This Leadership Training class is going far better than I originally expected. Granted, slices of it are boring, useless, or so “common sense” it doesn’t do any good to teach it… at least not to me. But, that has always been one of my problems: I get very bored reviewing material I know, and since all of the members of the class aren’t on the same level, some review is required. I have to learn how to accept that, and wait for my time to come. This is one of those few topics that an actual class, as opposed to a text book, is what makes the learning possible, because it is a class about people, and dealing with people, and leading people, and working in teams. I would say 30% of it has been useful, and the rest stuff I already knew or is mindless repetition.
I’ve managed to learn how I interact with other people. All my life I thought I was one of the data-oriented, worker-bee type people… and I am. But, I have learned, by discussing my own personality with classmates, that I am more of a people oriented kind of person. I am good at resolving conflict, getting people to talk, and getting people to see my goal, or vision. Additionally, I am a challenger. Someone who plays devil’s advocate. Someone who wants the whole truth out on the table all the time.
I have also learned some things about my job (though this is through inference, more than direct teaching). No matter where I work, I am going to have conflicts with my boss unless he happens to be one of the few individuals that directly compliments me personality or if he happens to be a good leader, capable of seeing things from multiple perspectives, which is also quite rare. Because of this, it is up to me to appeal to him, and therefore influence him to see things my way, and give me the leverage I need.
I tend to approach people in a Dominant fashion. My thoughts are guided by fact, and truth, and what “makes sense”. But that type of logic (how ever silly I think this may be) doesn’t appeal to EVERYONE. In fact, given the cross-section of people on our class, it would only appeal to 5% of people.
I have a renewed faith in what I am capable of. I have a better understanding of my own strengths and weaknesses, and a clearer picture of what it takes to motivate me, and mold my surroundings into something that appeals to me. And these are all good things.
Yesterday, at the end of class, we participated in a simulation of a real world situation in which four groups of people with similar yet competing goals were joined together in a team in order to work together to help one another accomplish all of our goals. The exercise was left vague intentionally, to see how people would interact and what would get accomplished. When my turn came up to represent our group in the fourth round, I took over the meeting, got everyone talking, and made everyone realize what was important, and what wasn’t. It wasn’t until that round that the team really started to communicate with one another. Because of this, we accomplished so much in that final round, that all of our goals were met, and the simulation ended. There were some things I could have done better, quicker, and with less confusion or conflict… and it is good that I realize that. But, I am also pretty proud that I was the one who finally got things working. Our instructor said that very rarely does the simulation work out in such a fashion that EVERYONE ends up working out in the best possible fashion… and yet she is pretty certain (though she had some math to do that night to be absolutely sure) that our group did.
I have been called at least five times a day by my employees trying to get work done and not knowing where to go next. This shows me that I have been doing a bad job. Instead of taking the quick route and telling them what needed to be next, I put a little faith in them, guided them in the right direction to get the job done, and then left them on their own to do it. Not only did they eventually figure it out and correct the problem, but with subsequent calls they were even more capable of acting on their own, and needed even less from me… and that is a good thing. That little piece alone gives me new faith in my work, my employees, and in my place of employment.
Maybe my new findings are artificial. Maybe in the long run, it wont help one bit. But, although I will return to work tomorrow with some doubt, there is a ray of hope that wasn’t there before, and a plethora of new ideas to try running through my mind. If I am being duped, it won’t take me more than a few months to figure that out, and the advantages that exist in the event that those things I have learned are true and real, highly outweigh that two months time. It is a risk I am willing to take.
I also got to peg a girl in the back of the head with a stuffed animal fish while watching a video about “Pike Street Fish Market”‘s working environment. That was fun.
The class goes to lunch as a group, for the most part, as many of them are from out of town, and don’t know where else to go. I have been going to lunch on my own. When we returned to class yesterday, the instructor told me that they had been talking about me, though she didn’t say what about. I think I may have to eat lunch with them today to ensure that doesn’t happen again.
At one point during the class, we had to gather as groups to create a presentation using some of our new knowledge to prepare a presentation to persuade a fictitious person (the Vice President of another department) to accept our ideas. We were selecting who should give the presentation when one of our team members said to me, “We’ll it certainly can’t be you. Not unless you got a hair cut, shaved your face, and were a few years older.” That really pissed me off. I wanted so badly to tell him that I have given SUCCESSFUL presentations to MANY a Vice President with no change in my appearance or age. I just let it slide, however. I wish I wouldn’t have done that. I tend to be non-confrontational in personal matters, and I believe that is a big weakness of mine. I can be far too agreeable at times in an effort to “keep the peace”.
Today is our last day of class. Just as I went in yesterday thinking, “There is no way she can possibly teach me anything else”, I am going in that way today. But we’ll see.