EGL @ Leadership Connections

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May 05, 2009

Day 2: My Organization and Me

Greetings from Camp Michigania ~ Day 2!

After a short sleep, we all woke up early for a hearty breakfast. With full stomachs, we headed out into the wilderness in hopes of gaining much from the low ropes course.

Teams were split up into 20 campers, each a diverse mix of members from most other groups. After learning the names through means of icebreakers, (Yeah, Brian!) teams were challenged to complete in team building tasks. The first task was to cross a “raging river” by only using “magical” blocks. There were 20 members and only 12 blocks. Comfort boundaries were tested and eventually expanded!

Another task was to guide a golf ball into a tin cup over 30 feet away using only limited piping. Some pipes were curved and short; others were long and straight. Each member and their piping had to be used at least once and the ball could never come to a stop.

The final activity required us to use our physical and logical thinking skills to obtain personal objects of each member placed outside of a circled rope.

The key takeaways from this were the following:
*Trust the ones around you - know that everyone has a common goal.
*Use positive means of communication – especially when addressing an individual make sure you use first names.
*There always exists a difficulty in communication amongst groups. Each group varies, but continue to keep the common goal in mind and make sure everyone feels comfortable and a part of things.
*Part of being a leader is filling the role that your team needs. Whether that means stepping back as a leader and accepting a smaller role, know that your contribution is still important and you will have more opportunities in the future.

Hiking back from the woods, we were welcomed with a scrumptious lunch. Many of us followed lunch by enjoying the sunshine while getting to know unique members from all over the University.

After lunch, we took part in individual testing. Many of you may have heard of the MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator) test. (This is the most widely used personality instrument in the world). This provided eye opening opinions and allowed ourselves to categorize ourselves through our personal qualities.

The first part of the test was an activity in which we signed a paper with our autograph. After we did this, we repeated the signing with our non-dominant hand. (Try this… and see if you feel the same as we did!)

The feelings we experienced when signing with our dominant hand were: confidence, comfort, and strength. When signing with our off-hand we felt: insecure, weak, and uncomfortable.

The MBTI test then proceeded to the four respective preferences.
1) Extraversion (E) v. Introversion (I)
2) Sensing (S) v. Intuition (N)
3) Thinking (T) v. Feeling (F)
4) Judging (J) v. Perceiving (P)

After collaborating our ideas we found that the "team type" was ISTJ. (For further meaning consult wikipedia or contact Tom at tgham@umich.edu) However the only common preference was introversion (I). As a group, we felt that the introversion is attributed to characteristics of most EGL students:
* We tend to think things through before presenting our ideas. In other words: "We prefer to reflect, then act"
* We internalize our thoughts and stay in the background on tendency
* We tend to like working on our own when given the option

The pros from this:
+ This makes our ideas concise and compelling
+ This is a great demonstration of the business and professional image we are going for

Some possible cons:
- These same characteristics may make us appear less approachable, in particularly to new EGLs.
- Some valuable opinions may not be shared at GBMs, Executive Board Meetings, or other windows of opportunity.

Discussion on improving this issue was based around ways in which we can engage new membership and make them feel comfortable and important from the very beginning. One way that we felt this could be improved was a stronger push for our Mentorship Program or even a retreat for the new members.

We dispersed ourselves at different tables during dinner as we continued to make friends and inform them about EGL. We also gained valuable knowledge from other groups. Ben would like to note the camaraderie he has seen NSBE display through todays activities (i.e. rap battles, etc.).

Following dinner, the entire camp joined together and discussed important values and beliefs. Following audio clips of personal essays, we identified values that each member in each audio clip stood for. Next, we then were handed a stack of 60 values and were instructed to organize them into four categories (1. Very important 2. Important 3. Sort of important 4. Not important) Some values from the stack included: improvement, loyalty, optimism, etc.

Each member shared his/her personal values with another member from the camp. Together each duo compared and contrasted why he/she chose his/her respective "Very Important" 15 values. A long group discussion followed on social justice and its role on campus climate.

Ah... on a lighter note :)

In case you were wondering…
Our "facebook" currenty has the following updates:
- <3 Relationship status: “its complicated with SGE”
- IEEE has been messaging us and SGE is in suspicion of cheating
- "EGL’s hips don’t lie"
- EGL poked SWE & SAPAC (but don't worry it was with consent)

Now for Ben's Engineering Joke...

Two engineering students were walking across campus when one said, "Where did you get such a great bike?" The second engineer replied, "Well, I was walking along yesterday minding my own business when a beautiful woman rode up on this bike. She threw the bike to the ground, took off all her clothes and said, "Take what you want."
The second engineer nodded approvingly, "Good choice; the clothes probably wouldn't have fit."

Today's conclusion - We all found ways to grow individually yet keep the goal (EGL) in mind. No matter your role, you can have an impact on your respective society.

Tomorrow we will wake up even earlier, but will include discussion of "Where EGL is, and where EGL wants to go." Until then...

Cheers,

Claudio, Chelsea, Ben, Nick, and Tom

Posted by tgham at May 5, 2009 09:47 PM

Comments

Posted by: sjed at May 6, 2009 09:42 AM

Posted by: dchuofm at May 6, 2009 11:32 AM

Posted by: brumao at May 6, 2009 08:57 PM

Posted by: jnanry at May 7, 2009 12:09 AM

Posted by: sjed at May 8, 2009 12:47 PM

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