April 29, 2008
Day 2: Self-awareness, inclusion, empathy
Key Takeaways:
• Teamwork on a low-ropes course leads to many realizations about the way leaders behave
• Have to consider the risks involved before brainstorming, consider “try-storming”
• Circles can be a powerful tool for effective group communication
• Five aspects of leadership that we inventoried to determine our strengths
• Does social justice belong in every student organization’s mission?
We started the day with a low ropes course that encouraged team building. Low ropes were some adventurous challenges that helped bring us outside of our personal boundaries. Examples of games included using wooden blocks to cross a “Raging river”, balancing everyone on a giant see-saw while “whale watching”, and crossing through a giant “spider-web”. While the games were extremely fun, we did manage to learn some lessons too. Dependence on others, the importance of everyone’s unique skills on a team, people sometimes have to be followers—you cannot lead all the time. Sometimes a good leader is passive. Sometimes when working with many leaders, sometimes you have to know when to step back. “You need to learn how to lead from the front and the back.” We also learned about the importance of asking for help when needed. In a group full of leaders, it’s important to realize when it’s necessary to ask! Different activities required different leaders, who had different abilities and knowledge. Communication needs to come full circle, from listening to speaking to everyone needs to be heard (interlocking circle, like a Venn diagram). In each activity, there was a certain amount of planning that needed to be done before starting. Having the ability to trust people is important.
Lindsay made an observation that her group practiced a lot before starting. She said that, in a situation with little risk associated with failure, what’s the harm in jumping in? “We had nothing to lose.” She talked about “try-storming”, where we brainstorm, then immediately try the idea. It’s useful when there are little risks. Claudio also stated the importance of adapting to situations on the fly, and related it to the toxic waste game. Meghan said the forest smelled like chives, but Lindsay thought they were leeks or onions.
Brian saw a major difference when we were out in the forest and trying to brainstorm ideas. Many people had ideas and lots of voices were not being heard. We decided to get in a circle so everyone could see and hear each other. Suddenly, only one person talked at a time, and everything seemed more efficient. Brian is now a huge fan of being in circles during meetings. When we are in a circle, everything is equal, unlike in a rectangle table, where there is a clear head of table.
Lunch
We returned from low ropes to delicious lunch of pizza and salad. Lindsay met the dental hygienists of America group at lunch. There are 27 women in the class, no men. They are all undergrads, who take the same exact same classes together for soph., junior, and senior years.
Leadership Practices Inventory
After lunch, we worked on a student leadership practices inventory. There were five different aspects to leadership: 1) modeling the way, 2) inspiring a shared vision, 3) challenging the process, 4) enabling others to act, and 5) encouraging the heart. A leader is comprised of all those aspects, plus others not listed. We filled out an inventory test to determine our strongest aspects. After grouping based on our highest strength, we acted out a scene to help others learn about how to become more like that aspect. Meghan and Brian were strongest in challenging the process, and Nate, Lindsay, and Claudio were strongest in enabling others to act. After evaluating ourselves, we also evaluated the fellow EGL members present. This was a critical tool in the improvement process; giving constructive feedback provides the spark to kaizen (continuous improvement). We will return to this tomorrow, when we quantitatively compare our own ratings to the group ratings. TUNE IN TOMORROW, by 11PM EST.
Dinner
Lindsay and Brian, along with members of the Michigan Economics Society, tossed a Frisbee for some time. According to Claudio, cheesecake was on point for dinner. Apparently, in tilapia scampi, the scampi is butter sauce. Nate was a big fan of the fried chicken, and ate dinner with a table full of girls. For the record, Claudio also ate with a table full of girls! Brian ate with Circle K girls, and realized what a great opportunity exists for EGLs to volunteer! Expect more details to come…WHO WOULD BE INTERESTED IN VOLUNTEERING?!
Social Justice
Is Ally short for Allison?: A session on social justice. We ended the night with a whole-group session about the role of being an ally, as well as the role of social justice within student orgs. An ally is defined as a person who fights for a cause, whether or not they identify with it. We also discussed the different social identities, such as race, sexual orientation, geographic status, ability/status, socioeconomic status, country of citizenship, etc. We all had to select the identities with which we felt most salient, with those which we felt most uncomfortable, and with those we felt most privileged.
The discussion veered to answering the question: Can every student organization be a social justice organization? We talked about the difference between fighting for social justice and being socially just. Many students talked about using their org email lists to let all their students know about social justice issues and asked if people found that was appropriate. We did not find any clear answers on the topic, so if readers have opinions on the role of social justice within EGL, please do post comments!
A key take away from this segment was phrased as three questions:
1) When is the best time to do something?
2) Who is the most important person?
3) What is the right thing to do?
Leo Tolstoy posed those questions and answered them as 1) Now, 2) The person you’re with, and 3) That which will most benefit all. Just something to think about…
PICTURES COMING TOMORROW! WE PROMISE.
Cheers,
Lindsay, Claudio, Meghan, Brian, and Nate
Posted by brumao at 10:43 PM | Comments (1)
April 28, 2008
Day 1: Learning environment, shared purpose
Key takeaways:
• Many organizations on campus!
