 Creating opportunities to get feedback ◦ Make sure you are approachable and sincere in requests for feedback ◦ Feedback is some of the most helpful information in developing your own leadership  Taking a “10 percent stretch” ◦ Take risks and reach beyond comfort zone ◦ Voluntary but determined efforts to improve leadership skills ◦ Good way to change certain behaviors

 Learning from others ◦ Ask questions to those who previously had similar responsibilities or experiences ◦ Actively observe how others react to and handle different challenges and situations  Keeping a journal ◦ Good ways to log and keep a record of experiences and thoughts or feelings about them ◦ Good to look back on for future reference ◦ Assists in creating development plan  Having a development plan ◦ Developing a systematic plan of self-improvement goals is a good way to take advantage of opportunities ◦ Prioritize more important goals

 Know what your purpose is ◦ Know what you want to communicate and how you want to do it  Publicly? Privately? Orally? In writing?  Choose an appropriate context and medium ◦ Praise in public, punish in private ◦ Context of communication is sometimes as important as the content ◦ Oral communication is the most personal and immediate…and typically has the most impact.  Cannot be conveyed well in some settings and is not permanent  Official communication which requires records often times need to be in writing

 Send clear signals ◦ Understand others’ frames of reference  Framing communication in something familiar can help avoid confusion ◦ Use familiar terms and jargon ◦ Be sure to send congruent verbal and nonverbal signals ◦ Be specific with your complaints  Actively ensure that others understand the message ◦ Actively engage in two-way conversation, when possible, to ensure the message is understood as you want it to be.

 Demonstrate non-verbally that you are listening ◦ Listening is a two way process ◦ Make sure your body language shows that you are listening  Eye contact is important  Actively interpret the sender’s message ◦ Keep an open mind to the message  Do not try and interrupt  Do not think of what to say while the message is being sent ◦ Put the sender’s message into your own words and see if that is what they meant

 Attend to the sender’s non-verbal behavior ◦ Non-verbal cues are often as important as the verbal ones ◦ Pay attention to tone of voice, body language, gestures, etc.  Avoid becoming defensive ◦ Being defensive to all negative feedback will discourage further feedback ◦ Try to put yourself into the complainer’s shoes

 “Telephone”  Need 5 volunteers  Our midterm is on 14 Oct and will test the information we have learned in the first eight chapters of the Leadership book. We will do a midterm review in class on 9 Oct. I will offer a study session if the majority of the class wants one. The test will be made up of multiple choice, true/false, fill in the blank, and short answer questions. The midterm is worth 25% of your grade so it’s important that you study for it. Also, leadership lab for 10 Oct will be NSTC PME for both Mike and November Companies. For the midterm and leadership lab, you will need to get a good night sleep so that you can perform to the best of your ability. There are 40 of you and I expect you all to strive for an “A”.

 Being assertive means standing up for your or your group’s rights ◦ It is not the same as acquiescence or aggression ◦ Not merely a compromise between the two ◦ Being assertive with superiors is as important as with subordinates  Use “I” statements  Speak up for what you need

 Learn to say no ◦ Sometimes need to stand up for your subordinates to your superiors  Monitor your inner dialogue ◦ Try and make sure that when talking to yourself, it is positive and affirming  Be persistent ◦ Stick to what you want to do without being irritated

 Stress can either facilitate or inhibit performance, depending on the situation ◦ The optimal level of stress depends on the situation and the person ◦ Leaders generally increase or decrease the level of stress on their followers ◦ Stress can help some situations but can cause many health problems which affect performance  Monitor your own and followers’ stress levels ◦ Make the habit of actively trying to identify the warning signs of high stress

 Identify the cause of stress  Practice a healthy lifestyle ◦ Balanced nutrition and exercise helps reduce stress levels  Learn how to relax ◦ Try and practice deep breathing and muscle relaxing techniques to better relax ◦ Exercise ◦ Professional reading or events can be part of leadership development and relaxing at the same time.

 Develop supportive relationships ◦ Friendly support from others is a good way to relieve stress as well  Keep things in perspective ◦ Learn to not get stressed out over every small problem ◦ Try not to stress about things that have already occurred.  Critique and learn from actions but expending energy on previous errors reduces ability to focus on current issues

 Degree of technical competence in an organization effects overall organization ◦ Organizations with higher technical competence tend to have flatter organizational structure ◦ Organizations with less technical competence tend to be more centralized and autocratic  Technically competent leaders are better overall ◦ Better able to train subordinates ◦ Can get folks to see things in new ways due to understanding ◦ Can better serve superiors

 Determining how the job contributes to the overall mission ◦ It is an important step to determine which technical skills are important and required ◦ Find out through feedback of superiors, followers, and peers  Becoming an expert in the job ◦ Learn from those who already know. Watch, ask, teach.  Seeking opportunities to broaden experiences ◦ Try to fill a variety of positions to better appreciate what goes into completing the overall mission

 Understanding the superior’s world ◦ Get to understand the superior’s values and the objectives that need to be completed ◦ Understand that supervisors do not always have all the answers ◦ Recognize and complement the superior’s weaknesses ◦ Keep the superior knowledgeable with all new developments in the field of work  Adapting to the superior’s style ◦ Not all superiors will have the same values and behaviors as you ◦ It is up to the followers to understand their place in the superior’s system  Understand that usually your success is contingent on your boss’ success

 Recognizing common interests and goals ◦ Get to know your peers to understand what you have in common (personally and professionally) ◦ Build strong ties can help performance  Understanding peers’ tasks, problems, and rewards ◦ Building respect among peers means understanding their problems and the nature of their work ◦ Since encouragement can go a long way  Practicing a “Theory Y” attitude ◦ Giving your peers the benefit of the doubt can help build strong relationships and makes it easier to get along ◦ Does not being very naive

 Two components of credibility ◦ Expertise ◦ Trust  Building expertise ◦ Build technical competence ◦ Build organizational/bigger picture understanding ◦ Use a mentor or coach  Building trust ◦ Clarify and communicate values ◦ Build relationships with others

Questions?