LEAD 260 Leadership Course
I took LEAD 260 in Spring 2020. Dr. Kari Keating was the instructor. Students read leadership papers, joined lectures, and discussed a new leadership theory in every module. My favorite theory is Adaptive Leadership. Though it is a developing theory, it is effective in an uncertain world. Comparing to a technical challenge that has a clear problem, the problem for adaptive challenge remains unclear and changes from time to time. Thus, leaders have to highly collaborate with followers to identify the problem and provide a holding environment for followers to solve the problem. I wrote a report on Adaptive Leadership to address why it's my favorite theory. My main point was that I would need this theory to construct the innovation projects I have always been passionate about in my career. At the end of the course, I recorded audio to introduce the reason why I wanted to register for the course and my favorite leadership theory. I also practiced Adaptive Leadership Theory in my Capstone Project, where I collaborated with three graduate students to design an innovative prosthesis. We interviewed our clients and did several literature reviews to understand what were amputees' expectations for their prostheses and why the commercially available products could not meet their expectations. Then we designed the functions of our products to meet amputees' expectations. In the whole process, our teammates have been working in close relationships and in an open environment, which promoted our brainstorming for solutions to design problems.
i-Programs
INTERSECT
Completed Date: 10/05/2019
ROLLS-ROYCE INNOVATION
Completed Date: 12/07/2019
Experience: We built a team by arranging objects on the floor, replicating a pattern in another location. Then we constructed a pyramid using sticks and cubes. We went through storming when our tower failed for the first time, which was because every one of us had a different design. But we soon found a method we all agreed with and constructed a beautiful pyramid. The picture on the left showed the booklet I got from the INTERSECT i-program.
Experience: We learned to develop innovative present gifts by talking with "clients". Then we built a marshmallow tower as high as we could. The main takeaway for me was innovating required listening to clients' needs.
IMPRINT
Completed Date: 02/29/20
Experience: I talked with Illinois Alumni Coaches on topics including -- building a personal brand, networking do's and don'ts, and career development. The most important idea I learned was motivating the emotional elephant by reminders, relaxation, and punishments.
Team Experiences
GLOBAL LEADERS: ORANGE AND BLUE ENGAGEMENT
Participated semester: Fall 2019
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I enrolled in the GLOBE before I came to U of I because I wished to be familiar with the university as soon as possible. However, I obtained more than I expected.
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What did you learn about leadership from this team experience?
Sulagna, Mark, and Becky were the very first friends I made here. We respected each other; we cared about each other; we listened to each other. GLOBE was like a country club. I learned that leadership only happened with time. People needed to spend time together to develop a team. At first, there were six people on our team. However, as time went by, only four of us continued group activities such as having dinner, joining parties together, and doing GLOBE missions together. Moreover, I learned that every one of the team should try to contribute to the team. Mark helped us record our team video; Sulagna gave us a tour of campus; Becky introduced every free meal on the campus. I tried to join every group activity to add points for our team. Finally, I learned that not taking things personally should be the top principle when built relationships with people from various cultures. For example, Mark asked about my opinion on things that were happening in Hongkong at that time. I was very shocked he asked such a controversial question and I was also confused about the situation. Usually, when people were asked a sharp question on their countries, they tended to behave like a spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for their countries but based on my limited experience, that might hurt the relationship. So I told him some economic facts I read rather than talking about politics.
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How did this team experience contribute to your understanding of the interpersonal/team leadership competency you chose to develop through this program?
In this team experience, I did not need to complete any research projects that I normally did with a group. Most of the time, I was learning how to sincerely know about another person. Thus, I developed my skill in relationship management. I didn’t know how to survive on this foreign campus before I came to the U.S. because I didn’t know how to build a relationship with people from other cultures. When I communicated with my group member, I found the only thing I needed was to involve in the conversation, no matter a smile or talking about snow in winter could help build relations. I simply listened, asked things I didn’t understand, and expressed myself. Gradually, I became more and more confident about talking in English. Moreover, I actively asked others if they needed my help. For example, when we had activities in the Asian American Culture Center, I helped with small things like putting plates into the dishwasher and collecting rubbish. If you ask me what I didn’t accomplish, I would say I am not skillful with rebuilding relations after conflicts because we never had conflicts in this experience.
The Cavenaugh Leadership Library Coordinator
Participated semester: Spring 2020
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What strengths did you bring to the team and how did they impact the experience?
I am a fast learner. I only learned the methods of book cataloging on the first day of my work then I started to do my job. It was the same with book rearrangement to the shelf. Thus, I could finish my daily “KPI” and never left it to another day. I even had time to rearrange the bookshelf. Thus, I contributed to the working efficiency of my team. Moreover, I am good at asking valuable questions to promote discussions. I used this strength when I was a co-holder of the book discussion. We were discussing a book named DRIVE. It mainly described how to motivate people in an organization. The best way was to help people develop the inner passion for their work. Since there was little to talk about things in the industry for people in academics, I asked attendees to think about themselves, like when and where they were energetic about their work or study. Many extroverts said that they were more likely creative when they worked with people. But other people said they liked a few hours’ quiet time to focus on work. Thus, I helped expand the conversation. I would very much like to utilize this skill in future conversations.
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What did you learn about leadership from this team experience?