• We all have our own expectations for ourselves and each other throughout the week
• There are eight different leadership capacity areas
• Would like to look further into the relationship between the program and the society
Leadership Connections was kicked off today with every society being asked to describe their work as a machine. We had to also act it out and the large group would guess what we are. Examples included coffee makers (because they wake people up), carousels, etc. We were trying to think about the purpose of EGL and what it does for us. We know it connects people, and how our mission is very global. We thought of some sort of vessel that transports people and transforms them. We have a driving executive board, and everyone else (i.e., the student membership) is mostly along for the ride. We tried to find a way to represent how EGL works to build everyone’s talents to make an overall great organization. We settled on a train, complete with Nate as the conductor. Why are we a train? BECAUSE WE’RE FULL OF ENGINEERS! However, SWE took our idea moments before we were called. Like every good EGL student, we planned ahead under pressure and went with our second option, the airplane. We demonstrated the airplane in front of the 70-or-so students, and after a futile guess of a windmill, someone guessed the airplane! Looking back on this, we found out that SGE’s idea was an airplane. It goes to show that engineering groups do indeed have a similar purpose.
During the break, Meghan got lost on her run. She eventually found herself using the resources of the angle of the sun and her trail map.
Group Expectations for the week
Lindsay: Represent EGL well, be open minded, to make other people wish they were an EGL member. Want to show how diverse, creative, and innovative we are. Want to show others how, despite being a great society, we do still have a lot to learn. As a result, ask questions, learn from other societies, be active listeners. Paying attention while people are talking is very important. Not interrupting, asking open-ended questions, nodding affirmatively.
Meghan: On a personal level, was hoping to learn more about student society. Where it stands, the vision, the goals, its purpose. In terms of expectations of the group, ensure that the different perspectives between the two exec board members and three general student members are all heard. Openly discuss the goals of EGL.
Claudio: On a personal level, first absorbs everything. Likes to see the big picture before acting. Would like to take in as much as he can. Doesn’t know too much about EGL as a society. Communication and networking in other organizations are keys. Would like to know if EGL can improve its relationships with other societies.
Nate: Learning more about the society, still considers himself a new member. Still vague on the issues facing the society, because he has only been a member for four months. One of the things he would like is a crash course on EGL, and where it stands. As far as leadership training, is looking for a broad training, and would like to understand more about EGL, and how to apply the program to EGL.
Brian: Discussed the expectations of the students attending.
For the team builder after dinner, we sat on each other’s laps in a big circle. Trust us, that’s all you want to know, although it did break a lot of physical comfort-zone barriers, that may open us up to the rest of the week.
We discussed the question, “What is leadership?” There were eight different capacity areas that we were allowed to join: Commitment, self-awareness, empathy, organizational competence, collaboration, inclusion, shared purpose, learning environment. Brian and Lindsay were both in the learning environment group. We found that leaders need to foster these environments within the organization, and that leaders utilize mistakes to create learning experiences, as well as developing a respected environment. Meghan was in the commitment group with Claudio, and they said that leaders need to show a certain level of commitment to be an example, “empower members of the organization to be committed”, leaders are responsible for delegating much of the work. The methods of doing this are by “actions speak louder than words”, working towards the club’s objectives and purposes, being persistent, defining expectations, making people feel like they are needed. You cannot be a part of something you are not committed to. Nate was in the empathy group, and he said that it was important because a leader must keep in mind the needs and interests of all the people in the group, so empathy comes into play a lot times in decision making, and conflict resolution, when leaders must find the best solutions for the group. Also for fostering a creative environment, because when a leader empathizes with all members, they all agree there is an accord within the group which makes everything more productive.
We were asked to think about the distinction and synergy between the PROGRAM and the SOCIETY. We spent some time explaining the difference between the program and the society, and Claudio nicely summed it as the Program is based on academics, where the Society is based on extra-curriculars. We discussed how the society and program may have different goals. At the same time, it would seem that the program and society share the same goals, because we’re all trying to make us a better prepared engineer. We will consider this throughout the week.
Nate discussed how there is a lack of cohesion in the society, where students commonly see the expectations of EGL lie within the program, and the focus on success in academia, so the expectations of the society can fall by the wayside. Meghan mentioned that it would be very valuable to talk to the older classes of EGLs, like those who just finished their Tauber projects. Lindsay asked the question, “What can we do to satisfy the most people, without sacrificing the mission of the program and society?” Nate mentioned that more marketing about the society would help potential students realize the importance of the society. Meghan added that the essay question about what students would contribute to the society is also very important.
Claudio asked if there are any repercussions if students do not attend society events. Lindsay and Brian discussed how there are no consequences for not attending, but we do believe that every student can get something out of the sessions we put on, so we hope that the value-added would make their attendance justified. We have not ever made any society event completely mandatory, because we want the students at the events to want to be there, and be enthusiastic about it. Lindsay mentioned that getting older members to events might be something that we want to focus on.
Cheers,
Lindsay, Meghan, Claudio, Brian, and Nate
Posted by brumao at 10:28 PM | Comments (0)
April 21, 2008
EGL has created a blog!
Hey everyone!
Welcome to EGL's first-ever blog. Here we will post entries about the program and society, as well as provide updates from Leadership Connections!
Leadership Connections is April 28 - May 2. EGL was selected to attend this exclusive event for UM organizations. The following EGL students will be attending:
-Lindsay Parker (AERO '08)
-Brian Rumao (IOE '09)
-Nate Bennett (NERS '09)
-Meghan Haigh (IOE '10)
-Claudio Hernandez (ME '10)
Please bookmark this blog for updates from Leadership Connections!
Posted by brumao at 01:31 PM | Comments (0)