My Reign of Terror: Sherri as a Leader

Technically, I was the leader for the first 3 weeks of the quarter, but in actuality I am not sure I ever left the leadership role. I really tried to back away from that when it was no longer my turn, but that was very challenging because I have always been a ring leader of sorts. It was unnatural for me to completely let it go. Especially since I sensed my team kind of needed me to corral everyone to refocus if we started to veer off schedule.

I tried to think of what type of manager or leader I am as far as the various theories from the Leadership reading and I have determined that I am a little bit of both sides depending on the circumstances. I say both sides, because it seems like with each theory it was split into two categories to describe the traits associated with them. Starting with the definition of Leadership vs Management, sometimes I was more of a leader, focusing on the bigger picture of the project and how we could best approach it to ensure retention of knowledge and ways to eliminate having to do extra work in the end because we did not capture the essence of the objective we were working on. Other times I was definitely a manager, making decisions when necessary and managing day-to-day assignments for the group. Even with the X and Y theories, I have both characteristics. I am absolutely people-oriented and try to think of other's needs and take different personalities and strong suites into account, however, i am also task-oriented: if stuff needs to happen, then lets get it done.

One of the most challenging things I faced this quarter was the awkwardness of "calling people out." I tried, and think I succeeded, to be respectful in my reminders of our working agreements and restoring integrity to the team when commitments for completely portions of the project were not completed or if we people were late or missing at meetings we arranged. I always battled feeling like I was being a jerk or for even saying anything at all, like maybe I should just not care so much. But then I felt some solace when I read the article The Work of Leadership. In one of the first few paragraphs when describing what it means to be a leader it said, "Leaders who truly care for their followers expose them to the painful reality of their condition and demand that they fashion a response" (Heifetz). That really is a leader isn't it? It's not about being rude, but about acknowledging the tough things and not settling for less than awesomeness.