GRAD 702 - Reflections on Module 1 Concepts

I believe my level of professional effectiveness today is medium. I say this because of my experience and where I am at in my career. Right now, my main role is a student. This will inevitably propel my effectiveness to new levels and I will be more useful once I get back on the career path I started for myself in the military. While I was in the military, I would still rank myself as medium because I feel there is always room for improvement. I plan to improve my professional effectiveness through more education, experience, social capital, and inner convictions and discipline. I believe we should all strive to be at a high level of professional effectiveness but we really only achieve such great accomplishments through experience, time, and hard work. I am willing to set and maintain a course of high professional effectiveness and believe someday I will be able to rank myself high. I also hope and aspire to have others view me at such high levels. My success will empower both myself and those around me.

I think the interactive, team building retreat exercise was very valuable because of it's creativity and reflection focus. I have been a part of several team building retreats in the military and have not only found them fun but very beneficial as well. You get to know more about the people you work with, yourself, and how you operate and work well with others. It's a time to really excel while using our very best assets; our true and very unique talents. Doing this assignment not only helped me reflect on my experiences with such events but also helped me be more creative. I have never been on the planning side of such an event and found it very interesting. I will understandably see this sort of task in my future working in business management and am happy to have taken the time to really think through the process of planning such an event.

The roles of leadership that I most identify as described by Stephen R. Covey (2004) is that of modeling and aligning. Ever since I joined the military, I have been leading by example. I have received many awards and recognition because of my efforts in modeling. I do this not for that reason but to feel good about myself and to know that what I am doing is making a difference. Even if by modeling, all I am doing is having the best shine on my boots. As I progressed through the ranks and gained more knowledge, I found more ways to lead and set a good example. As an officer, I still continued to emulate even the small things (like having a stellar uniform), but I also started to focus on bigger projects which had more of an impact. When you are an officer, they say you are always on display. I have known this to be very true. The enlisted members and other officers are always crutinizing how you look, operate, or conduct yourself. You have to be on your toes 24/7! This is a kind of challenge I like and in the military, I accepted with open arms. I aim to lead by a good example and am proud of who I am and who I have become. I also like to align or discipline (Covey) in managerial situations. Whether it is the household I was brought up in or my over nine years of service to the military, I am a stickler for focus and management. I am very detail-oriented and have a tendency to carefully plan and organize everything. I have found this very helpful in the demanding positions I have either volunteered for or have been assigned. I have a huge sense of pride in the projects and tasks I set out to accomplish and aspire to not only "stay on course (Covey, p. 114)" but also encourage my fellow teammates.

So basically, I'm liking GRAD 702 so far! :)