Build Your Personal Leadership Philosophy through Key Exercises

The following exercises on leadership will help you create, find, and define your personal philosophy of leadership. Exercises 1- 4, help you build on your personal leadership philosophy Exercise 1: Identify Your Leadership Values From the list below, pick five core values that you feel describe who you are as a leader. You may choose other values that are not on this list. Achievement Balance Creativity Integrity Activity Challenge Diverse perspectives Justice Advancement Change Duty Love Adventure Collaboration Economic security Loyalty Affiliation Community Friendship Development Affluence Competency Health Recognition Authority Competition Humor Self-respect Autonomy Courage Harmony Wisdom Beauty Excellence Zest Fun Learning Forward thinking Harmony Honesty Credibility Cooperation Dedication Faith Freedom Health Helpfulness Justice Knowledge Life Morality Openness Patience Pleasure Power Professionalism Responsibility Security Social Success Trustworthiness Vitality Wealth Wisdom Identifying Your Leadership Values Values List your values here Personal Definition of Values How do you envision these values guiding your leadership behaviors 1. Collaboration The ability to work with other leaders as well as Being a leader is not a one- man job but in fact requires

subordinates to accomplish set goals or tasks. the continuous involvement of others in order to get the job done effectively. 2. Trustworthiness The ability of your team to be able to know that you will follow through with what you say you will do and that you mean what you say. Being trustworthy is fundamental to being a leader. Without it you will always be at odds with your team and the team could either be ineffective at their tasks or completely incapable of performing to the required level. 3. Integrity Being able to tell the truth and be honest with the people and organizations you work with or for. Honesty is the best policy as the saying goes. Without adequate integrity no one can trust that you will get the job done effectively. 4. Openness Having the ability to be transparent with your team can help mitigate potentially damaging rumors that may be going around and allows you to address issues before they become problems that can become too big to handle. Having an policy of openness or transparency can ensure your communications with your teams and other leaders are clear and can help minimize potential misunderstandings with others and other potential issues with the law. 5. Professionalism The ability to maintain a level of responsibility, accountability, excellence, and integrity without compromising the respect of your team or other leaders. Being able to maintain a professional appearance will allow you to maintain a level of respect with your peers or subordinates such that they will listen to you when needed without difficulty on your part. Uncovering Your Leadership Assumptions These exercises are intended to help you understand your leadership values, and to help you fill out the columns above. Please do the exercises and submit them along with leadership philosophy.

Exercise 2 : Answer the following questions about leadership. By answering these questions, you will find what assumptions are driving your leadership thinking. 1. Write down two stories of leadership. One story should describe a positive experience you’ve had with leadership and the second one should describe a negative experience with leadership . -I was in the United States Navy with only about 8 months and 1 deployment left in my contract and my work center just so happened to get a new Work Center Chief. The Chief that took charge was already working for a previous work center but due to other circumstances he took over for the previous Work Center Chief that was in charge of my work center. He was a well-respected chief because it was his personality that people understood, trusted and overall liked. He developed a rapport with his subordinates and he made it his philosophy to take care of them. He understood that life in the Navy was difficult at best and he did what he could to ensure his people were taken care of to the best of his ability. -A few years into my first job outside of the Navy I had this new supervisor take charge of the shift I was working on at a semiconductor manufacturing facility. He quickly introduced himself and made it known that he was not the type of person to direct our every move for our work and that he did not watch the clock when it came to out breaks. We quickly found out that what he said wasn’t really true. First off as we were working, we would see him at the end of the production bay looking at us for a few seconds before approaching us as we were working in a group. Most of the time the conversations with him would go just fine but often it would become awkward as the conversation ended and he just stood there waiting. We didn’t know if it was his awkwardness or his desire to watch us work or whatever it was but this behavior overtime became uncomfortable and this led us to speculate about what his true motives for that were which did not help with his trust. Also, he effectively lied to us when he said he wasn’t a clock watcher because occasionally he would contact us about why we were still on break despite having 10 or more minutes left of our break. The whole situation broke down when one of my coworkers lost complete faith in him and confronted him about what apparently was a promise that the supervisor made and ultimately was never fulfilled. My supervisor even stopped talking to me entirely even though I was not an instigator and I was considered to have the most neutral opinion of him during the investigation by his boss as to what happened. 2. Write down your definition of leadership. -Leadership is where you are able to build a rapport with the people you are working with and instill in them a sense of purpose for their work. It could be as simple as building trust with them and given them a sense of confidence in your abilities that gives then the energy and desire to work for or with you on whatever job it is you are doing. 3. Using your definition of leadership, reflect upon how you first came to understand your leadership definition. -It was sometime after I left the Navy at my first that I became more aware of idea of leadership. I spent over 10 years there and had at least one new supervisor every year

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or two, I experienced a wide range of different leadership styles and quickly discovered that trust and confidence were some of the top traits of a leader that were needed as well as others that are important. This allowed me to better understand for myself what I sought in a leader as well as helped me form my opinion on how I could be a leader. Exercise 3 : Understanding Your Leadership Beliefs Answer the following questions about leadership beliefs. 1. Can people who have caused others harm be leaders, e.g. Adolph Hitler? -In my opinion, anyone can be a leader even if they cause harm. Being a leader is about guiding people through the beliefs that you and they hold even if those beliefs are generally considered to be evil and harmful. 2. What leaders do you admire and why? -I admire and respect leaders who can talk to the people they are in charge of regardless of the issues that they have with them and with that build trust with their team. Not every leader can do this which can make it difficult to effectively guide your team but if they can at least do this then I can respect their position even if I don’t like what they are doing as a leader. 3. Should leaders have certain qualities to be able to lead? -They need to be open with their team, they must be trustworthy and reliable, and they must be able to back up what they say with what they do. Actions do, in fact, speak louder than words. 4. How do leaders gain credibility? -They gain credibility by being open with their teams and backing up their words with their actions. If they make a mistake about who they are as a leader then they need to own up to it and make it known that they are not what they originally intended to be. 5. What is the purpose of leadership? -Leaders are meant to be a guiding force for a group of people. If we did not have leaders then there would be no singular focus on a task and thus there would be chaos. 6. According to John Maxwell, what level of leadership are you currently at with the people you lead? -Currently I do not lead others but I currently work at a job where there is a direct path to a leadership position. Once I get there, I would be at the first level, Position (Rights). Eventually after reaching that level, I hope to ascend to a higher level. Exercise 4 : Finalizing Your Leadership Philosophy **** Now that you know your leadership values, assumptions and understand what beliefs guide your thinking about leadership, you are ready to write statements reflecting your leadership philosophy. Statements should be written in the present moment not future tense. Your leadership philosophy should be a statement that consists of your responses from the above exercises. It doesn’t need to include everything, but it should encompass the general idea of what

you have written. It doesn’t need to be formatted in a certain way. It can be either one sentence statements or you can write a story explaining your philosophy. Try to keep it simple and limit it to no more than two pages. After you have finished, type out your philosophy. Feel free to include pictures or artwork or whatever makes sense to you. When it is completed, submit it to the appropriate assignment folder. By the end of this lesson, students will be able to: -Understand the full meaning of leadership and see the leadership potential in yourself and others. -Outline personal traits and characteristics that are associated with effective leaders. -Understand the importance of self-awareness and hot to recognize your blind spots. -Articulate a personal philosophy of leadership.

Assignment 1 exercises

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