I have experienced positional authority in the workplace. This has happened to me in the past at one of my former workplaces. My manager at the time (HR manager) made sure that everyone knew she was in a position of authority, and no one could do anything about it. She did not hold her position in a positive manner. She did not have any empathy for anyone. Therefore, she created a toxic environment in which there was no trust. This was dreadful, especially that I and my team were part of the HR department. Thankfully, now I do not experience this at my current workplace.

2.  What elements of ‘K-Cup’ acronym resonates most with you and why?

I really like the acronym ‘K-Cup.’ I will think of this from now on when I am making my coffee. All aspects of this acronym resonate with me. I say all because I like to always expand my knowledge. I take everything as a learning experience. I am sincere and I like to get to know people so that I can be a better influence on others. I am committed to anything that I do, and I am consistent at everything that I do. I am extremely understanding, sometimes I think too understanding. I also find myself setting the stage for the things that I do. I look for these tactics in other people I work with as well.

3. What skills do you think you need to develop further or refine in order to successfully lead teams and organizations? 

I feel that I can always develop my listening and feedback skills. This is extremely important within organizations especially as a leader. I would like to improve on constructive feedback, specifically working in HR. I always find myself going through a scenario in my head after a meeting and thinking that I could have managed the situation differently. I tend to analyze situations and take a longer time to give feedback because I like to process things first. However, there are times the situations require immediate feedback so sometimes it becomes a bit difficult. However, if I left something important out, I provide additional feedback later if the situation allows me to.

      
 2. The K-Cup acronym is interesting, and the way she presented it made a lot of sense. The one element that resonated the most with me was when she spoke about understanding. This made me think about when we talked about reading a person or reading the room. Understanding the other person and their point of view is very important. I feel like understanding can completely change the culture of an organization. 

    
3. I am comfortable enough to say that I would like to further develop all of the skills. I am always eager to learn new things and take constructive criticism well. I welcome it and see it as someone wanting to see me grow. There are many people out there whom I can gain much knowledge from. Developing my social skills would be one of the biggest ones I would like to create since I am transitioning back into the civilian world. 

2) Out of the K-Cup elements, which are knowledge, commitment and consistency, understanding, and priming, the elements that resonate with me most are knowledge and understanding. As they say, “knowledge without understanding is useless.” I think being aware of the people you work with or work for is crucial in understanding the workplace dynamic. Knowing how to approach a particular situation or certain someone can significantly impact workplace relationships that ultimately lead to positive influence. 

3) In the past couple of years, I can say that I have made improvements in my organizational, communication, and listening skills. However, I still need some refining in the area of time management and adaptability skills. I like to plan ahead and have moved away from procrastination. However, I feel like sometimes time is not on my side, and it throws things out of the loop. In terms of adaptability, change can be challenging, and change is hard to accept when you are used to specific ways. With everything constantly changing around us, it is essential to adapt accordingly and smoothly without feeling overwhelmed. 

2.  The K-Cup acronym that resonates the most with me is commitment and consistency. Anything I do or want to do I try and stay committed, focused, and consistent. I feel that at times it can be overwhelming to have this trait because you only want to do your best and succeed. If you come across an obstacle or challenging situation oftentimes people are too hard on themselves because they feel like they could do better or expected a better outcome.

 3.  I think overall improving skills all around is never a bad idea, there is always room to improve. Some skills I can further develop to lead teams successfully is being more accepting of new ideas that may create new changes. I think at times people get are in a comfort zone for a certain amount of time and dread changes at times. I also feel that for me working in a field where communication is key, I can say I am comfortable with communication skills and voicing my ideas or opinions. At times I become too much of an overthinker which I think can be worked on but then I feel it just comes naturally.

 

I have been lucky enough to work in places where positional authority has not been the way to manage people. Maybe when I worked in government, some decisions were made depending on the mood of the mayor and you just had to follow his whims even when you disagreed. Only because he had a positional authority. 

 

2)    What elements of the 'K-Cup' acronym resonates most with you and why?

 

I have always believed that knowledge is very powerful to lead, regardless of the position one has in the organization. I always told my team: “I want to be surrounded by people smarter than me, I am not afraid if you are smarter and have better ideas. If you shine, this team will too”. For this reason, I always promoted among the team members the desire to learn more and acquire more knowledge of the industry, the client and even the needs of the other team members. I believe that knowledge is power.

 

3)    What skills do you think you need to develop further or refine in order to successfully lead teams and organizations?

 

I think Priming will be one of the skills I need to develop. I'm very emotional, and sometimes you need to set the stage by not only understanding people's needs and challenges from a human perspective, but also from a technical perspective. So, setting the stage using logic could be helpful in leading better.

 

I have been lucky enough to work in places where positional authority has not been the way to manage people. Maybe when I worked in government, some decisions were made depending on the mood of the mayor and you just had to follow his whims even when you disagreed. Only because he had a positional authority. 

 

2)    What elements of the 'K-Cup' acronym resonates most with you and why?

 

I have always believed that knowledge is very powerful to lead, regardless of the position one has in the organization. I always told my team: “I want to be surrounded by people smarter than me, I am not afraid if you are smarter and have better ideas. If you shine, this team will too”. For this reason, I always promoted among the team members the desire to learn more and acquire more knowledge of the industry, the client and even the needs of the other team members. I believe that knowledge is power.

 

3)    What skills do you think you need to develop further or refine in order to successfully lead teams and organizations?

 

I think Priming will be one of the skills I need to develop. I'm very emotional, and sometimes you need to set the stage by not only understanding people's needs and challenges from a human perspective, but also from a technical perspective. So, setting the stage using logic could be helpful in leading better.