Leadership is the ability to guide people through experiences and circumstances. A quote that I always keep in mind in relation to leadership by George E. M. Kelly states “Remember the difference between a boss and a leader. A boss says, ‘Go!’ and a leader says, ‘Let’s go!” In my life I have witnessed quite a few bosses with the “Go!” sentiment as their leadership style and because of that, I was never comfortable and never felt supported. The bosses that had the “Let’s go!” sentiment saw success in almost all of the goals that are set out for them. The best bosses I have had work with those in lower positions and want those people to succeed. There are two leadership styles that I remember from high school, authoritarian and laisse-faire. Authoritarian leadership has a supervisor that gives orders and laisse-faire has a supervisor that lets things happen as they occur. I learned that a bit of mixed leadership styles worked depending on situations and what was comfortable for everyone involved.
            Student affairs professionals work to assist students in becoming successful in their higher education experiences. The ACPA and NASPA (2019) created standards that help higher education professionals understand the expectations of them in their career field. The leadership standard written by the ACPA and NASPA states that the student affairs professional candidate must understand “the individual role of a leader and the leadership process of individuals working together to envision, plan, and affect change in organizations and respond to broad-based constituencies and issues” (2019, p. 13). When John Hopkins University hired three new leaders on their campus they looked for specific criteria such as showing leadership in prior roles, taking initiatives to better student life on their campus, and their rapport with students, faculty, and staff (2019). My leadership role should be to make a difference in the higher education student lives. As a success coach I should use my rapport with student organizations, faculty and staff, and community organizations to find supports for the students in my care. By using those relationships, I can lead the department in ways of using their connections to help our students.
            The values that are most important for leaders in the higher education student affairs field are trustworthiness, respectful, knowledgeable, and flexible. When these values were put into place by an English higher education institution within their leaders, students were more comfortable talking about difficult subjects and students were positive in their explanations of the support that the institutions provided (Jameson, 2012). In order to observe these values Aarvold, Ardolino, Boyd, Kelsall, McGillion, Hodkinson, and Goodwin looked into leaders in United Kingdom institutes and medical hospitals and found that in some circumstances the values were dropped in order to be successful in efficiency within the hospitals, but overall the values were upheld and promoted (2011).

Aarvold, A., Ardolino, A., Boyd, R., Kelsall, N., McGillion, S., Hodkinson, S., & Goodwin, M. (2011). Lessons in leadership from an international exchange visit. International Journal of Clinical Leadership, 17(2), 87–92. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.easydb.angelo.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=61959021&site=ehost-live

ACPA & NASPA. (2019). ACPA: College student educators international. 1-38. Retrieved from             http://www.myacpa.org/

Jameson, J. (2012). Leadership Values, trust and negative capability: Managing the uncertainties of future English higher education. Higher Education Quarterly, 66(4), 391–414. https://doi-org.easydb.angelo.edu/10.1111/j.1468-2273.2012.00533.x

John Hopkins University. (2019). Student affairs, athletics announce changes in leadership. Retrieved from https://hub.jhu.edu/2019/08/06/student-affairs-leadership-restructuring/

Author: Adrianna Kezar and Jaime Lester

            Adrianna Kezar is Professor of Higher Education at the University of Southern California and co-director of Pullias Center for Higher Education (Kezar, 2019). Kezar prides herself on her understanding of leadership and its practicality in higher education. Jaime Lester is the Associate Dean of Faculty Development and Strategic Initiatives in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences and a professor of the Higher Education Program at George Mason University (Lester, 2019). The authors worked together when Lester was working on her Ph.D., in which she also received in the humanities and leadership.

            While looking through the reading list and searching away from it, this book continuously seemed appealing. The idea of grassroots leaders is uncommon in current culture. Society has put celebrities or famous/infamous personalities as the focus for leadership. Grassroots leaders are the everyday people that do everyday things that show leadership. Everyday leaders in higher education is a belief and understanding that could change society and make a difference for the future.

            A quick summary of the book includes a progression of how grassroots leaders can become known and celebrated. The initial step is to make the “invisible visible” by calling out individuals, instructors or other professionals that are leading a change or making a difference in her classroom and making sure every knows that grassroots leaders are important (Kezar & Lester, 2011, p. 3). The second section looks at specific leaders that the authors have witnessed, strategies utilized by grassroots leaders, and challenges that society and grassroots leaders face (Kezar & Lester, 2011). Finally, the last section lays out implications that grassroots leaders might have on higher education and the world once implemented.

