I would typically thrive with. Now many coaches I had shared many of the exemplary leadership models, but learning about them and reflecting on my own leadership experience, I think enabling others to act is the center of leadership. As a young professional, I have the opportunity to manage eight undergraduate students as Admissions Ambassadors, and so far through my own natural leadership abilities I feel I have been building trust, having them collaborate with myself and each other, and empowering them to try new things and thrive in their roles. Even from the few weeks of this course so far, I have been able to consider new leadership strategies and what I can do to better those I am leading.

I also found Barry Posner’s TED Talk very informative, as it reinforces the role credibility plays in leadership. Posner’s statement “people will not believe the message if they don’t believe the messenger” (Posner, 2015), means that trust and authenticity are what define effective leaders. This idea can be seen frequently in politics, where a leader’s perceived credibility shapes the opinions of the public and their behaviors. Typically, people are persuaded by not purely data or policies, but by their belief in the messenger’s honesty and consistency. In the article “Government’s impression management strategies, trust in government, and social cohesion: Evidence from Songjiang University Town, China” it is explained that credibility and trust in government leaders play a crucial role in building the social cohesion and influencing the citizens’ willingness to follow the decisions and policies. Posner’s point is a reminder that credibility comes from integrity and ethical leadership, not manipulation and popularity. Overall, throughout the content this week, I have been able to gather a solid foundation for effective leadership.

References

Fan, J., Liang, W., & Zheng, H. (2022). Government’s impression management strategies, trust in government and social cohesion: An evidence from Songjiang University Town, China. Frontiers in Psychology, 13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.951579.

Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2023). The leadership challenge: How to make extraordinary things happen in organizations (7 th ed.). Wiley.

Posner, B. [TEDx Talks]. (2015, February 15). Why credibility is the foundation of leadership [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmMcSBQvQLQ.

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After reviewing the course description, outcomes, and assignments, I am looking forward to taking this high level course about leadership. As a young professional, it is very valuable to learn and understand leadership styles and how it affects the workplace. In my undergraduate coursework, I took a class called Organizational Behavior. This class dove into differences in the workplace, such as generational, cultural, and more showing how to understand and overcome challenges these could present. I believe that taking this course before is building a great foundation for the thought process and content looking to be studied in this course. The main difference is this course will be focused on understanding and developing leadership skills.

For an MBA and online course, the courseload seems fair and the syllabus is very clear with instructions, due dates, and assignments. I am interested in the materials we will be reviewing as well, as after completing the first discussion about leadership philosophies, I am eager to learn more. As a young professional, it will be extremely valuable to take this leadership course, as it will expose me to different ideas and give me a place to do my own research into the type of leader I can develop into. Including groupwork in this class is a great way to truly develop the skills we will be learning about. As academic group work requires leadership, delegation, time management, and all students to be on the same page. Overall, this course will be challenging, informative, and effectively teach the understanding of leadership styles.