ACHIEVEMENTS, GOALS ATTAINED, & COMPETENCIES UTILIZED

 

Observations:

 

1.  Students were highly receptive to interactive exercises and activities

2.  The more open I was with students, the more comfortable they felt opening up about their experiences

3.  Certain discussions became very personal and students shared information (sometimes individually and sometimes within the group), that I don't believe they otherwise would have.

4.  Students became more comfortable communicating with each other and working together, with a better understanding on how they expressed their thoughts and how it was received depending on the person on the team.

5.  The idea of communication played in well with relationship building, as students felt more comfortable with each other when they knew each other on a more personal level.

6.  I was able to better serve the needs of the athletes when I felt as though I knew them each more as individuals and understood their motivations and goals.

7.  I felt more connected to the athletes and was willing to invest more time with the athletes when they were willing to share more about their persona lives and motivations.

8.  There was increased trust on my part with the athletes and I felt more comfortable giving the athletes greater responsibilities too.

9.  Athletes became more engaged, not only in the discussions, but in daily practices. This showed a greater commitment to individual and team improvement because of an added layer of investment.

10.  A greater sense of values was better understood on my part and the parts of the athletes, as I felt more aware of what was truly important to me and the athletes expressed the same in their reflections.

 

 

Feedback & Results:

 

Feedback was exceptionally positive from all athletes, as it became increasingly apparent that students did not often have formalized discussions around the ideas of leadership. Students were very open to discussing their leadership ideas as I opened up, allowing them to know that I was holding each discussion to benefit the athletes and help them prepare for the leadership skills. I felt as if many positive benefits were gained simply with the idea of how leadership can open up new perspectives. Students were open to learning from others and it helped student look at leadership from new perspectives and allowed them to expand their knowledge on leadership practices.

 

The idea of an ongoing discussion was also very helpful, as this allowed for the practice of leadership and ultimately a final reflection on learned behaviors and implemented leadership skills. Having a final wrap-up discussion provided a good conclusion to the discussions, and students were reminded of what we had discussed with the leadership guide. It was highly helpful to see the students mentally think about what we had discussed to further compound the importance of some ideas and give them a guide to take with them so that leadership ideas weren't discussed just one time and then forgotten, but actually used and reflected upon.

 

There was growth on all ends from these discussions, including myself. As mentioned, I learned more about my own leadership and gained an increased trust with the athletes after I better understood them as individuals with specific motivations instead of just a singular group of college athletes.

 

Lastly, I reflected back on a commencement speech given by Denzel Washington to the graduating students at Penn in 2011. He speaks of the challenges that we all face and the fact that we all go through testing times that put us through tough situations. More importantly though, he touches on the idea of taking risks and what we learn from our own experiences and even the inevitable failures. Each experience leads us to the next opportunity and his main point is about looking beyond putting yourself in a position of having something to fall back on, but setting yourself up to fall forward when you face unexpected adversity in life. I think it is a really good perspective that helps exemplify how to face humbling experiences, difficult challenges, and take risks. This is a helpful reminder and perspective when leading and reflecting on the challenges we face as leaders, which is good for the athletes to think of during their time molding themselves for their careers. His speech can be viewed below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Future Goals:

 

1.  In the future, I think I will be better prepared to facilitate discussions with more structure. I can use a greater understanding of servant leadership and leadership ideas in the very beginning (with goal setting) to help keep a consistent theme.

2.  Plan more interactive exercises for students, since this was the most popular part of the discussion groups and added value for the discussions because of the opportunity to apply skills and philosophies.

3.  In the future, I will look to communicate better on my own right to make sure students have advance notice to plan for each of the discussions and be better prepared to discuss topics. I can use the currently created 'curriculum' to better prepare myself and students to further build off of this in the future.