Wow! What a disaster! This week taught me so much in leadership it's mind boggling. In teams, we played a leadership game,selecting from a wide variety of scenerios that mimic much of what we do in school. The object, I think, was to choose the correct path toward making our school into an ongoing learning community. I really thought this was going to be a breeze, especially when I discovered that we didn't actually have to create the tasks, just get them in the right order. I couldn't have been more wrong, and now I have no idea what I'm doing for the continuation of the game this next week.
Overall, there were really two paths of leadership we were following. The first was the game itself which asked us to decide what steps we need to make to initiate change and keep it ongoing in a positive direction. As stated above, I was a flop. The second path, however, was just as meaningful and in some ways taught me even more, and that was the dynamics happening in our team. Of the five or so, I would say three for sure were outspoken, myself included (no surprise there). The other two were very helpful but were more on the quiet side and had difficulty getting their ideas out there for the rest of us. And of course as it turns out, one of those people, in particular, is extremely knowledgable. We should have listened to her much more, but the more talkative ones were too anxious to make decisions and attempt to get the game moving forward. We were definitely Scurry and Sniff, but unlike these two rats, we never made it to the golden pot of cheese. The others were more Hem and Haw, but Jenny in particular was Haw, conservative, reflective, and questionning. Too bad the rest of us didn't pay more attention to her. We'll know better next week.
So, again, I'm thrilled that we participated in this activity because it taught me a ton. I used to think I would want a bunch of Sniff and Scurrys on my team, but now I see there is a real need for Hems and Haws to question the paths and to articulate the correct order of things. I hope this week's game-playing goes better, and my goal is to try to listen to my "Haw" a little more.
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Kara, you are right on, I just couldn't take more than about 2 seconds of silence before chiming in. I really do need to learn how to shut up and listen sometimes. You'll have one less Scurry or Sniff to worry about next week, as I'll be gone to the nation's capital. Good Luck.
ReplyDeleteI, too, have learned to appreciate the Hems and Haws out there, Kara. What a wake up call. I am finding it IS about how you get there as much as it is about where you end up...
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