I worked with Dr. Beth and Alice in the library at the Illinois Leadership Center, where I cataloged new materials into the Koha database, created records for borrowing books, and organized the returned books. Sometimes, I also recommended books used for i-programs. In addition, I helped hold a book discussion. Although it was a short team experience, I learned that I should ask for help immediately when I was confused about anything. I should not feel embarrassed about asking for help. Because instant feedback from me could help the organizer of the library tackle the problem quickly. For instance, I could not find the IBM number in the Koha database when I cataloged a new book and I spent a lot of time searching on google for this number but failed. However, Alice only used one sentence to tell me how to deal with the situation—just to use another database. Also, when I was struggling with the order of returned books, Alice pointed me to the right locations. Thus, I was very impressed by this little trick—just ask as soon as possible. Although I only worked for a short period in the library because of Covid, I improved my skills in communicating.
Cohort Lead
Participated semester: Fall 2020 & Spring 2021
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How did this team experience contribute to your understanding of the interpersonal/team leadership competency you chose to develop through this program?
I chose to specifically develop my relationship management skill through this program. During my time as a cohort lead, I assisted in holding the cohort sessions three times per semester. Also, I met with other Leadership certificate specialists to reflect on the meetings. Then, I met with five cohort candidates to check on their progress and provide consultation. I have to admit that I was not super talkative and I didn’t have any deep conversations with my cohort members. Our conversations almost always focused on leadership development. Thus, I think I need to create chances for a closer relationship with cohort members if I account for this position again. For example, after the end of Covid, cohort leads and cohort members can arrange hiking or a meal together. Besides this unsatisfied aspect, I accomplished my duty including answering questions, enhancing connections between certificate candidates and the Illinois Leadership Center. Sometimes, I couldn’t answer all their questions, such as one on10 hours of leadership training. I participated in the Leadership Institution so I didn’t need to concern about this 10 hours request. However, I checked the ILC website right after our meeting and emailed my answers to them. Thus, I learned how to rebuild people’s trust in me when I screw it, by acting fast and behaving reliably.
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What were most challenging about this team experience and how did you navigate it? Provide an example.
The most challenging thing for me was talking in English in front of people. I needed not only talking but also activating the atmosphere, which was not my specialty so I was deeply concerned before the cohort kick-off session. I prepared a game that I gave people a word or a blank. Those who were given a word should describe the word vaguely to others. People with a blank should guess what the word was and try to say something to avoid others suspecting they were holding a blank. In the end, people would vote out who was blank. The game should be very funny when people described their words creatively. However, when I tried to tell them the word, I used “you”. Actually, I should use their names because I wanted them to describe themselves so that they could get familiar with each other. As a result, they thought they were asked to describe me, their cohort lead, for the whole game! We couldn't stop laughing when I told them my original thoughts for this game. Anyway, I navigated through it because I was really sincere when I tried to organize the meeting and I accidentally created a relaxing atmosphere. Of course, it was also because my cohort members were very caring people.
10 Hours Leadership Trainings & Workshops
THE INSTITUTE™ BY LEADERSHAPE®
Session Date: January 12-17, 2020
My Sponsor: The Grainger College of Engineering
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Purpose of Program: The Institute challenges participants to lead with integrity™ while working towards a vision grounded in their deepest values. Participants explore not only what they want to do, but whom they want to be.
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Which experience did you find most meaningful and why?
I remembered for a week, we started sessions from 8 am and ended near 7 pm or later. I was so involved in activities and group meetings. I thought Institute mentors wanted us to be clear about ourselves before leading others. Thus, we spent quite a lot of time exploring our visions for the future, which were life-long careers we wanted to pursue. Also, we did a characteristic test on our problem-solving style. While we gained more knowledge about ourselves, we learned how to collaborate with a team. We practiced conflict management and effective communication. In order to be a leader with high integrity, we shared personal moments when we experienced inequity so that we could be more conscious about individuals whenever we made decisions. We should always talk with more people and gather more information to make sure our decisions would improve people's situations. I found the process of finding my vision and promising to lead with integrity was most meaningful to me. I was always chasing for my value for life but always frustrated. Because I seemed to have an interest in everything but not anything specific, not like some of my friends found their life-long passion at undergraduate. In the institution, mentors helped us do the self-reflection through many activities. I knew it for the first time that I cared so much about the lives of individuals. I hoped people as common as myself could understand that they were so valuable and cherished themselves. I wished I could have a career to help people when they felt broken. Moreover, I believed that it should be the environment that corrupted people, so I was not sure if I could stay integrity when I was in that condition one day. However, in the institution, I was able to trust that I would insist on my belief even in front of terrible frustrations.
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How will you apply what you have learned from these experiences to your future endeavors?
The experience strengthened my heart. It made me confident to stand up whenever I failed. Since I hope to be an entrepreneur who would help people through and gain success at the same time, I should certainly meet countless challenges and failures. I want to be the people who persistently try until they make it. In the Institute, I learned that failures were far more common than success. So, It's not necessary to be afraid of failures. Also, I learned from my peers about how their resilience bounced them back from obstacles. It's very encouraging to see their persistence actually worked. On the other hand, I think what I need next is to strengthen my mind so that I could have the wisdom to avoid unnecessary failure. Also, I need to continue communicating with peers to view the world from their perspectives. Hopefully, one day we could all become as strong as we hoped.
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