            Major themes that the book hit on include the varying definitions of leadership, how those variations direct perspectives, grassroots leaders, and power in higher education. The authors make it clear that the definitions of leadership depend on cultural influences, ethnic backgrounds, prior experiences, and organization which together assist in direction of perspectives (Kezar & Lester, 2011). The grassroots leaders theme is the underlying theme of the entire book in which professors, students, administration, and staff are highlighted to emphasize what leaders look like in the higher education school system. As a society we give power to those we see as leaders, and when celebrities are those with power we miss out on the normal guy doing everything he can to make a difference on the street.

            Kezar and Lester (2011) understand that the main perspectives given in the work is that of administrators and teachers and lacks input from students. Statistical data was taken that represented the student input, but then highlights the other perspectives missing in the book, “community groups and coalitions of interested parties” (Kezar & Lester, 2011, p. 336). Other than actual characters with perspectives from the book the overall perspective is that of two authors that want to see change in higher education through instruction in leadership of faculty, staff, and administration.

            The book brought up ideas I had not thought about before. Leadership in the school system was always something that I thought was prominent in my life; however, after reading I realized that I do not foster leaders well. In short, I completely agree with the themes that Kezar and Lester referenced and was truly surprised by the content. My thoughts of leadership changed as the authors defined the different definitions of leadership.

            Enhancing Campus Capacity for Leadership pointed out individual leaders, strategies to create leaders, and even implications of what those leaders will look like in higher education. The example leaders are role models to show students as well as co-workers. Professional development can be considered to utilize the strategies that Kezar and Lester specify in multiple chapters. Student success professionals can utilize the book to give examples of everyday people that made, or are making a difference. Advisers can use the same strategies that make a leader to empower students to make the best decisions for themselves and thus being leaders in their own lives. Kezar and Lester’s understanding of leadership in higher education highlights everyday leaders that gave of themselves to benefit people around them. In every chapter and every example servant leadership is evident and the leaders utilize it with confidence. In other words in order to successfully use the information from the book future leaders must have at least a small bit of capacity to serve and thus be a servant leader.

             The values that are most important for leaders in the higher education student affairs field are trustworthiness, respectful, knowledgeable, and flexible. Student affairs professionals work to assist students in becoming successful in their higher education experiences. The ACPA and NASPA (2019) created standards that help higher education professionals understand the expectations of them in their career field. The leadership standard written by the ACPA and NASPA states that the student affairs professional candidate must understand “the individual role of a leader and the leadership process of individuals working together to envision, plan, and affect change in organizations and respond to broad-based constituencies and issues” (2019, p. 13). This book highlights these values and standards by giving examples, but it also examines ways that we can implement them. Without reading this book you can be a proficient leader, but what if you could be a great one simply by understanding how others have been successful?

References

ACPA & NASPA. (2019). ACPA: College student educators international. 1-38. Retrieved from             http://www.myacpa.org/

Kezar, A. (2019). Adrianna Kezar. Adriannakezar.com. Retrieved from http://www.adriannakezar.com/

Kezar, A., & Lester, J. (2011). Enhancing campus capacity for leadership: An examination of grassroots leaders in higher education. Library of Congress. Stanford University Press: California. 

Lester, J. (2019). Jaime Lester. Higher Education: College of Humanities and Social Sciences. Retrieved from https://highered.gmu.edu/people/jlester2 

Title/Position: Human Resources (HR) Director and Human Resources Instructor at McLennan Community College (MCC)

            This interview was a privilege and one that will stay with me as I continue on in my work to become a strong leader as I got to talk with one of the strongest leaders I know; my mother. When we were tasked with interviewing a leader in education, I created a list of possibilities including my immediate supervisor, our department chair, one of the vice presidents, or even the president. However, the more I thought about it, the harder it was for me to convince myself that Melissa, Missy, Kittner was not the right person. Over the course of my time in the M. Ed. SDL program I have interviewed leaders from all of the student affairs fields the local community colleges utilizes, my dean, and even a VP, but I had never interviewed the department that is tasked with employee well-being. Human Resources is charged with hiring, firing, enforcing college policies and procedures, but what most people miss is that the department also is charged with assisting others on office issues or communicating with the whole campus about future changes (The Role of Human Resources, 2017).

