Discipline, Discipline, Discipline...

"Sustained great results depend upon building a culture full of self-disciplined people who take disciplined action, fanatically consistent with the three circles", this is from "Good To Great" by Jim Collins. I feel that since this is my last blog on matters such as this, I should give credit to the book that has granted be great insight into what i feel a leader should be most concerned with. Being a Leadership and Social Changer minor here at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University I feel that we are all leaders in one way or another. In being involved with the Residential Leadership Program here at the University all of our classes consist of good leaders, it is the great leaders that stand out.

In reference to the quote from the beginning of the blog Nucor's three circles make sense of the Hedgehog concept. These are the three main factors that attribute to the great success of a company or an idea; it can even be related to personal goals. "Passion, Could become the best in the world, and Economic denominator" are the three circles to which all company/organizational goals can be related. Collins states that "Passion is for eliminating class distinctions and creating an egalitarian meritocracy that aligns management, labor, and financial interests". "Could become the best in the world is to harness culture and technology to produce low-cost products". The last circle is the "Economic denominator which the profit made off of the product". It is my belief that the economic denominator can be changed to the denominator in general, say if the situation or goal desired is personal or for a non-profit organization.

The underlying premise of all of this Hedgehog talk is that it takes a highly disciplined group/organization/ team to succeed! According to Jim Collins in "Good To Great" "Being right means getting the Hedgehog Concept; highly undiversified means investigating fully in those things that fit squarely within the three circles and getting rid of everything else". What he is saying is that in order for a team to succeed it is their job to have the right people working in the right areas. They are not afraid to expel those who do not fit; the success of the team and the project is the ultimate goal. A great team has to be willing to take risks and in order for the main goal to be obtained it is the team's/ team leader's job to make sure the project is not put in jeopardy in any way.

As our final project in the leadership class I am taking this semester it is my groups' job to analyze the operations of an organization here on campus. We have chosen the American Medical Students Association (AMSA). While their membership is up this year, they have had problems with their communication and attendance at meetings. We have taken it upon ourselves to survey the members and interview the leadership for AMSA. From there we are going to give them recommendations as to what they can do to improve their organization. Thus far we have gotten a great response; so it is evident that the members are indeed dedicated and willing to make changes to improve their club. We are going to apply their situation to the Hedgehog concept to allow them the long lasting tools to help them in the long run. This will help the new leadership next year carry on with the changes that need to be made to allow AMSA change from a good organization to a great organization. I have faith that with the enthusiasm of the club and its members they will be able to get things done and allow for the ultimate betterment of the organization.

Check these websites out:

www.rlc.idst.vt.edu/

http://totalleader.wordpress.com/2006/07/13/three-dimensional-leadership-the-discipline-phase

Organizations all over

Organizations exist all over the place; each of them have goals and missions they are trying to obtain. I am enrolled in a Leadership class here at Virginia Tech, and we are doing a project having to do with analyzing the culture and relations of an Organization. The organization my team chose to analyze the American Medical Student Association of Virginia Tech. There are approximately 190 local members. Currently they are having many cultural problems; there have been communication issues among the leadership, low attendance, and low confidence levels among the organization as a whole.

"Organizational Behavior" by Stephen Robbins and Timothy Judge states that organizational culture "refers to a system of shared meaning held by members that distinguishes the organization from other organizations". As part of our analysis we have constructed a sound survey allowing member and leaders alike to voice their opinions about AMSA. The conclusion from these surveys will give our team a greater understanding of the organizational culture and how we can potentially propose to improve the dynamics of this particular organization. "Organizational Behavior" claims that "research on organizational culture has sought to measure how employees see their organization: does it encourage teamwork? does it reward innovations? does is stifle initiative? The term organizational culture is descriptive, whereas job satisfaction is evaluative". I feel that our survey will allow us to further analyze how the culture is by answering many and most of these questions.

