Nailing the Basics of Leadership

ORGL 600: Foundations of Leadership, Summer 2019

I began the journey by learning how people (including me) describe the causes of dysfunctional, toxic thinking and/or behaviors in ourselves, other leaders or the organizations themselves. We did this by answering following questions: What Are My Deepest Desires as a Leader? What Don’t I Want as a Leader? What Do I Want as a Leader? What Does This Require of Me as a Leader? How Does This Shape Who I Am Becoming? Through these questions, we jumpstarted our journey of developing the internal skills of understanding what leadership is, and put to paper our own leadership philosophy. The course work was challenging because the course materials and discussions really made me re-evaluate my assumptions about myself and role in leadership, especially after seeing the results from the Student Leadership Practices Inventory. Artifact: Student Leadership Practices Inventory (SLPI)

ORGL 605: Imagine, Create, Lead, Summer 2019

Taking ORGL 605, Imagine, Create, Lead alongside ORGL 600, Foundations of Leadership, really was a catalytic way of beginning the Master of Organizational Leadership journey. Our group was only eight students, and going through our in-person immersion in Spokane, WA together was an unforgettable three-day experience on campus. From starting in Foley Library, to the various memorable sessions with the various staff, this immersion completely changed me and opened up my heart and mind to the learning journey to come during the next two years. This class showed me that team synergy and alignment with a diverse group of strangers is possible. It also showed me that making creativity a regular part of our lives could help us become better leaders. It was during this course that I made my first quilt. Artifact: Quilt Project

ORGL 615: Organizational Theory and Behavior, Fall 2019

We learned a lot about group dynamics and how our actions contribute to the psychology safety, participation, and success (or not) of team efforts through the Mt. Everest, MindTree and EU Design projects. The most important lessons for me revolved around reinforcing loops, personal mastery, mental models, and ultimately opened up my eyes to complex systems thinking and Peter Senge’s disciplines of a learning organization. I’m project manager and tend to go into manage mode but was able to sit back and experiment with taking a more laidback approach during one of the projects and saw how that might impact team success and dynamics. It was also during this course that I began to recognize the negative and positive roles I played in the very situations I wanted to fix (past and present). In the artifact, I was able to make recommendations based upon what we learned from the course. Artifact: EU Confidential Memo

Communications is Key in Leadership

ORGL 610: Communications and Leadership Ethics, Fall 2019

We explored personal, organizational, and social values present in ethical dilemmas and learned how to recognize the various perspectives of each. What I think is right and wrong may not be the same for someone else, depending on so many factors. Just recognizing this one thing is important especially in today’s everchanging global environment, when ethical communication and decision-making becomes necessary, especially when our ethics and various dilemmas intersect. We each made a personal ethics video. After watching each students’ video, I could see how our differences really made our challenges similar. Artifact: Personal Ethics Video

ORGL 520: Negotiation and Conflict Resolution, Spring 2020

I learned a great deal about conflict triangles, dynamics, and the relationship between conflict and change along with how to recognize direct and indirect violence, structural and cultural violence, positive and negative peace. Learning these elements, will enable me to recognize when they are taking place within the organizations and the communities I belong to. Through the examination of real-life situations and case studies, we were able to practice skills and strategies for dialogue, decision-making and ultimately conflict transformation and system change. Our examination of a specific real-life case study is displayed in the Holding the Line Conflict Map. Artifact: Holding the Line Conflict Map

COML 511: Communication Consulting and Training, Fall 2020

In this course, the goal was to understand and explore the factors that help communication effectiveness in organizational settings and develop rhetorical skills to become effective trainers and consultants. Through individual and group projects, I was able to gain and apply skills and tools to communicate effectively when working with teams and organizations in a consultant or training capacity. I was able to utilize many of the skills learned in this course immediately in my newly acquired role in a new organization and new to me industry. We also practiced these communications training and consulting skills in both a team and personal project. Artifact: Personal Project Portfolio

Building Community through Transforming and Servant-Leadership

ORGL 522: Leadership and Community, Spring 2020

Our course shifted dramatically because of the COVID pandemic. We were the first class to experience this course without the St. Andrews Abbey in Valerymo immersion. Dr. Carey and the rest of the class pivoted and held the first sets of zoom calls with the monks from the monastery. We truly learned how to navigate “work from home”, “learn from home” and the other aspects of this new world together. I was able to explore, practice, expand and truly experience the understanding of a leader and a team’s role, purpose, involvement and commitment to building and sustaining meaningful and purposeful communities. You can see our collaborative effort in the 12 Steps to Teamwork PPT included. Artifact: 12 Steps to Teamwork PowerPoint

ORGL 518: Transformational Leadership, Fall 2020

This course covered the dynamics of transformation and how leadership can facilitate it within individuals and organizations. I can now describe and interpret my various experiences of organizational life from the perspective of health and effectiveness; have a working definition of transforming leadership and can apply the course content in understanding my organizational experiences. I also was able to develop a plan for my own transforming leadership practice by sharing a portrait of a transformational organization. I walked away from this class truly understanding transforming leadership and how I can influence and specifically impact my organization to move towards becoming a transformational organization. Artifact: A Portrait of a Transformational Organization Paper

ORGL 535: Listen, Discern, Decide, Spring 2021

Prior to this course, my only understanding of servant-leadership through the rest of my courses and interactions with Gonzaga staff, faculty and professors. I was able to dive into the concept of servant-leadership by learning about and actively practicing how to listen and discern as a way of enhancing my decision-making capacity. As with the other classes, the concepts of Silence, listening, discernment and decision-making was expanded significantly. The course took us from a focus on the individual, to group, and finally, to listening and discerning and decision making in organizations and communities, as presented in the Listening, Discerning and Decision Making: Lesson Learned PowerPoint. This course provided me an introduction to mindfulness through a daily 10-minute Silence activity that I hadn’t been able to experience before. I plan on continuing this practice regularly. Artifact: Final Lessons Learned PowerPoint

Pulling It All Together

ORGL 620: Leadership Capstone, Spring 2021

Over the course of the past two years, since ORGL 605, I’ve been going over different projects in my mind for our final project. I considered doing a partnership program with a fellow classmate to combat youth incarceration. Another project was creating marketing material related to various customers personas and needs for our family real estate business. A work-related project revolved around implementing a change management plan related to improving work culture. In the end, I decided that I would work on a personal project that would allow me to weave together my interests, building relationship and shaping a community I am proud of. My leadership project and this program portfolio is an artifact in itself of my time in the Master’s in Organizational Leadership program. With my capstone project, I have been able to weave the significant imprints the program has left with me. And through this project, I will be able to revisit the journey, continue my growth, and build the community I see for the future. Artifact: https://heysally.chat website