            Melissa Kittner has an office staff of four employees that work together to assist over 1000 employees and retirees of MCC, all while being aware of issues that the leadership team, president and vice presidents, might need assistance with when the challenges relate to employees (M. Kittner, personal communication, November 20, 2019). Based on the understanding that the HR office is tasked with and the interview with Ms. Kittner, her leadership style is that of a Team Leader, where each member of her office are a piece of the puzzle that would be lacking if one of those pieces were missing (Raza, 2017). However, Kittner also has some Autocratic tendencies, in which there is one boss that has the responsibility of anything that occurs in the office (Raza, 2017). The Human Resources office staff work hard independently, but Ms. Kittner understands that the final responsibility of decisions made from the office falls on her shoulders. If the leadership team has a question about something going on in their divisions or a question on a decision made from her office, they will go to Ms. Kittner as the responsible party, and if there is an issue that arises because of a decision made in her office she takes the consequence on herself as the leader. Taking on the consequences of others is a leadership characteristic trait of Servant Leadership, in which she would place her employees’ well-being over her own (Raza, 2017). Together the three leadership styles of Team, Autocratic, and Servant Leadership make-up Melissa Kittner as a leader within her leadership position of Human Resources Director.

            Melissa Kittner started her work experience as a computer programmer working for Southwestern Life Insurance and Dy-Tronix. Through that career she was able to travel the world, but found that she wanted to settle down (M. Kittner, personal communication, November 20, 2019). She found a home at FINA: Oil and Chemical, as a computer programmer, where she met her husband and started a family. Kittner realized that the hustle of the city was not where she wanted her children to grow up, so the family moved to Waco, TX, Kittner’s claimed hometown. In the fall of 2001, Kittner got her start-up position at McLennan Community College (MCC) as the Human Resources Technician, where she did data entry and analyzed all types of information to support the Human Resources office. After approximately two years, Ms. Kittner started to move up the ranks in the office, which lead to becoming the HR Director in 2014 (M. Kittner, personal communication, November 20, 2019).

·         What guides how you interact with a team or other individuals? 

·         What does a typical work day look like as a leader in your office?

·         What are some habits you maintain that make you a good leader?

·         When and how do you share your vision?

·         What influences your leadership style? 

·         How do you make decisions?

·         What is one characteristic you believe every leader should have?

·         What challenges do you face as a leader in either fields you work in?

·         Do you see your leadership role staying the same in the future? Why or Why not?

            On the day-to-day, Ms. Kittner is asked to accomplish a number of tasks including welcoming new hires or letting someone go from their position at MCC. Her day can also consist of assisting retirees in transitions to retirement, handling issues like Title IX and Equal Employment Occupation Commission (EEOC) (M. Kittner, personal communication, November 20, 2019). Ms. Kittner says that “atypical days should not be consistent but when they are they look like payroll issues, inter-personal conflicts within employee situations, and investigations of all types when they include employees, and dealing with questions that arise from applicants” (personal communication, November 20, 2019). 

            In order to successfully navigate all that is asked of Ms. Kittner and the HR office, Ms. Kittner delegates to her team. She tries to meet with her team both individually and as a group; she tries to be transparent in all that she does with them; she tries to lead by example like working on the weekends when there is something that needs to be accomplished on a timeframe. Kittner keeps in mind that school policies and procedures guide how higher education employees interact, but she also works to make sure that she interacts with everyone on the level that they need (M. Kittner, personal communication, November 20, 2019). She works hard to be transparent with her team by letting them know her goals and visions for the office and college and how everyone can work together to achieve those ideals. However, Human Resources has restrictions based on state and federal statutes, college policies and procedures, and precedents set by past incidents. The Texas Education Agency sets a Code of Ethics for educators to follow in Texas. Educators are held to a standard of professionalism and ethics that creates a healthy learning environment for all students including those with disabilities (Educators’ Code of Ethics, 19 Tex. Admin. Code § 247.2). It is the requirement of the Human Resources Department to enforce these ethics. Other decisions are based on all the factors that contribute to what made the decision necessary as sometimes there is grey area in situations. 

