Leadership Challenge 6

LdC Template #6

Influential Practitioners (Leadership Challenge): Leading in a COP

Enhancing Action Research and Leadership Possibilities

through the Development of your Collaborative Skills

Module 6                                                                    Name: James D. Lett

Why does identity matter in CoP functions?  For individuals?  For groups?  For organizations?

Identity brings the focus of the framework down to a social view of the person. Additionally, the focus broadens and extends beyond the communities of practice to include more extensive identification processes and social constructs (Wenger, 1998).

Also, concentrating on identity grants an opportunity to address participation and nonparticipation as well as exclusion and inclusion. Identity involves the ability and inability to develop meanings. These meanings help us define our communities and help us form connections (Wenger, 1998).

Identity cannot be narrowly viewed as completely individual or completely collective. A person often defines the work based upon the organization's definition of the role, the individual tasks to be performed in the role, and how these behaviors relate to the cultural and professional norms of one's prevailing work group. 

e. Preparing for an on-line Conversation

Quote/ideas from the book; applications/instances from your workplace setting	Page number
The concept of identity serves as a pivot between the social and the individual, so that each can be talked about in terms of the other.	145
Talking about identity in social terms is not denying individuality but viewing the very definition of individuality as something that is part of the practices of specific communities.	146
It is therefore a mistaken dichotomy to wonder whether the unit of analysis of identity should be the community or the person. The focus must be on the process of their mutual constitution.	146
Each act of participation or reification, from the most public to the most private, reflects the mutual constitution between individuals and collectivities.	146
Conversely, membership does not determine who we are in any simple way; hence generalizations and stereotypes miss the lived complexity of identity.	146
It is misleading to view identities as abstractly collective as it is to view the as narrowly individual.	146

f. Holding an on-line Conversation

After participating/viewing the “fishbowl” conversation record notes here (below) about your responses to your peers or new thoughts based on their postings.  Be certain your notes here are comprehensive, as were your responses to peers. (If you participate as a “fish,” in the fishbowl your notes, which should be entered below, can be much more succinct.)

Membership doesn't determine who we are (146). Membership is how we negotiate our meanings within the context of our communities. Participation is a source of identity (55). Our participation is not who we are. We need to make sure we don't lose sight of who we are within the group. Identity shapes how we function within a CoP. We define who we are through reconciling our forms of membership (55). Thinking about identity with respect to interviewing students and the power plays that are at play. Being cognizant of ethical issues and knowledge production. All connected to their problems of practice. Inherent tension between identity and negotiability. Being sensitive to adjusting from being a student in higher education to being a professional in higher education. Be welcoming to our newcomers.

   

g. Determining your Leadership Challenge

Note:  We are directing the Leadership Challenge for this module.

Expand your social network to include knowledgeable individuals beyond your workplace setting.  Find 1-3 others not in your institution, who have a similar problem as yours.  Establish a dialogue with them whereby you compare situations and learn from one another’s experiences. 

Submit the channel your used to connect (Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Alerts, discussion boards, email, phone call, etc.), who you connected with (a group or individuals), and a summary of your interactions thus far.  

Leader two defined himself as a caring and thoughtful leader. He uses an incentive program to support his staff and reward their efforts. One program he uses is "days off." He offers days off to his soldiers for outstanding performance. Soldiers have may not have adequate time to conduct personal business. Giving personal days is gives them an opportunity to take care of themselves and it gives them motivation to do more than the minimum. Also, it instills commitment in the department and the organization as a who. 

I cannot give off days this way in my work. personal days are given each fiscal period. However, I can use a another method utilized by the leader. He sits and talks with them his staff about their lives. He invests time in knowing who they are and what they aspire to be. This connection has probably done more in terms of engagement than any of his other efforts. I noticed that administrators disappear for a conference and they often go off email. This is completely understandable. However, I am finding that many workers need an opportunity to just connect. Therefore, I text and email every other day just to check in and let my folks know that I am available to assist them. I have gotten good results from doing this. 

Leadership Challenge 5

LdC Template #5

Influential Practitioners (Leadership Challenge): Leading in a COP

Enhancing Action Research and Leadership Possibilities

through the Development of your Collaborative Skills

Module 5                                                                    Name: James D. Lett

The process below relates to the following Leadership Provocative Question(s): 

How can your behaviors shape your action research study to be a collaborative action research study?

I have been going through a growth period since taking on a leadership role seven months ago. I have been transitioning from a military mindset of doing it all on your own and being the person who always has a plan. I am learning that through collaboration there can be a multitude of plans in a group when the right environment is cultivated. That environment is one that values open communication, focuses less on demonstrating individual competence and more on shared competence, and shares a common goal.

