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Gene 402A Leadership Learning Project Leadership Overview “Serve the World” is one of three emphases in the College of Arts and Sciences mission; that is, we want students to have a heart for service as Christ did for His people and the world.Kouzes and Posner identify enable others to act and encourage the heart as the final two practices of exemplary leaders. As you will read in this course, these practices are associated with specific leadership commitments: Enable others to act requires a leader toFoster collaboration by promoting cooperative goals and building trust.Strengthen others by sharing power and discretion.And encourage the heart requires a leader toRecognize contributions by showing appreciation for individual excellence.Celebrate the values and victories by creating a spirit of community. Kouzes and Posner –especially in Chapter 7 – use servant leadership to help frame these two practices. For many, servant leadership is anchored in the life of Christ: “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men” (Philippians. 2:4-7). The Apostle Paul continues in verses 12 and following, encouraging Christ’s followers to do as Christ did; that is, to lead as a servant. In Matthew 20, Christ offers his disciples this framework for leadership: Jesus called them together and said, “You know the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. (verses 25-28) Service is an integral part of what it means to be a Christian and a leader. For this project, you will be given the opportunity to study leadership from within a service role or through the observation of a recognized leader. Leadership Project Overview For this course, students will have to participate in a 10-hour experiential learning activity. The activity can be one of the following forms: (1) service learning, or (2) leadership learning. This activity will serve as the basis for your final leadership paper. One of the purposes of this assignment is to give you an opportunity to see leadership in action. This assignment provides students the opportunity to apply their knowledge of leadership by evaluating the skills, values, methods, and performance of people in leadership. Through personal observation, the student will determine the leadership’s strengths and weaknesses, but, most importantly, how that individual’s or organization’s approach to leadership conforms or diverges from the model presented by Kouzes and Posner in The Leadership Challenge text. In a written report, the student will comment on the leadership’s compliance with the Kouzes and Posner model, and provide recommendations on how that leadership could improve in light of this model. Finally, students will have an opportunity to reflect on the experience and describe what they learned and how it will help them in their own leadership journey. Both options require the student to (a) participate in an activity and (b) observe leadership during that activity. The difference is that for the service learning option, the central activity is volunteering service to an organization while indirectly observing the leadership within that organization; for the leadership learning option, the central activity is to directly interact (“shadow”) and observe a specific leader within an organization. Here is an example that may help clarify the options: 1) Service-learning at a crisis pregnancy center: Student will volunteer for 10-hours of service at the crisis pregnancy center, assisting, for example, with answering phones or taking information from clients. During that 10 hours, the student will also be observing the organization’s leadership approach, taking notes, and reporting on it in the final paper. 2) Leadership learning at a crisis pregnancy center: Student will seek and gain permission to spend time (10 hours) with a leader at the crisis pregnancy center. The student will “shadow” that leader, perhaps observing him or her at meetings, during interactions with staff, and engaging in other administrative duties. If possible, the student may conduct a brief interview with the leader to learn more about his or her approach to leadership. The findings of this activity will be reported in the final paper. The project is comprised of three parts: Leadership Project (Part 1) – Experiential Learning Activity Approval AssignmentLeadership Project (Part 2) – Experiential Learning Activity Completion AssignmentLeadership Project (Part 3) – Leadership Report/Reflective Essay Assignment Each part will be described in detail later in this document. The two activity options for this project are described below. Option 1 – Service Learning The student needs to arrange to serve in a community or church-related service activity. Where possible, the student is encouraged to select a service-learning activity related to his or her major; for example, a literature major may choose an activity to help young students to read or write; a psychology or Christian ministry student may help in a counseling ministry; an arts student may volunteer at a local community theater. Use the following questions to help you select and participate in your service learning activity: What is the identified problem/community need you hope to address?How does your service learning experience relate to the learning objectives of the course?What is your experience with this issue to date? What do you believe you can do to address the issue or influence the situation during this semester and in the future?Is this an issue/field in which you are prepared to be a leader? During this service-learning activity, the student will also be observing the leadership style and activities of those