LeaderMOOC: Week 4 Communicating

A week has passed since the Influencing module of LeaderMOOC. Though I'm not sure I've tried using any of the influencing techniques, I have started to expand my network. I started by joining the League of Women Voters, a women's nonprofit with a local chapter. According to a few folks who know the group, the group skews older, but is always looking for new members. Within a few days of registering, I received a welcome packet and found out I can join the educational committee, which sounds like a good fit for me. Unfortunately, their next meeting is while I'm out of town, but hopefully I can catch them when I get back.

The theme for Week 4 is Communicating. We talked a lot about communicating criticisms and also about the coaching method. I've actually been very intrigued about coaching. Many training programs seem like ways to get money from people, so I was interested to see the method in practice.

This week's assignment is: Think beyond the questions you replied to in the discussion forums. Consider what aspect of communication you learned about this week can help you, and what personal goal you would like to achieve as a result of what you learned about communication and leadership.

My response is: 

1. The leadership communication technique or approach I found most valuable was the Situation, Behavior, Impact (SBI) technique. Not a week after I watched the video, I started implementing this technique. It's been very useful in communicating an issue that I'm unsure how to resolve. I don't supervise anyone, but I have still found it useful in working with others because it sets up a way to solve the issue. Additionally, I've thought quite a bit about how I've handled issues in the past and how I could have handled them better by using this technique.

2. My one simple goal is to begin/continue to practice this technique or approach by thinking out the SBI technique before handling a situation. By consciously deciding how to deal with the situation, I can better guarantee that I will make a positive change. I think it can be hard to step back and give yourself enough time to plan a response, but in the long run, it will be worth it. The challenge will be in giving myself enough time to develop an SBI response to a situation/behavior, but still responding in a timely manner. Hopefully, after implementing this technique several times, the process will become more streamlined in my head.

This upcoming week's module is Learning Agility, which sounds fairly exciting. Looking forward to my next assignment!

LeaderMOOC: Week 3 Influencing

As I'm going through this MOOC, I'll be using my blog as a place to turn in my assignments. Week 3 is all about influencing. The most fun for me was a cool workbook they gave out to us to find out more about our networks - I shared it with a coworker who thought it was super fun. I also enjoyed looking at my LinkedIn Map, which showed how my connections are connected. The assignment for Week 3 is: Think beyond the questions you replied to in the discussion forums. Consider why influencing matters to you personally, and what personal goal you would like to achieve as a result of this week’s discovery.

Here is my response:

1. My take-away from learning about my own personal network is it is currently very diverse, but I need to improve my network in some key areas. Much of my network has come from geographic locations or jobs. If I'm no longer in that geographic location, it's unlikely I'll need to reach out them for work in the near future. I'll stay in touch with those folks, but I need to expand my network into areas where I see my future headed. For example, I should join some women's groups which will have folks of similar interests. I am also interested in online learning, so I'll need to reach out to folks who might be involved in that field or have skills I want to develop.

2. My one simple goal for using influence more effectively is to broaden my leadership styles. Currently I use rationalizing and negotiating on a frequent basis. I probably use rationalizing because I enjoy working with data and understanding why things are based on actual evidence. Negotiating comes naturally to me as I'm a bit of a peacemaker - wanting everyone to be happy, which, depending on the situation can be good or bad. I'd like to experiment with inspiring as I'm in the nonprofit field and many folks use inspiring influence to make a point. I have a friend and colleague who is incredibly talented at bridging and I'd like to learn from her. Asserting will definitely be the most difficult for me, being that I like everyone to be happy. However, I think some of my ideas are worth asserting!