A culture of an organization allows it to have a certain distinction from other organizations; it's what makes that organization unique and stand apart from the rest. Culture allows the member of that particular organization to feel unique as well. If every organization were the same, then there would be no point in having organizations in the first place. When members feel important and feel needed for the organization to operate or function properly it is great because that allows for a sense of loyalty to come about, and members will remain true to the organization for long periods of time. This will hopefully allow for the organization to have continued success in the future; from leaders training other leaders because they feel the need to help out the organization and make sure that it does succeed in the future. Once again, "Organizational Behavior" states that "culture serves as a sense-making and control mechanism that guides and shapes the attitudes and behavior of employees". Culture is the key factor that allows an organization for work smoothly and maintain positive relations with its members. When an organization has achieved a good culture, then they will attract new members because people strive to be involved with great organizations with great cultures.

Check out AMSA of Virginia Tech's website for further information:

http://www.vtamsa.org.vt.edu/Enter_Page/Enter.html

We are all different... emotions play a huge factor in this!

First of all i would like to say I am sorry, I posted this on a different website. I was able to get this back on this website! So sorry for the delay :)

Everyone is different... we each think in our own ways, we have different perspectives, morals and values. There are many things that set us apart from one another physically, but it is probably the things on the inside that make the most apparent difference in us. Emotions and moods are the first thing that pop into my head. In the book "Organizational Behavior" by Stephen P. Robbins and Timothy A. Judge defines emotions as "intense feelings that are directed at someone or something" . They define mood as " feelings that tend to be less intense than emotiona dn that often lack a contextual stimulus". These two factors are key players in how individuals decide to act or react to certain situations. I am a firm believer that our emotions can make us irrational or bias in certain circumstances.

Most anyone has been involved in a situation where they have become so overwhelmed with emotion that they behaved in such a way that was irrational and may have not been necessary. This proves that emotion and rationality conflict in multiple ways. There are chemicals in our brains that are released when we feel different emotions such as happiness, fear, and saddness. There are so many things that affect our emotions and moods to make us act in certain ways. And, as individuals it is our job to maintain essential elements to keep ourselves rational and maintain a healthy mentallity. According to "Organizational Behavior" some aspects that help to maintain a healthy mentality are social activities, sleep, exercise, and age.

In regards to social activites, people are more likely to be happy when they are out with their friends in a social setting such as a restaraunt or a gathering at a friends house. "Organizational Behavior" claims that "research suggests that physical (skiing or hiking with friends), informal (going to a party), or ericurean (eating with others) activities are more strongly associated with increases in positive mood than formal (attending a meeting) or sedentary (watching TV with friends) events". Sleep does allow for a person's mood to remain positive; with adequate amounts of sleep the person is able to maintain quality focus throughout the day. Therefore allows for quality tasks to be completed. Exercise plays a huge role in positive moods and emotions. Exercise releases endorphines, which is a chemical in the brain that makes you feel happier. Another factor that plays a vital role in your mood remaining positive is your age. This may seem funny to you, or maybe out of the ordinary. You may think that being young would give you vitality and the ability to be positive and more up beat, but the truth is the older you are the more positive you tend to stay. "Organizational Behavior" found "one study of people aged 18 to 94 years revealed that negative emotions seem to occur less as people get older". So, if you are wanting to gain a more positive mood, and emotions it is evident that you should work on the factors I just discussed in hopes that you will begin to feel happy!

Groups... why are they all the rage?

Groups tend to be something people strive to be in. For instance, from the time one is in grade school they are clammering to be in the top of their class, in the most popular group on the playground. This continues through school, and on into college. Then on into what we college students like to call "real life".

So what though? Why do we always want to be in the most popular group, the coolest group, or just a group in general? Well, according to "Organizational Behavior" by Stephen P. Robbins and Timothy A. Judge, this is because we achieve a certain sense of security when we are included or associated into a group. Most people feel more confident and feel more wanted, therefore eliminating any doubts that they had that would cause them to feel alone. Groups also fulfill a certain level of affiliation with being associated with a group. People love the attention that comes with being in a group; the group wants to be with you- keyword being 'want'. With that feeling of 'want' and security members of groups take that and chanel it into having power. Power that gives them the confidence not through being an individual that is associated with a group, but in being a group of individuals- therefore having a group opinion and group power rather than one loner feeling one way.

