During today's class, Colleen and David spoke about leadership effectiveness, styles, and crisis leadership (PR standpoint). For pre-work, we were asked to read and article and take a quiz. The quiz asks a series of relevant and irrelevant questions and preferences. After taking the quiz, I received the label of "authoritarian" which I find to be a negative term. Yes, I like rules and I certainly follow them and feel more comfortable with them for myself, but I do not impose on others or create and enforce them.
Onto the presentation- it was fantastic. There were great examples from all ends of the spectrum, health, government, and business. There was an awesome interactive activity modeled after UMich that allowed us to deal with PR scandals and devise a plans for an abusive healthcare beneficiary.
One of the first few slides gave me the great advice and ensured that I am on the right path in my style. The slide basically read, "Don't allow emotions to get in the way. Don't take things personally. Keep a positive mental attitude." Keeping my emotions at bay is a common theme for me. My mentor at my internship this past summer applauded me for this skill. It was also a theme when I took the emotional intelligence quiz from earlier this semester. I do, however, take some things personally in the workplace. If anyone has suggestions for how to keep my personal feelings from being hurt- even though I don't let it show or affect my work- please let me know! Thanks!
I think that the best way to not feel hurt at work is to remove yourself from the situation and just breathe for a minute. Take time to collect your thoughts on whatever was said to you, and let it roll off your shoulders. Definitely don't take it home with you! Usually, people say things that hurt others when they feel insecure about something within themselves. And if it's a boss who you feel has hurt you, remember that they generally want the best for you and are probably just trying to provide some criticism to improve your work!
ReplyDeleteyour feelings are going to get hurt. If you can keep it from affecting your work, that's about all you can hope for. But if your feelings get hurt, it's a good indication that you should do some reflection. We talked about resilience at the beginning of the course. Get hurt, reflect on whether you need to make a change, bounce back. It's simple, but not easy. Like a lot of management.
ReplyDeleteOne of my recent interviews was with Warren West. He joked about all the bullet holes he has from the mistakes he's made as a leader. I've got them, too. You're not going to make it through this leadership thing without getting hurt. The question is, can you get back up and keep going.
I'm flattered that you liked the class so much, Erin! I'm also glad that you found it to be useful :)
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