at the community group, church, or ministry. This observation is important in order to complete the second part of the Leadership Project (see below). Observation During the 10-hour period of your service-learning activity, you should be intentional in observing the leadership in the community group, church, ministry, or other service-learning venue in which you are serving. You will need to report on your observations in the final leadership project. You can focus on one individual or make observations about the general leadership approach within the organization. The observations do not have to take place in one 10-hour block of time. As an alternative, for example, the activity could be spread over a week utilizing approximately two hours a day. The purpose of your observation will be to relate the observed leadership practices to the Kouzes and Posner “Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership” and determine how closely the leader’s or organization’s approach reflects the model. To help you in your observations, select at least eight (8) questions to keep in mind during your 10-hour service learning experience. You can use some of the following questions adapted (with additions) from Kouzes and Posner’s online resource, The Student Leadership Challenge, or you can develop your own: What strengths and weaknesses does the leader/leadership exhibit?Does the leader/leadership encourage others and make them feel strong and confident? If so, what does the leader/leadership do to make them feel this way?Does the leader/leadership delegate? If so, provide examples. What does the leader/leadership do to enable others to be successful?Does this leader/leadership build relationships of trust in the group or organization?Which of the “Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership” practices and commitments does the leader/leadership demonstrate or not demonstrate? Note concrete examples.What values does the leader/leadership seem to hold and how are they reflected in their actions? How are those values expressed? How does the leader/leadership facilitate improvement, manage change, and deal with mistakes in the group or organization? How does the leader/leadership deal with their own mistakes?How does the leader/leadership manage conflict within the group or organization?What strengths and weaknesses does the leader exhibit?Does the leader encourage others and make them feel strong and confident? If so, what does the leader do to make them feel this way?Does the leader delegate? If so, provide examples. What does this leader do to enable others to be successful?Does this leader build relationships of trust in the group or organization?Which of the “Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership” practices and commitments does the leader demonstrate or not demonstrate? Note concrete examples.What values does this leader seem to hold and how are they reflected in his or her actions? How are those values expressed? How does this leader facilitate improvement, manage change, and deal with mistakes in the group or organization? How does he or she deal with his or her own mistakes?How does the leader manage conflict within the group or organization? You may want to keep a journal so that you can jot down what you observe (including examples) during the activity or at the end of the day. Option 2 – Leadership Learning For this option, the student needs to identify a specific leader that is willing to participate in this activity. The student will “shadow” a leader, spending time with that leader and observing that leader in his or her daily activities for approximately 10 hours. The student should select someone who is a leader within his or her area of interest (i.e., major). For example, if you are a literature or education major, you may want to shadow a teacher or school administrator; as a government major, you may want to shadow a local council member or mayor; as a Christian ministry major, you may want to shadow a pastor or local ministry leader; a business major may want to shadow a business owner. This assignment is designed to help you better understand leadership in your field of interest. The experience will include observation of the leader in his or her interactions with superiors, peers, and followers in order to evaluate the applicability of the Kouzes and Posner leadership model in real-life environments. The observations do not have to take place in one 10-hour block of time. As an alternative, for example, the observations could be spread over a week utilizing approximately two hours a day. Observation During the 10-hour period of your leadership learning activity, be intentional in observing the individual’s leadership behaviors, relationships, and interactions. You will need to report on your observations in the final leadership project. The purpose of your observation will be to relate the observed leadership practices to the Kouzes and Posner “Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership” and determine how closely that leader’s style and behaviors reflect the model. To help you in your observations, select at least eight (8) questions to keep in mind during your 10-hour leadership learning experience. You can use some of the following questions adapted (with additions) from Kouzes and Posner’s online resource, The Student Leadership Challenge, or you can develop your own: You may want to keep a journal so that you can jot down what you observe (including examples) during the activity or at the end of the day. Also, as you “shadow” the leader, you may want to take advantage of opportunities to ask the leader direct questions about his or her leadership approach. Leadership