Groups are associated with many positive things, but when I think of groups I think of gangs. Gangs are considered groups, but with gangs it is evident that they have a sense of securtiy and affiliation fulfilling social statuses, and with that comes their idea of power. They take advantage of the fact that they are associated with a group with strong willed individuals striving to achieve a common purpose. The power goes to their heads and they feel they are entitled to anything and everything they want, and in most cases they go to extremes to achieve this because they feel the power they have with the group behind them is all the reasoning they need.

The solution to this problem is to associate groups to only positive things and therefore allow for the negative factors of a group to be called something else. But calling the group of a gang something else will not change their negative ways. In order to change the negative groups into what something positive is going to take some sort of miracle because with the group they are in they have an invicible mentallity. Somehow the government will have to take the gangs out and show them who is boss. There is no need for more negativity in the world, but for now all we can do is research and analyze how to get to the center of these negative groups and from there take action; see also www. gripe4rkids.org and ojjdp.ncjrs.org/programs/antigang/index.html

Leadership Program in our University... we could be great?!?

In recent months here at this fine University, there has been many changes occurring in the Leadership Department. What had been a great streak of innovation and implementation has now turned into trying to manage the chaos. You may be wondering why this is… Dr. T, our strong, independent, courageous leader, director of the Residential Leadership Community (RLC) has abruptly up and left us for a job in Minnesota. She did not ask for inputs or give notice; there was absolutely no time for the department to find a replacement for her job. She allotted for so much structure and so much input among the RLC members. There was a certain unspoken level of respect and accountability for the members; we are an elite crowd here in the University. We know that we have to hold ourselves to a higher standard than the rest, but now that there is no one person who is head of our organization to hold us accountable for our actions. Before Dr. T left us so abruptly she checked our Facebook accounts weekly, she made sure we wore the proper attire to functions to show the deserved respect, we were required to give back to the community in a multitude of ways, all the while inspiring us and challenging us to be the best we can possibly be.
In the book “Good to Great”, by Jim Collins, he says that “good is the enemy of great”. There are certain factors that enable a good organization or company to become a great organization or company. With the backbone of our Leadership organization gone, we no longer have the structure to allow us to further ourselves to become that great organization. We may have the potential, but as of right now there are no resources or personnel available to help us reach our full potential. As of right now there is one instructor that has filled the position, but they have not taken advantage of their position, nor has she enforced the well known rules of our community. Dr. T established, according to Collins, the “First who… then what”; he claims that a great leader will “first get the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats- and then they figured out where to drive it.” Dr. T took the time to use a specialized selection process to screen the applicants of the Residential Leadership Community. Another aspect that Dr. T constructed so eloquently was “a culture of discipline”, Collins states that “when you have disciplined people, you don’t need hierarchy. When you have disciplined thought, you don’t need bureaucracy. When you combine a culture of discipline with an ethic of entrepreneurship, you get the magical alchemy of great performance. As of right now all of the leadership positions that Dr. T was capable of controlling under the title of being director of the Residential Leadership Community, have been delegated to the upper classmen of the program. Without the right amount of structure and pushing from the authoritative head that is the director of the program. A title is not just a title, one must live up to that title and be the one that pushes everyone involved with that particular organization to become better and allow the organization to grow and prosper.
More of these leadership styles can be seen in, and connected to Collins “Good to Great” and The Residential Leadership Community of this University…
Links:

www.rlc.idst.vt.edu/

www.pamplin.vt.edu/leadership/annualreport.html

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_to_Great

http://www.greatleadershipbydan.com/2009/09/7-reasons-why-i-wrote-7-lessons-for.html

http://stevefarber.com/extremeleadership/