My behaviors as a leader and group member can cultivate this positive environment or damage the progress of a collaborative group. I tend to dominate conversations. I often have so many ideas that I begin sharing them without allowing adequate space for others to share what their insights are. Additionally, I can be obnoxious with my planning. I live in my head a lot. I sometimes feel responsible for all of the plans and the decision making and I can experience hurt feelings if my way is not accepted. Also, I am learning more about my generational tendencies. I tend to feel a little bit like I can do anything, I feel a greater level of self worth even though I have not given the requisite amount of years to warrant the respect I feel I deserve.

Given that I know these things about my behaviors, I can self evaluate and work on those in all of my communications. I have form new conversational habits. Habits that involve continuous active listening, reading non-verbal cues, consciously considering the feelings and ideas of others, and taking every opportunity to develop an understanding of it feels to walk in the myriad of shoes representing our lived lives. This approach will help me overcome internal bias and appreciate the cultural generational sensitivities of my colleagues.  This approach may also open us the opportunity for imagination and multiple resolutions to challenges within our network.

a. Preparing for an on-line Conversation

Copy and paste the matrix of quotes/ideas that you developed last week and upon which you implemented your Leadership Challenge (LdC) from last week.

Quote/ideas from the book; applications/instances from your workplace setting (from last week)	Page number
Recognizing our experience in others, knowing what others are doing, being in someone else’s shoes	185
Defining a trajectory that connects what we are doing to an extended identity, seeing ourselves in new ways	185
Locating our engagement in broader systems in time and space, conceiving of the multiple constellations that are contexts for our practices	185
Sharing stories, explanations, descriptions	185
Generating scenarios, exploring other ways of doing what we are doing, other possible worlds, and other identities.	185
In terms of participation, imagination requires an opening. It needs the willingness, freedom, energy, and time to expose ourselves to the exotic, move around, try new identities, and explore new relations.	185
I have been working on a handbook for my staff members. However, I have decided to ask for input from those who will use the handbook rather than including what I think they need.
Recently, I have been creating some new marketing materials and updating others. In the past, I have done this on my own. However, in an effort to be more collaborative, I have shared these items with the group and I have gotten some amazing suggestions that I would have never thought of (We have a marketing and communications department, but they are a bit undermanned. Therefore, we often create materials internally and then submit them for approval to get them done faster).

b. Holding an on-line Conversation

Copy and paste your notes from your on-line conversation from last week and upon which you implemented your Leadership Challenge (LdC) from last week.

During our discussion we talked about collaboration from a leader’s perspective. Essentially, we were saying that, as leaders, we need to share more upfront rather than parsing it out to our colleagues and employees. Bret shared, “Leaders should create an environment where others have an opportunity to participate.” This statement got us going on a leader tangent that became the theme of our conversation. Greg stated that it’s important to “bring people in on the important stuff not just the periphery for things that don’t really matter.” He added that leaders often arrive in a rather “obnoxious” manner with all answers. I concurred with Greg and Bret’s statements. I also pointed out how I am guilty of “obnoxiously” arriving with my plan only to have it rejected in resounding fashion. I added a quote from the text where the author spoke of alignment within our community of practice. In order to build a collaborative environment, and an eventual community of practice, we must create opportunities to share our experiences, have them valued, and then align these experiences with our common enterprise. Greg stated that creating this inclusive environment is how we can gain buy-in when initiating new innovations or projects.  

g. Determining your Leadership Challenge

Note:  We are directing the Leadership Challenge for this module.

Expand your social network to include knowledgeable individuals beyond your workplace setting.  Find 1-3 others not in your institution, who have a similar problem as yours.  Establish a dialogue with them whereby you compare situations and learn from one another’s experiences. 

Submit the channel your used to connect (Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Alerts, discussion boards, email, phone call, etc.), who you connected with (a group or individuals), and a summary of your interactions thus far.  

Through Facebook chats, leader number two talked about the difficulties and challenges of maintaining motivation. He talked about how changes within the employee care model have impacted his usual methods for engendering a positive work environment. However, he has found that direct communication about life as a whole is what has resonated best with his team members. They want to connect with their leader on a personal level, not just a professional one. People want to be more than just workers. They also want to work for a person who connects and appreciates their lived circumstances. His insights made me think of my own approach. My notions of being a good leader have been challenged. I am reflecting on all of my communications. I have become so entrenched in the right way to do things and the proper approach to things, that I often have trouble being both professional and personal while maintaining the cooperation of my staff. Through conversations like these, I am learning how to be more than the “taskmaster” that I have become over the years.