            Ms. Kittner makes it clear that she cannot accomplish everything she absolutely has to in one day, if she does not maintain habits that allow for growth mindset. According to Ms. Kittner, “I get in early so that I can get the everyday things done before the hustle and bustle of the day gets started (It makes my day go a bit smoother). I take stress breaks like taking a quick walk around campus, coloring, and laughing (we do a lot of that)” (M. Kittner, personal communication, November 20, 2019). Ms. Kittner prides herself in the relationships that she has fostered through working at the community college which assists the HR Director in her stress management including taking advantage of low cost massages and facials from the cosmetology department. The Cosmetology Department is one that id located completely across campus from the Human Resources Department, which means that she does not see those employees often. She works to make contact with department heads and other employees through lunches and campus-wide meet-and-greets.

            Unfortunately, even with positive stress management strategies there are still challenges that Ms. Kittner and her team have to overcome. Kittner lists the typical challenges as “remembering to look at each situation individually, remembering that what you think about a person is not all that makes them, dealing with multiple generational levels to communicate issues, and having enough time to do all that is required” (M. Kittner, personal communication, November 20, 2019). Even though there are rules and regulations each situation that comes along is different as the people involved are typically different and come into the situation with their own backgrounds and futures. In the same way each individual person involved in the situations are not always as they seem, meaning that what someone knows about someone else is not everything about that initial person.

            In the position that Ms. Kittner holds, the employees she is responsible for can range in age from 18 to 105 and volunteers can be even younger than 18 (M. Kittner, personal communication, November 20, 2019). The intergenerational aspect of the job creates challenges in understanding of situations, technologies, and each other. In order to overcome those challenges, Kittner says that it is important for leaders to have people skills which include empathy, mediation skills, active listening, and problem solving (M. Kittner, personal communication, November 20, 2019). Storey, Ullrich, and Wright explain that diversity that comes with different cultures and perspectives can be challenging, but that the best way they found to overcome those issues is through open communication, modeling, and collaborative work (2019). Due to the rigor of the position there are many times that as a leader personal time is used to fulfill the regular obligations let alone any added responsibilities. Good teamwork helps the intense schedule, but Kittner sees a need for more employees on her team that can eliminate too much overload on the current members of the Human Resources Department.

            The Director of Human Resources is a position that is always changing because of state and federal legislation, technology, and the workforce (M. Kittner, personal communication, November 20, 2019). Leaders have to be flexible and change with the environment around them. Storey, Ullrich, and Wright (2019) define flexibility as “a characteristic or a trait signifying an ability to meet changing competitive needs” (p. 77). The different leadership types see flexibility and environmental change in diverse ways. Team leaders rely on the team members to work with flexible schedules and help communicate environment changes accurately. Autocratic leadership understands the flexibility and change are necessary, but would rather the decisions be black and white with little, or no, grey area. Leaders like Ms. Kittner, who use both team and autocratic leadership can utilize both understandings of flexibility and environmental change by realizing that some things have one or two answers, but that there are situations that require more thought in order to understand. Ms. Kittner’s aptitude for being a servant to others helps her see the grey areas, and see the fair choices that have to be made in situations.

             Student affairs professionals work to lead students in making the best decisions for their future. One thing learned from this interview is that a good leader does not have one leadership style, but is made up of multiple. Good leaders also know that different situations call for different leadership styles in order to be successful. Ms. Kittner passed on some advice a mentor gave about making decisions “if you are told to make five, there are multiple ways of getting there, in the grand scheme of things does it matter how you get there” (M. Kittner, personal communication, November 20, 2019)? She went on to explain that she thinks about her mentor’s advice every time a new situation comes up and how he led his division at MCC. A good leader and in turn student affairs professional would take the advice of Ms. Kittner’s mentor and use it to assist those that come into the office looking for assistance and those that want to see some sort of change in the world. As a leader in the student affairs field there are going to be situations that fall into categories, but more often than not there will be situations that do not fit a typical scenario and will require flexibility and changing with the environment. By utilizing more than one leadership style, understanding how to overcome challenges, and listening to mentors the student affairs field, or specific professional, can be successful as a leader in education.

  

Educators’ Code of Ethics, 19 Tex. Admin. Code § 247.2.