Learning Project Assignment Leadership Project (Part 1) – Experiential Learning Activity Approval Assignment For this first part of this project, please submit your learning activity proposal to your professor for approval through an assignment manager link within Blackboard (see the syllabus for the due date). Once approved, you can begin your experiential learning activity. Remember, the final paper is dependent on this activity; therefore, be sure you complete it early enough in the semester so that you have time to reflect upon it for that final paper. In an MS Word document, submit the following information to your professor: 1. Leadership project option (Service learning or leadership learning) a. If service learning, submit responses to the following items to your professor: What is the name of the organization?Briefly describe (in a few sentences) the organization and its role in the community.What is the identified problem/community need you hope to address?How does your service learning experience relate to the learning objectives of the course?What is your experience with this issue to date? b. If leadership learning, submit responses to the following items to your professor: Name of the leaderCompany, organization, or group associated with the leaderThe leader’s position/title in the company, organization, or groupThe size of the group for which the leader is responsibleThe number of years the leader has served in a leadership capacityA brief description of the role and responsibilities of this leader, and how this leader relates to your discipline (major, minor, etc.) 2. This should be no more than one (1) page in length. Submit the document to your professor through the assignment manager link in Blackboard according to the schedule outlined in the syllabus. Leadership Project (Part 2) – Experiential Learning Activity Completion Assignment For this second part of the project, you will notify your professor that your experiential learning activity (service-learning or leadership learning activity) has been completed. For this assignment, please submit the following information through Blackboard as an MS Word document: 1. Date(s), location(s), and time(s) of the 10 hours of service-learning or leadership learning. 2. The list of questions (at least eight (8)) you used for the leadership observation with brief bulleted responses to each question. 3. This should be no more than two (2) pages in length. Please submit this assignment through the assignment manager link in Blackboard. Check the course schedule in the syllabus for the due date. Leadership Project (Part 3) – Leadership Report/Reflective Essay Assignment This final part of the leadership project is based upon your 10-hour experiential learning activity that was approved by your professor and completed earlier in the semester. This experience was one of two types: (1) service learning, or (2) leadership learning. For this assignment, you will write a 2000-2250 word paper which will consist of two major parts: (1) a report on your service learning or leadership learning activity, and (2) a reflection essay. The structure of the paper will include three (3) sections: (1) a report, (2) a reflective essay, and (3) references. Section 1 – Report The report should be about 1500 words in length and comprised of the following: (a) introduction, (b) brief summary of your service learning/leadership learning activity, (c) brief summary of the results of your observations, (d) a critique of the leader/leadership, including strengths and/or weaknesses in light of the Kouzes and Posner model, and (e) your recommendations for improvement for that leader/leadership. Section 2 – Reflective essay The reflection essay should be about 750 words. Write an essay on what you personally learned from this activity. This should not be a repeat of the report section, but an overview of what you learned and how you can use this information in your own leadership experiences. Be sure to tie in the themes from The Leadership Challenge model, the Scriptures, and other texts and resources from the course on character, culture, and service. 1)Identify and describe at least one specific personal characteristic of yours that you now understand better as a result of reflection on your experiential learning experience. Specifically, what personal strength, weakness, assumption about yourself or others, belief, conviction, character trait, etc. have you become aware of, or more aware of, as a result of reflection on your this experience? 2) Apply your understanding of this particular personal characteristic in the context of your leadership experiences and other areas of your life. Specifically, how does/might this characteristic positively and/or negatively affect your interactions with others, your decisions, and/or your leadership activities and in other areas of your life? 4) Develop and evaluate your strategies for personal growth. Specifically, what is a significant way to use this new awareness in your life over the long-term, so you can continue to improve upon your process of personal growth? How will you assess or monitor your progress in this personal growth process so that you can continue to make changes? 5) How has your view/definition of Christian leadership changed from the start of this course? How has your service or leadership learning experience contributed to that view? What did you learn from the leader/leadership you observed? Note: Questions adapted from Ash, Clayton, & Moses (2004 draft) in Sessa, Matos, & Hopkins (2009) Section 3 – References Include references used in your paper using the appropriate style.
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