"Effective Leadership Creates Leaders, not Followers"

We recently met up with Ms. Lana for a presentation about leadership and working in groups. We went through multiple activities and leadership concepts, most of which I was familiar with since Ms. Lana taught a similar course in my ILM certification, though the ILM course was more detailed, and this course focused more on the entire team. While this means that I don't have a lot to write about, as visiting the Eiffel Tower is more marvelous the first time, I still got to refresh on my knowledge of leadership. I also enjoyed how Ms. Lana was light-heartedly asking me more questions and pointing out that I had taken the course before during this presentation. Although frankly, taking the course before made it harder for me to enjoy the class, there was an activity that shook me up, so to speak. In this activity, we had to complete a simple task: build a box. However, it was more challenging than we expected.

The main problem was that we were given way too many materials to build a box, but had to use all of them, wheels that had no place, strings with no structure, and most damming of all, there was a time limit. As expected from a team of people who barely qualify as adults, everything went smoothly with no problems, great communication, and perfect coordination. Well, it is obvious that that was a pipe dream; everyone tried to do their own thing, and everyone had a vision, and while most were compatible and improved on each other, at the start, we couldn't see that. Our communication was terrible, and with less than half the time left, we came up with the most unexpected idea that, in hindsight, was obvious: picking a leader. From this point, each person was focused on one part only with great coordination, and we were able to not only complete the task but also make the most stable structure in all the groups.

In contrast, the team that had the best start and communication failed to complete the task. I can't judge why they weren't able to complete it, but I have a theory. I feel like, despite everything being great, it was at the expense of the input of the members, especially since different teams require different styles. While it wasn't mentioned in class, MJs. Lana taught us that there are 4 main types of situational leadership: delegating, supporting, coaching, and directing, and I feel that they didn't follow a supporting approach, which would be appropriate in this activity, since it helps employ the skills of all the members while keeping the playing field equal. I would like to stress that sometimes what seems like positive communication might be a facade. Sometimes, the ideas that the group isn't scrutinizing are more dangerous than the pressure fighting over them brings. Maybe in the greater allegory for teamwork, this was about making parts that don't intuitively work together mesh and construct something greater than the parts. Finally, I would like this blog to be a thank you to Ms. Lana for taking the time for our class, especially since she has been very busy recently. It was a great opportunity to refresh my knowledge.

Note: I was inspired for the title by a quote I saw before in university and I believe that it can be found in the core values lounge.