Raza, A. (2017). 12 Different types of leadership styles. WiseToast [Blog]. Retrieved from https://wisetoast.com/types-of-leadership-styles/

Storey, J., Ulrich, D., & Wright, P. M. (2019). Strategic human resource management : A research overview. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.easydb.angelo.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=2042824&site=eds-live

The Role of Human Resources. (2017). Video Education America (VEA)[Video]. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.easydb.angelo.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cat00792a&AN=ram.918517&site=eds-live 

            Based on my knowledge of myself I believe that my numbers will not be low, but they will not be at the highest levels. For self-awareness I predict that I will receive a five or six because I understand my strengths and weaknesses but my emotional understanding is not always the best. In the same way that I do not always understand my emotions, my management can be lacking so I believe I will receive a four or five for self-management. I do not have outbursts or anything extreme, but sometimes my emotions can influence a responding reaction. The numbers connected to social awareness should be high, eight to ten, because I work to be a positive role model and overall example in social situations and for the same reasons my relationship management should be high.

            The emotional intelligence quiz is beneficial in more than one instance including highlighting strengths or weaknesses, and giving an individual a holistic view of themselves. As the students take the quiz they are required to grade themselves on their reactions to the situations in the questions. Throughout the quiz, the students have to self-assess and is eye-opening no matter the final outcome. After the completion of the quiz the student is given a score for each area so that the student can see the areas that she should work on to improve her emotional intelligence.

            Overall the results from the quiz were higher than I anticipated, but through analysis the results to do not surprise me. Self-awareness and self-management were at the mid-level of seven, which means that I am able to recognize my emotions. However, as I predicted originally, my management of those emotions can be mismanaged. At the onset of this assignment, I looked at those two areas individually rather than working off of each other. Through reflection, you can see how both areas rely on each other instead of self-awareness only relying on management. Management can influence awareness through creating stressful situations in which emotions are the instigators. The results of social awareness and relationship management were as predicted both high at nines. The findings simply show that I am aware of myself within my community and society.

            Based on my self-assessment, what I know from prior knowledge, and what I learned in the module I would say that the results of the study are accurate with the knowledge that the scores may be a bit high. The results may be skewed higher simply because some days you might answer the questions one way and another day the answers may be different. Goleman’s belief that emotional intelligence is about the abilities to recognize, understand, and manage one’s emotions is evident by quizzes as exemplified by the one taken. My results show that I can recognize and understand my emotions, but my management is the area that I need to take focus. In short, my results confirm Goleman’s understanding of the importance of emotional intelligence.

            The results give a holistic view of the individual taking the quiz, and from there the person can analyze what areas are weakest, and in my case I need to work on managing my emotions so that they do not influence my actions. A good leader understands their strengths and weaknesses, but is also willing to work on them. I can personally use my results to develop my character, but also to model how to manage emotions. Personal experience gives student affairs professionals’ stories to use for examples and can help these leaders empathize and show further compassion.

            As I mentioned before, my scores were higher than I expected and a reason for that skew could have been because I was thinking differently than when I completed the reflection. Limitations of the quiz include the individual foul-ability, in which individuals would choose one answer today that they may not tomorrow, and the other limitation is that the quiz cannot read a person’s mind or emotions. Since the quiz itself could not read individual minds or emotions it cannot be exact and therefore liable to inaccuracies. The strengths of assessments like the emotional intelligence quiz include those that were mentioned previously such as a holistic view of the individuals and questions that require reflection.

            Student affairs professionals are obligated to assist students throughout their college experiences, which includes entrance, during, and at the end of that experience. Student success coaches are tasked with assisting students during the college experience so a specific scenario where an emotional intelligence assessment might be given is if a student is uncomfortable in their current situation in school. This means that the student is either having troubles with classes, life, or community or they do not know how they feel about the situations at the time. The success coach would have the student complete the EI assessment and discuss what the results could indicate. The findings may come out that the student needs academic or outside campus supports as shown be their emotional understanding. They could also indicate that the student is actually comfortable within the current situation and simply need help managing their emotions or other aspects of their situation.

Gleeson, B. (2015). 5 Aspects of emotional intelligence required for effective leadership. Inc. This Morning [Blog]. Retrieved from https://www.inc.com/brent-gleeson/5-aspects-of-emotional-intelligence-required-for-effective-leadership.html

Mind Tools. (2019). Emotional intelligence in leadership. Mind Tools: Essential skills for an excellent career [Blog]. Retrieved from https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_45.htm